Disclaimer- Didn't make up the Naruto world…if I did I'd probably give them even worse names XD (Cept, Naruto's about as bad as it gets…real ramen overdose to pick that name : P)
ALL YOU CAN EAT SUNDEA BAR TO: Shounen-Ai, Midnight-Shadow-Wolfling, mikuloveitachi, Pewinov, kirallie, sasunaru, Immortal Fallen Angel, Surgery With Smiles, vivi-vixen, KCWolfman, makura moderski, Kingkakashi, wiiTneSs, extreme kiwi, Naruto, Draikinator, Aachen, Au-Gold, foreverboundtopain, Blood Zephyr, xxnarufanxx, LovelySinner7, narutoisuke, and Twinklebell12 FOR REVIEWING! (Man, I gotta quite writing these when I'm craving ice cream T-T)
AND SOFT SERVE TO THOSE WHO FAVORITED OR STORY ALERTED THIS STORY!!! ^^
Also! I was shocked to see I forgot a very important message last chap! (see y u musn't rush : P) Well, here's my direct quote:
"100, OMG, YES, YES, HA! 100 in 4 chapters! I'D LIKE TO THANK ALL THOSE STRANGERS WHO HAD THE HEART TO REVIEW, AND I'LL MAKE MINI-TROPHIES FOR ALL OF YOU!!! I used to think if I was a bird I'd be penguin cuz I couldn't fly, but now I am an ostrich!!! Run ostrich run!!!"
……A) Those trophies are still on mail order and B) I think I be Cu-Cu for Coco puffs! *_* (Ha, random fact: the first time I got to stay up til midnight on new years, maybe 2nd or 3rdgrade or somein, when it hit midnight I stood on a chair, wine glass filled with coke in my hand and screamed "I'M THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!!" XD I think I preceded to say random stuff about how my minions should bow for me, but most of the night's a little hazy……CAFFENINE HIGH O.o)
Before I start! EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Aachen! Omg, your review made me crack up laughing and I was too giddy to fall asleep, it made me so happy! (I read the review about 1 am .')
-AND-
Naruto! SOMEONE FINALLY TELLS ME WHO IT'S BY! I found out it was called Absolutely a couple months ago, but I knew stupid Wiki was lying to me about the artist! (it came up with something stupid like 3 Doors Down or that kinda junk. That is NOT how 3 Doors Down sounds like! Grr, don't edit Wiki if you're not sure!) So yeah, I guess I was too lazy before to change it on my profile, but THANK YOU for solving my mystery ^^ (It's changed now)
Lol, you should both get accounts, I had to wait til I came back to thank u T-T
Also! There were still quite a few people who were confused about the pairings for this story, so I layed it all out on my profile. .....cept it sounds real harsh XD Don't worry, I didn't mean to be harsh, that was the THIRD TIME I had to write that stupid thing! My computer kept losing connection! T-T (And even when I copied it the second time, it turns out it DIDN'T copy so I that's how come I had to rewrite it 3 TIMES -_-') So ignore the annoyedness sounding ^^'
Chapter 6: Coward
~*~
I'm drunk and I'm feeling down
And I just want to be alone
I'm pissed cuz you came around
Why don't you just go home
~Scars by Papa Roach
~*~
Dreams tend to be helpful, that is if you can somehow maneuver your way through the chaos of an alternate reality where logic is just another word in the dictionary like truth. After you figure out that the dancing giraffe was the animal cracker you ate that day and you wonder if you've seen a little too much of a certain drama when the main characters turn up being the main characters of your latest dream sequence, you find yourself deep in your own subconscious. Most dreams hint to true feelings at past events and present fears you may or may not thought yourself to be free off, but some hint to the future, though it's highly unlikely for the person to realize that to be true until after the event.
Nightmares are the same, and that's why they scare us. When our subconscious projects horrific realities plagued by our worst fears, it's hard to believe that it could be connected to our present reality in any way and form. To think they could be informing us of the future? That's particularly unbearable. Especially for Naruto who didn't need to decode any of his dreams. He knew exactly what was locked deep in his subconscious and wished for once he could have just one dream that wasn't haunted by his hate, his fear, and his acceptance of the strongest of the demons which he housed. He wished he could be as blissfully ignorant as his mask was.
