Naruto woke in the middle of the night to a strange sound. He looked around and pinpointed the location of the noise. It was coming from Room 2; and the noise was something Naruto knew. He got up out of bed and walked to the room door. Taking a deep breath through his nose he knew what was going on. Without a second thought, he returned back to his room, turning on the light at the same time waking Kiba. "What?" Kiba said in a tired and irritated tone as Naruto got to his computer terminal and started entering code. Before long, the diagram of the floor was on his screen and he selected their pod. With deft movements, he selected Room 2 and pulled up the camera. Kiba looked as a light growl left Naruto's mouth while he smiled. Before them were what Kankuro and Gaara were doing. It was obvious that Gaara was topping this time and that the two of them really enjoyed it. "Naruto, go back to bed and quit obsessing over it." Kiba called out to Naruto, who turned around and smiled. "I'll be back in a little hun." Naruto said as he walked out of the door. Kiba quietly followed him in fear that he would do something to break the two up. He looked and didn't see Naruto in the hallway but instead saw a light coming from under the facilities room door. After a few seconds, Naruto stepped out and walked past the room and into their room.
"Why are you acting like this?" Kiba asked in shock. "Because, what I saw wasn't what I expected. What I expected to see was Kankuro using his brother for his sick pleasure, and that isn't the case." Naruto said. Kiba smiled before pecking Naruto on the neck. "Just be sure to log off before you get caught." Kiba reminded him. What Naruto didn't know is that someone had already began tracking his every action and when he logged off, it showed everything.
At a computer terminal on the 8th floor, a figure looked over the screen. "Ah, Uzumaki hacked the system and used it to spy on his pod mates, that's illegal." the person said as they pressed the print button. "Karin, please take this to the floor commander please." the person said. "I'll get right on that, Danzo." Karin said as she picked up the envelop and carried it to the floor administration pod. On her way back, she heard someone talking through a vent. "Yes, we need to have a person arrested as soon as possible. Crimes against the organization. Yes, I have the name, last of Uzumaki, first of Naruto, pod 5 room 3." the voice said before things went silent again. "Shit." she said as she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Naruto's extension.
Back in his pod, his cell phone rang. "What?" Naruto asked when he saw the extension began with an 8, meaning it was from the 8th floor. "Naruto, find somewhere to hide, someone is trying to frame you." was all the person said. As soon as the call ended, there was a knock on the door. "Naruto Uzumaki. Open up." the voice said. Kiba got up and opened the door after Naruto had a chance to find a place to hide within the room. Kiba opened the door a crack to reveal Kankuro, Kabuto, Asuma, and Izumo. "We know he's in here and if he knows what's best for him he would give himself up." Izumo said. Kankuro and Kabuto looked dead serious. "Give me one minute, okay?" Kiba said. "Okay." Izumo said. Kiba closed the door and walked up to the closet. "Naruto, I'm sure it isn't anything really bad." was all Kiba said. Naruto looked at him and nodded. "Just remember, if it comes to it, use the power of attorney and the money in the account. I want a funeral and to not be processed." Naruto said as he pulled on a pair of soft pants with his communicator attached and walked to the door. As soon as it opened, Izumo looked at Naruto with a sad look. "I'm not sure what's up but I've been ordered to arrest you for crimes against the organization." he said as he took out a zip tie and bound Naruto's hands behind him. Kiba followed them until they got to the elevator, where he was stopped by Asuma. "I'm sorry Kiba, you can't go any further." was all he said before stepping in the elevator with Naruto. The doors closed and he fell to his knees crying. "Come on, Kiba, we need to get back to the pod." Kankuro said. Kiba glared at him. "Why do you care where I am or am not? As far as I see it you could have been the one who framed him." Kiba said in a loud growl. Kankuro, sensing the violent change in Kiba's mood, walked closer to Kiba. "Because, I care about my pod. Now come, we need to talk about what he'll be going through and how you can help." he said. Kiba looked up at him and his eyes widened. "So, when Naruto said he knew the sub-commander, it was you?" Kiba said in almost a silent tone. Kankuro nodded his head and helped Kiba up off the floor.
When they got back into the pod, Shikamaru had already gone out into the common area after hearing the person talk about the crimes against the organization. "What would his punishment be?" Kiba said as soon as the door closed. "If they find evidence that supports and proves the accusation, it would be death." Kabuto said. "As long as they follow his orders." Kiba said in a defiant tone. "They don't have to, at this point he will be treated like the enemy and will be processed like such." Kankuro said. Kiba looked at them with a sad look and growled before approaching Kankuro with a deadly look in his eyes. "Will I at least get to see him again?" Kiba said as Kankuro shuttered from the deadly tone. "Yes." he squeaked out. "Good, I'll be back later, if I come back at all." Kiba said before he walked out of the commons room and into the hallway, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the pictures on the wall.
