Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Just another day in paradise. ❯ don't go ( Chapter 12 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: blackarora 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Psychological / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 02.03.2006 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.7K | Visits: 1.5K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Psychological / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 02.03.2006 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.7K | Visits: 1.5K | Status: Completed
chapter 12
don’t go
A/N it's not often that i can make myself cry when typeing, so ummm you might want to grab a tissue. and it has not been beta'ed yet so,,,, yeah and as a side note i posted it last night but for some reason it did not work, lets hope that it works now.
thank you to the kind person who fixed several errors, i failed english but am attacked by plot bunnies anyway. thanks again for fixing them.
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Cool, pale hands drifted across the tan chest, avoiding the puffy red area split by a cut over the stomach. Slowly, purposely strong fingers felt each rib and natural line made by the blond's shrinking muscles under the damp, heated skin. The smooth pale hands felt the length of the blond's torso then back up after circling the sick teens belly button.
Naruto's breath hitched as Sasuke's hands drifted to close to his stomach wound and the raven haired teen retreated, guiding his hands up to the blonds collar bone. Gently he traced the protruding bone with his thumbs before dipping his hands under Naruto and lifting his shoulders, helping him sit up, knowing that Naruto could not do it by him self anymore.
Naruto felt his bare back be placed against Sasuke's clothed chest, as the raven haired teen sat behind him, so he could lean on him. Again, pale hands started their drifting over his tan flesh. Measuring how much smaller he was after a week of not eating. The blond was thinner and his ribs showed, his collar bone was more pronounced, so was his hips. His bones showing as bumps and mounds on the expanse of heated, tan flesh. A testament to his current weakened state.
Softly, so soft that it almost tickled Sasuke traced each rib, felt his shoulders and spine, rubbing in a circle, knowing that the fevers made his muscles hurt.
The hands were low on him again and wrapped around, measuring his depleting waist. The grip shifted and arms re-wrapped themselves in a more possessive manner, then held tight. Tired blue eyes opened as a puff of warm breath hit his shoulder.
“Don’t die dobe. Today is when the school comes over and I can get you out of here. Just a little longer, please hold on.”
After he finished speaking, Sasuke set his forehead in the crook of Naruto's neck and loosened his grip around the sick teen's waist.
Rolling his head so that his cheek pressed against the side of Sasuke’s head, feeling the soft black hair, Naruto took a deep breath and smelled the scent of his friend. The raven haired teen had been measuring him ever since it had become noticeable that he was losing weight rapidly. Using his hands as a ruler to see how much smaller the blond was getting.
At the same time Naruto knew that Sasuke was making sure that there was no new bruises, that it had not happened again. The raven haired teen was adamant about not leaving him alone and avoided it at all costs. Telling Kabuto to shove it and refusing to go to the sessions that he had to leave the room for. The raven haired teen would not present them with another opportunity to hurt him.
With his arm that did not have the now ever present IV in it, Naruto reached up and gently touched Sasuke's face before flicking him in the nose.
“I’m not going to die yet, asshole, but you better keep your promise.”
The blond felt the snort from Sasuke on his shoulder and weakly smiled.
Despite his words, he could not guarantee that he would be here tomorrow. Each day he felt weaker, and the lack of nourishment was making it harder to heal. He knew he was wasting away, he could feel how boney he had become. He could barely walk and when he did, his joints hurt. The infection had spread and all of his abdomen throbbed relentlessly. Even the soft touch from Sasuke had hurt, but he had refused to show it.
Sasuke was taking it badly, each day him getting smaller and sicker. Wasting away in front of him and him not be able to do anything to stop it. The raven haired teen had not slept since he had passed out laying next to him, after the first time his fever spiked.
The blond knew that the raven haired teen could not stand this, watching and waiting, feeling helpless and unable to do any thing to alleviate the blonds pain.
Sasuke expressed his feelings the only way he knew how and had bottled them up until they exploded. Anybody that entered the infirmary was submitted to the pale teen's temper that was getting shorter as he got sicker.
The was a harsh cough from the office and a woman wrapped in a hand made quilt shifted in the seat at the desk, but to Naruto's relief, did not wake up to see Sasuke draped around him. The new over night nurse was an older, very catholic woman and flipped out every time Sasuke had tried to touch him, to help him or to provide a source of comfort. Naruto was not sure if she hated him for being raped and male therefore gay, or Sasuke for trying to touch a raped male and therefore gay. She had started every shift so far with a long tirade about how god despised same sex relationships.
The woman was currently sleeping in the office at the moment so the raven haired teen had helped him out of his shirt and he was glad to be rid of it. He was still fevered and the cold air had felt good against his skin. He did not mind Sasuke measuring him and even in his most fevered states he found comfort when the bastard was near.
Closing his tired blue eyes, Naruto set his hand on Sasukes kneecap and squeezed. The nurse had an alarm clock set to go off every two hours so she would not miss one of his medications. It was going to go off soon and it would be very hard to explain to the woman why Sasuke felt the need to hold on to him and see for himself that he was not dead yet.
“You should let go now, she’ll wake up soon.”
There was a Uchiha grunt and Naruto thought that Sasuke might of dozed off. It was kinda odd for the raven haired teen to hold on for this long and it was starting to make him uncomfortable. A few moments passed then the blond shifted and winced as the motion hurt his stomach.
“Sasuke let go, please let go.”
At the whining note in his voice, Sasuke lifted his head then took a few deep breaths and climbed off the bed. Grabbing Naruto's discarded shirt and helping him put it back on then settling the blond teen back in to bed before sitting on the floor next to it.
Moments later the alarm clock went off and the old nurse woke and turned it off. Removing an already prepared syringe filled with the blond's dose of pain killers from the fridge and walking out of the office to scowl at Sasuke. He did not look like he had moved from this spot the entire week. Diligently watching over Naruto. Grunting at the teen and not getting a response, she administered the pain killer/ antibiotic, then went back to the office to straighten it up before Shizune arrived.
Even after the head nurse had arrived and she left, he did not move from his spot at his friend's side.
Not until Sasuke looked up from his spot on the floor and saw Shizune with the brown medical file out, pulling the curtain by the metal table back so that a old scale was visible. Getting to his feet he turned and looked at the curled, blond form on the bed. The pain killer made him sleep and the raven haired teen had nominated himself for the task of taking care of Naruto when he was to doped up to help himself.
He had said to wait a week and he would get him out of here. Sasuke had no idea how hard that was for Naruto to do. The infection from his stomach had spread to all the other wounds, the cut from the surgery on his colon was oozing pus and the cuts on his face would not heal. Naruto had no energy and whimpered when touched, even if he tried to hide it.
