Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Alone in the World ❯ Closets and Doorknobs ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer- I don’t own Naruto.

A/N: Yo! Howzit goin’ ya’ll ? Sorry for the sucky chapter last time, but I was in a rush to update, hopefully this one will a lot better and will make up for last time.

Alone in the World

Chapter Five

Having made up his mind, Naruto walked over to the piles of clothing that had hangers in them. “Funny, I don’t remember going into my closet last night,” he said aloud to himself. He always talked out loud to himself when he was at home. If he didn’t, it would get too quiet. He then shrugged, “Oh, well, I don’t remember a lot of things.” He gathered all of the clothing into his arms, which wasn’t much. He then looked around and saw his room anew. He groaned, “Aw, man, this is going to take forever…What the hell came over me anyway?”

Then it all came crashing down on him again, “Damn…” An unknown emotion welled up inside his chest. It was a sort of angry sorrow. It came on so fast and fierce that he didn’t have time to put up a guard to protect himself. Before he knew it, a hot tear escaped, then another. His muscles tense, trying to keep them down. The spit in his mouth grew thick and he had to gulp to swallow it. He shut his eyes tight and drew a deep shuddering breath. He shook with the exertion of keeping down his emotions. A dull ache in his head grew in the back of his eyes, where the imprisoned tears fought for freedom. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, gaining control again. “Oiy,” he said, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

He gave his head a shake, “What was I doing again?” he asked himself.

“Oh, yeah, cleaning.” He reminded himself. He swung the clothes over his shoulder, holding them by the hangers’ hooked end with two fingers. As he walked over to his closet door, he tripped and lost his balance on a pair of pants laying on the floor. Before his knew it he banged his head on the closet doorknob, and lost consciousness.

((In the closet, about five minutes ago))

Sakura’s breath came in short, ragged gasps. There wasn’t enough air. The closet was too small. She couldn’t seem to get a good lungful of air. She was hyperventilating, suffocating. She tried taking deep breaths, but couldn’t. She clutched something to her chest. ‘Naruto’s journal,’ she thought to herself, trying to calm herself by thinking of something else other than the lack of oxygen in the closet. ‘How did I get it?’ She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but relaxed, realizing it was only just Sasuke. ‘Sasuke,’ She thought as she smiled, shakily, her breathing coming a little easier.

‘What a time to find out your claustrophobic,’ thought Sasuke as he lay his hand on Sakura’s shoulder. He had sensed her tensing up and heard her heavy breathing and knew that if he didn’t do something soon to calm her down, she’d blow there cover. He heard Naruto talking to himself and heard him say that he was going to come into the closet. He tensed up, feeling Kakashi and Sakura do that same. He heard Sakura’s breathing get worse, he gave her shoulder a squeeze, trying to calm her down. ‘Damn,’ he thought, ‘why’d he have to choose to do the closet first.’ Sasuke heard Naruto rummaging through his stuff, talking to himself. He heard Naruto curse softly, then there was a long silence.

‘He’s coming to the closet, he’s coming to the closet,’ Sakura thought frantically, ‘What’s he going to do when he finds us in here?’ She felt Sasuke give her shoulder another squeeze, but nothing could calm her down. She needed to get out, she looked around frantically in the dark closet, looking for any kind of escape.

Kakashi put his arm around Sakura’s shoulder, and held her against him trying to calm her down as best he could. Of course, he couldn’t even alleviate his own growing sense of dread of Naruto finding him in his closet. But he was an adult and Naruto’s teacher to boot, so he had every right to be where he was.

Suddenly there was a loud thud and the whole door shook. Then there was a long silence. Sasuke not knowing what else to do, let his hand drop from Sakura’s shoulder and reached for the doorknob. Kakashi swatted his hand away and Sasuke drew his hand back quickly, shaking it to stop the sting. He glared at Kakashi, but didn’t say anything.

