Chapter 35

Naruto

I was surprised when Sasuke got home late, but I had just got done telling everyone, besides Sasuke, the last thing my father did to me that was worth forgetting, but no matter what I could do, I couldn't forget; another incident where my father tied me to a chair with a dark pillow case over my head so I wouldn't see him and stabbed me in the shoulders and legs, leaving me to bleed to death until I felt him stitch me up with something and let me go. This was last year on my birthday. And I never put the pieces together until now; Dad was worst when it was my birthday.

And now that Ibiki and Tsunade left about two hours ago, I had the honor to hear that I'm having anti-depressants shoved down my throat twice a day starting tomorrow. Ibiki had commented saying that I should turn my father in, but I refused for some odd reason and he promised to keep everything said to himself and Tsunade and the two left.

To be honest, the house was so quiet that I could hear Itachi and Sasuke talk in his room. And that's usually rare, because this house is rarely ever quiet unless you're the only one up. But the fact that Sasuke was being woken up when he hadn't ate dinner yet meant that they were going to be up a little while longer.

I sighed, wishing I had a quiet place to think, I heaved myself up and got myself up and walking around, grabbing the clothes I just changed out of and changed back into them. Save for the shirt, I just grabbed a sweater from the closet and threw it on and limped over to the wheelchair before climbing into it and shoved my sockless feet into my slippers and wheeled out of the room quietly. I was going to wheel straight into the kitchen, but when I heard them talking, I decided to wait and hear what it was about.

"Sasuke … Naruto's being prescribed anti-depressants." Itachi said, out of the blue, and all I wanted to rip his vocal chords out. Why can't he just let me tell Sasuke what's going on?

"When was this established?" Sasuke asked, and I could tell by the tone in his voice, he was shocked.

"While you were sleeping." He answered.

"Of course." Sasuke sighed, just when the time was up on the microwave and it buzzed endlessly until someone opened it, and I guessed that it was Itachi because Sasuke thanked him.

"Tsunade is stopping by in the morning, to give it to him. I don't know what it is she's prescribing him, though it's probably Prozac." Itachi said. "And don't bother telling Naruto about Gaara …"

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked

"She told him when they got here." He answered. "Naruto was complaining about how he was going to bitch Gaara out and she felt like she should tell him."

"Did he take it well?" Sasuke asked a few moments later.

"Better than I thought he would, we went straight into the counseling session before we really got to understand how it affected him." Itachi said as I heard a chair move, telling me Itachi's now sitting down.

"Has he hurt himself at all?"

"He has two cuts, but they look like they're accidental. Tsunade doesn't want to take any chances either and wants us to make sure we have him under constant surveillance." He said. "I also found one of our steak knives under his pillow when he was taking his bath last night. He hasn't said anything, but he was avoiding me most of the day so he knows that I found it."

Like hell they were fucking accidental. Guess I fooled the great Itachi Uchiha.

"How can we make sure he doesn't take anything into his room or when he goes and takes his bath?" Sasuke asked after a few minutes of silence.

"We'll just have to make sure we have everything where it's supposed to be before we leave him alone." Itachi sighed. He was right, of course.

"Or we could just body search him." Sasuke suggested with high sarcasm and now I wanted to rip him in half, fucking teme.

"That will just piss him off even more."

Got that right Itachi.

"I know, but that's the best thing I can come up with right now." Sasuke said, a scraping sound like a plate being moved. Guess he's done eating, time to make my entrance I guess.

"Well I can say I hate you all, but then that'd be selfish of me." My voice rang into the kitchen, startling both of them and I watched Sasuke whip himself around to stare at me, and he looked like he lost some nonexistent color from his face.

"And where are you going?" He asked, and he sounded pissed off.

"I want to get out of the house … and I can't sleep." I said.

"How about some ice cream?" Sasuke offered.

"I just want to go around outside." I said, shaking my head a little bit. "In actuality, I would love to go and visit Gaara, but I know that neither of you are fit to drive because you're both exhausted."

"I'll take you to visit Gaara in the morning. And I can give you some pain medication to help you sleep, Naruto." Itachi offered.

"I wanna go out for a bit …" I sighed. "I'll be out back for a while." And I wheeled myself through the kitchen towards the back door, opened it and wheeled myself outside and closed the door. I welcomed the cool autumn air around me as I wheeled to the edge of the back porch and locked the chair.

Normally, I wouldn't want to be outside where it was cold, but I was oddly numb to it today. I could honestly care less as to the reasons why, but it helped me calm down from earlier better than the short bath I had. I had one hell of a time convincing Itachi that I hadn't cut myself on my left arm, saying that I nicked myself while shaving … That was one hell of a fucking lie, though he bought it after I convinced him that's why my arms were always hair free.

I jumped slightly when I heard the back door open up again and close. But I knew it was either Sasuke or Itachi and when a chair was pulled up next to me, I saw Itachi take a seat next to me. I knew I might get a lecture for being out here with this cold weather and nothing stronger than the sweats and sweater I was wearing, but Itachi remained quiet. I was glad for that.

"Do you think I'm doing anything right, Itachi?" I asked a few minutes later, getting the question off of my chest since I've been wanting to ask him this for a long while now.

"Everyone's different when they come to situations like this, Naruto. If it were me, I would have told off my father a long time ago because I would want to protect my little brother." Itachi said, and he was absolutely right.

"But I don't have anyone else …" I whined.

"Well that may be true, you can give your father a second chance. Like I've always said, Naruto, it's all up to you whether you can stay by your fathers' side or give him some more help."

