Sleep In Sunlight

Chapter 6:

Shadows

Previously:

The doors opened and he stepped out onto the sixth floor and made his way down the hall. When he got to his destination he stopped and listened to the faint 'beep... beep... beep...' He slithered into the door and closed it behind him. His smile grew when he saw his best friend Kiba. "Hey. You're not rolling in your chair." The brunette said as he flipped through a book he was reading. "I didn't feel the need to." The blonde glanced over at the curtain that separated Kiba from the other side of the room. "How's Shikamaru?" The blonde asked. Kiba sighed closing his book and looking over at the same curtain. "He still hasn't woken up yet. I heard the doctor say they might take him off life support."

"Man, I remember when he used to be the one guy everyone wanted to hang with."

"Yeah," Kiba chuckled. "Always getting everyone in trouble... So who are you hiding from today? Your dad?"

"Yeah." Naruto took a seat next to Kiba on the bed. "You should see him. You never know, it could be your last chance." Blue eyes shifted down. "I know."

"You wanna play Xbox or something?"

"Yeah."

Naruto sat on the floor next to the brunette trying to vaporize his body and become zombie master. "Ha! Take that, Blondie!" Kiba shouted as he defeated the his blonde friend with ease. Naruto tossed the controller to the side and huffed. "That shouldn't count against me. I haven't played for a while."

"Face it!" Kiba stood up and shot his fist in the air in excitement. "I am the Zombie Master!" Naruto laughed and stood up too. "Ok, fine. Props to you oh great zombie master man." Suddenly, Naruto stumbled backwards and fell back to the floor. "Naruto!" Kiba quickly came to his side. "Are you ok?" The blonde held his head in one hand while the other propped him up. "Y-yeah. Just got a little dizzy." The startled brunette helped him up and held him up. "Do you want me to call for somebody?"

"No." His words seemed to fall like whispers. "I'm gonna go back to my room. I'm pretty tired."

"Wait, let me help you down there." Naruto shook his head. "There's no use in both of us getting in trouble." He tried to smile as he noticed the concerned look on his friends face. He still completely hated that look. But, that smile quickly faded. "Naruto?" Kiba saw the blue eyes fog over and droop from Naruto's face. Before he could do anything, the blonde fell to the side again slamming his head against the wall.

Naruto glared at the crack in the tiled floor as he was being pushed in his wheelchair down the hall. "How you doing, Naruto?"

His blue eyes shifted up to Shizune who was walking ahead of them. His head hurt and it was hard to hold his head up. He gave her a thumbs up and continued to glare down at the floor, the crack long gone now. They turned into a room that was ever so familiar to the blonde. "We have a surprise for you, Jiraiya." Shizune smiled.

"Hello again, Naruto." A tall older man said with a smile. He placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and lifted his head up by his chin. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I passed out." He said merely in a whisper. The doctor released the blonde's face, causing him to struggle more to hold it up. "Do you remember anything before that?" Naruto's eyes twitched a bit involuntarily as he tried to remember. "Shizune told me my dad was coming." The white haired old man nodded writing down some things on papers that were bound together in a manilla folder. "Do you remember sneaking up to Kiba Inuzuka's room?"

"No." He reached up touching the bandages that were taped down to the side of his head. "What the heck happened?" He asked. "Well, it seems that you passed out in Kiba's room and bumped your head on the way down."

"I don't remember seeing Kiba."

"Well you did." Shizune chimed in, the anger clearly present in her voice. "He's the one who called us up there, said you were hiding from your dad so you guys played video games. And why didn't you use your wheelchair? You know how you-"

"Shizune, please." The doctor sighed and gestured to the door. "Yes, excuse me, Jiraiya." She turned and left closing the door behind her.

Jiraiya stood over him and pulled a small flashlight out of his front coat pocket and turned it on. "Look up at me please." He shined the light into the blue orbs swiping it back and forth slowly then quicker. Once he finished Naruto looked around the room. It was the closed off room to the MRI machine. "Are you making me get a scan?"

"Yes, we need to get another one."

"But I just passed out. I never got scanned for passing out before."

