Naruto walked the road to school. Unlike usual he wasn't joined by Sasuke so he assumed his classmate was driven to school.
"Hey" a voice came from behind him.
"Oh...hi" Naruto greeted the teen from his class. "Nara-san...is it?"
"Drop the honorifics. Call me Shikamaru"
"H-hai..." Naruto small smiled "what can I do for you?"
"You picked a fight...with one of my guys a few days ago....why?" he ordered.
"Have I? I don't pick fights. If I fought someone then it's in self defense" he smiled.
"Kiba...is that true? Did you attack Naruto?"
"Of course not...it was that other kid. This idiot just interfered-..." He gritted his teeth in anger.
"I'll give you a warning, Naruto. Don't cross my path" Shikamaru glared coldly. Those who were watching the confrontation feared for their lives.
"That's a threat," Naruto's voice deepened dangerously, suspecting Shikamaru to be the guy who's been threatening him and Sasuke. "You can shove it up your ass"
"No one talks to the boss like that!!" Kiba lunged at the blond. The latter blocked the punch by holding it in his palm, pressure to the wrist bending it til it gave pain.
Kiba held long enough before letting out a scream. When he was released his wrist was throbbing, if Naruto put any more pressure he would have popped his bones right out of their sockets.
"I don't have a boss" Naruto stated and walked away to the side waiting for Sasuke's arrival.
Thirty minutes later, everyone was in class. He was still outside staring at his own unreturned texts that added to his anxiousness.
Walking to Sasuke's home turned to a sprint then a full blown out run. Even before he reached the residence he could see smoke in the air.
His chest tightened immobilizing him for a second. Shallow breaths, shaky hands as he removed the needle from his palm ignoring the bleeding and he jumped over the outer wall.
The pain shot to his chest as he jumped down, but he ignored it and went to the front door, he slammed his body against the door. Once, twice, thrice...calling over and over hoping for a response. Slamming his body each time harder ignoring all the signs sent to him that he should stop.
Then one last bang against the door and it was open. Fire attacked him almost instantly as it fed on the new oxygen allowed its way. What frightened him was the sight of bodies, dead bodies. Then in the middle of them was Itachi.
The only one whose chest seemed to he moving. "Sasuke" the adult mumbled. Naruto danced around the flames as they tried to claim his life. Scorching him here and there as he reached for the male and supported his body.
He got him out and laid him down. Unable to assist him as he had to get Sasuke. He looked up to where Sasuke's room was and hoped the flames didn't reach there yet.
"Hold on, Uchiha-san" Naruto frowned as he was forced to stop putting pressure on the wound to go save Sasuke. "I'm sorry."
He bit his lip as he calculated the distance he needed to sprint in order to easily up his body to the window of the first floor. As he executed it he landed perfectly on his target.
He walked in through the broken window finding an unconscious Sasuke by the door.
"Sasuke!" As he kneeled near the raven teen, his chest pain increased.
"Naruto-..." He muttered seeing the blurred figure of the teen who was in pain.
"I'll get you out, I shouldn't have left you alone" his tears crashed on Sasuke's shirt as he helped him sit up slowly and then carried the raven on his back, using the bedsheet to secure him on his back.
"Itachi" he blinked looking around almost confused. He was bleeding from the wound in his head. A wound Naruto hadn't noticed.
Naruto wanted to go down through the stairs but the flames were too big. It would be safer to get Sasuke out the window. He got out from the broken window and used the pipe sliding back down.
"Are you okay, teme?" He sat Sasuke against a tree and returned to Itachi pressing against the wound. "Sasuke?"
Sirens sounded in the distance. Sasuke was in and out of it, as he looked up seeing Naruto's lips moving but not really hearing what he said he felt confused. The blond in front of him, for some reason, had blood prints of his own hand all over his chest area of his shirt.
"Sasuke don't fall asleep okay?" He pleaded with watery eyes as his crush blankly stared at him. He had just witnessed the blood on Sasuke's ears that alarmed him for head trauma.
The doors to the main residence were bust open and in the open area of the garden, police cars and ambulances were in view.
Sasuke kept his gaze on the blond, not feeling the coldness nor the tingling burning sensation of rubbing alcohol against his head wound.
"Sasuke," he held his hand "you better be okay, Teme. I won't forgive you otherwise" he silently cried not caring that he showed how he felt.
"Sir, you need to come with us" an officer tried getting him away.
"Sasuke......"
The raven's eyes shot open in realization of what he had heard come out of those lips but in hindsight said nothing in return and showed no other reaction.
Just before his eyes shut, he saw Naruto collapse. It was all just a bad dream, it was finally over.