As Kiba walked up to the command desk, he noticed Asuma standing there. "Kiba, they are going to be letting him have visitors soon. Once they are done booking him." Asuma said. "Good." was all Kiba said as he took out a palm computer and turned it on. He reached over the counter and pulled out a sim card from the drawer. "What the fuck do you think you're doing." Sai said in a shocked tone. "Finding my lover, if you want to arrest me too that'll only speed the process up and someone won't make it out alive." Kiba said as he powered it up and entered Naruto's communicator number. Sai was about to press the panic button but Asuma waved his hand away. "If you valued your life, you wouldn't and just let him find him on his own." Asuma said as he called down to the detention unit. "Naruto has a visitor on their way." was all he said before he hung up.
Kiba stepped into the elevator and flipped through the floors. He noticed there was a floor on the map, below the parking level. He entered his code into the elevator and got a message that made him want to kill every living thing; Access denied. He pressed the elevator door open button and saw Asuma standing in front of him with an envelope. "Move." Kiba growled. Instead, Asuma stepped in and smiled. "I have something that will help us get Naruto out before the sun rises. His record and access records. All he did was use the security camera to look into another room which is not a crime against the organization." Asuma said. Kiba looked at him with his mouth open. "Why are you acting so fast?" Kiba finally asked. "Because if we don't the lead interrogator, Ibiki, will have Naruto screaming out anything he wants to hear in a matter of minutes. After that they would use his torture induced confession against him." Asuma said as the elevator came to a stop. As the door opened, he noticed that the area they were in now had rooms like any other floor, but the rooms had glass doors and you could look right into the rooms. When they got to the desk, Asuma opened up the envelop and began to get papers out. When Kiba looked over and saw the green form, he became confused. "If you're down here to drop off evidence to help him why is our domestic partnership registration in there?" Kiba asked. Asuma looked down and smiled. "Because, chances are if they see the person has a partner then they would take them both out. But at the same time it could result in the person being expelled instead of terminated." Asuma said. This brought a slight smile to Kiba's face. "And his partner is present and would like to visit him." Asuma said. The person who looked over the counter made him want to crawl back, it was Kotetsu. "Okay, I see. Follow me Kiba." Kotetsu said as he lead Kiba into the chamber. "You'll be given half an hour and no more for today." was all Kotetsu said when he opened the door. Naruto was laying on the cot on the wall, he had obviously cried himself to sleep.
"Naruto, it's okay, I'm here for you. We'll have you out soon." Kiba said as he stroked Naruto's hair. Naruto stirred before mumbling something. "Please, just kill me already, no one would miss me." Naruto said in the saddest tone he heard in his life. With a tear threatening to leave his eye, he rubbed Naruto's back. "Hang in there, you'll be free soon." Kiba said. Naruto rolled over and blinked on eye. "Damn sedatives. I hate hallucinations." Naruto said, making Kiba laugh. "What do you mean by that?" Kiba asked in a silent tone to see both of Naruto's eyes fly open and the tears begin flowing again. "Kiba, I thought I would never see you again." Naruto said as he pulled Kiba into a tight hug. "It's okay. Asuma brought down your access records and they are comparing them with the ones that were presented. If all goes as planned you'll be out soon." Kiba said, rubbing Naruto's back in a soothing pattern. Before long, Kotetsu came back and knocked on the door. "Sorry, they only give me half an hour a day." Kiba said. "But don't forget, we're working on getting you out." Kiba said as he walked to the door. "Kiba, don't forget your boyfriend too. He's being released on in-house lockdown. There is no evidence to prove that he committed a crime against the organization but he will still have trial on his current charge of misuse of equipment and privacy violations." Kotetsu said. This brought a smile to Naruto's face but made Kiba worry. "We'll have to talk to Kankuro about those charges and what they bring." Kiba said.
Before long, Naruto had changed his cloths and was walking to the desk with Kiba close behind him. "Hope not to see you down here again like that, Naruto." Kotetsu said as he handed Asuma a slip of paper.
The elevator ride back up was quiet and they walked down the hallway to their pod to find Kankuro standing outside the door with an irritated look. This made Naruto gulp and Kiba looked at him weird; had he found out about Naruto using the camera? Their answer came when Naruto stepped into the pod and the door closed.
