The Boy in the Park
Chapter Forty-Two
Naruko hadn't found Sakura around her usual place —the garbage bins of her house— nor her usual spying area —the nearby rooftop.
She didn't find her, and so she decided to return back home. She'd see Sakura the next day anyway. She jumped down from the rooftop and knocked at the door of the apartment.
The door slid open. Her nose caught the scent first. She knew it by heart. It was the smell of blood. Had her Aniki cut himself? But then again, that smell could only come from an open wound and there was no way he'd…
She suddenly paled, her eyes widening as she entered slamming the door against the wall.
"Aniki?" she asked softly, looking into the dark apartment where…she didn't need to look further away than the entrance.
Her Aniki was there.
Down.
Bleeding.
He wasn't supposed to be bleeding.
He had a kunai piercing his stomach.
He wasn't supposed to have a kunai piercing his stomach.
Her Aniki wasn't supposed to be on the floor bleeding. He wasn't supposed to be breathing raggedly and she did not know what to do because her Aniki wasn't supposed to be wounded like that because he had promised because he was her aniki-because-she-had-no-idea-what-to-do…
His hand was still clasping on the kunai, and she had no idea what to do.
Her Aniki was supposed to be smiling at her from the kitchen, telling her he was just done cooking. He was supposed to be looking at her enter the apartment from the couch, with a smile on his face and closing the book he would be reading.
Her Aniki was supposed to cleaning, washing, doing anything but being down on the ground bleeding and dying and leaving her alone.
She looked around, in fright, scared and trembling.
There was no one around to be angered to. Who had done this? Why? She needed to get Aniki to safety first, or he was really going to die… She needed…she needed help, a medic nin. Tsunade-baachan…she could heal him?
She bit down hard on her lips.
Her Aniki needed her now, she couldn't be scared. Her hands went through the cross hand seal needed to create a horde of Kage Bunshin, all equally as pale as her from fear.
"GO AND FIND BAA-CHAN, THE HOSPITAL, ANYONE NOW!"
They all went in different directions, scattering themselves across Konoha. She dropped down next to Aniki. Where was the first aid kit? Another clone had taken it and brought it to her. What was she supposed to do? Her hands were trembling. She wasn't used to this.
"Aniki?" she softly whispered, her hands moving to grab his pale and sweating face. "Hey Aniki? Can you hear me!? Please!"
His eyes cracked open slightly. She smiled. "ANIKI! Stay with me, all right! It's going to be all right! Whoever did this won't get away and I swear everything will be fine…"
There were tears dropping down her eyes.
"Na…ruko?"
"I'm here, Aniki. I'm here," she muttered clasping tightly on his blood soaked right hand. "The wound…it's not even big, really…just a graze…it will be healed in no time…"
She pressed the bandages from the first aid kit against it, but stilled as she heard her Aniki groan in pain.
"It's all right! Yeah! Dattebayo, please it's all right! I know it hurts Aniki but it's all right, yeah…" she was sweating and looking from the wound to his face.
Her hands were covered in blood. His blood.
Aniki's blood.
"Naruko…" he wheezed out. "You're…a horrible…liar."
She shook her head strongly. "No, I'm not. You're going to be fine."
"Ah…well…I'll…take a nap…then..." his eyes began to close.
"No! NO! STAY WITH ME! Come on, Aniki! Please don't die! PLEASE. YOU PROMISED! You swore! You SWORE!" Naruko screamed that near Aniki's ears as loud as she could. She just knew she had to keep him awake, or she'd really lose him. "Please, please! I swear I'll be without Ramen for years! Please Kami, please, anyone, anything!"
She slammed her forehead against his head, her nose touching his. "Please…" she whimpered…
"Please."
The next instant, she was quickly pushed away by the timely arrival of Tsunade herself.
"Baa-chan…" Naruko murmured softly as she looked at the Godaime groaning at the mess. Tsunade's hands turned green and laced with chakra, as the Hokage began to work on stabilizing the patient.
"You brat," Tsunade muttered. "Really? Can't leave you a few weeks alone? I said no broken limbs? Should have added no lethal wounds either!"
Naruko began to cry in relief. Her Aniki was going to be fine: there was really no doubt about it.
An hour later, she was standing by the side of the hospital's bed where her Aniki was resting after the operation. Her hands were raw with the effort to wash them clean, but as she watched frantically the heartbeat monitor beep up and down, her breath hitched in her throat every time his lungs seemed to take their time between a breath and the other.