Shizune was worried that the infection had gotten in to his lungs or worse yet, his heart and his body was to weak to fight it off.
Slowly, with a weeks worth of practice, he unhooked Naruto from the IV, leaving the needle part in the blond so they would not have to stick him again and lifted the teen in his arms. Two weeks ago he would not of been able to pick him up, Naruto had weighed almost as much as he did, but with the infection draining him and not being able to eat, he had lost weight rapidly. The blond was beyond 0% body fat, his joints looked large and Sasuke could almost wrap his hand around Narutos biceps.
Slowly the raven haired teen carried his blond burden to the scale. Naruto could barely walk, he was so weak from the infection that raged inside of him. The tan flesh was heated and Sasuke felt a mummer from the blond against his collar bone and he murmured back. Naruto's temp had steadied at 102 and four times already it had spiked, each time it was harder to bring it down as the blue-eyed teen's body weakened further from the strain the fever put it through.
Just like yesterday and the day before, Sasuke stepped on to the scale with Naruto in his arms. Shizune moved the weights until it was balanced and wrote the number down on a sticky note. Stepping off the scale he returned the blond to the bed and reconnected him to the IV that had become his only source of nourishment. The blue eyed teen had been connected continually to the IV for the last three days. The same day he had seen Shizune balancing her check book and coming up with five grand she could put towards the surgery.
To bad it would cost closer to 50 grand.
He was loathe to leave Naruto’s side even for a moment, but he returned to the scale and stepped on to it. The nurse balanced the weights at 130 for him.
It had been 228 for the both of them.
Naruto only weighed 98 pounds and he could see the dark haired nurse's eyes cloud up as she did the math. Returning to the bunk and his spot sitting next to it, he heard the front door open and felt the icy cold wind as the first floor was subjected to the late November weather.
The raven haired teen twisted around and pulled the blanket up on the sleeping blond behind him, so he would not get a chill and turned back around to watch the morning cartoons.
The last week had been hell for them both. Naruto was sleeping more then he was awake as his body destroyed itself and Sasuke could only sit by and watch him as he just kept getting sicker. Shizune was frantic and he had over heard her saying that it was a miracle that he was not already dead from the infection or the fever. That the only thing keeping the blond alive was Naruto's stubbornness against giving in.
Familiar voices echoed in the hallway and Sasuke wished that Shizune would let him wear the bandages around his wrists. The stitches were going to come out soon and she wanted him to let the wounds breath a little before then.
It still made him uncomfortable to have the slash scars uncovered, especially with the school he had attended, coming to do charity work at the
orphanage. The school body was not due until 9 am but of course the school council members had come early to help set up.
Tenten's voice echoed in the hall and Shizune rushed out to meet her. Neji’s voice chimed in as well as Shikamaru’s, who had been his vice president and now was the president of the freshman class. The nasal voice of the senior class president and the others that he could no longer place, voiced their greetings to the nurse.
It bothered him that he was going to be put on display. It bothered him that people he had gone to school with every day were going to come in and see him here. The pity that they would try to express, was already pissing him off. He did not want their pity, he did not want them to be sorry for what had happened to him. Because they weren’t sorry, they did not care about what had happened.
They would come to see him though, see the one that survived the massacre like he was a monkey in a little costume dancing on the street.
Come one, come all, see the last Uchiha who was not even worth the bullet to kill him. See the blond teen that was a sadist's plaything, slowly starve to death.
Sure, the idea to help orphaned kids seemed good at the time but now as he looked at it from this new angle it made him rethink it. People you did not know, coming in and feeling sorry for you, feeling obligated to help you for charity. What a blow to the pride and dignity of the kids that were here. Not to mention him and Naruto will know the kids that are providing the charity service and have the fact of how far they had fallen rubbed in their faces.
The kids he went to school with, would come in and expect to see little kids with broken arms whose big eyes would light up at the prospect of people playing with them, not two former class mates. He could already imagine what the gossip around school tomorrow will be.
Not that he gave a damn about people talking about him behind his back, he just did not want to be someone’s idea of a charity case.
Grunting at the horrible thought, he listened as the footsteps and talking got closer. Shizune stopped the group at the phone mounted next to the door to call the head master and inform him that the student council members were here. He heard Tenten ask what this room was and was briskly told the infirmary. The raven haired teen refused to look over his shoulder at the people he knew, that were standing in the doorway. He refused to draw attention to himself, he couldn’t, not today, not if he wanted to get Naruto out of here.
Tenten stepped forward but the nurse's hand shot out and grabbed her arm.
“Don’t upset them. One is very sick and the other is suicidal.”
Inwardly Sasuke screamed at Shizune for saying that, but as the soft foot steps came up behind him he stayed silent, sitting on the floor. Reminding himself over and over to play nice so he could sneak out later.
There was a startled gasp then Tenten cried out.
“Oh god it's Naruto. Neji it’s Naruto.”
Sasuke felt Naruto jump as his name was shouted and he turned around to glare at the girl who still wore her hair in two large buns and wore one of her many Chinese shirts, proud of her heritage. In the weeks he had been gone, she had not changed, the world had not changed, only he had.
The pale eyed Hyuuga came over at her prompting and looked over the blond then the fuming Uchiha sitting on the floor next to the bed.
The surprise on Neji’s face as he saw Sasuke was almost comical.
“Sasuke, what are you doing here?”
In his coldest, harshest voice he answered.
“My family is dead, moron, where do you think they would send me? ”
Sasuke turned back around so he would not have to look at the pity in the pale eyes of his former fellow council member. The silence in the room ticked on until Sasuke had enough of them gawking at him and Naruto.
“If you’ve had your fill of looking at the poor orphans, leave.”
Turning around to glare at them, he saw Tenten reach down and touch Naruto's hand.
“It’s okay, you’ll be fine.”
The soft words grated on his nerves, the last time he had seen the girl she was bad mouthing him with the rest of the student council. Now just because he was hurt and she felt bad, she was being nice.
“Don’t pretend to give a damn, just leave.”
The brown haired girl looked startled but did not retort. Instead she knelt down and gave the out of it blond a curt hug. Unknowingly grabbing the infected cut in her affectionate gesture.
Naruto groaned in pain and Sasuke jumped to his feet and pushed Tenten away from the blond, making her fall to the floor from the force he put in to the shove.
“Don’t fucking touch him, you stupid bitch.”
Neji stepped forward and put himself between the seething Uchiha and Tenten who was standing back up.
“Don’t take your anger out on us, jerk. We just wanted to see if we could help.”
Sasukes pale face contorted in to a cruel sneer.
“Help? With what? Making him better? Bringing my family back? Go away, you’re putting a band-aid on a bullet wound.”
