Hello everyone. I sincerely apologize for the super late update. With semester exams going on, I've been really busy. And with everything else in life bothering the crud out of me, I've been fairly annoyed to the point of shoving my muse into my backpack amongst my billions of school assignments. Well, she's back with a vengeance now so I present chapter seven of 'Where the Heart Is'.
Disclaimer: I... I... I want Itachi!! But no, I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 7. Down In Flames
Naruto's surprise sat forgotten on the stove. The salty odor of noodles and shrimp soaking in a brackish solvent hovered in the air. Neither Iruka nor Kakashi had taken notice of the pot sitting on the stove with the burner turned not quite completely off. And so the odor continued to waft throughout the house, settling down upon the furniture like a fine veil of mist.
The pot began to bubble. Yellow froth rose higher and higher, encroaching upon the rim until at last it spilt over onto the countertop. The steaming liquid cascaded down the side of stove and stained the white floor tiles. Nearby, an open window let chilly air enter the house. A gust blew several opened bill statements to the burner where they caught fire almost immediately.
A fierce little conflagration sent curls of smoke into the air. The carpet caught next as the bills fluttered to the floor in another breeze. Yellow, red, and orange flames began crawling across the snowy carpet with a voracious appetite. Naruto, Iruka, and Kakashi all lay asleep in the bedroom, completely oblivious to the fire spreading rapidly through the house, ignorant to the growing danger.
Within five minutes the spare bedroom, the kitchen, and three quarters of the living room had been consumed in the fire's wrath. Kakashi coughed in his sleep, inhaling thick grey smoke. He woke, his mind fuzzy, and blinked blearily in the dim light. Why was it so dark? Why were rolling puffs of gray clouds oozing in through the door? And then he smelled the smoke.
"Iruka!!" he nearly shouted, but a cool calm had collected like a puddle inside his head.
He had to get everybody awake and out of the house now. The silver-haired man drew his shirt up over his mouth and shook Iruka's shoulder hard, but Iruka didn't stir.
"Iruka, wake up. Naruto...wake up. There's a fire."
Iruka sat up and gasped, coughing heavily. He was breathing in large amounts of smoke and his throat was sore from the ashy dust in the air. A hand on his back was not enough to stop the panic rising inside him.
"Oh Kami..." he groaned.
"Iruka lets go. Naruto, wake up."
Kakashi glanced down just in time to see Naruto bolt down between his legs and skitter off down into the hallway.
"Wait!" he cried out, but Naruto was already gone, his small form lost in the ever-thickening smoke.
The fire had consumed the entire living room and was starting to eat its way towards the center. Naruto laid under the couch, terror rattling every limb in his body. He was too afraid to cry.
'What do they know, eh?' the teasing voice flew into his mind uninvited.
'They'll save themselves. They don't care about you.'
"Shut up!"
Naruto covered his ears as malicious laughter rang through his head.
"Nononononononono...P-P-Please...I don't want the closet. Not the closet. I've been good."
'No. You're a bad boy, little Naruto. A bad, bad boy...And the worst kind of bad boy is a boy who doesn't do what he's told. Don't you remember what Daddy taught you? You'll have to be punished.'
Silent tears streamed down his dirt-streaked face, creating narrow clean trails across his cheeks. A bitter-tasting liquid rose in his throat and he spat it out onto the ground. Frustrated, sick at heart, and feeling more alone than ever before, he waited for the fire to claim his very soul.
"Kakashi. We have...cough...to get Naruto. Cough..."
"We have to get out of here." Kakashi told Iruka sternly.
"But..."
"No buts. Lets go."
Kakashi felt his heart nearly stop as he saw the pained expression on his lover's face. Naruto was nowhere to be found and the room was blisteringly hot. But sacrificing one life would not save them both if they didn't leave now. Ready to fracture under the stress, the silver-haired man pulled Iruka up and swung him onto his back. And then...he ran.
Beads of sweat trickled down his face as he carried Iruka into the blazing hallway. He kicked the door open, knocking it off its hinges in the process, and released the other adult once they were safely outside. The younger man turned to run back inside but Kakashi crushed him in a tight hug.
"You can't...love...You can't."
The whispered words did little to help Iruka. He fell limp against Kakashi, sobbing into his arms while the elder held him on his feet.
"Excuse me." came a soft yet somehow deep voice. "I've already alerted the fire department and they will be arriving as quickly as possible. Due to weather conditions it may be some time, but you've nothing to stress over for now."
Kakashi glanced into a pair of liquid ebony eyes and took in the pale face behind them. The man's skin was nearly as white as the snow itself and pitch-black hair fell in a straight line over one eye while the rest hung back behind his head in a low ponytail. He was dressed in only a casual pair of blue jeans and a tight fitting black leather jacket.
