Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Asylum ❯ ARC3: Day27 ( Chapter 10 )

ARC 3: Day 27

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Characters.

Note: Unbeta-ed. Spotting Typo's is appreciated, as always!

 

It was Tuesday and the weather was clouded, but dry.

 

Yearly Fieldtrip Day.

 

The whole group was wearing white shirts and a grey bracelet with an engraved `Inpatient of Konoha's Mental Institution' on it. This way we wouldn't get lost easily.

 

But surely, they never had a fieldtrip before with a Hyuuga who wanted to run away.

 

The staff had arranged a buss for us, and because our group wasn't considered as dangerous as the West Wing, there were only 7 staff members who went with us.

 

Of course I was overjoyed about the number-fact, so I chatted the entire time during the ride.

 

The ride was little over two hours, with the buss making a usual stop at a local gas-station. All of us had gotten a schedule of how long everything would take, where we would go, what we would do, and when we would get back. This way even Naruto could deal with the trip.

 

Everything was going smoothly, and I even got Doc Jiraiya as far as to tell me the history of the famous `Guessing Game' (which was a really boring story actually: Jiraiya just made the game up one day and it was liked so well, it was now a rock-steady tradition).

 

Everybody was having fun during the ride.

 

No-one suspected that right under their nose, I was going to execute my great plan.

 

And hell that they could stop me.

 

So when we made the usual stop at the local gas station, I acted up. I grabbed my bag and apologized to Jiraiya.

 

“Bathroom,” was the excuse that I gave to get off the bus, before I grabbed Gaara's hand and dragged him with me towards the toilets on the other side of the station. From the bus' point of view you couldn't see the toilet-building, and I thought this was a good thing.

 

“I don't need to, Neji.” Gaara finally decided to speak up.

 

“I don't either.” I replied, while I dragged him into a very disgusting looking toilet building. I quickly scanned the area, which happened to be empty. Great.

 

“Neji?”

 

“Gaara, you wanted to see the outside world, didn't you?” Gaara made no attempt to defy my question, so I kept talking, “Do you trust me?”

 

“...”

 

“Do you trust me, Gaara?”

 

“...”

 

“Gaara.” I let his name roll off my tongue again, and it sounded as if I was cooing to a child to talk.

 

He nodded slowly.

 

I smiled.

 

“Then please keep in mind I will take all responsibility for what we're going to do.” I said before pulling him to the other end of the toilet building. And surely, behind all the toilets was a fire exit.

 

Heh.

 

Hyuuga Neji always had perfectly laid out ideas.

 

The fire-exit would lead us to the other side of the station, where people could get a cab. I knew that everyone in the bus wouldn't be able to see us standing there.

 

“No-one will see us running away through this door. I have money with me, so we can grab a bus or cab to the city. I'll show you the buildings, then we eat something, and we will be back before night. Now we only need to change into another set of clothes. Here.”

 

Gaara was awfully quiet as I revealed my plan to him, but he didn't refuse when I gave him another set of clothes.

 

“Gaara, I'm going to show you what the outside world is like.” I said confidently, not a moment thinking I was taking quite a big risk.

 

I changed pretty quickly, and then I helped Gaara change into a new pair of clothes. I usually helped him change, because Gaara didn't like to move. He was really slow in doing daily things, like eating, or brushing his teeth.

 

When we were changed, we looked at each other. And Gaara smiled, just a little bit. And I knew this plan was more than worth it.

 

So I pushed open the door which was supposed to be the fire exit. The sunlight momentarily blinded my sight, but as confident as I was, I smiled, before running into that blinding light, running into the world of freedom, running away from our boring field-trip, running away from our murky and gloomy institution, running straight towards freedom, running..

 

Straight into Sasuke.

 

“Sasuke.. Is a part of your plan?” And I felt like hitting both boys.

 

“Sasuke, could you please get lost?” I tried to ask as friendly as possible, but I failed miserably. Then I tried to make him back off by scowling very dirty to him, but that failed as well. Damn him. Damn him for actually ruining my perfect plan.