He was out of danger, but that didn't mean he'd wake up soon. Still, as she clenched her fists, she looked over him.
The words of Mebuki rung in her head —she hoped they were but lies, but really…how could she prove them such without Aniki's smile telling her it wasn't true?
Baa-chan had told her he'd wake up within another couple of hours, and Kakashi-sensei had even checked in before leaving for a mission somewhere else —something which would take a few hours at most to complete.
It was then, that the door of the room slid open to admit someone she did not like at all.
"Why are you here?" Naruko growled, her gaze on the Jounin in question.
Yuhi Kurenai did not even flinch, but merely looked towards her brother for a moment more. "No reason," she muttered, before walking closer and taking a seat on the other side. "Just…checking on him."
"He's fine, 'ttebayo," Naruko muttered with a pout, gripping tightly on Aniki's hand as if to reassure herself he was still there.
"Did he…say anything?"
"No," she grumbled. "But when I find out who did it, I'll teach them not to meddle with my Aniki."
"Such a protective Imouto," Kurenai said softly. "You're really fond of him, aren't you?"
"He was there for me," Naruko muttered. "Always. Always…he was always there for me and the one time I was supposed to be there…stupid, that's what I am," she slammed her head against the soft side of the mattress. "I shouldn't have left."
"You don't know if you could have helped," Kurenai said, after a moment of silence.
"Aniki had no chances," Naruko murmured bitterly. "It was a shinobi, I'm sure of it…they…maybe they were looking for me? I heard what happened…to Kakashi-sensei and…"
"Trust me," Kurenai replied. "I was there too. If it had been them…I doubt they would have left him like that," the red-eyed woman looked sideways. "Did he have any enemies?"
"No," Naruko shook her head. "No…things were turning out so well…" she sniffled. "I was supposed to be home. It's my entire fault."
"Naruko-chan," Kurenai said quietly. "You can't blame yourself for this. You couldn't have known."
The door slid open once more, making Naruko perk up as she looked at the boy who entered.
It was Shikamaru.
"Troublesome," the boy sighed. "Well…"
"Shika?"
"Sakura was found half an hour ago at the park, she claims Sasuke wanted to run away from Konoha to go to Orochimaru. Also, Sasuke is currently missing from the village and he's probably headed…" he locked eyes with Naruko, "towards the Valley of the End to enter Rice Fields country."
"That Teme!" Naruko clenched her hands. "So…it was Orochimaru? After all, it was him?"
She stood up. "I'm going to shove a kunai through the creepy snake man once and for all! Dattebayo!"
"No," Shikamaru drawled out. "All kunai are registered with a serial number upon their hilt, for storage purposes and to find out wherever the kunai sold is defective or not —it also double as a tracker for which shinobi possess which type of weapon within the village. That specific kunai…it came from Sasuke Uchiha's purchase of two months ago."
Naruko's hands fell limp at her sides.
"That's…bullshit, right?" her face was pale. "Sasuke's a bastard but…but he wouldn't…"
"You'll just have to ask him then," Shikamaru said. "I'm forming up a squad to stop him. We'll probably encounter resistance but we're all the Hokage can spare."
Naruko turned to look towards Kurenai, who grimaced. "Unfortunately, we Jounin have more pressing requests to fulfil…I too cannot waste time…I'm actually late as it is," the woman slowly stood up. "If…If the Uchiha is behind it however," her red eyes shone dangerously as she looked back towards Naruko. "I would not mind…to see his body broken and him returned like a mangled heap of torn muscles and flesh."
And then she strolled out of the window in a flicker.
Naruko grimaced as Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.
"Let's go," Shikamaru said then.
Naruko left last, giving one look towards her Aniki's sleeping form.
"I'll be back soon, Aniki…Dattebayo."
She tied her forehead protector strongly as she followed behind Shikamaru. Her eyes were cold as they departed with the rest of the team chosen for this.
If Sasuke had done it…If Sasuke had harmed her Aniki…
If he had been responsible…
If…If he had…
Then she would bring him back to Konoha with his arms and legs broken to tatters, pleading for mercy.
And she'd force him to apologize to her Aniki.
Or maybe, just maybe…
She'd stick a kunai through his guts to let him feel what it meant to suffer like that.
She clenched her fists as her feet left deep impression on the bark of the wooden branches she ran across.
Nobody harmed her Aniki and walked away unscathed.
Nobody.
Sasuke was going to pay.
DATTEBAYO.