Kakashi softly put his hand on the doorknob and slowly twisted it, pushing the door open, but it only opened a few inches, being blocked by something. He pushed the door a little harder and got it open enough where he could stick his head out. He looked down to see what was blocking the door and saw Naruto lying on the floor with a huge bump at his left temple. Kakashi opened the door a little bit wider, pushing Naruto’s body out of the way. Once there was enough space to get through he stepped out, looking down at Naruto.

Sakura scrambled out of the closet, taking a lungful of the open air. “Aiiiiieeee,” She screamed seeing Naruto’s body on the ground, “Is he dead?!”

“No, just unconscious. He must’ve hit his head.” Kakashi said, nudging Naruto with his foot.

Sasuke came out, and looked down at Naruto, ‘Idiot…’ he thought, mentally rolling his eyes.

Naruto groaned, his eyelids fluttering, making all three of them jump.

“Maybe we should go,” Sakura said, edging her way towards the door and pulling on Kakashi’s and Sasuke’s arms.

“And leave him here?” Sasuke asked, tugging his arm out of Sakura’s grip.

“I think Sakura’s right. We should leave. Naruto will be fine. He’ll come to in a few minutes and take care of himself,” Kakashi said, starting towards the door.

Sasuke looked down at Naruto one last time, shrugged and followed Kakashi and Sakura out.

((about two minutes after Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura leave))

Naruto groaned, and his eyes fluttered open. He gasped and sat up quickly. Bad idea. The room began to spin. He pressed the heel of his palms against his eyes. Then touched the bump on his left temple. “Ow…” He looked at his hand. No blood. “Well, I guess that’s a good sign,” he said to himself. He slowly stood up, using the doorknob of his closet for balance. “You…” he said, glaring at the doorknob. Then a thought struck him, making his eyes go wide, he pointed at the door, which was slightly open, “How’d you…” he trailed off, not really wanting to dwell on another question. . “I should probably put some ice on this,” he said, touching his bump again and wincing. He slowly made his way to his kitchen, stumbling every few steps.

“Aw, man, do I even have ice?” Naruto asked as he stepped into his kitchen. The broken glass crunched under foot as he made his way deeper into his kitchen. He opened the freezer part of his refrigerator and peered into it. “Cool, I’ve got ice,” he said, smiling slightly as he grabbed some ice. He walked towards the counter and grabbed a paper towel, wrapping the ice in it, he touched it to his head. He sighed softly at the cool touch to the bump on his head and leaned heavily on the counter top, placing his elbows on the surface, bowing his head slightly.

He turned around, leaning his back against the counter and surveyed his kitchen, “Maybe I should start in here?” He asked himself, figuring that it would probably be easier. All he had to do is sweep up the broken glass and throw it away, whereas in his room he had to put things back where they belonged. “I’ll do it,” he said, “Right after the throbbing in my head stops…”

((Three hours later))

Iruka walked up to Naruto’s door. The sun was getting low in the sky and with his ‘official ninja business’ over and done with, he wanted to see how Naruto was doing. He was really worried about him. He thought of Naruto as, well, not a son, Iruka was too young for that, but as a younger brother. One that would get himself into trouble if he wasn’t watched out for.

Iruka knocked on the door and at the first knock the door creaked open. Iruka raised an eyebrow at that, and poked his head inside. “Naruto?” he called out softly. He cocked his head to the side and listened intently. He thought he heard something. It sounded like broken glass.

“Hey, Naruto!” he called out, then heard a loud crash and took off running towards the sound. “Naruto!” He took off at a run towards the sound. He barged into the kitchen and stopped so suddenly that he almost landed face first into a pile of broken glass by his feet.

Naruto stared at Iruka with wide-eyes. He held a broom up in his hands in a defensive position. “Dammit, Master Iruka, you scared the crap out of me!” he exclaimed, lowering the broom to the floor.

Iruka ignored Naruto’s outburst, “What happened in here?” he asked instead, looking around at the room.

