Chapter 7

xXx

When Sasuke finally woke up he demanded to be taken to Naruto. Itachi talked to the nurse and was able to convince her to take his brother there before his brother tried to get there on his own. The nurse took Sasuke in a wheelchair over to Naruto's room. Naruto was asleep on the bed and his father sat in the chair next to him.

"Hello Sasuke. He's sleeping right now but when he wakes up I'm sure he'll love to see you here."

"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault that this happened."

"What are you talking about? From what I've been told if it weren't for you he wouldn't have been found so soon."

"It's my fault this happened. If it weren't for me beating up those boys then they wouldn't have gone to such an extent to take revenge on Naruto."

"But from what Naruto told me you beat them up because they were going to rape him."

"Even so, if I'd just come and picked him up on Friday morning and walked him to school then he wouldn't have gone missing in the first place."

"Don't blame yourself. There's no way you could have known they do something like that. Now calm down and come over here. There's no reason you should feel sorry. Besides, he'd never forgive me if I was mad at you."

The nurse brought in a second bed and Sasuke stayed there resting. Itachi brought their parents over to Naruto's room since Sasuke wasn't willing to leave it. Naruto's father met and talked to Sasuke's parents. He told them about how the two boys seemed to love each other. Let's just say the Uchihas were quite surprised. Though knowing that it helped to explain why their son had gone so far to protect him.

xXx

It's late afternoon now. The two have been sleeping since they got to the hospital this morning. Sasuke's bruises are starting to appear. He's sleeping on his chest. Naruto is sleeping on his side because of his bruises everywhere. Naruto had to be taken out of the room for an enema this morning, let's just say he didn't enjoy the experience.

"Naruto, you're awake" Minato said as he stood up.

"Stay there, I'll go get the nurse" Minato said as he tried to keep Naruto from moving too much.

"Don't worry I'll go get her for you" Itachi said as he left the room.

After a moment or two Naruto's mind finally finished waking up.

"Where's Sasuke?" He said, realizing where he was.

"He's fine. He's right there still sleeping." Minato replied, trying to ease his son's worrying.

"I've got the nurse" Itachi said as the two of them entered. The nurse went straight over to Naruto.

"How are you feeling?" She said as she started checking him.

"Everything hurts still."

"That's to be expected. I'll up your pain killers some to help with that." She said as she did just that.

"How is he doing?"

"Sasuke is doing well. He wasn't hurt as bad as you were. As for Itachi he's perfectly fine." Naruto relaxed at hearing that.

"The two of you will need to stay in the hospital for a while. You both need plenty of bed rest so don't try to get up." After Naruto nodded the nurse left the room. Sasuke woke up a few minutes later.

"Naruto?"

"Sasuke! You're awake!"

"How are you feeling Naru?"

"I've been better, but that doesn't really matter"

"I'm sorry I got you into this mess"

"Don't be, those psychos were the ones who did this."

"So you don't blame me?"

"No, but I was wondering about something. Why'd you let them do those things to you. I know you were stronger than they were so why didn't you just beat them up?"

"Because they said that if I tried then they'd kill you. And I didn't want to risk them hurting you again."

"Thank you for protecting me Sasu. If you hadn't shown up who knows what they would have done to me."

"Ok, I have to ask. What's with the Sasu Naru stuff?" Itachi asked knowing that the others were probably wondering the same thing.

"Oh, well...uh... Sasuke why don't you tell them" Sasuke glared at his Naru with a smirk on his face.

"We kinda gave each other nicknames already..."

"Aw how sweet" Mrs Uchiha said with a giggle. Both Naru and Sasu started blushing.

xXx

It's been about three weeks now. They'd both just gotten out of the hospital and today was the first day they'd each be back in school. Word about what had happened doesn't seem to have gotten out yet. The three boys who attacked Naruto have been expelled and sent to juvy, but so far no one at school knows the reason why.

It was Monday morning, Naruto was eating breakfast before school when there was a knock at the door. His father walked over and answered the door while Naruto ate.

"Hi mister Uzumaki, is Naruto ready for school yet?"

"He still having breakfast. Would you like to come inside?"

"Thanks" Sasuke said with a smile before walking over to the table and sat across from Naruto. He watched as the blonde ate his cereal, smiling at how cute he looked as he ate. Naruto didn't notice at first though.

