Chapter 17:
"Sir I tested ten times. I think it's safe to say, that boy is indeed your son."
"Alright, thank you. Dismissed." Madara shooed a DNA expert out of his room thereafter, and sighed. Retrieving his cellphone from a nightstand he called Itachi. "Get your ass over here, now. No questions, do it." He commanded seriously, and flipped the cellular device shut.
"Well he's healing externally, but there's quite the bit of tearing down here. This is worse than some rape victims I've come across." Now that Madara knew Tala was his son, he couldn't help try helping the boy. The first step was a full physical diagnosis, which was exactly what he was expecting, if not a bit worse.
"Thank you Kabuto, that's enough, I shall take it from here." He sent the doctor's assistant off, and sat down on the bed after covering his son back up. Placing a hand on his son's which were resting on his stomach, he sighed. "I can't fix the physical damage, but I can at least try to fix the mental. Hang in there son. It'll be over soon." He said, before blinking his eyes.
Around them all turned into one big space of nothing except stars. Although Tala was comatose, he was still fighting, and because of that, all Madara had to do was lift his eyelids, to enter his mind. Inside of it all, there was still something within Tala, that refused to believe the life Itachi had carved for him, and an illusion of a small child hugging himself, and crying represented that.
"That's the key to fixing it." Madara said smiling slightly, and called up all of the memories left, of Tala's true self. Unfortunately there wasn't much.
"Of course, that's why this stuff is represented, through a crying child hugging himself." He sighed.
"I don't know enough about you to fix this." He admitted, grudgingly.
"Who are you?" The child asked him.
"I'm not here to hurt you kiddo, don't worry. I'm going to do everything I can to help you, so you just hang in there for now. Keep fighting." Madara supplied, and called up all of the memories, false, and true. "Maybe if I make them all the reverse, and throw in the real ones." He huffed in frustration, and sighed, before giving it a shot. Tala completely lost consciousness thereafter, and he was forced to retreat from the boy's mind.
"Rest easy son. You'll be well soon." He whispered, after making sure Tala was alright.
"Did you...did you just call him son?" Itachi asked, from the doorway.
"Yes. This is my son Itachi. I won't let you hurt him anymore." Madara glared at him briefly, before returning his attention to Tala.
"Are you...are you certain?" Itachi couldn't believe it, but he had never seen his uncle so attentive to someone before, ever.
"Defiantly so." Madara replied.
Itachi couldn't cope with the reality before him and left after releasing Tala from his Tsukuyomi. He'd felt sick before because of what he was going, now he just felt hollow. He and Tala were related. They were cousins. To some that wouldn't matter, but Itachi knew that his family was different. To the Uchiha love between cousins, was very very wrong. Besides, now he hadn't just hurt the one he loved, but a family member at the same time. Itachi was so deep in thought and so distraught, that he didn't notice the car speeding towards him as he crossed a street. By the time he did notice it was simply too late.
"Itachi!" A figure was calling his name, but Itachi lost consciousness almost instantly.
"Young Master Shisui, is he alright?" The driver of the limousine came up behind the figure.
"Of course not. Call an ambulance, now!" Shisui focused on keeping track of Itachi's breathing thereafter, ignoring his driver.
"Are you the ones, who called for an ambulance?" A paramedic asked, as an ambulance came to a halt.
"Well if you got a call, the only place it could be from, is the castle not far from here. It's the only civilization for miles. However, my cousin could use your help. His heart could give in any second now." Shisui was struggling to stay composed. The Uchiha didn't panic before anyone or anything.
Back in the castle, Madara was yelling into his cellphone. He was fairly certain, that his son was having a psychogenic non-epileptic seizure. He was afraid to admit that there was nothing he could do. Resorting to calling an ambulance was hard for him. Surely complications would arise once Tala was in the hospital, and he could easily face charges for kidnapping, unless he revealed who he was to the boy, but he decided that anything was better than letting his son die.
At the hospital two hours later, a lot of things happened. It felt like they had all happened at once. Madara found Shisui there, and found out that Itachi was also on death's door now. Mikoto, Fugaku, and Sasuke came, and now all of the Uchiha present, were in the waiting room, trying to keep calm. If not for his brother Izuna arriving around two that afternoon, Madara would have lost it. Sasuke left around that same time, threatening to kill Shisui if Itachi didn't recover. That was only half of it all though. Around four that afternoon, someone that Madara was rather familiar with, showed up at the hospital.
"Hiro, what in the world are you doing here?" Madara should probably not have chosen to socialize in his situation, but he did. It was the only thing keeping him from snapping, as conversing with his brother had gotten boring. He jumped at the chance to catch up with the grandson of his old sensei.
"Madara-san, I'm actually here for two reasons. We don't all have the luxury of being rich, so I work as a janitor here. Aside from that I'm just here because of a graduation requirement. Yourself?" Hiro knew he probably shouldn't be slacking off, but from the tracker on Itachi he knew that Tala was being kept at Madara's home. He needed to plant a tracker on the man now that Itachi himself was hospitalized.