"You IDIOT!" Kankuro yelled when Naruto stepped into the pod. Instantly Naruto began to cower. "I'm sorry, so sorry, I should have trusted you more." Naruto said. That's when the first strike was laid across Naruto's face. The force from the backhanding made Naruto's head rebound off the wall behind him. "I really don't give a fuck about the trust thing, I expected it. But to use organization equipment to spy on someone, in the same pod as you. If you really wanted to know you should have opened the fucking door." Kankuro finished. Kiba looked at him then back at Naruto, knowing that this was going to have an impact on the work he and Shikamaru had done to make Naruto more accepting of himself. "And to think, you could have ended up loosing Kiba over something stupid like this! The only reason you were able to get out was because Asuma found a loop hole in the laws. If he didn't you'd be being worked over by Ibiki and would be lucky to survive two weeks." Kankuro said as Naruto fell to the floor, his headache only getting worse by the moment between the impact and Kankuros screaming at him. Kankuro rolled his eyes and pulled Naruto up by the hair, making him scream in pain. "Look, you have friends, a lover, a career, everything someone in your position could hope for" Kankuro said, his face so close to Narutos he could feel the hot breath from every word wash across his face. "and you're part of an organization that accepts you. Lord knows there are some that would dream of having what you have Uzumaki, and you were willing to throw that all away by not trusting me and disobeying something you agreed to when you got your job? Look at him, he would be alone and crushed if anything happened to you." Kankuro said, wrenching his head towards Kiba. The look in Kiba's eyes made him begin to cry again. "And what about my brother, you know he still looks at you as a father. Get a grip with yourself and talk to me when you have done that." Kankuro finally finished, dropping Naruto harshly on the floor. Kiba looked at Naruto and back at Kankuros retreating back. "And Kiba, I'm sorry you had to see that." Kankuro said as he walked into the office, undoubtedly to file the report that Naruto had been reprimanded in his pod for his actions.
Kiba walked over to Naruto and got a reaction that he didn't expect. Naruto slapped his hand away. Kiba looked down at him with a hurt look. "He's right, I'm pathetic and need to fix a lot of things in my life." Naruto said in a silent tone as he picked himself up off the floor. "I wouldn't say that, you just need to adjust." Kiba said as he followed Naruto back to their room. When Kiba got there, he noticed Naruto was cleaning the assorted stuff off the extra bed. "What are you doing?" Kiba asked. It finally dawned on him when Naruto crawled into the bed and rolled over onto his side. "Naru" Kiba began to say but before long, the sob that left Naruto made Kiba not only sorry for what happened but also wanted him to cause physical harm to Kankuro; he had managed to push back years of work that he and Shikamaru had managed to do to make Naruto more accepting of himself. "I don't expect you to want to be with me any more. I'll talk to Asuma about a pod transfer." Naruto said before he rolled away from Kiba.
In the other room, Kankuro heard what Naruto said. Gaara had filled him on what Shikamaru and Kiba had been through when it came to helping Naruto accept himself more and had a bad feeling. Before long, there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it." Kankuro said as he got out of the bed, wearing only a pair of green briefs. As he opened the door he was met with a very pissed off looking Kiba. "I only did what I had to do." was all Kankuro said before Kiba had backhanded him hard enough to make him stumble back a little. "Yeah, and reset three years of work we did to make Naruto what he is today. I had to hide the knives because he already was looking for them." Kiba said. Kankuro got a smirk. "Doubt that's my problem." he said. Kiba had had enough. With one reach, he grabbed Kankuro by the bulge of his brief; causing him to scream out in pain like no one else had heard from him before. Kabuto rushed out into the hallway in time to see Kiba dragging Kankuro to his room, using his testicles as a tether. Kabuto was torn between breaking them up or watching to see where it was going. His decision was made when Shikamaru walked up behind him and looked out in time to see the two turn into the room. "Wow, talk about pissing Kiba off. I kind of had an idea he would react like this." was all Shikamaru said.
Naruto heard the commotion and looked up as Kiba drug Kankuro into the room. He rolled away and just couldn't look at the sight before him. In his mind, Kiba had his hand on Kankuro like that for reasons other then the real reason. "Look." Kiba said. Kankuro only caught a glimpse of Narutos face before it was buried under the pillow. All he could see was the normal glow was completely gone. The happy go lucky look that Naruto normally had was replaced by a look of deep self loathing and desire to die. Kiba felt a wet splash fall on his hand and was about to scream at Kankuro for pissing on him until he realized the origin of the droplet. "What have I done?" was all Kankuro said before Kiba released him and he walked out of the room, head hung down. "Kanki, what's wrong?" Gaara asked. "He lost his glow." was all Kankuro said and this hit Gaara like a load of bricks. "What did he mean by glow?" Kabuto asked Shikamaru. "I'll have to ask Kiba if I can talk about it. I would ask Naruto but right now I don't think putting him under stress would be best." Shikamaru said before he walked back into the bedroom.