"Why're you staring again?"

"Simple, because you're cute" he said with a smirk as Naru blushed like he usually did. After Naruto finished eating the two of them left for school. They held hands as they made their way to Konoha High.

It was about 20 minutes before school started when the two arrived. Many of the people hanging out in front of the school turned to look at the odd pair. The tan blue eyed blonde standing next to the pale black eyed raven was a sight to be seen. Already gossip began as the blonde waved goodby and the raven headed his own way.

Naruto ran over to his group of friends who were hanging out under their usual tree.

"Oh, so you won't let me walk you anywhere but he gets to?" Temari said with a sarcastic pout. Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry about that. So what did I miss while I was gone?"

"I think the real question is why were you gone for so long?" Kiba said. They were all curious about where he'd been these last three weeks, especially after having met Sasuke like that at the karaoke bar.

Naruto's gaze dropped as he looked at the ground, all the joy left his face as he stood there no longer looking at them. The last thing he wanted to do was to talk to anyone about what had happened.

Noticing the change Gaara changed the subject to something better. "So, how are things going with Sasuke?"

"Are you really dating him?" Ino asked already eager to get the juicy details they'd all been craving.

Naruto smiled as blush spread across his face. "So I guess word about us really is out isn't it." He said with a giggle as he sat down in the grass with them.

"Well duh. The rumor about you two started just after the first day you missed school. And we already knew about it for sure when Sasuke burst in on Friday while we were at karaoke." Tenten replied.

"He did mention something about that."

"So, you two been ditching school together the last three weeks? From what we heard he wasn't at school either." Sakura asked.

"Well... something like that I guess" he said, looking down once more.

"I've got some news that might cheer you up. Three boys got expelled while you were missing. I'm pretty sure the ones who got kicked out used to pick on you. Rumor is they got sent to juvy." Kankuro said hoping to lift his spirits. Naruto hugged his knees to his chin as his eyes drooped. 'Well at least I'll never have to see those monsters again'

"Um..." Sakura said trying to think of anything that might make him smile.

"I heard they're opening a new ramen shop in town this week." 'Yes! Choji to the rescue!' Sakura's inner Sakura cheers. Naruto perked up at the sound of ramen.

"Cool! Anything special about this one?" Naruto asked

"Don't know yet but there's gonna be discounts during the first week they're open. We should go as a group!" Choji said. Naruto gave a big smile and relaxed some.

RIIIINNNNGGGG!

And so they headed inside for class.

xXx

2 weeks ago, while the two of them were still at the hospital.

Sasuke's injuries were mostly healed, Naruto however still had bruises from the whipping. Sasuke was at the cafeteria having lunch. His family was back at home. They didn't feel the need to stay by his side the whole time he was there, after all he seemed pretty ok about what had happened. He was a strong kid and what happened didn't bother him too much. He didn't care about what they'd done to him because the only thing that mattered to him was the fact that he saved and protected his lover.

Naruto was alone with his dad, his dad stayed at the hospital as much as he could. He'd gotten time off of work to deal with the family emergancy. Naruto sat on his bed holding his legs, he was thinking about what he'd learned during that nightmare.

"Dad?"

"Yes? What is it? Do you need the nurse?"

"No... I wanted to ask you about something." ... "There was something one of the kids said to me, or rather about me."

"What was it?"

"He said that I was a demon. A fox demon." Minato sighed. He'd hoped he'd never have to talk to his son about this. But it seems the time had come.

"Well?... Is it true? Am I really the fox demon?" He said turning towards his father. His father no longer looked at him, instead he gazed at the bed. He'd wanted to protect his son from this.

"So it's true then. I really am a monster." He said turning his gaze away from his silent father.

"No... its hard to explain. You see, our bloodline is special. Only we can handle the strain of a demon being sealed inside of us. That's why this happened. And the only reason it happened to you is because you were the only one young enough to survive the process of sealing the demon."

"So it really is true. I'm a demon. No wonder everyone hates me, after all even I'd hate me."

"Don't say that. You aren't a demon, there's a demon in you but that doesn't mean the demon is you. You're the one protecting everyone from the demon."

He stayed silent. His chin rested on his knees as he sat there lost in thought.