Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Insanely Yours ❯ Misconceptions ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight: Misconceptions

 

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Sasuke came straight over to Naruto and he took the boy's hand in his. Naruto's breath hitched in his throat, and then he couldn't breathe. Sasuke only continued to smirk. "Come with me. I want to talk with you." He stated. Naruto nodded.

 

"...okay." he breathed. And Naruto went with him, without any protests in the least. He was finding out that it was nearly impossible to say no to Sasuke. There was just something in his eyes, some form of power, which. Naruto just couldn't say no to. He felt like he was under some sort of spell...there had to be some type of magic present, to make him agree with every single thing this boy said to him.

 

Naruto had no idea what Sasuke wanted to talk about, or, if he actually wanted to talk at all. But he followed him anyway...he couldn't help himself.

 

The two boys walked together, hand in hand, and Naruto's breathing still wasn't functioning correctly. It was apparent that they were heading to Sasuke's room, and Naruto wasn't very sure that this was a good idea. After speaking to Kiba, he'd become very skeptical about Sasuke's behavior. He'd used to be in Unit one, which mean he was dangerous, insanely dangerous. So would being alone with him, like this, be safe?

 

"I've been alone with him before...nothing bad happened..." Naruto thought to himself as they continued to walk. He took a deep breath and decided that, for the time being, he was going to try and forget what Kiba had told him. Naruto didn't believe that Sasuke would hurt him, or do anything reckless. He didn't seem like he'd do anything bad, at least right now.

 

For right now, Naruto trusted him.

 

Soon, the two of them arrived at Sasuke's room which was deserted. Sai was nowhere to be seen, and Naruto figured that the boy was probably in the Tv room as usual. Sasuke opened the door and they both walked in together. The raven let go of Naruto's hand, and went to sit on the bed that belonged to him. Naruto followed suit, and sat down as well. Since Sasuke was no longer holding Naruto's hand, the blond clasped his hands together and wrung them in his lap anxiously.

 

"So...what is it that you wanted to...talk about?" he asked, curious as to why Sasuke had felt the need to bring him all the way here just to talk.

 

The raven stared at him with a far away, dazed, expression in his eyes. He stared into Naruto's blue eyes, unblinking, and then, a harsh laugh escaped his throat. "Do you think I'm crazy?" he questioned. Naruto was a bit taken aback by the question, but he instantly regained his composure, shaking his head.

 

"No." he answered quickly. All of a sudden, Sasuke slammed his hand against the wall, and glared at Naruto angrily.

 

"Liar." He spat out. "You're lying." The boy said, and after he said this, he repeated himself almost five times.

 

Naruto sat there, as still as can be. He was starting to wonder if Sasuke was having one of his episodes, but he daren't ask, and further anger the raven. "I'm not lying, Sasuke. I don't think you're crazy..." he said in a low voice, almost a whisper. Sasuke looked over at the blond, and there was confusion written all over his face. Naruto attempted to smile at him. "Do you think I'm crazy?" he asked.

 

Sasuke began to shake his head. "No...You're not crazy." He stated. "You're not crazy....but I'm crazy...I feel crazy..." he whispered. Naruto sighed, and then cautiously, he reached out his hand. Sasuke almost flinched away from him for a moment, but when Naruto placed a hand on his arm, the raven started to relax.

 

"I feel crazy sometimes too...but it's just this place that makes you feel like that. I'm telling you, you're not crazy, and neither am I."

 

A bitter laugh left Sasuke's lips, and he shook his head before staring over at Naruto with angry eyes. "My brother wasn't crazy...Itachi wasn't crazy..." he told him in a dazed voice. Naruto didn't speak, because he wanted the other boy to continue. He was actually interested in what Sasuke had to say, even if he was having a manic episode. Naruto would make sure that he convinced Sasuke to take some type of medication later, because he was most definitely not in a stable condition. "He was here...with me. But, he got better...he got better and they let him go."

 

"...well, don't you want to get better?" Naruto spoke. "So that you can get out...just like your brother?" the boy asked him.

