Chapter 35: Without a Care
"The sky is not less blue because the blind man does not see it."
~Danish Proverb
Light faded in from the barn's few paned glass windows. It had been a long night, and Naruto had slept in fits and starts. His stomach rumbled and thirst growled at him despite the fluids flowing into his veins from the plastic bag hooked up by his bedside. Kabuto had not spoken to him since the previous night, only muttering to himself now and then as he focused on his work. Occasionally, the clinking of glass and metal would startle Naruto from his sleep with a flash of panic, his heart beating fast and lips numb from fear. It barely dissipated as the continuing realization of his desperate situation weighed on him like a heavy anchor dragging him into fresh pits of despair and hopelessness.
The next time he woke, the weak light from the windows outside had strengthened to full daylight. He glanced over at the other side of the barn. Kabuto lay prone on the worktable, his head resting on his arms, strands of white hair falling across his face. Naruto could almost believe in that moment that he was just a regular medical student working on a project, but the ghostly pressure of the man's hands on his jaw last night, the venom in his voice drove those thoughts quickly from his mind. Still, he couldn't help wondering, would he have been much different if Orochimaru hadn't gotten his claws into him?
The barn doors flapped open with a bang and Kabuto's head jerked up. A man was thrust headfirst into the barn, sprawling spread-eagled as he landed on the dirt floor. Naruto blinked against the influx of harsh light. The sky outside was a beautiful cornflower blue scattered with fluffy, white clouds, and the long grass of the fields waved gently in the breeze. The idyllic summery weather took no notice of the man being dragged through the wide barn doorway, and its beauty disappeared without a trace behind the wooden doors as they swung shut with a slam.
The man on the floor sent dust and straw flying in different directions as he scrambled to get to his knees. The sullen man who had accompanied him pressed a gun to the back of his head.
"Don't move"
The man on the dirt floor froze, putting his hands up slowly.
"Please, just…ok. Ok." He said. "I'll do whatever you say."
The man's questioning, frightened gaze swept the barn and met the eyes of the boy prone across a metal gurney. He was the only person in the room looking at him with any semblance of sympathy or feeling, but it did little to comfort him as he noted the boy's arms and hands strapped down to the gurney in firm bonds.
Naruto looked back in confusion. He had no idea who this was, but judging by his thick layers of tattered clothing and his tanned, weather-beaten face marred by deep grooves across the brow, he was a man of the streets – a homeless drifter.
"Will this do?" said the man behind the vagrant, still holding the gun to his captive's head. He was a tall, broad Hispanic man with carved arm muscles and a sharp, downturned nose over deep-set eyes giving him the appearance of constant, focused anger. He leaned his head to one side and then the other, his neck letting out some satisfying cracks. He appeared completely unperturbed by the man quivering with fear in front of him as if it was an everyday occurrence. Then again, perhaps it was.
"Is he clean?" asked Kabuto standing up and taking off his glasses to rub his tired eyes.
"We held him for 24 hours as agreed. No food, drugs or alcohol. Just water."
"Perfect." said Kabuto, putting his glasses back on. "He can be taken to holding." He said with a nod at Naruto. "I'll let you know if I need him again."
"Please." said the man on the floor, his hands held tentatively behind the back of his head, too afraid to move with the gun aimed at his head. "What are you going to do? I haven't done nothin' to nobody."
"Precisely." said Kabuto as he approached Naruto and began undoing the straps. "No one will miss you."
The homeless man made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, but he did not move, only bowing his head and staring at the floor as tears welled up in his eyes.
Naruto tried to sit up as the straps came free, but apparently he was too slow with his stiff movements since Kabuto yanked him upwards and off the gurney. He stumbled against the man, instinctively grabbing onto him for support. Kabuto grasped him by the collar of his shirt, jerking him up and away from him.
"Be good for Mateo, Naruto. No escape attempts. I recommend you save your strength."
Naruto's eyes strayed towards the man kneeling on the ground, but stood still as Kabuto bound his hands behind him. The bindings made an odd zipping sound and he felt the plastic hardness of a zip tie against his wrists as they tightened.
"What are you going to do with him?"