"That crack to the head worries me, Naruto. We just want to do a little check up to make sure nothings changed for the worse." The blonde sighed, feeling too tired to try and protest the scan. "Is my dad still here?" Jiraiya smiled. "Yes he is. I'm sure Shizune will send him up. He was sure worried when we got the red light from Kiba." A man in a white shirt and matching pants poked his head in from the opposite door. "We're ready for him, Jiraiya." The older man nodded and walked behind Naruto and pushed him the rest of the way through the room and past the man in white up to the large machine.

"Alright, I need you to sit up here." The man said tapping the thin table. The blonde sighed again, and struggled to stand from his wheelchair. "Do you need any help?" The blonde glared up at him. "No, thanks." The man lifted his hands and walked out of the room along with Jiraiya, closing the door behind them. After the blonde got out of his chair he mustered all his strength to push himself up onto the table.

"I'm ready!" He yelled with annoyed sarcasm. When he heard no response he looked up through the window that separated the two rooms. His eyes immediately went to locks of blonde. Jiraiya was speaking to his father. The older blonde was nodding and seemed frigidity at whatever it was that the doctor was telling him. Blue eyes flashed to the blonde. He smiled lightly at his father and waved as his father did the same. Jiraiya and the man in white came through the door. While the man removed the bandage from the blonde's forehead and made sure that he was laying right, Jiraiya began to speak again.

"Ok, I'm sure you know the procedure. Don't move once the scan begins."

"How long will I be in this time?" Naruto asked staring straight up at the ceiling. "Should only be an hour, bud." The man in white said as he laid a thick blanket over Naruto's body just below his shoulders. The two left and he looked up once more to see his dad staring through the window with a brave face. "Alright, stay still." He heard through a speaker. He laid back and sighed. He heard the already present humming became louder and he slid slowly into the machine. He closed his eyes and mentally started beating himself when the never ending elevator music made its way through the speakers.

Sasuke stood there on the moist grass. He stared down at the grave stone that had his parents' names clearly engraved. He had been in this exact spot so many times before, motionless, no words he could think to say to the grave. He always wanted to say something, but he always felt that it was silly, or he just felt like whatever he had to say was unimportant.

"Mom... Dad..." He whispered. He could feel his chest tighten as his emotions threatened to get the better of him.

FLASHBACK

"Ouch!" A young raven hissed as his finger hit the burning flame of the candle. He stared at the candle's illuminating flicker. It was beautiful.

He stood from the floor and went to the bathroom to fill a cup of water. He ran back and smiled at his new experiment. He dipped his small fingers into the water, then held them over the burning wax. A few drops fell around the flame and obsidian eyes widened in amazement as the bright flame expanded quickly then died down. He bit his lip and held the cup over the candle. He tilted the cup slightly and let an ounce of the water fall.

The flame grew rapidly and the young boy jumped back as the glass surounding the wax cracked and fell to the floor. The shag carpet in his room burned quickly as the melted was spread and burned. Sasuke jumped up staring at the growing flames, his body seemed to be frozen. "Oh no." His voice shook.

He turned and ran down the hall and down the stairs. He grabbed the phone off of the small table next to their sofa. His fingers fumbled over the numbers, and he held it to his ears. "Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?"

"M-my room is on fire." He shook.

"Are you alone?"

"N-no, my mommy and daddy are upstairs."

"Where is the fire?"

"In my room."

"Is your room upstairs."

"Mmhmm."

"Alright, I'm contacting your local fire departmemnt. Is there any way you can get to your parents?" Sasuke ran to the staircase and froze when he saw the flames licking across the floor. He dropped the phone and started screaming.

"MOMMY! DADDY!"

The tears fell faster and faster. His stomach tightedned and he felt like throwing up. "Mommy! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"Sasuke?" He froze when he heard his mother scream his name. "Baby? Where are you?"

"Mommy!"

"SASUKE!" He could hear his father's booming voice travel down the hall. "Oh my god!" He could hear his mother and father scream again. He heard a few thumps, then nothing. The crackles of flames eating at wood and drywall filled his mind.