"You speak in riddles." I huffed, trying to pout as I crossed my arms, but I think he realized I crossed my arms to try and get myself warmer. Damn it.

"I think we should go inside." Itachi said a moment later. "You look like you could use some hot chocolate."

I couldn't help but drool when Itachi mentioned hot chocolate. He was the only one that could make home made hot chocolate from scratch and it actually taste good!

"With lots of marshmallow fluff?" I asked, my voice high with excitement as I looked at him with puppy eyes.

"As much as you want." Itachi smiled as he got up and put the chair back before I unlocked my chair and he wheeled me back in the house. I would have jumped with joy, but I'm not allowed just yet. So I sufficed with a raise of both fists all the while trying to keep myself from yelling with glee.

"I don't know how Gaara puts up with your random mood swings, Naruto." Itachi laughed, and I knew he meant it to be a funny, but my heart took it as an insult.

"You know how to take a complement and make it sound like an insult." I mumbled, crossing my arms when he pushed my chair towards the empty space at the table and locked the wheels before he got to work on making the two of us some hot chocolate.

"Sasuke says the same thing." Itachi said, and I knew he was right. I've been around these two long enough to know that's exactly what happens, and why Sasuke sometimes can't stand his brother. "Okay, we have two choices … dark chocolate or white chocolate?"

"White … chocolate?" I asked, drooling again as I turned my head to look at Itachi who was standing at the cabinet with the two boxes. Apparently he got my answer as he put the dark chocolate away and got started making white hot chocolate.

"Wait, why are you being so nice to me?" I asked, narrowing my eyes as I looked at him.

"When was the last time you had hot chocolate?" Itachi asked, his back to me while he worked at the stove.

"A very long time." I answered, when truth was, I hadn't had any in about a month.

"It's nice to treat yourself with hot chocolate when it's cold outside once in a while." Itachi said, and then something finally dawned on me …

"Oh my God!" I yelled. "Itachi, what day is it?"

"It's October seventh, if I remember correctly." Itachi answered.

"Shit!" I hissed under my breath as I panicked and started biting my right thumb as I hugged myself with my left arm. Honestly, I don't know what I should be worried about, my father is locked up in rehab for his alcohol addiction for another three weeks. I'm good to go until he comes out.

"Is something the matter Naruto?" Itachi asked, now sitting next to me and placing a steaming mug of white hot chocolate in front of me and I didn't even see him until he said something.

"I'm … fine. Yea, I'm fine." I said as I nodded and picked up my mug, ignoring the pain in my hands from how hot the mug was and gently sipped at my drink. Being careful not to burn myself like I did last time.

"Did you forget something?" Itachi asked, and I felt like he was interrogating me.

"No … I thought it was like, November or something." I laughed lightly after I've had a few sips and set the mug down before I rubbed the palms of my hands together. Another nervous habit I grew accustomed to.

"Now, Naruto, tell me what's so important about the date." Itachi said, and I knew he called my bluff.

"My birthday is in three days." I huffed as I turned my head, refusing to make eye contact as I bit down on my thumb again.

"Well that's nothing to be upset or nervous about." Itachi said, and he sounded relieved that it wasn't nothing too serious, or so he thinks.

"Itachi … think back on what we talked about for four hours with Ibiki and Tsunade …" I sighed, hoping he'd put the pieces together without me saying anything. "I've told you about eight incidents where they were the worst between me and my father and they've been that bad since I turned seven. Put the pieces together yourself." I added and picked up my mug of hot chocolate, gulping at it, not caring if my tongue and throat burned a little bit.

"You're saying that's what happened on your birthday?" Itachi asked a few seconds later. God I hated the genius minds of the damned Uchiha.

"Yes, Itachi." I hissed, now wishing I never asked what day it was.

"Well, this year Naruto, you won't have to worry about it being like that anymore." Itachi said as he put a hand on my shoulder, finally looking at him and when he brought his hand up to my face and rubbed a thumb under my left eye, I didn't know I was crying until then. "It won't happen anymore, I promise, and so does Sasuke, Gaara and his siblings, and all of your friends."

"But only you guys, Gaara and Shikamaru know what's been going on." I cried quietly, putting my mug down before I dropped it. "Well, Gaara doesn't know the full extent of my problems."

"They don't have to know to be your friends, now do they Naruto?" Itachi asked me, now both of his hands on the side of my face trying to dry the tears that fell from my eyes.

I sniffed, "I'm envious of Sasuke."

"And why's that?" Itachi laughed lightly.

"Because he has you for a big brother." I said.

"Well, I can be your big brother too, now can't I?" Itachi asked.

"You really mean it?" I asked, the tears welling up in my eyes even more as I looked at him, my hopes high.

When Itachi smiled, he didn't have to say anything as I grabbed him by his shoulders and quickly pulled him into a hug where my face was buried in his chest and I couldn't keep myself from crying. I felt like I did when I got my first birthday present from my grandparents, and I rarely feel like this.

"Well, lets get to bed, okay Naruto?" Itachi asked after what felt like forever being in this position, and it was starting to put a slight strain on my back, so I let Itachi go and dried my face that was already dry, somewhat, and I nodded to him.

He got up and went into the one of the cupboards and grabbed a prescription bottle that looked like it had my name on it, so I guessed it was my pain medicine and I took it when he handed me the pill with the last of my hot chocolate and I set it on the table before he wheeled me back to my bedroom and helped me into bed.

Itachi may be great and all, but I honestly wished that tomorrow was over already.