 

“Are you guys going to run away?” Sasuke asked, as if it wasn't obvious already. Was he going to rub it in that he caught us?

 

“NO!” I snapped, feeling quite embarrassed by just standing in front of Sasuke with Gaara behind me, both of us wearing other clothes than a minute ago.

 

“Yes.” Gaara defied me. Of all times, this moment he decided to be talkative.

 

“Gaara.” I gave him a look, which made him shut up. Then I turned my head back to Sasuke, who I disliked more and more as the seconds ticked by. Really, during Group Session he was all `I hate the world and I won't talk to anyone', but now! Now he was looking at us as if we were the most interesting things ever, because his eyes were shimmering with a creepy kind of fascination.

 

“Look, Sasuke,” I tried smiling as nice as possible, “You're a smart kid. Really, you're smart.” My smile grew wider and faker, but right now I was more concerned about ditching Sasuke.

 

“Now, we will do the following: You will go back to the bus and be quiet. And we will go to the other side of the gas station and be gone for a few hours. You got that?”

 

Sasuke kept staring at us, not saying as single thing. Ugh, almost as annoying as Gaara could be from times to times.

 

“Gaara, let's go.” I grabbed his arm, and dragged him away from the embarrassing confrontation with Sasuke. We made our way to the other side of the gas station.

 

(But apparently, fate was -again- not on my side)

 

“I know how to call cab.” As if he completely disregarded my last request, Sasuke was suddenly standing next to us again, completely catching me off guard.

 

I gave Sasuke a cold glare, but he stayed unfazed.

 

“Sasuke.. Is coming too?” And it appeared that Gaara stayed unfazed as well.

 

“Yeah, sure.” Sasuke answered, just like that.

 

“NO!” I snapped at the brooding teen, while looking around for a taxi. But since fate has never been at my side, there were no cabs. However, there were two annoying boys at my side at the moment.

 

“Neji.. Sasuke can call cabs.” Gaara almost whined to me. What did Sasuke do that made Gaara talk so much today?

 

“And I can also solve riddles. I'm very smart, but I don't like to show it off to everyone.” Sasuke said, like this piece of information should make me happy.

 

I looked at the two boys. Gaara was actually looking at Sasuke with some kind of creepy fascination, while Sasuke just stood there like it was normal for him to do these kinds of things.

 

Ah, whatever.

 

“Fine.” I growled, before digging in the bag I was carrying with me, and handing over Sasuke a spare jacket. I glanced in the direction of the bus one last time, before walking on the opposite direction.

 

Again, not once did I think one of my ideas was -perhaps- not so perfect in the end.

 

Surely, we needed to find a cab pretty quickly, or the staff would find us here.

 

But it would all work out fine.

 

Because I was Hyuuga Neji, Boy Genius, and I never had a crappy idea before.

 

 

To say my plan was crap, was an underestimation.

 

My plan completely sucked.

 

I had to spend most of my money on a cab to take us to the city. From the $50,- I had with me, I had to spend little over $30,- on the cab. I know for sure it was a pure rip-off, but Sasuke was starting to babble to himself in a very creepy and agitated way, so I pretty quickly got rid of the annoying cab-driver.

 

When we got out, we were in a distinct part of the town, with only a few shops here and there. The streets were pretty much empty, but that was the least I had to worry about.

 

You see, when we were finally in the city after a $30,- ride, Sasuke announced he didn't like cities, and proceeded to sit down on the pavement to sulk.

 

And then Gaara announced he left his medicines in the bus. He didn't tell us what would happen if he didn't take his meds, but when he positioned his arms in an unnatural way somewhere above his head and didn't move for a long time, I had a pretty accurate idea.

 

And then Sasuke said he didn't like the two of us in the first place, and sulked even more.

 

And that was before Gaara got hungry, and after dragging an answer out of him, apparently only fruit could satisfy his hunger.

 

And when I was buying some apples, Sasuke and Gaara found out they really didn't like each other.