Neji squared off with him then stole a glance at his bare arms. The red lines showing up nicely against the pale flesh. The Hyuuga could see the dark circles around Sasuke's eyes from the lack of sleep and hear the anger and resentment in the other teen's voice.
“Come on Tenten, lets leave him alone to wallow in his own pity. He doesn’t need any more from us.”
The two older teens started to walk away and Sasuke balled his fists and stepped forward to go after them. Coming up behind the long haired Hyuuga, the furious Uchiha grabbed the older teen's shoulder to turn him around, then nailed him in the face with a pile driver punch.
Neji staggered back, then fell to the floor, Tenten started to scream and the noise attracted the other members of the student council, who rushed in as Sasuke started to advance on Neji again with his fists back. All thoughts of laying low and playing nice pushed away by the need to kick Neji’s ass for saying the same damn thing Naruto did his first night here.
Shizune hung up the phone and waded in to the mess as soon as she heard the scream. Sasuke was being held back from the pale boy on the floor that was nursing a bloody nose, by two of the largest members of the student council. The raven haired teen was thrashing about and managed to kick one of his captors in the shin, wenching himself free, when the older teens' grip slackened from the pain in his leg.
Neji had gotten to his feet by then and when the raging Uchiha threw a punch, he dodged and grabbed Sasuke's wrist, twisting it. The raven haired teen gave a startled cry and dropped low, swinging his leg and took out the long haired teen's knees, throwing him over his back as he fell.
The other council members converged on Sasuke and dragged him away from Neji, who was still on the floor. After a few tense minutes with the dark haired teen still fighting, Shizune had no choice but to give Sasuke a sedative to calm him down.
As the Uchiha's eyelids drooped and his body went limp in the arms of the three teens that were holding him back, Shizune removed the needle from the raven haired teen's arm and told them to set him on the only other made bed in the room.
The nurse huffed when she saw the teen eyes still open but glassy. He had not slept since he had crawled in to bed with Naruto a week ago. She gave him a quick look over and groaned when she saw his wrist. He had managed to rip the stitches again but luckily he had healed enough so all she had to do was remove the torn thread and put a bandage on it.
Turning from Sasuke she assessed the older teen's wounds and did not find any thing an ice pack could not fix.
The head master came and took charge, ushering all but the bleeding teen out. One, the newly appointed freshman vice president with pink hair, refused to leave Naruto's side and the head master sighed and said she could stay after seeing the determined look in her green eyes.
Sakura watched the others leave and brushed a strand of damp blond hair out of Narutos face. She had no idea that he had ended up here, or that he had no parents to begin with. Sighing, she figured that there must be a lot about her friend that she did not know about. The jade eyed teen sat softly on the side on the bed to not disturb the sleeping teen as the nurse tended Sasuke and Neji, who sat in the office with a ice pack against his budding black eye.
Naruto was so thin now and was breathing in raged pants. As she sat next to his gazing at his scared face she felt a lump grow in her throat and tears threaten to fall from her eyes. God, she had missed him the last two weeks. His ever present smile and ability to make her laugh. He had told her to go up for the position of president on the student council but she had chickened out. When the opening for vice president came up she had jumped on it, hoping to surprise him. Seeing him so weak looking with an IV in his arm made her think that it was a tad trivial.
For the next hour she sat there and held his hand or ran her fingers through his damp, sweat soaked hair. Not caring that Neji left when the other students arrived or when Sasuke groaned and snapped back to reality. Shizune had set a metal trash can next to the raven haired teen and as he woke, she saw him grab the sheets and then practically fall out of the bed to puke in the can.
The nurse smiled at her from across the room and said that the sedative caused nausea and to leave Sasuke alone for a while. The pink haired girl nodded and turned her attention back to Naruto. Not even when the dark haired, teenaged god himself came over and sat on the floor, leaning on the bed next to her did she say anything. Right now Naruto was the only person she was worried about.
“You’re his friend aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
She had not hesitated to answer and Sasuke looked up at her with those dreamy eyes of his.
“Help us get out of here.”
Sakura gasped in shock then looked around for the nurse, but did not see her.
“She left a little while ago to help Kiba.”
Looking away from the teen she had just seen slug Neji, she started to fiddle with the zipper on her coat. Wanting to talk with him but thinking he just wanted to use her to get out.
“Is it that bad here that you want to escape?”
She could feel her cheeks flush as Sasuke got to his knees next to her and as he pulled the blanket back, he brushed his arm against her’s, then he pulled Naruto's shirt up. Making her blush at the sight of the tan chest and the taunt skin over the ribs. She gasped at the sight but found no words she could voice, until the outside door opened again and the cold air rushed the room.
“What are you doing???? He’ll catch a cold like that!!”
Her small hands started to tug on Naruto's shirt to pull it down and protect him from the cold, but Sasuke brushed her hands away.
“Look.”
Slowly he pulled the taped on gauze bandage from Naruto's side and she gasped. The wound looked horrible. Blood, pus and swelling flesh, the distinct smell of infection wafting up from the cut.
“He needs a surgery that the orphanage can not afford. I don’t want to escape. I want to take him to the hospital and pay for the surgery he needs. He doesn’t have much longer to wait on bureaucratic red tape.”
Gently she took the gauze from Sasuke and replaced the bandage, then pulled the shirt back down and the covers up. Normally she would have been giddy to have Sasuke talking to her, but this was not what she wanted to talk about. Sakura had just seen him punch Neji, so he was not the most stable guy and if Naruto was the sick one then he was the suicidal one. What if he wanted to get to a place where he could kill himself?
“Sakura please.”
She wanted to trust him, but found that she could not get the nagging doubts to ease.
“Sasuke no. I can’t.”
The raven haired teen stood up and wobbled but kept on going and grabbed the medical chart from the office then returned and handed it to her.
“Look, I’m not lying about it. He needs the surgery as soon as possible.”
She flipped the folder open and read the last couple of entries. 98 pound down from 125, Request immediate surgery, request denied. Hurriedly she flipped through the rest of the papers, request denied, request denied. Then she flipped to a sheet dated a week ago and gasped when she read the prognoses was that he was raped again. Not just raped, but ‘again’, so that it was the second time it had happened. Slowly she closed the brown file and set her hands on her lap.
Sasuke was not lying to get out of here, he really wanted to help Naruto and Naruto really needed the help. Taking a deep breath she stood up and set the folder on the bed.
“What do you want me to do?”
Sasuke smiled at the girl, but then his stomach lurched sending him running to the trash can he had left by the bed. As he sat there ridding his stomach of his breakfast, soft hands held his long bangs back so he would not get vomit on them.
When he was finished with this bout, she got him a towel to wipe his face with. The pale strawberry blond was not as bad as she seemed before. Setting the soiled towel aside he told her what he planned.