 

For a moment, Sasuke's eyes became very wide. He glanced over at Naruto, with an unreadable expression on his face. For a while, the boy didn't speak. He was more content on keeping his attention solely on Naruto. He reached out and touched the blonde's face tenderly, stroking the marks on his cheeks. He didn't bother to ask where Naruto had gotten them from, and for that, the boy was glad. "...you're the only person who treats me like I'm normal..."

 

"You are normal." Naruto argued. Sasuke scoffed, completely blowing off the boy's statement.

 

"Says you." He retorted.

 

Naruto grinned lopsidedly, and rubbed the back of his head absentmindedly. "Yeah...says me." He said in a low voice.

 

Silence fell between them once again; not an awkward silence, but comfortable, the one that these two had become accustomed to. Sasuke's hand was still touching Naruto's face, and he could feel the blonde's skin, warm, under his fingertips. "...why are you always so nice...so calm around me?" Sasuke asked him quietly. "I know that everyone else is afraid of me." Naruto sat, silent, for a moment. He contemplated on reasons why he wasn't wary of Sasuke. And then, he shrugged his shoulders.

 

"Maybe it's because I know what it feels like when people are, you know, scared of you." He told him. "It's not a good feeling."

 

Slowly, Sasuke's hand began to fall from Naruto's cheek. "I don't care what people think of me." He stated, in all seriousness. "I've never cared." The boy looked to his left, and began to stare out of the barred and netted window. Naruto glanced out as well, but his eyes didn't linger for long. Every time he'd look out the window, the boy would begin to feel completely trapped, like he'd never get away. But he knew better; one day he'd be let out of this place, and so would Sasuke, too.

 

Still, Sasuke continued to stare out of the window. So, carefully, Naruto moved closer to the boy, and tentatively placed his own hand in Sasuke's. At first, he didn't grip Naruto's hand, but the blonde gave it a squeeze, and then he did. Naruto couldn't help himself when he reached out slowly and trailed his fingers against the soft skin of Sasuke's face. The boy's cheek was the softest skin that Naruto had ever felt; tender, and utterly faultless. But before the boy could go any further, Sasuke reached up and grabbed Naruto's hand.

 

For several moments, the two boy's sat there, staring eachother in the eyes, though, with every second, they seemed to get closer. Sasuke's lips lingered over Naruto's for several seconds, and the blonde could feel his breathing, right before he leaned forward and pressed their lips together. It was a gentle, innocent kiss, one that was solely meant for comfort. Sasuke obviously needed comfort, whether he tried to deny it or not. And even though Sasuke was obviously not in the right state of mind, Naruto couldn't help but do what his mind told him, what his body was telling him.

 

Naruto felt Sasuke's fists gripping at his shirt firmly, while the blonde held his hands at either sides of Sasuke's neck. Their lips barely touched, they hovered and ghosted over eachother. Sasuke opened his eyes slowly, and pressed his cheek against Naruto's; the blonde could hear Sasuke's breathing. "...I'm interested in you, too." He whispered. He could feel the raven haired boy smirk widely. He pulled back so that he could look into Naruto's questioning eyes, and then he spoke.

 

"I know."

 

Repeatedly, Naruto banged his head against the tile wall in the shower while the cold water sprayed all over him. "There's no use of thinking about that when you're already taking a cold shower..." he mumbled to himself while he attempted to cure his problems. The water was at such a low temperature that he was sure his toes would freeze off if he stood here any longer.

 

But he couldn't leave this bathroom...not with his current situation. This was what happened when he spent the entire night dreaming about yesterday's encounter.

 

This was what happened every time he got to thinking about Sasuke.

 

Naruto sighed.

 

After maybe ten more minutes of standing under the arctic spray of water, Naruto shut off the showerhead, and stepped out onto the tile floor. It felt like the tile was warmer than his feet, which he could swear were turning blue. Naruto grabbed his towel, and started drying his hair first, then, his entire body. By the time he was finished, the towel was just as cold as he was. The boy slipped on his clothes while he prayed for warmth.

 

Naruto walked out of the bathroom, trying to stifle his shivers while making his way back to his room. It was still quite early in the morning, maybe around seven or eight, so most people were just waking up. Naruto had awakened violently this morning, and he'd been rather glad that Shikamaru hadn't been awake to hear him cursing Sasuke to hell.

