Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Insanely Yours ❯ Trials & Tribulations ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter Ten: Trials and Tribulations

 

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The fire continued to dance. And then all of a sudden, Naruto heard the shuffle of feet. Before he could even look up, he heard the voice. "So you really are sick." Naruto's eyes were torn away from the stove and he turned to see Sasuke standing in the doorway. "You know, you're not quiet at all. You could probably wake the goddamned dead."

 

Sasuke walked over to the stove and he turned off each of the burners. "Doing this won't help you get out of here any faster. You shouldn't feed into your disorder. You'll only be here even longer."

 

"It's none of your business." Naruto spat out, as he stood up, and glared at Sasuke angrily.

 

The boy moved to walk up to him, and get in his face, but as soon as he took a step forward, Sasuke grabbed both of Naruto's wrists and slammed him into the wall violently. "...idiot." he whispered.

 

And then he kissed him- again, and again, and again. And Naruto forgot all about the flames; the only thing on his mind was Sasuke. He was helping him forget.

 

Naruto's breathing was shallow, and unsteady. Sasuke was distracting him, sure, but the boy couldn't help but feel the absence of heat in the room. The warmth that had surrounded him was gone; it had disappeared. Now, the only thing he could feel were Sasuke's lips atop his. Naruto reached out and he laced his fingers behind Sasuke's neck. He didn't want to let go of him, for fear of relapsing back into the state he'd been in only minutes ago. He closed his eyes, he didn't want to see the stove behind Sasuke, and he didn't want to feed into this anymore, yet his mind told him otherwise. This addiction was too strong for him to control alone.

 

"...Come on, Naruto." Sasuke whispered into his ear. "Come with me; let's get out of here before we get caught." He tried to tell the boy. Sasuke took a small step backward, and attempted to pull Naruto with him, but the blond wouldn't move.

 

"I can't...I can't move." The boy told him. Naruto's eyes were closed, and his face was pressed into Sasuke's shoulders. He was afraid to move, afraid that if he moved any closer to the stove, he would have to turn it on. At this point, if Naruto even looked at the thing, his mind would go berserk. He was now teetering on the edge of insanity; Sasuke had no idea what was going on in the boy's mind.

 

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's shoulders, and pulled him forward. "You don't have to open your eyes; just walk." He told him. Sasuke took another step backward, and Naruto stepped with him. The boy's hands were shaking, and he was sweating bullets. Sasuke made sure to not let go of him while he guided Naruto out of the kitchen. And once they were out, Sasuke closed the door as quietly as he could, and he brought Naruto further down the hallway.

 

"You can open your eyes." He told him in a low voice. The boy did as he was told, yet still, he did not relinquish the hold that he had on Sasuke. His hands were trembling, and sweating, and his breathing was irregular; Naruto was terrified of himself, of what he might've done if Sasuke wouldn't have come along. "Let's go, Naruto." Sasuke began pulling the boy down the hallway.

 

Sasuke was quick to bring Naruto back to his room. When they arrived, he opened the door, and pushed Naruto inside. The raven prayed that Naruto wouldn't try to sneak out again, because the next time, Sasuke wasn't so sure that he'd be able to save his ass. He'd only heard Naruto in the hallway by luck, and Sasuke feared that if Naruto did it again, luck wouldn't be on their side. The boy went to close the door, but before it could shut, Naruto slipped back out of the room, and he hugged Sasuke, pressing his face into the boy's neck.

 

"...don't go." He said in a soft voice. "I can't...I-I don't want to be alone." Sasuke could almost feel the fearful aura that was emitting from Naruto and that was when he realized that he couldn't just leave him there by himself. God only knows what other trouble he'd get himself into.

 

In the next moments, Sasuke found himself climbing into Naruto's bed with him. He leaned against the headboard, and Naruto sat between his legs as Sasuke held him. The boy's entire body was shaking violently, and unfortunately, Sasuke didn't know exactly how to help him. So he only sat there silently, allowing Naruto to lie in his arms. And he would stay there either until Naruto told him to leave, or when the boy fell asleep; whichever came first.

 

Naruto groaned under his breath as he reached up to adjust his shirt's collar again. "...I look ridiculous..." he said as he stared at himself in the mirror. For the third time in five minutes, he was straightening his tie again. It wasn't as if the thing was crooked, it was just that he was so nervous that he didn't know what else to do. He'd been fidgeting anxiously ever since he'd gotten up that morning. His nerves were completely shot, and he could already tell that this wasn't going to be a very good day for him.