But you can't control your subconscious, and the blonde boy was tossing and turning in his sheetless white hospital bed engrossed in yet another horrible nightmare. The dream started innocent enough, the teen had been hanging out with his friends all talking and laughing at nothing significant. On his left, slightly behind him, was Sasuke with an ever present smirk, and on his right, slightly in front of him, was Hinata without her infamous blush. Despite the fact he was in the dream, Naruto knew this was wrong. In the same way that one might feel déjà-vu during the day, or even during a dream, the blonde knew that the dream was wrong. Sasuke had always been in front of him to his right, and Sakura was supposed to be beside him on his left.
Looking around the circle, he didn't see any other changes besides the switching of spots and the boy frowned feeling out of place. He'd had enough nightmares to realize when he was having one, and this one felt like a nightmare, but so far it wasn't. It hadn't started in the middle like normal…it'd started from the beginning? The laughter around the teen had started dying down when he'd stopped laughing along with them, and now that he sat there, openly staring at them with a confused and fearful expression, they were all silent. Finally the whiskered boy felt a poke in his side.
"Dobe." Naruto swiveled to face an angry faced Sasuke.
"Naruto-kun." Again, said boy turned toward the talking voice, this time belonging to a scared looking Hinata. At the sight of fear, Naruto began to relax. He really wasin a nightmare. Any second the screaming would start and he'd realize he was turning in the fox. But it wasn't screaming that followed, it was yelling. Rising to their feet, the rest of the group was yelling unintelligibly to the blonde boy who had remained seated with a shocked expression. Their faces blurred into each other, but each one was looking at him. Looking down at his hands he saw that they were covered by the Kyuubi's chakra, and despite his confusion at his friend's unusual reactions, he stood uncertainly and began running, as if that was the right thing to do.
Behind him he could feel his friends following, but he wasn't even sure it was them, remembering how their faces had blended together. Looking back he saw that they were indeed his friends, each with a separate body, but their faces were covered with masks, each with bright lines moving to create different figures and expressions.
No! It was all wrong! Turning back, Naruto pushed himself to run harder but found that he couldn't. His legs felt weak, each step the blonde took drained him a little of the small amount of remaining energy. What was going on? What was happening? Without stopping the teen brought up his crimson covered arms and realized it wasn't the Kyuubi's chakra. It was blood. Now that he knew he was losing blood, he could feel his heart pumping loudly in his ears. Thump-Thump-Thump. Dropping his arms he continued running, but he could feel himself getting slower with each step. Thump-Thump-Thump. It occurred to the boy that this was a really weird heartbeat, but didn't dare stop running. Thump-Thump-Thump. Despite himself, he brought his hands to his ears ignoring the warm liquid that covered them. Thump-Thump-Thump. Anything to stop the noise!
Thump-Thump-Thump.
The blonde boy knew by the way everything had suddenly gone black that he was now awake. Barely opening his left eye, he was blinded by a bright white light. Closing the eye with a groan, the teen brought his hands up to rub his eyes and happily noted that they weren't covered in blood. Even after rubbing the sleep from his eyes Naruto kept his hands in place over his eyes waiting for his now regular sounding, though quick, heartbeat to slow. He never thought he'd see the day where he'd wish for his old nightmares back, at least with them he knew exactly what was going to happen and could always depend on that.
Thump-Thump-Thump.
With a jolt, the blue eyed boy sprang from his lying position to a sitting one at the familiar sound, though only now aware that it was not the beating of his heart at all.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sure enough, the source of the noise had been one Hatake Kakashi who was currently leaned against the wall next to the thick oak door with his left fist resting against the wood and his right hand clutching an infamous small orange book. The blonde's teacher raised the hand that was not holding the book open by its spine, but gave no other sign of acknowledgement of the young teen's salutation. But by now the other male was so used to his sensei's relaxed and uncaring demeanor that his lack of enthusiasm didn't bother him, much. "Aren't you supposed to knock before you enter the room?"
"That is the common practice."
"I thought it was common curtsy." The older male shrugged, though awkwardly due to the fact he still had an arm leaned against the wall, in response as if their conversation was unimportant, but shut the book in his grasp and placed it into its normal storage spot of his weapons pouch.
"Either way, this isn't a common situation." Naruto rolled his cerulean eyes.
"Still, you just don't walk into someone's room while they're sleeping and watch them! Do you know how creepythat is?!¹" Again his sensei shrugged an unbalanced shrug while bringing his left arm to the back of his head.