 

When Naruto dropped his old clothes off into the clothes hamper in his room, he sat next to the radiator in there for a few minutes. He was glad that he'd found a way to keep himself warm, because being cold was one thing that Naruto could not stand. The radiator really helped him regain his normal temperature, and after he'd warmed up, he went straight to the Tv room, since it would certainly be his only source of entertainment. But, once he reached it, he found that there was no one here; except Hinata. And she didn't talk.

 

"...that doesn't mean I can't talk to her." Naruto thought as he walked over to the small, fragile looking girl. When she saw him coming she brought her hand, which was covered by her sleeve, up to her mouth and covered it. Hinata was sitting on the couch, so Naruto chose to sit in the wooden chair next to it. The shy girl looked to him with masked curiosity in her eyes. "Hey, Hinata, I know you don't talk, or anything...so, I guess I'll do all the talking."

 

Now, had Naruto been anywhere else, just randomly talking to a person may've gotten him punched in the face. But since he was here, with these specific people, his behavior was acceptable. And in honesty, he hadn't been able to talk to anyone this way since the last time he'd seen his sister. She was the only one who ever let him just talk without any interruption. If he were ever venting, she would allow him to say what he had to say, and then she would comment at the end of his little rant.

 

Hinata was just like that, except, Naruto knew that he wouldn't ever get a response from her. She just stared at him blankly while covering her mouth with her sleeved arm. The girl may not have been listening at all, and Naruto couldn't tell, but what he did know, was that she never looked away from him for the entire time that he was speaking. Her eyes stayed solely on him, even when others began to walk into the room; Naruto kept talking, and Hinata kept watching him.

 

"You know something, Hinata? It's nice talking to you. It's like...you won't judge me or nothin'. I like that." He told her with a smile. The dark haired girl's eyes widened, and she quickly sat straight up in her seat. Naruto wasn't sure if he'd said or done something to offend her, but she didn't look offended, so he supposed she was just reacting to someone actually paying attention to her.

 

For the next few minutes, Naruto continued to hold a one-way conversation with the girl. He never made the attempt to try to get her to talk. She was mute; he understood that, and so there was no reason that she should speak. Besides, Naruto needed someone to talk to who wouldn't ask questions about his bizarre conversations.

 

"...why are you even bothering, huh?" at the sound of Sakura's voice, Naruto abruptly stopped speaking, and looked over to see the girl standing in the wide walkway, leaning against a wall and smoking a cigarette that was slowly dwindling away. "She's not going to talk to you."

 

"So?" Naruto remarked. "It's fine if she won't talk." He stated.

 

The pink haired girl shook her head, and took a drag from her cigarette as she walked over to an empty seat and sat down. "You're fucking weird, you know that?" she told him, with a shake of her head. After she was seated, all of a sudden, Sakura started to cough. She pressed a hand to her chest, as if to try and stifle the coughing, but soon it escalated into full, all out hacking. Her entire body shook with every cough, and Naruto shot up from his seat to try and help her. The stubborn girl pushed him away. "I don't-- need help." She said between coughs. She put out the cigarette she'd been smoking.

 

After several moments, her coughs died down, and she took three deep breaths. Naruto and Hinata stared at her silently, and of course, Naruto was the one to speak. "You should stop smoking, you know. It's not good for you-"

 

"-who are you to tell me what's good for me?" she spat out, glaring at him angrily. Although her face was pale, and her cheeks were sunken in, Naruto could still see the raw emotion behind her sparkling green eyes, the eyes which plainly showed that Sakura was most likely to never succumb to asking, or accepting help from anyone who seemed to pity her. And had it not been for this sense of intense pride that the girl held, Naruto would've continued to speak to her. Had they actually been friends, he would've forced her to stop smoking, and soon. He would've told her that she needed to eat something, that since she wasn't, she was slowly killing herself. But, Sakura had too much pride, and she and Naruto were not the best of friends; he couldn't tell her any of those things. And so he stepped away from her, and backed down.