 

He walked over to his bed, and sat down on the edge before bringing his hands to his face and holding them there. Naruto was extremely exhausted. After what had happened last night, he hadn't gotten much sleep at all. He'd fallen asleep for only a short while, and then he's wake up every hour upon the hour. His sleep had been interrupted many times, because his mind just couldn't handle the thoughts and dreams that had seemed to invade it.

 

The boy sighed, and started fiddling with his tie once again. The only reason that he was wearing it was because today was his first court date, and he had to look acceptable in court. Naruto didn't know what to expect today. Although he'd been to court numerous times, this was a different type of hearing. They were not pinning him for any sort of crime today, this was just some type of meeting where he, along with Shizune and Kakashi, would be explaining his progress in the hospital, if there was any at all.

 

"...what kind of progress have I even made here?" he asked himself. To be honest, Naruto himself couldn't come up with an answer. He couldn't think of one productive thing that he'd done in order to get out of there. He hoped to God that Shizune and Kakashi had something better to tell the people who were keeping track of him. Naruto could already see the looks on Ibiki and Gai's faces if they found out that Naruto hadn't been doing anything he was supposed to do. Gai would just yell at him, but Ibiki? Ibiki may just try to murder him. That man's patience was not to be fooled with.

 

Glancing up at the clock on the wall, Naruto realized that it was already 11am. He knew that it wouldn't be long before Ibiki would be there to pick him up and take him to the courthouse. Naruto was in no way prepared to see the judge who'd almost tried to sentence him up to six years in jail for arson. But Naruto had pleaded insanity, and because of all of his past files and incidents, the judge and jury had concluded that he honestly had a problem, and was truly suffering from some sort of disorder. After seeing one of their professional psychologists, he'd been diagnosed with pyromania. Of course, Naruto didn't have to see someone to know what was wrong with him; he'd known it all along.

 

He'd remembered when Aya had tried to help him control it; she would never let Naruto use the stove, and she'd never cook when he was around. As often as possible, she'd try to get take-out for dinner, so she wouldn't have to cook. Aya wouldn't leave lighters around the house, or matches; she'd hide things like that from Naruto. And since Naruto was stupid enough to smoke cigarettes, she wouldn't ever let him light one himself; she'd always do it for him. Aya would be glad to know that he was quitting.

 

His sister had tried to do everything in her power to keep Naruto away from anything that could start a fire. She'd known that there was something wrong with him, but she hadn't wanted him to go away somewhere to some hospital, like the one he was in now. She'd tried her best to protect him from all of it, but her best hadn't been good enough. Naruto had still managed to get himself into a world of trouble.

 

Of course, Aya had been trying to keep Naruto out of trouble every since they'd met each other. Aya was, of course, older than Naruto, and she was his father's child. The two children had different mothers, and Aya was the product of Naruto's father's first marriage. Naruto and Aya hadn't even known about eachother, until Minato and Kushina's deaths. When those two had passed, Naruto had been forced to live with Aya and her mother since he had no other relatives that would take him in. Aya's mother was the only one who'd agreed to adopt him, although she still bore a deep resentment towards the boy, because of his father.

 

Izari, Aya's mother, had never loved Naruto as much as she loved her own daughter, and Naruto had learned to accept that fact. He knew that no one else would love him the right way, no one except his parents. Izari had taken Naruto in when he was nine years old, and Aya had been ten. The two of them had been inseparable from the moment they'd met eachother. They'd always been together, and if someone saw one of them, the other was probably trailing along, not too far behind. They had been the best of friends.

 

But, when Naruto was eleven, and Aya was twelve, Izari's health had taken a turn for the worse. The woman had a stroke, and she'd not been able to take care of the children. This was when the foster care system had stepped in, and that was where everything had taken a turn for the worse.

 

"Naruto," there were three sharp knocks at the door to his room. "Morino-san is here." He heard Shizune say.

 

The boy stood, reluctantly, from his seat on the bed and he walked over to the door to open it. Shizune told him that Ibiki was waiting in the lobby, and so he walked out there to greet him. The tall man was standing, with his hands on his pockets, with the same unenthusiastic expression on his face as Naruto.

 

"I'm not happy about this either, kid." He grumbled as he walked towards the door, with Naruto following behind him. "Let's just hope everything goes as planned, and we get out of there as quick as possible."