"Wari, wari. The ANBU said you were awake. Could see where that got the idea though, what with all the noise you were making thrashing about." A blanket of silence fell over the two as each was waiting for the other to speak first. Finally, Kakashi coughed and cleared his throat. "Uh, would you like to, uh, talk about it? Your nightmare?"
It was hard for Naruto to his hide his smirk at his teacher's awkwardness. The jonin wasn't much for talking about his feelings, if anything he just gave advice on what he inferred to be the problem. Since the man had no idea what Naruto's problem was, he had to admit he didn't and actually listen. The blonde boy smiled.
"Sure!" The teen chirped. "Well, first off it wasn't really a nightmare.It was actually a very good dream, see I was running and running cuz the ramen kept dancing off. Wait…is that a bad dream if I can't reach the ramen? Okay so maybe it was a nightmare, anyway—"
"Cut the act." Naruto stopped mid-rant, but the smile stayed in place.
"Whatcha talking—"
"Stop wearing a mask, that's how you got into this mess in the first place." Naruto kept smiling, but his eyes had tightened to slits.
"What do you know about how I 'got into this mess'?"
"You've been hiding important information from us." The older male stated coldly, motioning with his head to the still bloody bandage on his wrist. The blonde snorted, finally letting his smile fall.
"Like the mask every bothered you before."
"We didn't—"
"Oh, stop kidding yourself. If anyone knew, it was probably you. You saw that I wasn't happy, you knew it the first day you became sensei of team 7. But, you figured if I was strong enough to act happy, I didn't need your help. Besides, you were too busy worrying about Sasuke." The teen chuckled, though the chuckle was void of humor. "Too much like yourself to pass him up, right? Or maybe you were telling yourself that he was more unstable and demanded more attention than the rest of us."
"That's not—"
"Please! You can't say you weren't relievedwhen Jiraiya and Tsunade took me and Sakura under their wings, can you? I'll give you that you felt guilty about favoring Sasuke, but obviously not enough to stop. Once we got even better teachers than you could ever hopetobe, you felt that you were forgiven, or maybe you were happy you got off easy." Naruto's voice got softer, but his gaze became harder. "But we didn't forget it, I didn't forget. You can keep trying to make up for the past by doing now what you could have done years ago, but what's done is done and now you've got to live with the consequences."
Kakashi had been part of ANBU, at the young age of thirteen no less, and he knew how to keep a straight face, even without his mask on. However, he could not keep a straight face the more the boy in front of him talked. Each sentence hit him harder than the last, if the man didn't know any better he'd think he was caught in Itachi's mangekyou sharingan once again and was repeatedly getting stabbed for days. What's worse was it didn't hurt him because this was what Naruto thought of him, but that everything the teen was saying was true.
For years the older male had pushed these thoughts from his mind, threw himself into any mission he was given once he'd lost his team. They didn't need him, every one of them found a better teacher than he was and would ever be, and though they left him, Kakashi knew it was he that betrayed them.
There was so many things he knew he should've done, knew he couldhave done if he'd just put in some more effort. He knew Sakura would've excelled in medical ninjutsu or genjutsu, but he never even thought her the simple ones he knew. At the very least he could've sent her to be trained by someone else, but he'd just ignored her and she eventually did that so on her own. The jonin had thought of using Naruto's bunshin to quicken his learning process after the mission to the land of Waves, but he'd always been hesitant to tell him. Even now he couldn't forget how disappointed and upset the young blonde had been when he said he wouldn't train him during the chunin exams, perhaps the biggest mistake he'd ever made when it came to team 7. He also knew he should've talked Sasuke out of revenge a lot earlier, but at the time he even put that off. In the end, he didn't even help his favorite. Perhaps it would've been better if he hadfailed them as genin. No, it would've been better if he hadn't been the one assigned to them.
Naruto didn't know whether to feel guilty or giddy at the turmoil evident in his sensei's eyes. After all, it was what he'd been aiming for, the teen had intendedto make the silver haired jonin suffer. Still, it wasn't as pleasing as he'd thought it'd be; maybe even a little too easy. Nevertheless, he watched the man writhe within his skin with interest, waiting for his reaction. Finally, the other male came to turns with his thoughts and Naruto could see the slump of his shoulders indicating defeat. Time for the final blow.
"Why don't you do me a favor and stay out of my life. Things turn out better for me when you do." Alright, it wasn't the best he could do. Certainly he could have thought of something that'd really break the tortured man in front of him, but he didn't want him to have some kind of mental breakdown. Mostly the cerulean eyed boy just wanted his sensei out of his way, and he knew what he had said would be enough.
