Author's Note; Second chapter to the double update! Hope everyone likes it :) R+R+F+F

Chapter 12

Sasuke

Itachi told me to leave Naruto alone until Ibiki said it was alright for anyone to go into his room. I honored that and decided to read a book I hadn't read in a long time, so I went to my room and picked up a book called impulse by Ellen Hopkins, the same book that Naruto's reading for English class, and was kind of happy he was into reading the same things I like to read. I just hoped he liked it.

But as I left my room to read in the living room in the arm chair that was more comfortable than my bed when it came to reading, I saw Naruto standing in the door way of his room. I could tell he had been crying, it was obvious; his eyes were red and swollen and even from where I stood his cheeks were still wet with tears, even if he denied it all, there was plain evidence.

"I'm going to the bathroom, I don't remember the last time I went." I heard him tell Ibiki, though I could sense extreme hurt and emotional pain in the words he spoke. Whatever him and Ibiki were talking about, it was making the blonde very stressed.

"Oi, Naruto, you shouldn't be walking." I said quickly as I rushed over to him to be his support, but he pushed me off.

"Where is the bathroom?" He asked, and I could tell he wasn't going to look up at me to let me acknowledge that he was crying.

"Just down the hall on your left." I told him, and I made sure I let him know how hurt I was by his actions, but knowing Naruto, he wouldn't care.

Without getting a thank you, he limped down the hall and into the bathroom and I glared a little bit, until Ibiki's voice gained my attention.

"Sasuke … come here for a minute." He said, and with a raised eyebrow, I went into the room and sat on the bed with my arms crossed after putting the book down next to me.

"What is it Ibiki?" I asked.

"You and Itachi need to keep a close eye on Naruto. You know I can't tell you anything, but I'm getting a feeling he's going to hurt himself somehow, some way." He told me, and I didn't know if I should believe him at all.

"Why are you saying that? Naruto isn't someone that does that stuff." I said, hoping and praying I was right.

"He'll tell you when he's ready, and I don't think it will be today. If he tells you and Itachi today, I'm going to be surprised as hell." He said, and I was more confused than I've ever been in my life. And I was about to say something about that when there was a crashing sound from the bathroom and I think Ibiki's face paled, and that's something that never happens. Ever.

That's when the two of us bolted out of the room just as Itachi rounded the corner from the kitchen and we all ended up at the bathroom wanting to knock it off its hinges, until Naruto yelled at us.

"If any of you come in here I'll fucking hurt you!" He said, and it made no sense at all.

"Is everything okay in there Naruto?" I found myself asking before anyone else said a single word.

"I'm fine …" He said slowly. "I bumped something is all."

"Like hell you did Naruto, there's nothing in that bathroom to knock over." Itachi said, and the fierceness in his voice shocked me.

Ibiki put his hand up to Itachi, and we both knew it was to talk calmer to Naruto than we already were. We just needed to breathe and take things slowly … but I don't know why.

"Naruto, can one of us come in and see if you're alright?" Ibiki asked.

"I only want Gaara!" Naruto nearly yelled after a few minutes, and it broke my heart to hear him say that. It's like he doesn't want me here helping him at all and that pissed me off.

"He's still sleeping, Naruto, and I don't know when he'll wake up." Itachi answered, and I was glad to, because if I said anything it'd just make the situation worse.

"Can Sasuke come in instead?" Ibiki asked, and I stared at him.

"If he says anything to piss me off I'll break that recorder you have Ibiki!" Naruto said after a very, very long silence. And we all knew he was serious. "And not only that I'll make sure I leave and no one can find me, ever!"

"I got one more question Naruto." Ibiki said.

"Tell Itachi anything, I don't care." Naruto sobbed, and I only got more confused as the two older men looked at each other for a moment.

"Itachi and I will be in the bedroom, call if you need us okay Naruto?" Ibiki said and the two men finally left, closing the bedroom door loudly, probably to prove to Naruto that they weren't in the hallway anymore.

I heard the lock in the bathroom click after hearing some sliding in the bathroom and I waited until I knew Naruto wasn't moving anymore before cautiously opening the bathroom door, I didn't know what I was going to expect, but when it was opened, I found the mirror shattered and some droplets of blood on the sink. When I saw that he wasn't in the way of the door, I opened it a little more before sliding in, glad I was wearing my shoes and closed the door behind me. But whatever I could have done to prepare myself for anything, I was not prepared to see Naruto lying in the tub with his pants missing and blood everywhere.

"N-Naruto …" I mumbled, hardly able to find words as I stood there shaking. I was too afraid he'd do something else if I moved from where I was.

"I know, I'm pathetic and should be locked up in some psyche hospital or something." He cried lightly. "You were going to find out either way, even if Gaara was awake and helping me instead."

"What can I help with Naruto?" I finally asked, my voice finding the right words to say as I walked over the few steps and sat on the closed toilet.

"You need to know why, but I can't bring myself to tell you." Was what Naruto said, something I wasn't expecting. "I only have you and Gaara and you need to know, but I'm scared that you'll never want me around if you do."

"You don't have to tell me right now if you don't want to." I said, truthfully, because I knew that if it was forced, it'd make things only worse.

"You can't tell my Dad." Naruto said as he turned his head to look at me, and I could tell that everything that has happened in the last few days was finally starting to get to him, and in a very bad way.