"No need to worry." replied Kabuto, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders and leaning down. "We'll take him to Paradise and back, well, if everything goes smoothly. If not, we have other test subjects ready and waiting."
"Test subjects?" repeated the man in a ghostly voice. "You can't be serious."
The zip tie bit into Naruto's wrists as his fingers curled into his palms.
"Don't do this, Kabuto." He said, turning to face him. "This isn't how you create a better world, and somewhere in you, you must know that."
Kabuto smiled and lifted a hand to press the bruises on Naruto's jaw in a parody of affection. "Well, we'll see soon, won't we, Naruto."
Naruto shuddered and jerked his head away. A familiar numbness was pervading his body and he willed himself to fight against it, to not let it take over.
"Get him on the gurney, Mateo, and take Naruto to holding. I'll let you know if I need him again."
Mateo sent a kick into the back of the homeless man who fell forwards.
"Up." He said with a growl.
The man stood up on shaky legs.
Kabuto grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him away from the gurney. Naruto glanced at the barn doors, the instinct to run gripping him. Maybe if he got out, he could get help. He might not get far before he was shot by this gangster-type, but maybe it would be worth a try. Being killed that way wouldn't be so bad anyway.
"Be good for Sasuke." Kabuto said next to him in quiet warning, and Naruto's shoulders slumped. Of course he couldn't run. He couldn't do anything, not while Sasuke sat trussed up in some dingy hole. All he could hope for is that they'd both survive long enough to see each other again before this was over, before they were both dead. The numbness radiated from the hole in his gut and spread across his arms, tangling itself around his heart and coiling through his mind.
The homeless man's pleas cut through his thoughts.
"I-I won't tell anyone if you just let me go. Or tell me what you want. Maybe I can help. Y-you don't have to do this." said the man as he climbed onto the gurney at gunpoint. He was trembling as he lay back and Mateo strapped him in.
Clearly, he's still at the bargaining stage, said a passive voice in the back of Naruto's mind. He doesn't realize it's hopeless yet.
Naruto didn't have the energy to be shocked at his own cold detachment.
"He doesn't care about you, you know." said Naruto in a murmur to Kabuto.
Kabuto's head whipped round. "What are you babbling about?"
Naruto didn't reply, but the eyes of the man gurney fixed on Naruto too when he heard his voice.
"Please. Please help me."
A pang shot through Naruto as he realized in all likelihood this man was going to die in this barn without anyone ever knowing or caring what happened to him. Just another statistic of the streets.
"What's your name?" he asked the man, feeling Kabuto's sharp focus on him and irritation at being ignored, but his captor made no attempt to stop the conversation between the two prisoners.
"Akio." said the man, flinching as Mateo tightened the strap on his legs.
"It's going to be okay, Akio." lied Naruto. "It won't hurt. It's just a small injection and then you'll feel much better."
That last part he hoped, at least, wasn't a lie. He could only hope the cure to Paradise didn't hurt and that everything went smoothly, or even better, that the man didn't have to wake up at all.
"Injection for what?" asked the man struggling against the bonds, eyes wide and desperate as he searched Naruto's.
"Enough." said Kabuto, giving Naruto a small shove. "Take him to holding, please, Mateo."
Mateo skulked over and took Naruto's arm in an iron grip. He held the gun casually in his hand as if it were another limb.
"Don't try anything stupid, kid. I don't like stupid."
Naruto ignored him. He turned to Kabuto who had begun preparing his instruments on the large worktable.
"He's just using you like you're using us."
Kabuto's head snapped up to look at Naruto with narrowed gaze, but a fleck of confusion sparked in those eyes.
"You're nothing but a tool to him." continued Naruto, his voice flat and toneless. "Just like the rest of us. One day you'll see that."
Kabuto turned away, refocusing on his work.
"I'd concentrate on worrying about yourself, Naruto-kun, and what is to come." He said in a tight voice, then waved a hand at Mateo. "Get him out of here."
Mateo grunted his acquiescence and shoved open the barn doors, pulling Naruto along with him.
Out they went into the cornflower blue of the sky and swaying sea of grass, towards the farmhouse and away from the barn, leaving Akio to his fate.