Sure enough, the masked man glanced at his pupil one last time, his eyes silently begging for forgiveness, before nodding and leaving the room, stiffly but quickly. Again, Naruto felt a little guilty at hurting the adult so thoroughly, but it needed to be done if he wanted to be left alone.
"Ouch. Bit harsh weren't ya?" The blonde twisted where he sat in surprise towards the new voice. The door leading towards the bathroom which had been shut just moments ago was now wide open revealing a slightly large white haired man.
"Ero-senin?!"
"Stop calling me that!"
"What are you doing here?"
"Kakashi's not your only sensei who's worried about ya. Speaking of which, what was all that about?" The teen lowered his eyes unable to look at the older man as a new wave of guilt crashed through him. The boy mumbled something incoherent, but offered no real explanation. Folding his arms, the other man crossed the room in a few large steps and leaned his back against the wall besides the blonde's bed.
"Still waiting for an answer."
"He knows it's true." Naruto mumbled again, though this time the older man understood it. The sannin laughed.
"Well ain't that a load of crap. And even if some parts were true, you sure laid it on thick didn't you." The teen glared at his sensei.
"Hey! I did what I had to do."
"What? Make the poor man run away like a kicked puppy? Mighty big of you."
"What do you know, huh? He didn't want to know my life story before I cut, but now that he knows he acts like he could come be my savior or something like that! He has no right!" The old man just laughed again.
"You sound like some after academy special!² 'No right', ha! That man was your squad leader; he has every right you just said." Naruto growled.
"He never cared about me!"
"Of course he did! Sure he didn't tuck you in at night or rub circles on your back as you cried, but the guy always had your best interest at heart."
"It wouldn't have killed him to help me out every once in a while!" Jiraiya just shook his head in response, fueling the Kyuubi container's rage. "And who do you think you are! You weren't much help either! Nine out of ten nights you'd disappear and show up drunk about five a.m.! Do you know how lonely I was?"
"Cry me a river kid. You act like I neglected you or something. I trained you didn't I? Gave you the attention you so desperately begged for."
"I didn't beg for anything!" Again the older man laughed.
"Please! You were like a little puppy³."
"That's not who I really am." Jiraiya shrugged.
"Fine, it isn't. But you just admitted that you were lonely, that you wantedme to be there. That's true, ain't it?" Naruto gritted his teeth together at the way his sensei was using his words against him and glared.
"That doesn't mean I begged for attention!"
"You are now ain't ya? I have reasons for everything I do. I'll admit some are selfish and some are just for my novels, but I've got reasons nonetheless. Still, I took ya under my wing; I said I'd teach you when you were, as you put it 'ignored'. Didn't have to go out of my way like that, but I did. I like ya enough to do so. But I still had my own life to take into account, so stop acting like it was personal or intentional. Your life sucks, we've all got that even if we don't know how bad, but give us some slack when we're trying to help."
The blonde growled again, tearing his gaze away from his mentor so the man couldn't see his guilt. Naruto didn't really blame anything on his former guardian; he was one of the few people he would always be thankful for. The man had helped him get stronger, though he didn't completely agree with his reason for wanting to do so, and he had willingly chosen to do so. He told Naruto stories and jokes, taught him the way of the land and of life. The blonde would even say the man was the closest person to a father besides Iruka he had (though perhaps he was closer to a perverted grandfather or uncle if he thought about it).
No, he wasn't upset with him like he was with Kakashi. Even if he did get lonely sometimes when traveling with the dirty man, Jiraiya always seemed to make up for it later, intentionally or not. But he had his reasons for trying to push him away as he did with Kakashi…
"I've got a question." Naruto snapped out of his thoughts as the silence which had fallen over the room was broken. "Don't know if I wanna know the answer, but the stupid thing is giving me a mighty big headache."
"Shoot," the blonde said with a grimace, fearing what the question may be.
"Did you ever do it—I mean, did you ever cut," the man said the word like he'd taken a large drink grimy mud brown sewer water instead of lemonade, "while you were with me?"
The teen flinched and sighed. He didn't want questions, especially ones like this. Should've known, should've known… Clenching his eyes shut, he struggled to remember if he had, though he truly hoped he hadn't. Of all the questions his sensei could have asked…
"Yes." It was Jiraiya's turn to flinch, causing Naruto to hurry on. "But not on purpose."