"Aniki. What's going on?"
A small child looking to be around nine or ten years old with matching hair and eyes like dusky coal appeared from behind them all. Kakashi heard the man sigh.
"I thought I repeatedly asked you to remain within the confines of the house. You becoming ill would do me no good at all. Please return at once."
At the sound of the child's voice, Iruka began to sob even harder. Every so now and then he would cough vehemently.
"Please excuse me for not introducing myself. I am Uchiha Itachi and this is my younger brother, Sasuke. We've just moved into the house across the street. Is he going to be alright?" he asked, black eyes focused on the coughing man.
Kakashi gave a strained smile as they both bowed. "I don't know. Smoke inhalation, probably." he said and sighed. "Unfortunately, our...our kid is still inside. He took off in fear when I woke him."
The raven-haired man took in their position and his black eyes seemed to draw a conclusion from it. But it didn't bother him. It wasn't that he liked men. He just didn't like women and had scant time to develop a real relationship. He was...lets face it...a workaholic.
"The blonde-haired one, am I correct?" Itachi questioned softly.
Kakashi nodded in reply, wondering how the man knew Naruto.
"Not to worry. I'll go get him, Aniki."
Before Itachi could react, Sasuke was running towards the flaming building with all the carefree curiosity of a nine-year-old.
"SASUKE!" Itachi's sudden explosive voice fell on deaf ears as Sasuke disappeared through the smoky doorway.
Smoke was pouring out through the doors and the windows and the snap-crackle-snap of burning beams filled the air. Part of the roof collapsed. Golden embers spiraled skyward.
"NARUTO!!" Iruka dropped to his knees. "No!"
A choking gasp escaped his lips along with a bright red spray of blood.
"Iruka!"
"Everybody is calling each other's names," muttered Itachi with a hint of dry humor.
Kakashi bent down beside his lover as the man continued to cough. Crimson droplets splattered the snow. Chocolate eyes glazed with pain were alight with worry and fear.
...
"Naruto!!"
Little Sasuke found himself struggling to breathe in the swelteringly hot room. Sweat poured down his face. Unafraid, he wondered into the flaming living room and went into the bedroom just as the roof began collapsing.
Embers swirled up around him in a glowing orange haze. A few ashes touched his skin, causing him to cry out in pain as they burned his arms. A cinder touched his cheek with a feathery light kiss; Sasuke immediately brushed it off, leaving a smudge of black in its wake.
Just then a beam came crashing down behind Sasuke. He dove forward to avoid it but it fell upon his leg. A bloodcurdling shriek resounded through the flaming house.
"Sasuke..." Itachi's elegant face was slightly contorted by fear and worry.
...
Naruto felt the first flames licking at the back of his legs. He sighed.
'I deserve this. I deserve to die for being so bad and messing up everybody's life.'
The blond boy bit his lip and started to cry, wishing the world away inside his head. He was almost to a place of complete oblivion when he heard a loud scream over the roaring flames. He scrambled out from beneath the couch, not caring that the backs of his legs were covered in second and third degree burns.
He made his way through the flame-gilded doorway and saw the boy from his earlier adventure in the snow on the floor trapped beneath a glowing orange pillar. Sasuke had long since passed out from the pain. Naruto gasped.
"S-S-Sasuke."
Without thinking he reached down and pushed the beam away from Sasuke. His hands were seared bloody and blistered in a matter of seconds. Pushing the pain away like so many times before, he grabbed Sasuke's hand and heaved the unconscious boy to his feet, Sasuke swayed, groaning softly as Naruto struggled to drag him out through the front door.
Outside a yellow and white fire truck had pulled up with red and white flashing lights. Voices drifted through the lightly falling snow. Several men appeared from either side, four of them carrying two hoses in pairs. They aimed them at the house while another man came running towards the trio.
"Is everyone out?" he asked sounding rather breathless.
Kakashi shook his head.
"There are two boys trapped insi—"
"Otou-san!!" cried a small, fearful voice.
Kakashi whipped his head around faster than a bullet train and saw a blond-haired boy half-carrying, half-dragging a darker-haired boy through the open door just as the house finally caved in on itself. Ashes were sent flying across the skies to be swept away by the icy wind.
A fireman ran and picked up the small boys effortlessly and carried them away from the burning pile that was all that remained of Kakashi's home. For the first time since they'd escaped, reality sank its razor-sharp teeth into the silver-haired man. His home was gone. It hit home deeply, tearing a wound into his fragile heart that had only just begun to heal.
He hugged Iruka tightly, too afraid of losing the ones he now cherished with all of his heart and soul to let go.