"I won't, I promise." I said with a nod. I wouldn't tell that man anything anyway.

Naruto only nodded as he tried to sit up in the tub, that's when I heard the clinging of glass and realized that he just dropped a piece of the broken mirror into the tub.

"Remember when I skipped class in junior high? When we were both eleven?" He asked, and I had to fight hard to raise an eyebrow in question.

"Yea, I remember, you didn't come back to school for two days after that day." I nodded.

"I skipped gym because I was sick and tired of being made fun of for the bruises, cuts and swollen arms and legs … I was sick and tired of it." He said, hushed though I knew he was fighting to keep from yelling everything he said. "I ran into some high school kids that were skipping class … and they took me into the alley between the two school where there wasn't any fencing and th …" He started to finish before I he choked on his words.

"Take your time." I said, now sitting on the edge of the tub as I tried my hardest to comfort him without hurting him anymore than he already was.

"I know, I know." He cried as he clung to me, covering me in the blood that was on his arms and face, but I didn't mind, these were spare clothes to work out in anyway. I only brought my hand down on his head and stroked his soft blonde hair and stroked his hair softly while my other hand hugged his head gently.

"They raped me Sasuke." He said suddenly after he cried into my shirt for ten minutes and I stiffened at the word rape. Who wouldn't? But I just hoped he didn't take it badly. "They raped me for almost two hours because they said I was rude to them."

I wanted to ask him who it was, but I had the feeling I knew who one of them were. I wasn't going to make him tell me names, I didn't need to know, not now if he didn't want to tell me.

"Why do you think I'd hate you if you told me that Naruto?" I found myself asking, though a part of me wished I didn't.

"I don't know … I just don't know …" He cried as he clung to me tighter, and I let him. He needed another way to vent, and I was going to find it.

It was a couple hours before Naruto and I left the bathroom cleaned up and bandaged up. I let him borrow my night clothes since we hadn't gone to his place to get his clothes yet. He said he wanted to go over tomorrow after I came back from school.

He wanted to know if Gaara was still sleeping, but it turns out that he was awake for a while, worrying himself over Naruto since he wasn't in his room and all. But my brother fixed it up and explained to him that Naruto was taking a bath and that I was helping him, which wasn't a lie at all. But Gaara was suspicious because of how long we were in there.

"I'm sorry Gaara." Were Naruto's first words when we went to the living room and I helped him into the arm chair, and I could feel Gaara's glare boring through my back.

"What happened while I was asleep?" He asked when I got myself to sit on the other side of the couch with my book I got from the spare bedroom before we came out here.

"Uhm, well … I told Ibiki what happened and I had … uhm …" Naruto started saying, but I could tell he didn't want to say the rest.

"You didn't!" Gaara almost yelled. "I thought we got past all that Naruto!"

Now I felt like I was the one left out of everything.

"What in the hell do you mean by that?" I asked, a little bit more hateful than I wanted to be.

"I've done it many times before, Sasuke …" Naruto said, and he was looking down at his lap where his hands were and picked at his nails. Something he did a lot when he was nervous.

"Oh …" I said, and I sank into the couch.

"I thought you were going to talk to me when you had the urge to do that." Gaara said, and he sounded completely hurt.

"I was, but they said you were sleeping." Naruto told him, he sounded like he was crying.

"Hey, boys, please don't argue right now." I heard Itachi say from the kitchen. He didn't sound like he was in the mood to deal with anything right now.

"Naruto, I'm not mad, okay?" Gaara said quietly.

"I'm sorry." Naruto mumbled, and then the room got eerily quiet save for Naruto trying to get himself to stop crying with sniffles here and there.

I wanted to say something, but I felt that if I did, we'd go back to the slight arguing that we had just gotten over with, so I went on and started reading my book until I was bored.

Then I remembered I wanted to talk to Itachi about something and put my book down. I accidentally startled Naruto and apologized as I walked out of the room and into our kitchen where Itachi looked like he was sitting at the kitchen table and going through a folder that I recognized immediately as our financial folder and felt my stomach sink a little bit. He never went through that book unless we were in some trouble.

"What's wrong Itachi?" I asked and sat down across from him.

"Nothing really, I wanted to make sure we had enough to take care of Naruto's bill and for him to stay here for a while. It's just a double check." He said and stretched while he yawned. I could tell he was tired and ready for bed.

"You should go and get some sleep." I told him with a nod to what he told me.

"I will in a little bit. I have to call work and request off the rest of the week and into next week." He said.

"Why so long?" I asked.

"To take care of Naruto while you're at school. Tsunade called earlier and said she didn't want to see him at school until next Wednesday." Itachi said.

"Well, good luck in getting him to agree to that. You know he'll never listen." I said with a chuckle.

"I know, I have to convince him somehow to stay here." Itachi sighed heavily and combed his hands through his hair. "This is going to be the longest week of my life."

"I'll stay." I found myself saying before I realized it.

"You can't miss school though." Itachi sighed.

"I'll be fine, I'm valedictorian anyway." I shrugged, leaning back in my chair as I crossed my arms. "And besides, Tsunade will want as many eyes watching over him as possible. That's just the way she is."

"You're right, but you know you'll have to work double time to keep that status." Itachi said, but I already knew that.

"Alright, nii-san." I nodded.