"My nephew Itachi is in critical right now, and a friend of his that I brought in is also in critical. I'm just waiting for some kind of news from the doctors." Madara's composure was amazing was all Hiro could think as he watched the man.
"Well I can't guarantee anything, but I could try to get some information on their conditions for you if you'd like. This friend of your nephew, what's his name?" Hiro knew the history between the Kinomiya family and Madara well. The man had been quite kind putting a considerable amount of funds into the family's shrine. Socializing with him was almost mandatory for anyone of the Kinomiya family.
"I do not know his last name. His first name is Tala." Madara would've gone into describing the boy, had Hiro not put his hand up to stop him from speaking further.
"Red hair, blue eyes, pale skin?" Confirmation was needed, Madara nodded.
"Ivanov. That boy's name is Tala Yuri Ivanov. You say he's in critical?" A pause, and another nod from Madara. "What happened to him?"
"From what I could tell, he had a psychogenic non-epileptic seizure." Madara's response caused Hiro to take off.
"You'd think he was just told his wife died or something." Madara said blinking, as he watched Hiro disappear past some doors.
"I think you might have." Mikoto supplied, as she refilled a cup with water.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"That boy Hiro, and Tala, they were both at the manor a while back. I don't get involved in the associates my kids choose, you know that, but plain as day, Sasuke was watching a homemade porn DVD of those two. Itachi apparently owed Tala some money. There was some kind of fight going on too, but it didn't get out of hand enough for me to get involved. If I remember correctly, Hiro and Tala were together, they had some kind of spat, and then decided to get back together, but this time with Deidara." She explained, then Hiro came rushing towards them, around them, and rounded the corner at the end of the hall.
"Will wonders never cease?" Madara sounded amused.
"There's something you haven't told us, isn't there Madara?" She asked, but all he did was take a seat, to wait for some information on Itachi and Tala's conditions.
"How are they?" Around six that evening Deidara showed up, with the expected people behind him. Sasori, Hidan, and Kisame.
"Deidara, come have a seat next to me. We can wait together." Mikoto supplied.
"Uchiha Madara, what did you do to my son?" Although Hiro tried, he couldn't prevent Boris from storming into the waiting room, screaming as he did so.
"I never thought I'd see your hideous face again." Madara countered calmly.
"Boris stop it, Tala is going to be fine. Just sit down and wait, or else I'm going to have to call sercurity, and have you removed from the premesis." Hiro supplied, but his words were ignored.
"You? She sent him to you?" Madara stared in disbelief suddenly.
"What are you saying?" Boris asked in turn.
"She sent our son to you? Of all the people in the world, you?" Madara had to force himself to keep from punching the other man.
"Your son? Tala is my son!" Boris wasn't faring much better.
"I don't know what happened between the two of you, but this is a hospital. Take it outside, or shut the fuck up!" Hiro caused an eerie silence to fall over them, and turned to Mikoto and Deidara, after a heavy sigh. "Both of them are out of critical, but right now, visitors are out of the question. They are in observation, and sleeping." That said, he left the waiting room to do what he was supposed to be doing in the first place.
Unfortunately Hiro's warning did nothing, within the hour both Madara and Boris were removed from the premesis. Gradually the waiting room became an emptier space. By nine the only ones left were Mikoto and Deidara. Hiro joined them once he was done for the day, embracing Deidara tightly as the blond sat on his lap, and rested his head on his shoulder. Deidara had no tears left to shed, and was exhausted. His body shook with fear, though Hiro had told him Tala was fine.
"Sweetheart he's fine. He's just sleeping. Calm down." He told the blond, Deidara merely clung to him, so much, that all that was left, was for him to, melt into Hiro's flesh, and become a part of him.
"Deidara, if that boy is truly an Uchiha, you have nothing to worry about. He'll be fine." Mikoto said suddenly.
"No offense Mikoto-san, but to me, it would be preferable, that he weren't an Uchiha." Deidara would never forget what Itachi had done, both to him, and to Tala.
"None taken. You know Itachi better than anyone. It's selfish, but I will ask anyway. Please don't abandon my son, he needs you now more than ever." She swallowed her pride and said that. If she knew her son at all, she knew it would ultimately destroy him, to know Deidara hated him.
"I know what you're getting at Mikoto-san, but I can't do it. So he lost control, that doesn't make it right, for him to get to live, like nothing happened. If he ever comes near me again, I won't acknowledge his presence. He hurt me, and he hurt Tala. He also hurt Sasori-danna. I will never forget what he's done. I might forgive him one day, but that's all I can give. Our friendship is dead. He can go to hell for all I care." Deidara's voice was dead serious, as he spat those words.
"Ma'am, your son would like to see you." A nurse came into the waiting room, and Mikoto sighed, before following her to Itachi's room.
"Hiro-chi, what's going to happen now?" Deidara asked.
"I don't know love, I really don't know." Hiro replied, for once saying the exact opposite of what Deidara wanted him to.
A/N: Here you go. Enjoy it! RNR!