An ambulance had arrived while the two were embracing and Naruto and Sasuke were being strapped securely to stretchers. Kakashi was helped up even as Iruka coughed up more blood. A dark stream trickled out of the corner of his mouth.
"Come with us." the dark-eyed man spoke intently.
Kakashi and Iruka were led to another ambulance where they were taken inside on stretchers.
"Will we be going to the same hospital?" he asked while trying to sit up.
An oxygen mask was placed over his mouth and nose and he was told to breathe deeply. The same was done for Iruka though it looked as though the man was having difficulty breathing.
"Relax." said the man. "You're in good hands."
He strapped a thick cord around the edge of the yellow stretcher to keep it from shifting as they rode and did the same for Iruka's.
Kakashi tried to relax. He was on the verge of tears, hovering on the edge of some indefinable abyss, but something prevented him from crying. Hatake Kakashi had cried few times in his life, but they had been genuine moments of sorrow. Nothing he'd ever felt before could compare to this empty, hollow feeling that threatened to engulf him.
He shut his eyes and rested his head against the cool plastic of the stretcher. He just wanted to sleep and not wake up for a while.
...
Naruto felt himself drifting off into sleep as he rode upon a woozy ocean of pain and sedatives that the paramedic had given him. The man watched him nod off with a worried expression on his face.
"Stay with us, kid." he said before turning to the other unconscious boy beside him.
The putrid smell of burnt flesh was enough to make anyone gag, but the paramedic had seen many things in his life. He had a fairly strong stomach and could handle what the newbies couldn't. That's why they were taking the adults to the hospital.
The drive to the local hospital was short but navigating took some time to get there because of the slick and icy streets. When they arrived, doctors were already waiting outside for them. Sasuke and Naruto were wheeled away to the Burn Unit so that treatment could begin immediately.
The boys were each transferred to a movable bed before being whisked away by medical staff. As dusk fell upon the hospital Naruto stirred and opened his eyes. They were heavy and rough and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes groggily. The world was a blur of soft yellow and faded blue; the muted egg yolk walls tilted and swayed as though he were sailing on choppy ocean waters.
"Kyuubi..." he whispered fearfully.
But his other identity was silent, chained up once more to a wall by his inner consciousness. He was safe. Kyuubi could not take over.
He noticed then that his hands were covered in thick white bandages. When he tried to move his legs, white-hot agony shot down through them. They were also heavily bandaged. With a sigh he resigned himself to the restrictions. The injuries meant that he could not freely walk around. At least he didn't have to go to the bathroom.
Somewhat tentatively, ice blue eyes took in the room around him. There was a picture of a gaudily striped hot air balloon surrounded by an overly blue sky. 'Like the ocean in the sky.' he thought.
His curious, attentive gaze fell upon a curtained corner of his room. Apparently he had a roommate. 'Maybe its Sasuke!' he thought excitedly.
"Sasuke!!" he called out gleefully.
A soft groan of pain wound itself through Naruto's small ears.
"Naruto?"
"Yep. That's me." he replied.
The blonde boy ignored the screaming protests of pain from his injuries and managed a slow walk to the curtained "room".
"Sasuke? Are you okay?"
His eyes bordered on the edge of tears and his voice shook with uncertainty and trepidation.
"Y-y-yeah. It hurts though."
Naruto pushed the curtains back and found himself gawking at an irresistibly cute pale boy with entrancing eyes of charcoal.
"Wow. You're pretty." Naruto chirruped happily, for he was glad that his new friend was alright.
"Aw..." a faint blush gave color to Sasuke's alabaster skin
"I can't be pretty. Prettiness is for girls. I'm handsome!" stated Sasuke sternly.
Naruto merely laughed, the musical sound floating up to reach the other boy's ears. The melodious resonance filled the room. Sasuke's eyes lit up with happiness despite the pain his legs were in.
"How can you walk?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the thick bandages on the blonde's legs.
As if on cue, Naruto's knees buckled and he lurched forwards. His face landed on Sasuke's, their lips crashing together in a rushed kiss. Naruto closed his eyes for half a second before they both pulled away, spitting and gagging and gasping and choking.
Neither of them would admit it at the time, but they each felt a little something stir within their chests.
"Whoops. Sorry about tha—"
"What are you doing out of bed?!" a male nurse who was busy carrying a dinner tray into the room asked sternly.
Naruto's eyes squeezed shut as fat tears rolled down his cheeks. He began to tremble as he hyperventilated in place before finally passing out on the cold hospital floor. The nurse set the tray down and immediately picked up the blonde.
'Can't...can't breathe.' were Naruto's final thoughts as the world around him crumbled down into a black abyss.
And...I know I cut the chapter short, but at least I updated. I'm only allowed in my room for a certain amount each day so I did what I could. Well, I love reviews so make me happy and push the little blue button!!