 

Seconds passed, and those seconds turned into minutes, which turned into hours. Naruto hadn't gone to breakfast, because he'd not been hungry. Hinata, who'd been staring at the television, never left her seat, and Sakura had no intention of eating so she remained as well.

 

It was apparent that breakfast had passed, because many of the patients came walking into the Tv room together, around the same times. Shikamaru sat down at the table with Neji, and began playing chess with him. Kiba had actually been Shikamaru's normal partner, but since he was still in the Care unit, the lazy boy would have to make due with Neji.

 

On the other side of the room, staring out of the windows together were Gaara and Haku. They were both silent, with their hands pressed against the bars and wire that covered the windows.

 

Naruto was surprised, and a little disappointed to see that Sasuke was nowhere to be found. The raven hadn't even entered the room when Sai had. Naruto had assumed that since they were roommates, Sai maybe could've convinced the raven to come to the Tv room with him. Obviously, that was not the case. Sai had come into the room alone, and Sasuke hadn't appeared.

 

"...you know, you're really obvious." Sai said as he stretched out across the couch, and laid his head in Naruto's lap. "Sasuke's being antisocial today, so he's not coming. Stop looking for him." he stated.

 

A blush crept over Naruto's face; he hadn't realized that his apparent concern for Sasuke's whereabouts had been so noticeable. He didn't even bother responding to Sai's obvious teasing. "What's it like," Naruto started with a sigh. "Being Sasuke's roommate and all? Doesn't he get...you know, dangerous or whatever? Does it scare you?" he asked. Sai looked up at Naruto momentarily, before completely bursting out into feverous laughter.

 

"Me? Being scared of Sasuke? You can't be serious." Sai said to him. "He's not scary; he's crazy. He has outbursts, or whatever, but they're nothing that meds or a good punch in the face won't cure-"

 

"-you fight him?!" Naruto whispered harshly, as if not to allow the other patients to hear him. It wasn't like they really cared, anyway.

 

Sai laughed again at Naruto's behavior; the boy was so clueless. "You'd fight him too if he decided to try and kick your ass all the time." The black haired boy stated. "Sasuke is most definitely dangerous, there's no doubt in that, but it's nothing that can't be handled." He stated.

 

Naruto sat there for a moment, before he sighed, and shook his head. He looked down at Sai who'd still been waiting for the blonde to continue speaking. "You talk about him like he's an animal, or something." He said. Sai only shrugged his shoulders, and yawned lazily.

 

"You've never seen him get really mad before; he acts like an animal." And that was where their conversation ceased. Sai started watching television, and Naruto was trying to push away everything that the other boy had said. He realized that what Sai had said was his opinion, and Naruto's own opinion of Sasuke was completely different. He refused to believe anything that Sai had said.

 

The clicking of heeled shoes against the tile floors echoed throughout the building. Every patient in the hospital already knew this to be the sound of Shizune coming. The young woman walked into the room, holding her clipboard tight to her chest. "Uzumaki-kun," she started "You have a visitor." The woman motioned for Naruto to stand.

 

Naruto got up from the couch, despite Sai's objections about Naruto being his pillow. He went straight over to where Shizune was standing, and then he followed procedure, signing his name on her clipboard. Then, the two of them proceeded to leave the Tv room's entrance, and go towards the front doors. "...what does Ibiki want now?" Naruto thought to himself as he shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed.

 

Once they reached the door, Naruto leaned against the wall, and waited while Shizune unlocked and unbolted the large door. Instead of paying attention to her, his eyes traveled elsewhere. Naruto had expected to hear heavy, slow footsteps entering the building, but he did not. What he did hear was the sound of heels quickly clicking in his direction. In that moment, Naruto turned towards the door, and came face to face with a beautiful, smiling girl.

 

"...Oh...Naruto." the small girl whispered as she clasped her hands to her chest, with an awed expression on her face.

 

Naruto stood in shock for several seconds, with his jaw hanging open, and his eyes wide with astonishment. A broad grin broke across his face, and excited laughter escaped his lips. "Aya!" he exclaimed while almost tackling the girl. She was so much smaller, and shorter than him, so while she hugged him around his neck, Naruto literally picked her up off her feet. The girl was hugging him so tightly that had she been stronger, she probably would've broken his neck or something.