 

And then I got back, but dropped the apples when Sasuke was hitting Gaara on his head. And Gaara wasn't doing anything about it.

 

But that was before Sasuke said he was sure that we were being followed from the beginning, and that if we wouldn't hide immediately, Gaara would be kidnapped and be murdered within 3 days.

 

And that probably scared Gaara, because he also sat down as well next to Sasuke to sulk.

 

All in all, I could have dealt with it.

 

Until it started to rain.

 

So here we were, in the big city, huddled in an empty bus cabin, trying to stay dry.

 

I positioned Gaara on the bench in the corner, and he hadn't moved since. Sasuke on the other hand kept scanning the area. From left to right, from right to left.

 

When I asked him what he was doing, he demanded me to buy him a newspaper in the local store 3 streets down (without mentioning that it was now raining heavily).

 

A fucking newspaper.

 

“Sasuke, why do you need a newspaper?”

 

But apparently, I just couldn't ask such a question. Sasuke's eyes widened considerably before he suddenly turned our back to us and started mumbling to himself in a low voice, so I could only understand half of it.

 

“They're not aware... so many clues... can't tell too much... brother... all my friends... They will take him away... should just stay..”

 

I sighed, and just ignored him. I looked over to Gaara, who was -as always- unfazed by everything. He was still sitting in the same position as that I put him there more than 10 minutes ago. Seriously, how was he able to be so unresponsive in every situation? And why was he talkative this morning, while right now he was doing worse and worse? Was it because he needed his oval-shaped red pills?

 

“Gaara, should I buy Sasuke a newspaper?”

 

“...”

 

“Gaara.”

 

“Gaara.” He repeated me. I gave him a look, indicating I wanted a yes-or-no answer from him.

 

“Yes or no, Gaara.”

 

“Yes.” He finally replied, nodding his head a little bit. I resisted the urge to growl. And I also resisted the urge to just walk away from the two.

 

“Sasuke, watch Gaara when I'm gone, okay?” Sasuke just faintly nodded, but when I started walking down the street towards a far supermarket, he suddenly yelled that Gaara was safe with him, because he had practised really long and now he perfected his attack. Deidara would never find them!

 

...

 

I was aware I stared for a very long time at Sasuke, before moving on. By the time I got a fucking newspaper and I was back, I was soaked.

 

Yet the atmosphere had changed as well. While Gaara was still sitting in the same position I had left him in, Sasuke's complete attitude had changed. He kept scanning the area, for left to right, just like he was doing earlier, only now he was doing it in a controlled way.

 

When I asked him about it, he said that he always took missions very serious. And then he fucking smiled at me.

 

Faintly, I nodded.

 

Somewhere, I wasn't even fazed anymore when Sasuke produced a marker from his jeans and started to draw all kinds of silly looking triangles and circles on random columns in the paper.

 

Was I already started to get used to Sasuke's behavior? Sure, I already knew Sasuke was a strange boy, because during art-class he had to knack for drawing dying people from the West Wing. Yeah, he really disliked the people form the West Wing. And Deidara too, because Sasuke also liked to announce Deidara would die by his hands one day.

 

But I didn't know Sasuke liked to scribble random things in a newspaper.

 

And I didn't know Sasuke could sound so.. mentally unstable.

 

.. Perhaps my great escape from the field-trip wasn't such a great idea after all.

 

“Sasuke, what are you doing?” I asked, if only to break the dead silence around us. Gaara didn't even look up to me anymore, so I guess this was a `Really Bad Day' for him. And a `Really Bad Day' meant no speaking, and no moving.

 

“Sssst. You have to be quiet, Neji. They might hear us.” And he dropped the marker and held the newspaper very tightly, as if the faintest low of wind would make the paper disappear.

 

“Sasuke, you might not realise this, but you are acting a bit.. Unusual.”

 

“Well, someone has to keep an eye out!” was the very defensive answer I got. Sasuke then proceeded to growl at me, while clutching the newspaper tighter and tighter.

 

“Sasuke, no-one is here.”