“Could you get us some of the clothes Shizune said you would bring for the orphans, so we won't freeze. Then help me get him to the bus stop a block away from here.”
“The bus? You’re taking him to the hospital by the bus?”
“Kids taking a cab from the orphanage would be kinda suspicious.”
Silently, Sakura nodded her head then left to find the needed over garments. Sasuke could hear numerous kids storming passed the infirmary and went to Naruto's side. Feeling a tad bit bad for bringing Sakura in to his mess. He knew that he could get her to help, she had been one of the girls that fought over him and she was one of the blond's few real friends.
“Almost there Naruto, hold on just a little bit longer.”
He whispered as he reached over and undid the IV, pulling out the needle from the tan arm. Naruto had to be conscious and walk out of here on his own. If some one saw him caring the blond then they would be stopped for sure. The pain killers made the dobe sleep and as much as he hated to do it, Sasuke could not let him have the drug.
Sitting down on the bed, he pulled Naruto up so that he was leaning on his chest and ran a hand through the golden locks, talking about random things, trying to wake blue eyed teen up. A groggy slurred “Sasuke” let him know that Naruto was awake and now all they were waiting for was Sakura to return with the clothes.
Overly warm tan hands wrapped around the Uchiha’s waist and the soft, almost begging tone from Naruto startled Sasuke.
“Sasuke don’t go. Don’t leave me.”
Running his hand down the blonds back, the raven haired teen whispered assurances to the fevered blond. Waking him up more and helping him to sit up, eventually getting him to let go of his waist. Turning around when the sound of heavy foot falls reached his ears and Sakura burst in with a arm load of clothes.
“Come on we don’t have much time.”
“Until what?”
“Just hurry up, okay. I set up a distraction and it will go off soon.”
“A distraction?”
“Yeah. Did you think that you could just waltz out of here with out no one noticing?”
There was a very Uchiha like grunt and Sakura started to dress Naruto in the older, but still warm clothes, generously donated by the students of Konoha high school. Sasuke pulled on a long sleeved shirt followed by a faded hoody and then a pair of monster cargo pants that looked like they could hold both him and Naruto in them at the same time. Jamming his feet in to the large snow boots, he wished that she had brought socks. Turning he saw that Sakura had outfitted the blond in much of the same fashion as him, he pulled on the heavy over coat and went to help Naruto put on the last of the outdoor clothes.
Just as Sasuke was helping Naruto to his feet and in to a pair of overly large snow boots, a loud crash followed by screaming echoed in the halls. The sound of many feet running through the corridors reverberated through the small room and Sasuke cast a sideways glance at the strawberry blond who was beckoning them to exit the infirmary quickly. Pulling Naruto to his feet and letting the blond lean heavily on him, they made their way out of the infirmary, with Sakura acting as look out.
Leaving the room and entering the main hall, he could see a large group of people gathering farther down toward the class rooms. As soon as they were in the hall amidst the crowded kids clamoring to see what had happened, Sakura draped Naruto's other arm around her shoulders, helping the blond walk down the hall a ways then in to a smaller side hall where the strawberry blond told them to stop.
“Why!?”
Sasuke hissed impatiently and Naruto flinched.
“There is a snow cap in your pocket for Naruto.”
Growling, he pulled the multi-colored thing from one of the many pockets in his coat and put it on the blond's head. Earning him a half hearted glare from the blue eyed teen.
Despite being so damn sick, the blond still did not want any help when he thought he could do it himself.
A person dressed in a tan over coat sped by and Sakura let go of Naruto, jumping back in to the main hall to flag the person back. The blond slipped in his grip and as he re-balanced the blue eyed teen leaning against him, the nausea from the sedative came back.
He had to puke and he had to do it now.
Sasuke darted through the door that led to the employees parking lot and the cold snow banks that lined it. He managed to get down the few steps and set Naruto down in a snow bank before he forcefully regurgitated everything in his stomach.
Falling to his hands and knees and feeling the bite of the cold snow on his uncovered fingers as he threw up. The world spun around him and the mess he just made blurred as his eyes unfocused. Before he could fall face first in to his mess, someone wrapped there arms around his chest and pulled him over to lean on them.
Sasuke felt the person rub his back and slowly the nausea and vertigo faded away. Getting to his feet, Sasuke looked over at Naruto who was being helped up out of the snow bank by Sakura. Turning around he saw the tan over coat and the familiar pale eyes and dark hair of the person that had prevented his face plant in to his own vomit.
“Hinata?”
The pale heiress smiled and offered a tissue so he could wipe his face.
“Come on Sasuke, w-we have to get Naruto to the h-hospital quick.”
The slight stutter betrayed her nervousness and the raven haired teen almost smiled. She was the first person he thought would help them. But he never got the chance to ask her and had to go with Sakura, who was turning out to be a better person then he first thought if she had recruited the Hyuuga heiress.
Hinata walked over and grabbed on to Naruto's free side and started to help him walk across the parking lot, keeping close to the building so that no one could see them from the windows. Quickly he followed the two girls and the blond idiot.
After the parking lot Sasuke stepped in to give Sakura a break and slowly the four of them made it to the bus stop. Sasuke still felt a little ill and sat on the bench with Naruto, letting the girls figure out what bus they had to take. Luck was with them and the next bus that stopped was the one they needed.
Sakura paid the bus fare being the only one that remembered to bring cash. Sasuke had gotten his bank card from the safe last night but the city transit did not accept plastic. The bus was crowded and there were only three seats open. Sakura got the window so that Naruto would not be pressed against the cold metal side and Hinata pushed Sasuke in to the remaining seat after he had tried to give it to her.
Glaring up at her, she smiled sweetly back and whispered to him.
“If your s-sick now, just w-wait until this t-thing starts to move, it’s b-better if your sitting.”
The bus lurched and the raven haired teen's stomach followed suit, making him enduring the bumpy 45 minute ride coupled with dry heaves.
Hinata had to guide him off the bus when their stop came and set him in a dirty snow bank so he could puke. This time was not as bad and after he finished he felt much better. Hearing Sakura yell at him and looking over, he saw the blond teen panting and barely standing on his own, made him forget he was ever sick to begin with. As Naruto's legs gave out, Sakura almost fell with the blond, but the raven haired teen came over and scooped up Naruto from her before they could tumble to the cold ground.
Sasuke wrapped his arms around the blond moron and felt Naruto's forehead brush against his chin.
Just that brief touch made Sasuke’s heart sink. The blond's temp was spiking again, he did not have much time. Gathering the unconscious teen in to his arms, Sasuke lifted Naruto up and started the three block journey to the private hospital, with Hinata and Sakura by his side the entire time.