 

Naruto only nodded his head silently; he wasn't really in much of a mood for talking. When they got into Ibiki's car, he saw that across the lot, Shizune and Kakashi were getting into their vehicles as well. And when Ibiki began driving down the dirt road, they followed.

 

Ibiki turned to look at Naruto, and he saw the sour expression on the boy's face. The older man sighed, and shook his head. "Just think, kid, you're one step closer to getting out of this place." He told him. Naruto glanced over at the man.

 

"Or one step closer to jail." He said. "What if they don't believe a word we say, huh? And what if they decide to send me to jail after this anyway? What if-"

 

"-Naruto, you're being an idiot." The man cut him off abruptly. "And if you keep thinking like that, I'll personally hand you over to the county jail."

 

It wasn't long before they'd reached the court. Naruto was nervous, and he knew that as soon as they walked into the building, his brow and palms would start sweating, and his heart would start racing. He wasn't even guilty of anything this time, and he already felt like a criminal. This place always made him feel like he'd done something wrong.

 

Ibiki led Naruto through the building, and instead of going to the courtroom, they went to a small room in an entirely different part of the building. Since they weren't here for an actual hearing, they wouldn't use the real courtroom. For this, Naruto was glad; courtrooms always made him anxious.

 

When they entered the room, Naruto was surprised to find that there wasn't anyone else there. He sat down in one of the chairs at the end of the table, and when Ibiki did not sit down, Naruto became even more nervous. "What are you doing? Why aren't you sitting down?" he asked. Ibiki sighed, and ran his hand over his face slowly.

 

"I can't stay in here with you kid." He confessed. "I'm only supposed to watch over you until Gai and the other lawyers get here."

 

"You mean you're leaving me here alone? With all of them?!" the blond screeched. "Are you mad?! They're gonna eat me alive in here-"

 

"-keep your voice down!" Ibiki ordered. The man went over to Naruto, and glared at him. "You will be fine Naruto. Gai will be here, and everything will be fine." He assured him. Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, and rolled his eyes. Ibiki didn't realize that Gai being there only made matters worse. Naruto knew that the people in the court system only looked at him like a criminal that deserved to go to jail; he knew they'd only look down on him. They wanted him in jail, and if he wasn't careful, that's exactly where they'd be sending him.

 

Suddenly, the door flew open, and Naruto's eyes darted to the doorway. "Good morning Uzumaki-kun!" the loud man who was dressed in green turned to Ibiki, and flashed a sparkling smile. "Hello Morino-san, long time no see!"

 

"I'm going to kill myself...I swear I am..." Naruto brought his hands up to his face, and sighed loudly as he listened to Gai ramble on about a whole bunch of nothing. The man seemed so happy, overjoyed even, to see Naruto. He hugged him and told him that he should smile in order to look more youthful.

 

"The power of youth is magnificent Naruto! Embrace it, before it's too late!" he exclaimed. Naruto groaned aloud, while banging his head against the table. He knew that this was going to be a very long day.

 

Somehow, after a few minutes of persuasion, Ibiki managed to get Gai to sit down at the table and be silent. Naruto didn't know what he'd said, but he was glad that he'd said it. With Maito Gai in a room, silence was rare. It was like the man never knew when to be quiet, and Naruto guessed that having a lawyer like him was punishment from God...

 

After about five more minutes the lawyers filed into the room. These were the people whom Naruto was used to seeing, he even knew their names. But among them were a few faces that he'd never seen before, so his nervousness was taken to a new level. He'd already known what to expect from the people he already knew, but he'd not had a chance to feel the new people out. He had no idea what to be expecting from them.

 

Behind the people who'd just came in, walked Shizune and Kakashi. This was the first time that he'd ever been glad to see them; the more familiar faces in the room, the less anxious Naruto felt. Once those two walked into the room, Ibiki left the room.

 

The first to speak to Naruto was a man dressed in a brown suit, whom Naruto recognized one of the lawyers. "Uzumaki Naruto, you've been brought here for your status report. Are you aware of this?" he questioned. Naruto nodded his head curtly.

 

"Yes, sir." He answered. The man spoke again.

 

"Are you also aware of the charges being pressed against you?" he asked.

 

Again, Naruto nodded his head. "Yes, I am."