 

“Neji, of course they are-.. Wait, you really don't see it, do you?”

 

Apparently I didn't see it.

 

“Sasuke, I really don't-

 

“You really don't see it, do you!?” Sasuke's eyes were now wide open, with dilated pupils, as if the world suddenly got a lot clearer to him. It was starting to be frightening to see him clutching the newspaper I just bought for him.

 

“See what?” I almost dreaded to ask, but I did so anyway. Probably because Gaara was being awfully quiet about the whole thing.

 

“Do you think it was just coincidence? That you ran into me when you wanted to get away?”

 

“Eh.. Yes?” I answered unsure. But apparently this was the wrong answer, for Sasuke's eyes widened even more.

 

“NO! It wasn't! You guys, it is so simple! It is almost so frighteningly simple that everything is turning out to be connected!”

 

Eh?

 

“The trip; you ran into me; and now! The newspaper! Don't you see! It's the connection! The obvious connection! Everything is pointing out to the one and only rightful fact that they have laid this trap for me!”

 

“.. Sasuke, are you okay?” I decided to ask. Though I really wanted to ask if he was aware he was sounding like a madman, I didn't think he would take that all too well.

 

“I eh-..” And all of a sudden, Sasuke fell silent. He didn't say any more mumbo-jumbo, and he stopped looking around.

 

So I positioned him next to Gaara, who didn't react in any way. I smiled to him anyway, and I'm sure he -at least- wanted to smile back, even though he didn't.

 

“Sasuke, it's okay. You don't have to look out anyway: I am also very capable of doing that.” I said, and I got a faint but positive nod back.

 

“Neji.. Sometimes I'm so tired. I mean, it's such a huge task I've been given.” Sasuke babbled, but he was a lot calmer now.

 

“I.. I don't really like the task, but.. I mean, someone has to do it.” Sasuke babbled on, and I just nodded.

 

And when Sasuke stopped babbling about how difficult his mission was, and that he couldn't just give up because he was the only one who could fulfil the task, I decided to end this stupid plan of mine.

 

“Guys, what do you say about going home?” I meekly asked them, and Sasuke immediately nodded. Gaara nodded as well, though it took him a minute or five longer.

 

So I spend the last few coins I had left on a phone-call to the institution. When the secretary had stopped screaming that I had been really stupid, I told her where we were.

 

Ten minutes later, we were picked up.

 

Both Gaara and Sasuke immediately got their medicine (strangely, they got exactly the same big red over-shaped pills) and I got a promise my punishment would be long and would at least include scrubbing the art room for an entire week.

 

I couldn't care less.

 

On the way back, Sasuke suddenly placed his hand on my knee.

 

“They have stopped following us. We're safe for now.” And he showed me the tiniest smile.

 

And Gaara nodded a little bit.

 

When we arrived in the institution, we had a huge welcome. Because of us, the fieldtrip was canceled, and this caused Naruto to groan for two straight hours. But the others were happier to see us. They cheered and laughed and told me that next time I should take them with me too.

 

And then I was send to the lone room, and I had to spend the night in there. And I was also lectured for a complete hour of how wrong I have been, and dangerous it was to take Gaara and Sasuke with me without medicine.

 

But I didn't care.

 

Because I know that Gaara saw a little bit more of the outside world.

And because I know Sasuke liked it too.

 

And because the next morning, both of them were waiting for me to go to group therapy together.

 

“Because I have to make sure you aren't targeted.” Sasuke said. I think it was his way of telling we were friends now.

 

So I smiled.

 

 

post AN: For those interested, this is the complete speech Sasuke was mumbling:

 

“Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut. They're not aware that we are being followed since we left from the gas station. And I know who it is, for there are so many clues pointing to the obvious fact he is here too. I can't tell them too much, else it might come to it that my brother will eliminate them all. He uh, he wants to eliminate them all! All my friends! I have to keep my distance, else They might take them away, and I don't want to. They're innocent... they should just stay out of this mess, so they'll stay safe.”