Kabuto got his answer when he went to wake Naruto up for his community duty assignment later that morning. Kiba and the others had already gotten up and were waiting for Naruto to get up. Finally Kiba went and asked Kabuto to try, thinking if it was someone with authority it would get a better reaction. When he walked into the room he noticed a stack of boxes beside the bed they had turned on it's side to make extra room. The bed was now on the ground and Naruto was laying in the bed. As Kabuto approached, he noticed the look on Naruto's face. The tear tracks were still drying and he could tell that Naruto had been crying off and on. The thing that got his attention the most was the brilliant tan that once graced the younger mans body had vanished, replaced with a white washed façade covering the husk of a person that laid before him. "Naru, it's time to get up." Kabuto said as he reached out. A shiver shot through him when he made contact. Naruto was deathly cold. He reached up to his neck and found a pulse; although it was faint it was still there. He watched the raise and fall of his chest as he slept in what seemed to be a depression induced sleep. "Okay, I'll call Asuma for you and tell him you're sick." Kabuto said before he left the room.
Back in the main part of the pod, Kankuro was sitting on the couch. He watched as Kabuto walked over to the phone and dialed the number for the command desk. "Naruto Uzumaki will not be able to make it due to personnel reasons." was all Kabuto said before hanging up. "You know it's a violation to call off for someone else, why did you do that?" Kankuro asked. "Have you looked at Naruto?" Kabuto said as he took a seat across from Kankuro. "Yeah, last night. Why, has he gotten worse?" Kankuro asked with obvious concern in his voice. "It's like he's dead but still alive." Kabuto said. Kankuro got up and walked out of the commons room. As he walked closer to the room he could hear Kiba talking to Naruto, just asking him to wake up. When he entered, Kiba looked up with a glare that made him take a step back without realizing it. "I hope you're happy." was all Kiba said before he slammed the door in Kankuros face. He reached out but found the door to be locked so decided it would be a good idea that the two be given some time alone.
"Kiba, why do you care?" Naruto said in a weak voice, his eyes still closed. "Because, when I said I loved you, I mean it. I've never been this scared to loose you before in my life." Kiba said as he brushed the stray hairs away from Naruto's eyes in case he decided to open them. "But how can you still mean it?" Naruto asked as he rolled over to Kiba and opened his eyes. He looked deep into Naruto's blue eyes and almost started crying again. "It's because I've always loved you and I always know I will." Kiba said. Once again a single tear left Naruto's eye and Kiba reached down with a tissue and wiped it. "Thanks." Naruto said as he rolled over and looked away from Kiba before falling back asleep.
Three days went by before Kiba got called back to the pod. "Kiba, we need to transfer Naruto to the medical unit. I think his body is failing him." Kabuto said with Kankuro behind him with a sorry look. "Other then the time he tried to hang himself, has he done anything else like this" Kankuro finally asked. "It used to be weekly that he would do something self destructive but this is the first time I've seen him give up on life." Kiba said. Kankuro hung his head and walked out the main door for the pod. "I need to talk to Asuma." was all he said before he left. Kiba watched as they raised the blankets off of Naruto and realized one thing. The entire time he was in the bed the only movement he would do was to roll over. He never once got up to go to the bathroom or even to drink anything. He had truly given up.
When Sakura came in with the gurney, everything finally hit. "Naruto, you better not even think of dying." was all Kiba said before he broke down in tears. Naruto looked up at him and smiled. "Don't worry, I won't." Naruto said as he reached his hand out. Kiba took his hand and smiled, it seemed Naruto was going to pull through this.
Kiba followed Naruto to the elevator and watched them load Naruto into the express elevator for the top floor. As he turned around he found Kankuro looking at him with a sad and sappy look. Although he had the look of being sorry he was also smiling and this made Kiba see red. Without warning, a doubled fist made its way through the air and made contact with the side of Kankuro's head. The sound echoed down the hallway as Asuma looked at Kankuro falling towards the floor as Kiba walked off like it was nothing; pod 5-4 was falling apart at the seams.