 

The lawyer reached onto the floor, and pulled up a briefcase which he set down on the long table. He flipped it open, and pulled out a manila folder that was full of papers. Naruto already recognized it as his own personal file. The man pulled out a slip of paper. "You're currently a resident at Konoha's Mental Hospital, and you will be staying there for an entire year, correct?"

 

"Yes."

 

Quickly, the older man put the folder and his briefcase away. Then, he clasped his hands together on the table, and locked his eyes on Naruto. "I've talked to the head nurse at the institution, along with the institutions psychologist. They've both confirmed the fact that you've not gotten into any trouble during your stay." He told him. "It has also been brought to my attention that you will soon be receiving another psychologist, outside of the institution."

 

Before Naruto could even open his mouth to speak, Gai was talking for him. "Yes, Matsura-san. In about a month or two, Naruto will start visiting a second psychologist. As his personal lawyer, I have taken it upon myself to choose someone suitable for Naruto."

 

After a while, Naruto had stopped listening to their talking. He would respond when he was spoken to, but that was it. Naruto had realized that this session was a bit pointless- they were only reminding him of the things that he already knew. But then again, this session was had only been called so that the courts could be sure that Naruto was doing what he was supposed to. If they were informed of any slip-ups, it was straight to jail for Naruto.

 

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"...Naruto...hey Naruto..."

 

With a groan and a wave of his hand, Naruto attempted to send Sai away. He'd yet to open his eyes and look at him, but Naruto knew that it was Sai in his room because no one else would ever come to wake him up like that. He felt Sai's hand on his shoulder, and Naruto groaned even louder. He wished that Sai would just leave him alone and let him sleep.

 

All of a sudden, Naruto felt a set of cool lips on his cheek. The boy's eyes immediately shot open, and he sat up in bed with the quickness. He could hear Sai's laughter echoing in the room, and Naruto tried to throw his pillow at him. He missed. "What was that for??" he asked while scratching his head groggily. Sai shrugged his shoulders continued laughing.

 

"I couldn't resist," he confessed. "You're just so adorable when you're sleeping." He walked over towards the blond, leaned over towards him and kissed his other cheek. "Now ask me what that was for." He smiled.

 

Naruto yawned. "What was that one for?"

 

"So I can tell Sasuke that I've been kissing you for the past two minutes." Naruto chucked another pillow at Sai.

 

He didn't miss this time.

 

Sai only smiled and threw the pillow onto Naruto's bed. "I'll have you know that I'm not letting him have you all to himself. You're mine too you know." He stated. Sai watched Naruto sit up in bed and yawn once again, right before he leaned up against the wall and blinked sleepily.

 

"I don't belong to anyone, Sai." He argued.

 

The dark haired boy shrugged and sighed. "Well the Uchiha sure acts as if he owns you. I mean really, did he not learn how to share in kindergarten or something? I keep trying to tell him that he can't have you to himself and he keeps trying to kill me! He needs to loosen up!" Naruto stared at Sai, while shaking his head slowly.

 

"Sai, you're really ridiculous."

 

Naruto swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stood up so that he could stretch. While doing so, he could see Sai leaning against the bedroom wall, eyeing him as if he were some piece of meat. Already used to his behavior, Naruto rolled his eyes. "Alright, now you're a really ridiculous pervert." At this comment, Sai only laughed.

 

"So where were you today?" he asked. Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

 

"I had to go to the court." He answered. Sai's eyebrows rose with curiosity, but Naruto shook his head. "I'm not going to jail or anything, don't worry." Sai let out a dramatic, relieved breath and Naruto couldn't help but laugh a little.

 

Since he was up now, and the room was becoming pretty boring, Naruto decided to leave and go to the tv room. Sai followed behind him and the two boys went out to see what their other friends were up to. Upon walking down the hallway, Naruto noticed Gaara walking with a woman he recognized as the redhead's sister. If Naruto remembered correctly, her name was Temari. Naruto had found her to be a very nice person, as apposed to Gaara's older brother who was a complete and total jackass.

 

As usual, Kiba and Shikamaru were playing chess, and Kiba was loosing terribly. Hinata was on the couch with Haku, watching a show on television. Sakura was still in the hospital unit, so Naruto hadn't expected to see her here. Not so surprisingly, Sasuke wasn't here either. That disappointed Naruto a bit, because he hadn't seen the raven at all since last night. When he'd come in from court today, he'd just collapsed on the bed, and it was mid-afternoon right now, so it was apparent that he'd slept quite a long time.