"Mommy?" He went up one step. "Daddy?" Before he could take another step he was grabbed from behind. He looked up to see a man in strange clothing and a scary mask. The alien like man carried him out of the house, ignoring the screams and cries coming from the young boy. "Sasuke!" The boy looked up to see his brother standing at the end of the drive way. The firefighter handed him over and ran back into the house.

Sasuke wrapped his arms around Itachi's neck and shook violently. "I-I'm sorry, I-Itachi." The older raven stared closed his eyes and let his head rest on his younger brother's head and he rubbed circles lightly into his back. He turned and began walking to a police officer. Sasuke's eyes opened and he stared up at the house that was being eaten by raging flames on one side. His mind cleared slightly and he noticed all the fire trucks and an ambulance and a few police officers.

"We have them!"

Itachi turned around to face the house again and he and Sasuke watched as two limp bodies were carried out and placed onto set up gernies, Sasuke only noticed the severe burns and blistered skin.

"Daddy! Mommy!" He screamed as he tried to kick his way out of Itachi's arms. The older raven directed Sasuke's head away from their parents and listened to the painful sobs coming from the young boy.

END FLASHBACK

"I am so sorry..." His words were drawn out and his eyes quickly became bloodshot as the strain to keep his tears in check became to much. He turned and walked away leaving his emotions behind to hover over the grave. He walked steadily with pride that masked the inner turmoil. The hospital came into veiw in no time. He didn't bother looking to see if there were cars coming; at the moment, getting hit by a car would be a blessing to the raven.

He went straight through the main entrance of the hospital, not bothering to look up at anyone as he made he way to the elevator. It was quiet in the blonde's hallway. Usually there were a few doctors making rounds, but to day the only noise was his shoes tapping away at the tiled floor. He got to the familiar door and reached for the knob.

Suddenly the door flew open and a taller blonde man bumped into Sasuke. "Excuse me." He said in a haste and continued down the hall. He stared after the man for a moment before he went in the room. Naruto was laying in bed, staring angrily out the window.

"Hey." He said as he walked up and sat in the seat. The blonde turned his head and Sasuke noticed the bandages that covered the side. "What happened?"

"I passed out I guess. I can't really remember what happened." He ran his fingers over the bandages and winced when he applied too much pressure. "Who was that guy?" Sasuke asked. Naruto gave a small smile. "My dad. He's mad again."

"Why?"

"They want to do surgery and I said no."

"Why do they want to do surgery now?" Naruto pulled out his orange book that had been nestled at his side under the covers. He flipped through the pages the handed it to Sasuke. "I wrote everything down that the doctor said." The raven took the book and read over the words. He cocked an eyebrow and looked up at his blonde friend.

"They found another shadow? What the hell does that mean?"

"It means there's another tumor forming." He said simply as though the statement had no importance to him. "They did a scan of my brain to make sure my little fall didn't like cause the already existing tumor to like mutate or something. And when they looked over it, they found a shadow in the scan, another tumor. They think they're going to murge." The raven only stared.

"What would happen?" Sasuke asked, already knowing the answer. "Well, basically my brain wouldn't be able to handle it and I would just all together stop working. Burn out like a light bulb pretty much."

"You'd die."

Naruto nodded and continued looking out the window. Sasuke sat back into the chair feeling the soft cushin flatten under him. "What about the surgery? Wouldn't it be better than just sitting here and waiting for your brain to shut down."

"No."

"Do you want to die, Naruto?" Sasuke shouted. The blonde whipped his head around and glared at Sasuke.

"No! Of course I don't!" The blonde's voice cracked slightly. "Do you have any idea what it's like to have a timer on your life? Everyday, I wake up knowing I could die any second!" Tears lined the rim of his eyes. "It scares the hell out of me, Sasuke! Everything does. I have to try like hell to remember something that happened two seconds ago. Everything is being eaten away and I can't do anything to stop it. And the surgery! God, that surgery has a ninety percent chance of killing me, Sasuke. I don't want the last thing I ever see to be doctors hovering over me, ready to rip my skull open. Do you get it now, Sasuke? It all just scares me."

Ahhh! i updated this story! I kind of forgot about it for a while... sorry. And another sorry for the shortness of this chapter.