The strawberry blond's near continuous nervous chatter was cut off when they reached the entrance to the hospital.
The place was like the front desk of a five star hotel. Plush carpets and fine vases with flowers lined the walls, the place did not even smell of aniseptic but more of a gentle hint of rose.
Sasuke rushed over to the front desk still carrying Naruto in his arms and demanded that he be seen immediately. Sakura pulled the brown medical record from the inside of her coat and passed it to the woman behind the desk.
The woman pushed her glasses up and looked at the out of breath teens that stood in front of her.
“You do know that this is a private hospital and that we require a down payment before services are rendered.”
Growling, the raven haired teen removed the bank card with the trusty Visa logo on it and handed it to the woman. His arms were getting tired and Naruto felt hotter to him. Shifting the blond burden in his arms, Naruto's head rolled on to his shoulder and the pants of breath from the hurt teen were not there.
Naruto had stopped breathing.
Swearing loudly, Sasuke quickly set the blond on to the floor and started to panic.
He was not breathing, his pulse was flickering and the bug-like woman behind the desk was saying something to him that did not sound like he wanted to hear it.
“Your cards been declined. I’m sorry but you’ll have to leave.”
Time stopped for Sasuke at the woman’s words, he stayed kneeling next to the blond he had carted across town, having promised him to get him the surgery he needed and save him. The blond's lips were blue and his eyes closed as Sasuke's fingers felt the flickering pulse in Naruto's neck stop.
There was nothing, no tears fell down his face no wail of anguish, just the heart break of knowing that he had been left again. Naruto had left him.
Hinata saw the indescribable look of pain on Sasuke’s face as Sakura pushed him away to start CPR on Naruto. The hopelessness and sorrow, the blank, broken face of shock from Sasuke and the tears streaming down Sakura’s face as she breathed for her friend. Turning she saw the mildly amused look on the woman’s bug-eyed face and the painting of her family that hung on the wall behind her.
The Hyuugas' owned this hospital and she would be damned if a person she admired died because he was turned away.
Stepping up to the counter and facing the woman who was watching Sakura on the floor, she took a deep breath then slammed her hand down on to the counter, making the bug-eyed woman look at her.
“I am Hinata HYUUGA and I own this damn Hospital, YOU will be fired if you do not call the doctors in NOW.”
The woman looked over her shoulder at the painting then gasped.
“I’m sorry ma’am.”
The woman picked the phone and called the attending doctors to the front desk immediately over the PA system.
“Call all of them.”
“All of them?”
Hinata glowered at the woman and she picked up the phone again, paging every doctor in the hospital to the front desk.
There was a moment of silence then the doors were pushed open as a sea of white coats flooded the lobby demanded to know what the hell was going on.
Hinata turned around from the desk and had her hand on her hips, shouting over the doctors' comments.
“IF HE DIES, NONE OF YOU WILL EVER PRACTICE IN KONOHA AGAIN.”
There was a stunned silence then one doctor said that he did not have time for a mental little girl. One of the older doctors stepped forward and loudly recognized Hinata as the Hyuuga heiress. She smiled and fired the man who called her a mental little girl.
The next few moments had a white coat stepping forward and taking over for Sakura. A stretcher was brought in and the blond was put on to it. No less then a dozen doctors surrounded the blond as he was wheeled off.
Orders for tests and other things were being shouted and someone cleared a booked surgery room for Naruto to be taken as soon as he was stabilized. In the mist of all the confusion stood Hinata, directing and intimidating any who said other wise.
When the herd of doctors had taken Naruto to the emergency room and preparations for his surgery were made, Hinata suppressed a shutter. She hated confrontations and it always bothered her to use her last name to get what she wanted. In fact she had thought she might faint several times and she still was shaking.
“Hinata come quick.”
Sakura’s harsh whisper made her look over to were Sasuke was still kneeling on the floor and the strawberry blond was kneeling next to him.
“I think he’s hyperventilating or something.”
Sasuke face was blank but his breathing suggested that he was sobbing. Taking a deep breath to calm her raging nerves she walked over and held out her hand.
“Come on S-Sasuke, lets go see N-Naruto.”
The dark eyes met hers and she tried to smile, but the lost look in the dark eyes scared her.
“C-Come on, I know y-you want to s-see him. He’s getting t-treated right now, r-right over here.”
Slowly his hand took hers and she helped him to his feet, his skin was cool and clammy, a sure sign of shock.
Still holding his hand she led him through the doors to the emergency room and merely had to look at the nurse that told them that they could not be in here, to send her scurrying the other way. Glad that she did not have to talk and give away her stutter.
Leading Sasuke to the bed that held Naruto, she stopped and together with Sakura, they watched as a tube was put down the blond's throat to help him breath. Sasuke nearly crushed her hand with his own, as a monitor was hooked up and started to beep in time with the blond's weak heart beat.
Weak but beating.
“He’s alive Sasuke. He’s to stubborn to die like that.”
The Hyuuga heiress heard Sakura’s voice catch and the sobs that started to seep out of the strawberry blond. Letting go of Sasuke’s hand she went over and hugged the crying girl. Sakura wrapped her arms around Hinata and held the pale girl tightly as she cried on her shoulder. Finding strength in the quiet girl.
Sasuke felt feeling return to his life and pulse in time to Naruto's heart monitor. He was alive. Naruto was still alive. He had not killed him by dragging him across town. Naruto was alive and going to get the surgery he needed and be fine. He stood watching numbly as the doctors worked frantically on Naruto not believing himself that his friend would be alright.
After the blond had stabilized and he was being taken to the surgical wing of the hospital, Sasuke turned to the two girls and was surprised to see Hinata still holding Sakura tightly. But now it was Sakura telling Hinata that it would be ok, that she was a force to be reckoned with and her father would be proud of her taking a stand today. The green eyed teen was gently running her hand through the short black hair of Hinata and the Hyuuga heiress was clutching tightly to Sakura’s coat, her face buried in the crook of the strawberry blond's neck.
Not wanting to interrupt, he left them there and followed Naruto up to the surgical floor, staying in the waiting room as his friend was operated on.
Sakura and Hinata came by and dropped off some food before saying that they had to go or their parents would send the army out after them. Leaving him to sit and pick at the reuben sandwich they had brought him for the next 6 hours Naruto was in surgery.
The sun set and still half the sandwich sat on the wrapper, vaguely he was aware of someone else in the room with him, but he ignored the presence. Concentrating on the thousand other things running through his head.
“You know, it was rude to leave Shizune like that, she nearly had an aneurism when she found you two missing.”
Looking up and seeing the white haired police chief sitting across from him, flipping through the channels of the tv and stopping at a swimsuit special.