 

After Kiba lost his game of chess with Shikamaru, Neji had asked if Naruto wanted to play. Naruto was a little skeptical about this because he still had the notion that Neji hated him. But still, Naruto didn't refuse the game. It didn't really matter to him whether or not Neji hated him.

 

Ten minutes into the game, Naruto was already losing. Neji was almost as good as Shikamaru at the game, and playing with him would almost always result in a loss. Naruto didn't quit playing, though. But he was a little thrown off his game when Neji started speaking. "Naruto, may I ask you something?" he questioned.

 

"Uh...sure." Naruto answered unsurely.

 

Neji made another move on the chess board. "Can you tell me why you are so nice to my cousin?" he inquired. Naruto was a little taken aback by the question. What kind of question was that? Why wouldn't he be nice to Hinata? Even though she didn't talk she seemed like a sweet girl, so who wouldn't want to be nice to her. "You barely even know her, yet you're so...civil towards her."

 

"She deserves someone to be nice to her." Naruto told him while moving one of his chess pieces. The blond shrugged his shoulders. "I mean...for her to be mute, something bad must've happened to her. So I think that being nice to her is a good thing. No one talks to her, you know, 'cause she doesn't talk back. It's not fair...people should be able to look past that fact. Hinata is a nice girl, so I'm going to be nice to her."

 

Once Naruto had finished speaking, Neji had continued with the game. "...no one has ever treated her nicely," he admitted. "So thank you."

 

Naruto had just been about to open his mouth to speak when a loud clattering noise echoed throughout the hallway, followed by the sound of pills spilling across the floor. All heads turned when they heard the shuffling of feet coming towards the room. "I'm not fucking taking them!" someone shouted. Naruto knew that voice the minute he'd heard it, and he abruptly stood from his chair when Sasuke came into view. "Get those fucking pills away from me! Did you hear me?!" he screamed.

 

Kurenai was carrying a pill bottle in her hand as she inched towards Sasuke. "Listen to me, Sasuke-kun," she started "These will help you calm down-"

 

"-I don't need to calm down!!" he snapped. Kurenai took another step towards him, and that was a really bad move to make. Sasuke smacked the pill bottle out of her hand, grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her into the wall. "You people make me sick! You're not shoving any more poison down my throat, you hear me?!" In less than a second, Naruto had rushed towards the scene, and neither Sasuke nor Kurenai saw him coming. "I swear to God-"

 

The Uchiha was cut off when Naruto grabbed his arms from behind and forced him to release Kurenai. "Stop it Sasuke!" he ordered. Sasuke nearly growled at him, and he tried to go for Kurenai again, but Naruto was already wrestling him to the ground.

 

"Let me go! Let me go damn it!" he snarled. "You're one of them! You're one of them and you're trying to kill me!" he tried to struggle out of Naruto's arms but the boy had such a tight hold on him that he could barely move.

 

"Just calm the hell down alright!?" Naruto yelled at him, while still restraining him. The blond could already see Shizune coming down the hallway with three other men, and a large needle in hand. "See what you've done? You hurt Kurenai! And now Shizune's going to come down here and stick you with a needle, stupid! Stop it already Sasuke!"

 

When Shizune reached the two of them, the three large men made Naruto release Sasuke, and they held him down while Shizune injected him with the medication in the needle. When Naruto watched it puncture his skin, he cringed and covered his mouth. He hated to see this happening to Sasuke, but it was his own fault for not taking his medication. Naruto watched the men put Sasuke into the white straitjacket, and they carried him down the hallway. Shizune's eyes darted over to Naruto.

 

"Are you alright Uzumaki-kun?" she asked. "Did he hurt you?"

 

Naruto shook his head slowly. "...no, he didn't," he started, before gulping silently. "But did you have to, you know...stick him with that? Couldn't you have given him pills-"

 

"-he wouldn't have swallowed them." She stated. "I did what was necessary. But don't fret; he'll be back to normal tomorrow."

 

Tomorrow? Was that how long it would take him to recover from whatever she'd injected into him. "Maybe you should get some rest, Uzumaki-kun. It seems like you've been through quite a bit." Shizune looked over to Kurenai, who seemed to still be a bit frightened, and she led the woman down the hallway. Naruto stood in the doorway, watching them walk away. He let out a deep breath, and dragged his hand over his face. Even though he'd just gotten up, he definitely needed some rest after seeing that...

 

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Peace & Love: DizziKatz