"How do you cut yourself on accident? I'm not talking about no kunai slipping or vegetable chopping here—"
"No, and I'm not either." The blonde sighed; bring his hands up to his eyes and rubbing them in frustration. Why couldn't he just go away? Everyone wanted him to talk, but he had nothing to say. "I'd wanted to. I wanted so desperately to cut myself, but…"
"When?" Naruto sighed again.
"It was near the beginning, not too long after Sasuke had betrayed us and when we had left. I couldn't stop seeing his face, it was always smirking at me, and in the background I'd always see that snake." Jiraiya watched him intently. He'd always seen Naruto tossing and turning at night, but the boy had never answered what they had been about.
"You were out again when I woke up screaming. I didn't know what I was doing until I had the kunai in my hand. It was cold and it was shaking, well Iwas shaking, but I don't think I realized that. When I saw the sharp edge, I didn't think I could do it. A little voice in my head, one that sounded a lot like teme's, kept calling me a coward. I got angry and yelled at the voice that I could do it, bringing the knife to my flesh in the process." Despite himself, the battle hardened ninja shuddered. The way the boy seemed to have detached himself from reality and how he talked as if remembering a midnight stroll made the sannin uneasy to say the least.
"But there I stopped again. I could hear my heartbeat, feel it pounding in my ears. My hands were still shaking and I couldn't make myself go through with it. I'd pulled the kunai away from my leg and I thought I was going to cry." The boy closed his cerulean eyes.
"I couldn't remember how long it'd been since I'd felt so weak. No, I knew exactly how long, the last time I failed. But I didn't cry. Nah, I ended up laughing." The teen grinned humorlessly. "Cuz guess what, I hadn'tfailed. I was shaking so much I'd nicked my skin in the process. It was such a tiny cut, small as a papercut, but it made me laugh so much. Guess I was hysterical or something because I couldn't stop. I guess that was the first time I cut, but I didn't really mean to so I guess I never thought of it that way."
Naruto gave a small laugh. How ironic that he'd started and gotten caught accidentallycutting. Jiraiya wasn't lying when he'd said Naruto's life sucked. The room settled into another silence.
"Was that the only time?" The blonde nodded.
"Didn't try again until sometime after we came back to Konoha."
"Do you know when?"
"Nope," Naruto grinned. "Sorry, but I think you got about all you're about to get outta me for now." Jiraiya grinned as well, though it was half-hearted.
"Shoot, and here I was hoping I could squeeze a bit more before I had to leave." The teen's grin dropped into a frown in an instant.
"Leave? Where?"
"Sorry kid, but I've got another adventure ahead of me. Bad timing, I know, but there's plenty of girls out there that need deflowering!"
"Arg! You dirty old perv!"
"I'm not that old!"
"Says who? Certainly not those wrinkles!"
Even as they argued both could feel the tension and disappointment that had fallen over them. After a while they both just stopped arguing, and the silence just accentuated their feelings. Eventually it just got too awkward, and though neither wanted the older man to leave, there was no point in him staying here any longer. With a quick goodbye and threat that he'd be in contact with Tsunade and planned to receive weekly updates on his 'condition', the sannin bid his pupil a last farewell leaving the blonde alone in the annoyingly white room.
Naruto sighed. At least he was alone. No more pestering, no more awkward silences and, thankfully, no more yelling. The teen had barely finished his thought when he heard a knock on the door and he swore.
`-,-` (what kinda face is that?!) :-# :-$ `-,-` :-# :-$ `-,-` :-# :-$ `-,-` :-# :-$ `-,-` :-# :-$ `-,-` :-# :-$ `-,-` :-# :-$ `-,-` :-# :-$ `-,-` :-# :-$ Oo
The sun was already up when Sasuke woke up. In fact, it was not only up but shining irritatingly bright through his small bedroom window, its rays landing directly in his face. Groggily the teen attempted to hit the light away, only to end up hitting his face in the process. Now somewhat coherent, he turned to his bedside and jumped from his bed when he saw just how late it was. Personally, Sasuke wasn't really a morning person, but Uchihas did not, do not, sleep in.
Swearing as he went, the onyx eyed male ran about the room as quickly as he could looking for clothes and other necessities he needed to start the day. He was doing fairly well too, only running into his dresser once and stubbing his toe against the bed a couple of times, considering sleep still clouded his mind and that he was busy thinking of whether he had forgotten to set his alarm the night before. Finally, he managed to finish tugging his shirt on as he bounded from his room, headed towards the kitchen.
