"I do not recall today being an early out," my father stated coolly with a not unusual hard edge to his words. "Why are you home so early?"
"I-I, um," I started, my mind completely malfunctioning. My father was home. My abusive father had arrived back from his little vacation to a holding cell at the county jail. I just didn't know what to do; should I be elated or scared shitless? At the sound of my father's impatient foot tapping, I again tried my voice without meeting the hard gaze of my guardian. "I was not feeling well sir, so I gathered my homework and signed myself out." I didn't really want to mention the fact that a blond brat had cleaned my clock at lunch; thus, I went with the (hopefully convincing) story about me being sick. It's not like it was a total lie, because I never really feel 100%. My guess is that it's because I'm so far underweight.
I was brought back to reality when my father resumed talking. "Not feeling well," he said more to himself than to me. "Sasuke, I myself have not been feeling well over these past couple of weeks. Do you know why that is?" He was met with my silence as I continued to avoid his unloving eyes. "I haven't been feeling up to par because I was arrested. Did you forget about that, Sasuke?" Grabbing my chin, my father forced me to look up at him, my heart stopping in fear at the infuriated look he gave me. "Would you like to explain just why that happened?"
"W-well, you see sir…" I stuttered out quietly, my throat constricted and my mouth dry. I knew what would happen whether I told him the truth or not; I would be beaten. Staying silent would be worse though, so, swallowing the lump in my throat, I forged on. "A few of the boys in my class stole my clothing during physical education, forcing me to walk around exposed. Everyone, um," I took a deep steading breath, attempting to keep my voice from wavering. "Everyone saw your… handiwork. Lady Tsunade guessed that you did it and called the police…" I finished quietly, my head down. "B-but when they brought me in for questioning I didn't say anything; they ended up with no proof to charge you."
"Yes, I am well aware that they could not charge me," my father snapped, putting a forceful bite into every word. "Do you have any idea what everyone has been saying about me since I have been away? Awful things. Dreadful things. Some of it truthful. And you mean to tell me you told the authorities absolutely nothing about what goes on in our household?"
I opened and closed my mouth several times before I could make and semblance of sound come out. "I-I swear, I d-did not-" My answer was cut off when my father backhanded me in the same cheek Naruto had punched me in not half an hour earlier. I stumbled to the side, pain flaring up viciously all throughout the side of my face. If my cheekbone wasn't cracked before it certainly was now. Unshed tears stung my eyes and throat, but I didn't dare let them cascade down my cheeks. I knew better than to let him see that. Instead, I straightened back up and waited for my father to speak.
"You have to have told them something," he finally said, his voice dangerously low. The challenge was not lost on me. I could see it in his eyes, that half a second I felt brave enough to actually meet his piercing gaze. He was daring me to tell him he was wrong, even though he was. I didn't tell them anything, but I wasn't stupid enough to inform him of his error. I quickly raced through anything I could tell him. No matter what I came up with, he was not going to appreciate my answer.
"They may have, um, just began assuming things when I was questioned," I started, incredibly surprised by the control I had over my voice. It may not have been very loud or strong, but at least it wasn't shaking (hey, take the small victories where you can). "They forced me to have a physical exam performed, and they took note of… everything going on with my body." The longer I talked the quieter I got, beginning to lose my nerve. If there was ever a time to wish I was stronger and faster, this was it. If I was there would be a slim possibility of me getting away. Slim, but still a chance.
"Hn. I see. I take it they had a warrant?" my father inquired. I nodded meekly in response. "They are lucky that was the case. If not I would have sued the police department for everything they own. I am glad that my imprisonment was not your fault directly, Sasuke, but that does not change the fact that it was indeed your fault." I tried to swallow my fear as my father took the few menacing steps forward to be directly in front of me. He gently grabbed my chin and made me look up into his cold eyes. "You understand that I must punish you, yes?" A slow nod is all I could manage as I clenched my trembling hands. No matter how many times this happened to me, I still shook like it was the first.
Faster than my vision was able to track, a hand grabbed my hair and I was yanked onto the hard, unforgiving floor. I didn't even think about standing back up. A second later a kick hard enough to make my head spin was bestowed to my side, followed by a flurry of quick but equally as painful well-placed punches. My everything felt like it was burning. A few of the hits had managed to get me in the face, blackening one of my eyes and busting my bottom lip wide open. Blood dripped down my face and onto the hardwood floors, something I knew would not make my father happy. For what felt like hours my punishment persisted. Just when I believed I would pass out from the pain, the punches and kicks stopped as abruptly as they began. Groaning groggily, I felt myself being hauled to my feet and dragged upstairs to my room. After being dumped unceremoniously onto the floor, my door was all but slammed shut and locked from the outside. I could just scarcely make out my father's words from the other side of the door before I lost consciousness: a very quiet "I'm sorry". Then, everything went dark.
I didn't awaken until nearly noon the next day, much to my disappointment. Not that I particularly wanted to go to school with a black eye, busted lip, and countless other injuries, but I despised not having my homework with me to do. I sat up, stifling the yelp of pain that attempted to jump forth from my throat. All my muscles and joints were stiff and sore; my lovely camp out on the ground was not helping matters in the very least. Staggering to my feet, soft hisses of agony tore past my lips before I could stop them. As much pain as I was in, I was not going to get behind on my homework. Steeling my resolve and gritting my teeth, I stumbled drunkenly over to my dresser to gear up for an excursion to the hell-hole I called a school. I randomly selected a shirt and threw it on my bed before doing the same thing with a pair of black jeans. At practically a negative speed I peeled my shirt from my broken body. Across the room, I caught my reflection in the body mirror hanging on my closet door and grimaced at the damage I saw in it. My eye was the darkest shade of purple naturally possible and bloodshot; it was so swollen it was nearly closed. My cheek wasn't looking much better in its shade of blue fading out to an angry, puffy red. And my lip, oh my lip. It was inflated to three times its normal size and split so bad it looked like it had a chunk sliced out of it with a dull knife. All the damage to my visage was incredibly strange considering my father usually took great care to not mess up my face. Hurting my face was way too obvious to the rest of the world that I didn't have a good home life.