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Kushina's worst nightmare was one step closer to becoming a reality. She stayed by her baby boy's side. Tsunade and Jiraiya have also stayed with both of them.
It was quiet in the room, apart from the sound of Naruto's heart monitor. It brought both relief but also scared them at the chance of it stopping any second.
The boy wasn't awake more than a few seconds to a couple minutes maximum. His fever was getting better as the doctor was focused on curing it to not cause further strain on his already damaged heart.
"Kaasan?" She was the first person he called for. He felt her hand holding his bandaged one. Did he get hurt? He didn't recall getting hurt "what happened?"
She caressed her baby boy's cheek and explained what had happened earlier that morning.
In a clinic, Sasuke was awake and watched by Shisui. Sasuke's injury luckily did not effect any of his normal functions. Still, Shisui did not allow him to see his own brother.
The fact that Shisui was there meant his brother suffered a serious injury. Shisui after all was Itachi's medical proxy.
Sasuke had seen the face of the assailant that morning.
His head injury messed up his memories. The blond hair he saw, the dexterity with the sword made his brain falsely fill in the blank to match it with Naruto.
In his head, Naruto was the guy who set their house on fire and almost killed them. He was wrong, he was told he was confused. Not only did Naruto have an aliby but he saved their lives.
He felt disoriented. Why did he think it was Naruto? He wondered as he was left alone in the room.
He wanted to believe Naruto was innocent. No, he knew Naruto was innocent but he wanted to believe the opposite because it meant he could easily hate him. He could easily distance himself from the blond.
Naruto is a genius, possibly a lot smarter than anyone around and Sasuke could easily see him outsmarting anyone, even the police. So Narto's innocence declared meant nothing to Sasuke. His own brother's words meant nothing either.
There could only be one culprit and said culprit for the raven was already set to be Namikaze Naruto.
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Kakashi was in a state of delirium when he heard the news. He had dropped everything to be by his boyfriend and did not care about anything else.
The man partially blamed himself, he knew Itachi was a pacifist. He wouldn't hurt a fly. When he got to the hospital, Itachi was in surgery. He paced back and forth with Shisui attempting to calm him down. The eldest of the three Uchiha's was sipping on coffee, calm and collected.
"How's Sasuke?" He asked worriedly, his mind finally rushing to his boyfriend's brother.
"He received a head blow with a blunt object. I think he saw the attacker but the hit messed up his memories. He thinks it's Naruto" the man sighed eyeing Kakashi who still refused to sit. Internally, seeing Kakashi this nervous irritated him but he understood.
"And Itachi?"
"A knife to the abdomen...I don't know the details. But he is alive, thanks to Naruto" he placed his hand on the teacher's shoulders "like I said. They'll both be alright" he small smiled.
Kakashi was envious of Shisui's calm demeanor. He had never seen the man lose his head over anything in his life. Come to think of it, how did Shisui know to call him of all people.
"Did....Itachi tell you about us?" He asked hesitantly.
"No...just a very strong hunch" the man smirked "my lips are sealed" he walked away so gracefully that his steps did not create a sound behind him.
If Shisui figured out, he wondered, did Sasuke find out about us too?
Kakashi was the first to see his beloved straight after surgery. He held his hand, kissed it and promised him not to ever leave his side at this time of need. He did not care if anyone else found out about them.
Sasuke had tried to contact Naruto the last couple of days whilst he was stuck in the hospital. He did not know why he would not answer.
He looked at his phone. It rang and he hung up the moment it switched to voice mail; he hated voice mail.
'usuratonkachi, where r u?' he typed the small text anxiously and sent it.
It was only a day later that he received a text.
'At my grandparents, sick' Naruto tried to use the fact he had a fever a few days ago to his advantage. In reality, he suffered a heart attack and was stuck in a hospital. 'r u ok?'
'ha' he kept his reply short. He wanted to thank Naruto but he couldn't shake the idea he was behind it. It didn't matter what the police said. The perpetrator sounded, acted and looked like Naruto.
What motive would he have? What would he gain from killing him? All of this made no sense.
'I'll be off in couple of days. Can we talk?' Sasuke typed and then erased it. He was not going to be alone with a potential psychopath.
As far as he knew, Naruto still had to deal with hallucinations. Though Naruto's hallucinations were not so scary anymore. They were more of just seeing things that aren't there; like bullies from his last school or his deceased father.
'I gtg, ttyl' he saw the text from the teen and he pressed the power button turning off the screen.
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Shikamaru was there with his girlfriend on one of their troublesome visits to her grandmother. He absolutely despised the woman as she had the habit of pushing all of his wrong buttons.
But he would bear with her for the sake of his beautiful girlfriend.
What he didn't expect was finding Naruto in the cardio ward.