Again, Uchiha Itachi was seated in his normal chair at the table, sipping tea as he had the night before.
"Good morning."
"If it can still be considered morning," Sasuke growled. "Why didn't you wake me up!"
"You could use the rest."
The younger of the two rolled his eyes. He neither was in the mood, nor had the time, to argue about what he did and did not need. There were places he had to go and people he needed to see. That being said, he passed past the kitchen, heading towards the door, not caring that he was skipping breakfast. Sliding his shoes on as he went, Sasuke opened the door. Before he could even realize what was happening, a flash of orange darted between the teen's legs and out into the yard. Despite his rush, the Uchiha froze for a second. Was the kitten allowed outside? Would it get lost and never come back? Did he care if it did?
"Don't worry, he'll come back."
Even with his shinobi instincts the younger male hadn't completely turned until his brother had finished the sentence. The boy felt a twinge of anger and jealousy towards his brother and the way he always managed to catch him off guard. Since Itachi's return, Sasuke tended to forget that his brother was still overwhelmingly powerful. Despite the fact that he was going blind, the man still seemed to know exactly what his otouto was doing while he was in the house and what's more, what he was thinking. It irked the teen that his aniki acted so caringdespite all the power he had. Even though Sasuke tried to change his ways of thinking, he hadspent a majority of his life doing everything and anything in his power to gain strength, not even caring who he hurt in the process, and to see Itachi blatantly ignore his strength by playing house was a slap in the face to the young Uchiha.
Sasuke shook the thoughts from his head. He shouldn't care, but the fact was he did. Still, now was not the time to consider how he felt about his older brother or the stupid orange cat. He strode from the house, but was keenly aware that he was being followed. Not bothering to be inconspicuous, the teen looked over his shoulder without stopping.
"Where are you going?"
"I am also going to the hospital." Itachi said as though it should have been obvious. Sasuke stopped walking, though the older Uchiha did not.
"How did you know I was going to the hospital?"
"You're far easier to read than you believe you are otouto," the brother answered vaguely as he passed the teen. With a growl, Sasuke walked quickly to not only catch up with the other male, but pass him as well.
"Fine, then what business do you have there?"
"Meeting someone, just as you are." Sasuke opened his mouth to say something more, but thought better of it. There was no need to waste his breath if Itachi's answers would just bring up more questions.
Thankfully the walk there was short, and the two siblings walked into the building without saying another word. As Sasuke walked in he was hit by the strong smell of ammonia and bleach disinfectants. The scent was so strong it made the raven haired teen want to gag, but he didn't for appearance's sake. Turning behind him, he found that his brother had already disappeared, for which he didn't know whether to feel glad or uneasy. Instead of dwelling on his brother's magic act, the Uchiha walked up to the check in center, only to find no one stationed there. Sasuke sighed in irritation. Did people know that he was in a hurry and had created some conspiracy against him? Paranoid as that sounded, he was begging to think it might be true.
After ten minutes of standing at the desk, each minute a slow dripping electric green goo that swallowed him and stole a bit of what little patience the teen had as it passed, a nurse finally came in.
"Oh! Hello, I'm sincerely sorry for the wait. We're extremely short staffed right now and I'm working the desk andthe first floor, not to mention Sumi just asked if I'd cover her next shift." The woman, probably in her late twenties, laughed, and though the situation she'd just described sounded anything but pleasant, her laugh made it seem as if it didn't bother her at all. "So what can I help you with, sir?"
"I'm looking for a patient," the ebony eyed boy said as best he could without gritting his teeth. "Uzumaki Naruto."
"Sure-tainly!" The nurse grinned, and in the back of his mind Sasuke begged that this wasn't one of his fangirls…or a future one. After a couple minutes of searching, the female frowned. "Um, I'm sorry. But I have no record of a mister Uzumaki Naruto being checked in."
"What." The teen said with a flat voice, but inside panic was rising within him. They hadn't caught him? They never found him! "Check again."
"Um, okay, but—"
"Check," the boy hesitated a minute, "please."
The lady behind the desk nodded, but before she could finish her second search, Sasuke felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You can stop that search now Miss. It seems my brother is thoroughly confused. We're sorry for troubling you." The nurse nodded in relief, glad that she didn't have to deal with an upset visitor.
Sasuke opened his mouth to object, but the older male was already leading him away from the desk and had begun to talk before he could get the words out.