“We did not want to get her in trouble.”
Never taking his eyes off the television and the cleavage it showed, Jiraiya shrugged.
“You scared a lot of people today, by running off like that.”
“He was going to die if he had to wait any longer.”
“He was going to get the surgery he needed when he had progressed enough to warrant it.”
“When was that going to be, when he was already dead?.”
The Uchiha snapped at the police chief, he was tempted to tell him that Orochimaru would never let the operation happen, that the snake was the one that had hurt him and raped him. But he had promised Naruto to not say that he talked.
His fist were shaking at his sides and the sound of doors opening made him glance over to the double doors that held the intensive care units. A doctor in scrubs walked over and looked at him then the police chief.
“Is he ok?”
The way Jiraiya said it made it seem like the blond had stubbed his toe.
“Considering the advanced stage of infection and malnutrition it was amazing that he was alive when he was brought in.”
The police chief's eyebrows lifted in surprise and Sasuke suppressed the ‘I told you so’ he wanted to say.
“There were a few complications because of this but Naruto pulled through. He is being moved to the ICU as we speak and will need at least a week of hospitalization to ensure that we got all of the infected tissue out of him. It is still to soon to tell if the infection got in to his heart but it was in his lungs and he will be on a ventilator for a while. Other than that, he’s doing fine.”
Sasuke stood in shock for a moment as the information sunk in, he was fine. Naruto was not going to die. He had kept telling himself that Naruto would pull through, but there was always that voice that said otherwise.
Pushing past the doctor he ran through the double doors and down the hall. Not listening to the yells to stop. Looking at the board that was positioned behind the nurses' station, he saw her write Uzumaki next to room 643. Bolting down the hall he came to the room and peered in.
Naruto was laying on the bed hooked up to things that booped and beeped, tubes and wires were draped across him and there was still a tube down his throat that helped him breath.
But he was not dead.
He was still here with him. He had not left him alone.
Slowly Sasuke inched forward to stand next to the sleeping blond and placed his hand over the scar on Naruto's wrist. They had promised to be there for each other and Naruto had not left him.
Jiraiya looked in on the Uchiha as he held Naruto's wrist, the pale teen had been right. Naruto would not of lasted another night if he had not gotten the surgery and even now the infection had destroyed most of his stomach. Just looking at the blond he could count ribs and he sighed as he leaned against the door frame.
He had looked over the medical record Sasuke and the girls had brought in with them. Shizune had made 27 requests for surgery and all of them were declined. By not just one but five different doctors. Something did not add up, who could get that many doctors to do something like that.
‘How did Sasuke know that Naruto would never get the surgery if he stayed?’
He would look into that.
The sound of bed springs softly creaking as Sasuke sat next to Naruto on the bed, making sure to not disturb the blond or any thing that was attached to him, drew Jiraiya’s attention. Sasuke could stay here as he figured this out and he had a feeling that it would take a lot to drag the Uchiha away from Naruto.
Turning he walked down the hall he had come and stopped one of the hospital workers, curently dust mopping the floors, telling him to get a cot or a chair and to take it to room 643 so Sasuke did not have to sit on the bed with Naruto.
The white haired young man wore red make up around his eyes and had a zig-zag part in his hair.
Jiraiya stopped and repeated his request and the older teen just stared at him.
‘Maybe he was new?’
Looking at the teen's name tag, the police chief went to the nurses' station and repeated his request and told the nurse to better train Kimimaro in dealing with people.
don’t go
A/N it's not often that i can make myself cry when typeing, so ummm you might want to grab a tissue. and it has not been beta'ed yet so,,,, yeah and as a side note i posted it last night but for some reason it did not work, lets hope that it works now.
thank you to the kind person who fixed several errors, i failed english but am attacked by plot bunnies anyway. thanks again for fixing them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cool, pale hands drifted across the tan chest, avoiding the puffy red area split by a cut over the stomach. Slowly, purposely strong fingers felt each rib and natural line made by the blond's shrinking muscles under the damp, heated skin. The smooth pale hands felt the length of the blond's torso then back up after circling the sick teens belly button.
Naruto's breath hitched as Sasuke's hands drifted to close to his stomach wound and the raven haired teen retreated, guiding his hands up to the blonds collar bone. Gently he traced the protruding bone with his thumbs before dipping his hands under Naruto and lifting his shoulders, helping him sit up, knowing that Naruto could not do it by him self anymore.
Naruto felt his bare back be placed against Sasuke's clothed chest, as the raven haired teen sat behind him, so he could lean on him. Again, pale hands started their drifting over his tan flesh. Measuring how much smaller he was after a week of not eating. The blond was thinner and his ribs showed, his collar bone was more pronounced, so was his hips. His bones showing as bumps and mounds on the expanse of heated, tan flesh. A testament to his current weakened state.
Softly, so soft that it almost tickled Sasuke traced each rib, felt his shoulders and spine, rubbing in a circle, knowing that the fevers made his muscles hurt.
The hands were low on him again and wrapped around, measuring his depleting waist. The grip shifted and arms re-wrapped themselves in a more possessive manner, then held tight. Tired blue eyes opened as a puff of warm breath hit his shoulder.
“Don’t die dobe. Today is when the school comes over and I can get you out of here. Just a little longer, please hold on.”
After he finished speaking, Sasuke set his forehead in the crook of Naruto's neck and loosened his grip around the sick teen's waist.
Rolling his head so that his cheek pressed against the side of Sasuke’s head, feeling the soft black hair, Naruto took a deep breath and smelled the scent of his friend. The raven haired teen had been measuring him ever since it had become noticeable that he was losing weight rapidly. Using his hands as a ruler to see how much smaller the blond was getting.
At the same time Naruto knew that Sasuke was making sure that there was no new bruises, that it had not happened again. The raven haired teen was adamant about not leaving him alone and avoided it at all costs. Telling Kabuto to shove it and refusing to go to the sessions that he had to leave the room for. The raven haired teen would not present them with another opportunity to hurt him.
With his arm that did not have the now ever present IV in it, Naruto reached up and gently touched Sasuke's face before flicking him in the nose.
“I’m not going to die yet, asshole, but you better keep your promise.”
The blond felt the snort from Sasuke on his shoulder and weakly smiled.
Despite his words, he could not guarantee that he would be here tomorrow. Each day he felt weaker, and the lack of nourishment was making it harder to heal. He knew he was wasting away, he could feel how boney he had become. He could barely walk and when he did, his joints hurt. The infection had spread and all of his abdomen throbbed relentlessly. Even the soft touch from Sasuke had hurt, but he had refused to show it.
Sasuke was taking it badly, each day him getting smaller and sicker. Wasting away in front of him and him not be able to do anything to stop it. The raven haired teen had not slept since he had passed out laying next to him, after the first time his fever spiked.