 

"I can't believe you're here!" Naruto shouted, after quickly releasing his sister, and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I didn't think that you'd ever show up!" he said to her.

 

Aya shook her head, and then took a deep breath as she looked up at the boy. "I always had every intention of coming to see you." She told him, with a weak smile. "I just...needed to talk some sense into myself."

 

When Naruto glanced around for Shizune, he saw that the woman had already gone. He'd wanted to ask her how long Aya would be able to stay, but since Shizune was nowhere to be seen, he figured she'd just tell them when it was time for Aya to go. So, the boy took his sister's hand in his, and took a deep breath. "Come on; we've got so much to talk about!" he proceeded to pull her down the hallway towards his room. He knew that Shikamaru wasn't in there, so they wouldn't be interrupted.

 

Upon reaching the room, Naruto opened the door, and allowed Aya to walk inside first. The girl's eyes scanned the entire room as she slowly turned to get the full view. "Wow...this is...plain." she stated bluntly. Naruto shrugged his shoulders carelessly.

 

"I'm used to it by now." He stated.

 

Aya sat down in an open chair that was set near Naruto's dresser, and the blond boy chose to sit on the bed. For a few moments, both of them were silent, just staring at one another. It'd been so long since they'd seen eachother, and Naruto could honestly see significant changes in his sister; her hair was longer, it'd steadily traveled down her back. There were dark circles under her eyes, from lack of sleep, and Naruto didn't even have to guess what the cause of that was. She looked tired, very tired; not like her usual, vibrant and lively self.

 

He sighed, shaking those thoughts from his head. "I...I'm really glad that you came." He told her, with a smile. "I mean, I thought you'd be mad at me forever..."

 

"I'm not mad...just sort of disappointed." She told him, slowly. "But you're my brother, and I won't abandon you, ever." Aya took a deep breath, and swept her long blonde hair behind her ear with a sigh. "What you did...what you did was beyond unacceptable, Naruto. But...I still love you, you know that. You're here to get better, and I understand that. I can't blame you for the way you are."

 

As the girl finished her statement, she smiled sweetly at Naruto, as if to confirm the fact that she was telling the truth. Naruto couldn't help but smile back, because just seeing his sister's face made him happy. Just the fact that she was here, made everything seem ten times better to him. "So," the girl started. "I suppose you have lots to tell me, huh? I mean...what's it like, you know, being here?" she asked.

 

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, and shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, it's different...more than different...it's like nothing I've ever experienced before." He told her. The blond boy stared up at the ceiling and sighed heavily. "Man, I don't know where to start...I guess I've got a lot so say..."

 

"How about, starting from the beginning?" Aya said to him, albeit sarcastically. Naruto chuckled lightly before taking a deep breath and touching his index finger to his chin; a gesture to show that he was trying to come up with answers.

 

"Okay," he began. "I've got a roommate. His name is Shikamaru, and he's pretty cool I guess. He's narcoleptic, you know, falls asleep randomly. Um, the first day here was a little weird. At dinner, there was this guy named Sas-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence, and considered the things he'd been about to tell. Did he really want to tell Aya about Sasuke? Would that honestly have been a good idea? "Oh yeah, so there's this guy named Sasuke, and the first time I spoke, he blew up on me. Now we make out with eachother, isn't that great?" Somehow, Naruto didn't think that the conversation would continue on good terms after that.

 

"Well?" Aya stared at him intently. "At dinner? A guy named?" she questioned.

 

Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah, uh, I met this guy named Kiba. He's a really good guy, but he's um, epileptic, and he has tourette syndrome. He's in the care unit right now, 'cause he had a really bad seizure. And you know something; the patients here don't have the most serious disorders. Sometimes I wonder why they're here...but I'm sure that there's something they have that they won't talk about." Naruto shrugged again. "It's not as bad as I would've thought, you know? I mean...I think I have more friends here than I've ever had before..."