"He's in a room on the top floor, shouldn't be hard to miss." The young Uchiha stared at Itachi suspiciously, but allowed himself to be steered towards the stairs.
"And you know how." Itachi didn't answer, instead choosing to push the boy towards the stairs.
"Top floor." The man repeated, turning to leave.
"You're leaving?" Sasuke asked, trying to hide the surprise from his voice.
"Yes, I have to prepare the house."
Again, the teen was going to inquire what exactly was he preparing the house for, but stopped, deciding he might as well give it up. With a sigh, he trudged up the stairs hoping his brother hadn't just sent him on a wild goose chase of some kind.
: P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! : P $ ) ! _ ! ^ ^
The hallway Sasuke reached seemed abandoned. The doors had a dusty film covering them; spider webs were strung on the doorknobs. The scene was perfect for a horror movie, not for housing his mentally ill best friend. If it hadn't been for the yelling, he might have turned back right then. But then he heard it, loud though he couldn't make out a single word. Midway through the hallway was another door, and now that he noticed it he saw that unlike the other doorways it was clean and seemed in fairly good use. Without hesitating any longer than he'd already had, the teen made it down the hallway, reaching the door in five long strides. He'd begun to turn the doorknob when he felt another hand on his shoulder.
"Name." Pivoting on his heels, he turned to face a masked ANBU, though not the one he'd seen the night before.
"Uchiha Sasuke." He answered while simultaneously shaking his way out of the stranger's grasp.
"Purpose."
"I'm here to see Uzumaki Naruto." The ANBU paused, perhaps looking him over, and nodded.
"Very well, though it's not recommended."
"I don't care." The ANBU nodded for a second time.
"Wait until the Hokage's finished before entering the room."
Unsurprised that the fifth was here as well, Sasuke again reached for the doorknob. The metal turned easily in his palm, and though the door was heavy it slid open with ease. This hallway was nothing like the one before. The walls were freshly painted white, the floor recently cleaned, and heavily guarded. On each side of the door he entered stood two more ANBU, and at the end of the hall stood another. Vaguely the teen wondered if all these guards were stationed here for Naruto, or whether they'd followed Tsunade. Halfway down the hall, the Uchiha hesitated. Itachi never said which room…
"NO. Absolutely NOT!" Sasuke smirked at the familiar loudmouth, and traced the yelling to be coming from three rooms down on his right. The doors here were made of wood and had no windows in it, but the Uchiha would recognize that voice anywhere. As he neared the room, he heard another voice.
"—be reasonable."
"How bout you don't ask for the IMPOSSIBLE."
"We both know you don't want to be locked up in a psychiatric ward."
"If this is my other option, BRING OUT THE STRAIGHT JACKET!"
"Naruto, please."
"Stop begging! Homeless people beg less than you do."
"This is for your own good!"
"Would you STOP saying that? If I hear one more person say that to me, I swear I really WILL kill myself."
"It's true! And I'm doing my best to make everything as comfortable as can—"
"The only thing that's true is that you're trying to buy your way outta guilt."
"THAT'S IT! Do you know how hard it was to find a place for you to stay?!"
"YOU CAN LOCK ME IN A CELL FOR ALL I CARE! Send me to Ibiki and have me tortured for information! You CAN NOT send me there! I WON'T let you!"
"LISTEN brat! I've been jumping through hoops to help you, but I'm running out of hoops to jump through. There's plenty of other missions these ANBU could be out on if they weren't babysitting—"
"Well, THERE'S your problem! I'M NOT A BABY!"
"You're sure acting like one!"
"Stop treating me like one! We've already HAD this conversation! If I'm nothing but problems to you, just let me go already!"
"Oh no you don't! You're not getting off that easily. You need ANBU level surveillance and there's only one that isn't too busy to handle you." Sasuke, who had been standing against the wall content to listen, stiffened.
"I'm NOT staying with HIM." Oh no.
"You ARE and you WILL. End of story." As the sannin said that, she pushed open the door, stalked out, and slammed the thick door behind her. Automatically her eyes fell on the pale skinned boy who leaned tense on the wall.
"I suggest you not visit him right now. He was already a bit unstable with his morning guests and you…Honestly, expect to lose a limb or two." The fairly young looking woman shrugged her sagged shoulders, and didn't bothering talking to the teen anymore than that. It was obvious the boy had questions and she was not in the mood for questions. All she wanted was some sake and to get some sleep.