Naruto looked around, “Uh,…” he said, at a loss for words. He didn’t know how to answer Iruka. He didn’t want to lie to him, but he also didn’t want to tell him the truth.

But Iruka forgot about his previous question as he took a look at Naruto, “Naruto, what happened to your forehead?” he asked, moving closer to Naruto. He took Naruto’s head in his hands and examined his forehead, which was a nasty purplish-blue colored bruised bump.

“Huh? Oh, right. I fell and hit my head on the doorknob,” Naruto said, looking up at Iruka.

“How’d you fall?” Iruka said, touching the bump softly.

Naruto winced, “Hey! Don’t touch it!” He exclaimed, pulling away from Iruka’s grasp.

“Sorry,” Iruka said, letting his hands fall to his side. “So, how’d you fall?”

Naruto shrugged, “I tripped.”

Iruka nodded and surveyed the room, “And this?” he asked, gesturing towards the broken glass on the floor, looking Naruto in the eyes.

Naruto looked away and began sweeping half-heartedly. “Uh…”

“Naruto?” Iruka asked, a questioning look in his eyes. ‘What’s wrong with him?’ he asked himself, ‘I haven’t seen him like this in a long time.’ Iruka decided to drop it for the moment. “So, do you need any help?”

Naruto looked up, “Uh, yeah, that’d be great. It’s kinda hard to put the glass in the bag by myself,” he said, nodding slightly. He grabbed an empty bag off the floor and handed it to Iruka. “Hold it open for me.”

Iruka obeyed, holding the bag wide open for Naruto, “This okay?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect,” Naruto said, and began picking up handfuls of glass and dumping it into the bag.

“Careful,” Iruka warned.

Naruto nodded, and grinned up at Iruka, “No worries,” he said, scooping up another handful of glass and dropping it in the bag. He was glad that Iruka had dropped the subject of how his kitchen was a mess. He didn’t really understand himself and trying to explain would to difficult. He’d probably only manage to get the both of them confused with his explanation. He needed to meditate on it or something. Truly find what was bothering him. ‘Maybe I should talk to him,’ Naruto told himself, ‘it won’t hurt anything, right? I mean, he’s always been there for me, and he asked, so maybe I should tell him…’ Naruto reached down again for more glass, but his hand touch only tile. Naruto looked down and saw that the pile of glass was gone except for the tiny pieces that he would have to probably use a sheet of paper to pick up.

Iruka looked at Naruto, studying his facial expressions. His heart had lifted at Naruto’s custom grin, but soon it faded into a dark look and his heart plummeted once again. ‘Why won’t he tell me what’s wrong?’ he asked himself.

Naruto made up his mind. “Iruka…” Naruto began, his stomach feeling like it was being tied into a knot.

Iruka started slightly, “Yeah?”

“Um…would you sweep another pile please, I’m getting blisters.” Naruto said, quickly changing his mind. ‘What was I thinking? I can’t tell him. He’ll think I’m pathetic…’

Iruka didn’t think that that was what Naruto wanted to say, but he let it slide, “Yeah, sure,” he said. ‘I just need to give him time. He’ll come to me when he’s ready.’

Naruto handed Iruka the broom and took the bag from him. He looked inside. It was only half-full. ‘Why is it only half-full and not already half-full?’ He asked himself. As he contemplated this, Iruka quickly swept up another pile.

“Do you want me to put the glass in this time?” Iruka asked.

Naruto nodded, biting the inner part of his cheek, ‘Should I tell him…I trust him, but will he understand…’ Naruto asked himself. He knew that Iruka would understand but it was still hard for him to get the words out. He took a deep breath, ‘Ok…but how do I bring it up…Do I say ‘Hey, Master Iruka, I’ve been feeling really shitty lately and I don’t know why’?’ Naruto shook his head, ‘No, that won’t work…but how…’

((TBC))

There, how was it…I wanted to make it longer but I also want to make an update. I’ll be able to work more steadily now, I’ve finally gotten settled in…so…sorry!