"Naruto?" Shikamaru failed to hide his surprise.
"Ah...Shikamaru" he small smiled completely forgetting their encounter last week was anything but amicable.
"Is this one of your goons who got himself in trouble?" Temari sighed.
"He's my classmate." He clarified not wanting the aforementioned classmate to know about him "This is my girlfriend, Temari"
"Well look at that...you actually know someone who isn't in a gang, ha..." She teased and then turned to Naruto "pleasure meeting you, Naruto-kun"
"Likewise, Temari-chan" he bowed to her. "What are you doing here?"
"Visiting her grandma" he exasperated.
"Well I'll go see her, jerk. You can stay and catch up with your classmate" she semi glared at Shikamaru and left.
"Troublesome" he mumbled to himself then switched attention to the person in front of him. "Haven't seen you or Sasuke in like a week. I heard their house caught on fire.."
"Can we go sit somewhere if you'll interview me for details?" He small smiled and followed Shikamaru outside to the garden where the older male allowed himself a smoke.
"So...care to tell me what happened?"
"Someone tried to kill Sasuke and his brother." He summed it up "Itachi was stabbed and Teme was hit in the head. Both were left to die either by smoke inhalation or burning." He shivered. "I know it was done on purpose. Because the rest of the bodies were dead."
"I'd trust your judgment. So you're here because?"
"I-..."
"Don't lie...cardio ward why?" He cut to the chase.
"I had a heart attack" Naruto sighed in defeat. "Happy?"
Shikamaru removed his cigarette from his mouth immediately and stomped on it. "Of course not, you're not even sixteen",
"Yeah well....a lot of bullshit has been happening in my life lately. Why not add a heart attack in the mix?" He buried his head in his hands.
"Naruto, you can talk to me" he gently placed a hand on his shoulder. The blond shuddered and bit his lip fighting the urge to cry.
"I'm fine. I'm dealing with it just fine" he insisted. "It's not like we're friends, dattebayo?"
"We could be friends if you want. I don't mind. But just know that you can talk to me whenever you want, ok?" He patted him on the back.
Naruto had never heard Sasuke tell him that. Maybe when they just first met but it seemed the raven forgot about all his emotional trouble.
"Thanks, I guess..." He small smiled.
"I like your genuine ones better." Shikamaru got his phone out and saw a surprised look on the blond's face. "I take it the idiot Uchiha can't tell the difference. Put your phone number in"
"When have you seen me smile genuinely?" He started typing his number.
"Ideally, when you are with said Idiot. He likes you. Likes likes you, it's as obvious as the sun."
"Well he said he doesn't. I asked..." Naruto didn't even try to deny his feelings like Sasuke had. "Is it obvious...that I'm..."
"That you like him?"
"That I am...gay" he uttered the word with bitterness as if hating the fact that he is.
"Not really," Shikamaru chuckled "sorry I just imagined the over the top comedic gays they show on tv."
Naruto smiled genuinely as Shikamaru had a favourable reaction.
"You're the first person I...come out to." He cleared his throat. "Well...my mom knows I think...she's the best detective there is, she definitely knows" he laughed to himself. "People in Kiri weren't accepting....so I-...kept it to myself"
"Here in Konoha, no one gives a damn. You know Deidara and Sasori are dating. It's been normal here for as long as I can remember."
"That's nice" he felt as if he didn't have to worry so much now if they found out.
"There are still people here and there. But they're the exception. No one should be told who it's okay to love"
"Shikamaru," Naruto handed him the phone after entering the number "thank you for talking to me, dattebayo?"
"Don't worry about it. We're friends, no?"
"Yeah," he smiled again effortlessly "friends" he nodded. "Shikamaru, can you not tell anyone about my heart attack...or hospital stay..."
"Yeah, I figured as much" he got up. "Let's go back inside" he helped the teen back to his room.
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Sasuke had returned to school one week after the accident. His blond crush was not so much there yet.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura smiled handing him a bento box "I made it for you, as a welcome back gift"
They both knew Sasuke was going to make a mean remark and go on to throw the box in the bin. But when he reached in with a simple "thank you" her jaw dropped to the floor.
"Y-yo-... You're welcome" she nervously said.
"Hey....Sakura" Sasuke looked in her green eyes "I wanna give us another shot. If you want a seco-..."
"Yes! Pick me up tonight at 7!!" She chirped walking away with a bit blush on her face.
Sasuke just looked at her disappearing body "what the fuck am I doing?"
A/N:
Can things get any more complicated? Welp...it's me writing...I think they could get a lot worse.
Is this foreshadowing? It could be or I could be just pulling your leg. A whole week to find out which one XD
I love you guys!