 

"So...are you saying, that you like it here?" Aya asked him, looking over to him with an odd expression on her face.

 

The boy touched his chin again, before he sighed, and shook his head. "I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that it's not bad. I expected this place to be as bad as jail. I mean, I thought they were going to strap me to a gurney when I got here, rush me to a hospital room, and drug me up until they made me believe that I didn't like setting fires." When Aya heard the last few words in his statement, she winced. Naruto noticed it, and he immediately felt embarrassed. "...sorry." he muttered, before speaking again. "Like I said, it's not so bad. And besides...my friends help make it seem better." He told her.

 

Aya stared at her brother, and exhaled heavily. "Naruto...I'm glad that you're making friends and everything; really, I am." She started off. "But, I...I don't think that you should be getting so attached to this place. And you're only going to be here for a year, so...all I'm saying is; don't get too comfortable. I don't want for you to have to leave, and then be sad when you leave all these people behind-"

 

"-don't worry about that." He told her, with a dismissive wave of the hand. "I'm not attached, I know I'll be able to leave in a year, and I'll be happy about it." He told her, with a reassuring grin. Aya smiled as well, and clasped her hands together, setting them in her lap.

 

"Good."

 

So, Naruto continued to tell Aya what he could about being in the Hospital, although, he neglected to tell her about Sasuke. He told her about Sai, and about how he was a nice guy; though he didn't tell her that he'd kissed Sai, or that Sai flirted with him on the daily basis. Naruto left out the information about the two men for only one reason; Aya had no idea that Naruto liked guys, for the sole reason that he'd never dated a guy before. He'd messed around with a couple guys, but he'd never had a solid relationship with one. Therefore, Aya believed that Naruto was only interested in girls, because he'd dated plenty of them. If in fact he told her that he was involved with a guy, here, she'd think that he'd been brainwashed, or something. For Aya, ignorance was bliss.

 

Naruto kept talking, still leaving things out here and there. Even the things that he did tell Aya, seemed strange to her. To Naruto, the events were already normal. He was used to it all by now, and she wasn't so she didn't understand. "But that's okay...all she needs to understand is that I'm here to get better, and that I'm content" Naruto thought to himself.

 

"And you've talked to the psychologist?" she asked him.

 

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, every Saturday. We talk about everything that happened during the week, and sometimes we talk about other stuff. It isn't so bad." He told her. "And Ibiki is telling me that I'll have to talk to another shrink. Now that is gonna be bad-"

 

"-Have you talked to Gai about that??" Aya questioned. Naruto cringed at the sound of that name, and then he sighed,

 

"He is the reason I have to get another one! He must be insane, or something!" the boy exclaimed, frustrated. His harebrained lawyer, Maito Gai, was the reason for most of Naruto's minor troubles. The man drove Naruto crazy sometimes; he pulled all types of wild, off the wall stunts, which would only make Naruto feel crazier than he actually was. Naruto had always believed that Gai would one day be the death of him; everything he did was completely ludicrous.

 

Aya shook her head, laughing softly. Personally, she loved Gai. She thought that all his liveliness and energy was entertaining. She could never see why Naruto couldn't stand him.

 

Upon continuing to talk, Naruto began telling Aya about each patient specifically. She seemed interested in knowing about them. Still, the boy neglected to speak on Sasuke. For some reason, he felt like he needed to keep him a secret. He wanted to keep Sasuke a secret, as if keeping him a secret would also make Naruto think that the thought of him was his own. It was a childish thing to do, Naruto realized.

 

He couldn't remember how long he'd spent talking to his sister, but after a while, there was a knock at his door; it was Shizune. She had come to tell Naruto and Aya that it was time for her to leave. Naruto seemed a little put off by the thought of Aya having to leave, but, she reassured him that she would be back next week. She told him that she would come as often as she could, and that made Naruto feel a whole lot better.

 

Before she left, Aya hugged him, kissed his cheek and told him to make sure he called when he could. And as he watched her leave, Naruto felt as if a weight were being lifted from his chest. He'd finally made up with his sister, and they were now on good terms. He'd never felt so relieved in his life.

 

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Peace & Love: DizziKatz