Sasuke expected something more from the Hokage, at least some kind of explanation or confirmation that the blonde was staying with himlike he inferred. But after saying those few words, the Godaime walked quickly out the hall, only one ANBU following behind her. Once she left him, though he was not alone because two ANBU still remained in the hallway, the teen stood outside his best friend's room confused.
He had every intention to walk in there, despite his friend's anger, despite the fight he knew was going to come from it, and despite the fact that he knew it'd probably only make things worse, but…perhaps it really wasa bad time. The blonde would rather be in a straight jacket than with him for kami's sake, and he didn't take Tsunade's warning lightly either (though there was certainly no way Naruto had any weapons in his possession). After that heated argument, he might just drive his teammate over the edge by being there. But the answers! Sasuke needed to know why. Why hide his feelings, why lie to everyone, why cut?
However…if he was staying with him, he'd know in due time. It wasn't likely that the dobe would tell him anything now anyway, not in this state. Even though it drove him insane, Sasuke would just have to wait until later. Hopefully his friend's anger would diminish over time.
With all those excuses in mind, Sasuke made his decision and headed back towards the door he'd entered. As he passed, he heard the ANBU mutter, "good choice," but ignored him. Running was rarely a good choice and right now the Uchiha felt like a coward.
¹ Not when Edward does it XD Sorry, Twilight slipped into my mind…again ''
² Instead of after school special? Ha! Could u imagine what those would be like? "Johnny, I know you just lost both your parents, and your sister died on a mission, but drop the explosive note." Wow, I think strange : P
³ Jiraiya has puppies on the brain, well technically I do since I'm writing it XD
Good morning everybody!!! (That's an oxymoron, but whatever, prob afternoon by the time I get this thing up -_-')
Jiraiya is alive ^^ I actually liked writing this Naruto part, but I can't decide who I liked talking as more: Naruto cuz he got to bust out Kakashi (very pleasing) or Jiraiya cuz he got to bust Naruto (payback : P) I think Jiraiya was funner (SO A WORD!!)
So YES I am back. Mexico was er…interesting? XD Basically everything that COULD go wrong WENT wrong. Ran out of clothes the first day, stupid dog pooped in the hotel room (he was mad at us for leaving him alone…attention addict, oh well, he got his revenge), crooked cops made us pay $100 (American, might I add), got stuck in side buildings while they tried to cover up a protest (my parents still joke that the probably would've arrested me thinking I was part of the rally…I wasn't even dressed that emo or punk that day! XD), we got to stay in a lovely spider/scorpion infested house (I KNEW it was the same house I remembered getting attacked by ants and 2 dead scorpions in when I was like 7!), chased by a swarm of bees, and much much more : D Bright side!: Got to see my cousins…some of which WOULD NOT LET ME GO!!! ("I can't walk when you're grabbing my leg, chicito.") ^^
Anyway, SORRY THE CHAPTER'S SEMI-SHORT (shorter than I'd like at least). I had a whole other part I wanted to add, but I got terribly sick on Sat (felt like someone was pounding me in the head with a hammer while simultaneously kicking me in the stomach!) so I lost a whole day's worth of writing. I tried to make up for it on Sun…but even writing most of the day I couldn't get to it T-T And if you're wondering why I couldn't just post it a day or so later…
I'M LEAVING AGAIN ^^ (Omg! Don't kill me!) I'm sorry T-T This time me and PU (parental units) are off to Costa Rica!!! (Hopefully I'll be all better by then .') DON'T WORRY THOUGH! I'll only been gone for about a week, so the update should only be a few days late!!! (Ha, first I was gone for about 3 weeks, then 2, now 1 : P) So, yeah, dunno y this year seems to be the year to travel! (Most of my friends are going on some wild adventures too ^^')
Beta spot is still open! Need someone who can set up a connection, cuz I use the DocX thing on fanfiction here ^^
Oh! Time for my random Q! (I'm so full of them, I may very well explode –nod, nod-)
What's your favorite part of the story? ^^
BONUS POINT: Can you find all the cowards in this chapter? XD (Why's too peeps! : P)
R~E~V~E~I~W, I need them reviews to recharge my writer's battery! (If you don't, all that comes out is poetry O.o)
"My eyes sting lime green blotches on charcoal burnt concrete, my fingers screaming at the stench of chili covered eyeballs in fresh broth as the keyboard slowly swallows them—"
GAH! PRESS THE GREEN BUTTON WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!! T-T