My eyes wandered down my slim, pale chest, examining the countless bruises littering its expanse and all the others on my abdomen (the number doesn't matter; there were too many to keep track of). I exhaled softly, saddened by what I was seeing. I hadn't looked this bad in a long time. I noticed a few of the stiches Tsunade had given me the previous day were now ripped out, and there was a copious amount of dried blood around the old wound. I hobbled to my bathroom and, as gently as I could, wiped myself clean of all the dried blood on my body, face included. Upon my return to my room, I carefully slipped into my clean clothing I had laid out on my bed. After shoving my feet into my favorite pair of Converse and throwing on a too-big sweatshirt, I grabbed a pair of sunglasses to finish my look. My world now tinted nearly black, I sized myself up in the mirror, deeming myself worthy of leaving. For half a second I was thankful for Naruto punching me in the face yesterday, for it gave a valid reason for the indigo monstrosity dominating the side of my face. Slowly but surely I made my way through my house and to my front door, silently thanking any gods willing to listen that my father was at work. Upon reaching the outside world, I paused, listening to the birds sing and basking in the warmth of the sun for a moment before continuing on my journey.
When I arrived at the high school I took note that it was lunch time. Perfect. No one around to bother me. I made my way inside, paying careful attention not to limp and to keep my sun glasses on. I traveled first to the office, where I found Shizune sitting behind her desk, scribbling away at a stack of papers. I approached the front of her desk and waited (politely) for her to notice my presence. As I expected of her, she did not take very long to acknowledge me.
"Oh, hello Sasuke," Shizune said while smiling sweetly and pretending not to notice the bruise on my cheek. From the way her eyes kept flicking to the bruise I knew she saw it and was just too polite to say anything. I'm sure she had heard that I nearly got my lights punched out yesterday, and that's why I wasn't questioned. "What can I do for you? You called in sick this morning, so I didn't expect to see you." I snapped out of my thoughts at her question and was plunged into a new stream of thoughts concerning how my father must have called me in ill.
"You did call in sick today, right? It was you who called?" Shizune's timid question caught me a bit off guard. 'She must suspect my father is back…' I thought to myself. I didn't want to let her know that he was home, so I replied back with a cool levelness she couldn't find a flaw in.
"Of course I did," I replied swiftly. "I am only here for my homework." I could see Shizune visibly relax at my smooth answer, something I was thankful for. I did not need someone becoming suspicious of my injuries again.
"Well," began Shizune, "none of your teachers have brought your work to the office yet, but I could send an email out asking them to bring me it to me if you like."
I shook my head, giving the secretary a minute smile. "No, that's quite alright. I can go retrieve it myself. I'll get it then head back home. Thank you for your time, Shizune."
With a sunny smile, Shizune sent me on my way. Slowly but surely I progressed down the hallway to each of my teachers, collecting my homework and making small talk with those who tried for a conversation. Once again I counted myself lucky that it was lunch time; with people in the halls it would have been nearly impossible to maneuver around (that, and I would have attracted a ton of unwanted attention). As I rounded the corner of my last stop of the afternoon, I collided painfully with another person. Great. Someone to make my already shitty day even worse. I tumbled ungracefully to the unforgiving tile floor, my sunglasses being knocked off my face and sent skidding away. Pain shot through my body from it being jarred so harshly, and I bit the inside of my cheek in an attempt to remain silent. It mostly worked.
"Fuck, sorry," an all too familiar voice sounded from above me. Refusing to turn my gaze upwards, I settled for looking for my sunglasses, which I found lying a few feet away from my current position on the floor. I watched as tan fingers reached down and grasped my discarded eyewear, carefully lifting them from the tile. I continued my interest in the ground until the same warm colored fingers were right in front of my face in a gesture to help me up. "Come on Sasuke, let me help you."
I hesitated before reluctantly taking the hand before me, angling my face downward. Sneaking a peak away from the ground, I found myself face to face with none other than Naruto Uzumaki, who was examining me with a concerned gaze. I shifted back and forth between my feet nervously, mumbling a small thanks to the blond in front of me.
"Hey, are you okay? I'm really sorry for punching you yesterday, I just kinda lost it." Naruto punctuated his sentence with a soft gasp. "God, did I do that to your cheek?" Fingers rested gently on the bruised side of my face. I jerked my head away from the offending appendages, choosing to remain silent. "Holy hell, what happened to your eye? And a busted lip, Jesus Christ! What happened?"
"Nothing," I snapped, snatching my sunglasses that were held loosely in Naruto's hand back. Sidestepping the blond, I continued on my way to retrieve the last of my schoolwork. I only made it a few steps before I felt a hand grasp my upper arm, pulling me to a stop.
"I refuse to accept your terrible explanation," Naruto started. "You're going to tell me what happened, and I won't leave you alone until you do."
A/N: Wow, it has been over a year since I even thought about this story. In all honesty, the lack of update is completely ridiculous. To all those reading, you can thank my best friend for pestering me into finishing this chapter. Hopefully I won't let this story get away from me like that again, but I make no promises. As always, Naruto doesn't belong to me. Au revoir until we meet again.