The blond knew that the raven haired teen could not stand this, watching and waiting, feeling helpless and unable to do any thing to alleviate the blonds pain.
Sasuke expressed his feelings the only way he knew how and had bottled them up until they exploded. Anybody that entered the infirmary was submitted to the pale teen's temper that was getting shorter as he got sicker.
The was a harsh cough from the office and a woman wrapped in a hand made quilt shifted in the seat at the desk, but to Naruto's relief, did not wake up to see Sasuke draped around him. The new over night nurse was an older, very catholic woman and flipped out every time Sasuke had tried to touch him, to help him or to provide a source of comfort. Naruto was not sure if she hated him for being raped and male therefore gay, or Sasuke for trying to touch a raped male and therefore gay. She had started every shift so far with a long tirade about how god despised same sex relationships.
The woman was currently sleeping in the office at the moment so the raven haired teen had helped him out of his shirt and he was glad to be rid of it. He was still fevered and the cold air had felt good against his skin. He did not mind Sasuke measuring him and even in his most fevered states he found comfort when the bastard was near.
Closing his tired blue eyes, Naruto set his hand on Sasukes kneecap and squeezed. The nurse had an alarm clock set to go off every two hours so she would not miss one of his medications. It was going to go off soon and it would be very hard to explain to the woman why Sasuke felt the need to hold on to him and see for himself that he was not dead yet.
“You should let go now, she’ll wake up soon.”
There was a Uchiha grunt and Naruto thought that Sasuke might of dozed off. It was kinda odd for the raven haired teen to hold on for this long and it was starting to make him uncomfortable. A few moments passed then the blond shifted and winced as the motion hurt his stomach.
“Sasuke let go, please let go.”
At the whining note in his voice, Sasuke lifted his head then took a few deep breaths and climbed off the bed. Grabbing Naruto's discarded shirt and helping him put it back on then settling the blond teen back in to bed before sitting on the floor next to it.
Moments later the alarm clock went off and the old nurse woke and turned it off. Removing an already prepared syringe filled with the blond's dose of pain killers from the fridge and walking out of the office to scowl at Sasuke. He did not look like he had moved from this spot the entire week. Diligently watching over Naruto. Grunting at the teen and not getting a response, she administered the pain killer/ antibiotic, then went back to the office to straighten it up before Shizune arrived.
Even after the head nurse had arrived and she left, he did not move from his spot at his friend's side.
Not until Sasuke looked up from his spot on the floor and saw Shizune with the brown medical file out, pulling the curtain by the metal table back so that a old scale was visible. Getting to his feet he turned and looked at the curled, blond form on the bed. The pain killer made him sleep and the raven haired teen had nominated himself for the task of taking care of Naruto when he was to doped up to help himself.
He had said to wait a week and he would get him out of here. Sasuke had no idea how hard that was for Naruto to do. The infection from his stomach had spread to all the other wounds, the cut from the surgery on his colon was oozing pus and the cuts on his face would not heal. Naruto had no energy and whimpered when touched, even if he tried to hide it.
Shizune was worried that the infection had gotten in to his lungs or worse yet, his heart and his body was to weak to fight it off.
Slowly, with a weeks worth of practice, he unhooked Naruto from the IV, leaving the needle part in the blond so they would not have to stick him again and lifted the teen in his arms. Two weeks ago he would not of been able to pick him up, Naruto had weighed almost as much as he did, but with the infection draining him and not being able to eat, he had lost weight rapidly. The blond was beyond 0% body fat, his joints looked large and Sasuke could almost wrap his hand around Narutos biceps.
Slowly the raven haired teen carried his blond burden to the scale. Naruto could barely walk, he was so weak from the infection that raged inside of him. The tan flesh was heated and Sasuke felt a mummer from the blond against his collar bone and he murmured back. Naruto's temp had steadied at 102 and four times already it had spiked, each time it was harder to bring it down as the blue-eyed teen's body weakened further from the strain the fever put it through.
Just like yesterday and the day before, Sasuke stepped on to the scale with Naruto in his arms. Shizune moved the weights until it was balanced and wrote the number down on a sticky note. Stepping off the scale he returned the blond to the bed and reconnected him to the IV that had become his only source of nourishment. The blue eyed teen had been connected continually to the IV for the last three days. The same day he had seen Shizune balancing her check book and coming up with five grand she could put towards the surgery.
To bad it would cost closer to 50 grand.
He was loathe to leave Naruto’s side even for a moment, but he returned to the scale and stepped on to it. The nurse balanced the weights at 130 for him.
It had been 228 for the both of them.
Naruto only weighed 98 pounds and he could see the dark haired nurse's eyes cloud up as she did the math. Returning to the bunk and his spot sitting next to it, he heard the front door open and felt the icy cold wind as the first floor was subjected to the late November weather.
The raven haired teen twisted around and pulled the blanket up on the sleeping blond behind him, so he would not get a chill and turned back around to watch the morning cartoons.
The last week had been hell for them both. Naruto was sleeping more then he was awake as his body destroyed itself and Sasuke could only sit by and watch him as he just kept getting sicker. Shizune was frantic and he had over heard her saying that it was a miracle that he was not already dead from the infection or the fever. That the only thing keeping the blond alive was Naruto's stubbornness against giving in.
Familiar voices echoed in the hallway and Sasuke wished that Shizune would let him wear the bandages around his wrists. The stitches were going to come out soon and she wanted him to let the wounds breath a little before then.
It still made him uncomfortable to have the slash scars uncovered, especially with the school he had attended, coming to do charity work at the
orphanage. The school body was not due until 9 am but of course the school council members had come early to help set up.
Tenten's voice echoed in the hall and Shizune rushed out to meet her. Neji’s voice chimed in as well as Shikamaru’s, who had been his vice president and now was the president of the freshman class. The nasal voice of the senior class president and the others that he could no longer place, voiced their greetings to the nurse.
It bothered him that he was going to be put on display. It bothered him that people he had gone to school with every day were going to come in and see him here. The pity that they would try to express, was already pissing him off. He did not want their pity, he did not want them to be sorry for what had happened to him. Because they weren’t sorry, they did not care about what had happened.
They would come to see him though, see the one that survived the massacre like he was a monkey in a little costume dancing on the street.
Come one, come all, see the last Uchiha who was not even worth the bullet to kill him. See the blond teen that was a sadist's plaything, slowly starve to death.
Sure, the idea to help orphaned kids seemed good at the time but now as he looked at it from this new angle it made him rethink it. People you did not know, coming in and feeling sorry for you, feeling obligated to help you for charity. What a blow to the pride and dignity of the kids that were here. Not to mention him and Naruto will know the kids that are providing the charity service and have the fact of how far they had fallen rubbed in their faces.
The kids he went to school with, would come in and expect to see little kids with broken arms whose big eyes would light up at the prospect of people playing with them, not two former class mates. He could already imagine what the gossip around school tomorrow will be.
Not that he gave a damn about people talking about him behind his back, he just did not want to be someone’s idea of a charity case.
Grunting at the horrible thought, he listened as the footsteps and talking got closer. Shizune stopped the group at the phone mounted next to the door to call the head master and inform him that the student council members were here. He heard Tenten ask what this room was and was briskly told the infirmary. The raven haired teen refused to look over his shoulder at the people he knew, that were standing in the doorway. He refused to draw attention to himself, he couldn’t, not today, not if he wanted to get Naruto out of here.
Tenten stepped forward but the nurse's hand shot out and grabbed her arm.
“Don’t upset them. One is very sick and the other is suicidal.”
Inwardly Sasuke screamed at Shizune for saying that, but as the soft foot steps came up behind him he stayed silent, sitting on the floor. Reminding himself over and over to play nice so he could sneak out later.
There was a startled gasp then Tenten cried out.
“Oh god it's Naruto. Neji it’s Naruto.”
Sasuke felt Naruto jump as his name was shouted and he turned around to glare at the girl who still wore her hair in two large buns and wore one of her many Chinese shirts, proud of her heritage. In the weeks he had been gone, she had not changed, the world had not changed, only he had.
The pale eyed Hyuuga came over at her prompting and looked over the blond then the fuming Uchiha sitting on the floor next to the bed.
The surprise on Neji’s face as he saw Sasuke was almost comical.
“Sasuke, what are you doing here?”
In his coldest, harshest voice he answered.
“My family is dead, moron, where do you think they would send me? ”
Sasuke turned back around so he would not have to look at the pity in the pale eyes of his former fellow council member. The silence in the room ticked on until Sasuke had enough of them gawking at him and Naruto.
“If you’ve had your fill of looking at the poor orphans, leave.”
Turning around to glare at them, he saw Tenten reach down and touch Naruto's hand.
“It’s okay, you’ll be fine.”
The soft words grated on his nerves, the last time he had seen the girl she was bad mouthing him with the rest of the student council. Now just because he was hurt and she felt bad, she was being nice.
“Don’t pretend to give a damn, just leave.”
The brown haired girl looked startled but did not retort. Instead she knelt down and gave the out of it blond a curt hug. Unknowingly grabbing the infected cut in her affectionate gesture.
Naruto groaned in pain and Sasuke jumped to his feet and pushed Tenten away from the blond, making her fall to the floor from the force he put in to the shove.
“Don’t fucking touch him, you stupid bitch.”
Neji stepped forward and put himself between the seething Uchiha and Tenten who was standing back up.
“Don’t take your anger out on us, jerk. We just wanted to see if we could help.”
Sasukes pale face contorted in to a cruel sneer.
“Help? With what? Making him better? Bringing my family back? Go away, you’re putting a band-aid on a bullet wound.”
Neji squared off with him then stole a glance at his bare arms. The red lines showing up nicely against the pale flesh. The Hyuuga could see the dark circles around Sasuke's eyes from the lack of sleep and hear the anger and resentment in the other teen's voice.
“Come on Tenten, lets leave him alone to wallow in his own pity. He doesn’t need any more from us.”
The two older teens started to walk away and Sasuke balled his fists and stepped forward to go after them. Coming up behind the long haired Hyuuga, the furious Uchiha grabbed the older teen's shoulder to turn him around, then nailed him in the face with a pile driver punch.
Neji staggered back, then fell to the floor, Tenten started to scream and the noise attracted the other members of the student council, who rushed in as Sasuke started to advance on Neji again with his fists back. All thoughts of laying low and playing nice pushed away by the need to kick Neji’s ass for saying the same damn thing Naruto did his first night here.
Shizune hung up the phone and waded in to the mess as soon as she heard the scream. Sasuke was being held back from the pale boy on the floor that was nursing a bloody nose, by two of the largest members of the student council. The raven haired teen was thrashing about and managed to kick one of his captors in the shin, wenching himself free, when the older teens' grip slackened from the pain in his leg.
Neji had gotten to his feet by then and when the raging Uchiha threw a punch, he dodged and grabbed Sasuke's wrist, twisting it. The raven haired teen gave a startled cry and dropped low, swinging his leg and took out the long haired teen's knees, throwing him over his back as he fell.
The other council members converged on Sasuke and dragged him away from Neji, who was still on the floor. After a few tense minutes with the dark haired teen still fighting, Shizune had no choice but to give Sasuke a sedative to calm him down.
As the Uchiha's eyelids drooped and his body went limp in the arms of the three teens that were holding him back, Shizune removed the needle from the raven haired teen's arm and told them to set him on the only other made bed in the room.
The nurse huffed when she saw the teen eyes still open but glassy. He had not slept since he had crawled in to bed with Naruto a week ago. She gave him a quick look over and groaned when she saw his wrist. He had managed to rip the stitches again but luckily he had healed enough so all she had to do was remove the torn thread and put a bandage on it.
Turning from Sasuke she assessed the older teen's wounds and did not find any thing an ice pack could not fix.
The head master came and took charge, ushering all but the bleeding teen out. One, the newly appointed freshman vice president with pink hair, refused to leave Naruto's side and the head master sighed and said she could stay after seeing the determined look in her green eyes.
Sakura watched the others leave and brushed a strand of damp blond hair out of Narutos face. She had no idea that he had ended up here, or that he had no parents to begin with. Sighing, she figured that there must be a lot about her friend that she did not know about. The jade eyed teen sat softly on the side on the bed to not disturb the sleeping teen as the nurse tended Sasuke and Neji, who sat in the office with a ice pack against his budding black eye.
Naruto was so thin now and was breathing in raged pants. As she sat next to his gazing at his scared face she felt a lump grow in her throat and tears threaten to fall from her eyes. God, she had missed him the last two weeks. His ever present smile and ability to make her laugh. He had told her to go up for the position of president on the student council but she had chickened out. When the opening for vice president came up she had jumped on it, hoping to surprise him. Seeing him so weak looking with an IV in his arm made her think that it was a tad trivial.
For the next hour she sat there and held his hand or ran her fingers through his damp, sweat soaked hair. Not caring that Neji left when the other students arrived or when Sasuke groaned and snapped back to reality. Shizune had set a metal trash can next to the raven haired teen and as he woke, she saw him grab the sheets and then practically fall out of the bed to puke in the can.
The nurse smiled at her from across the room and said that the sedative caused nausea and to leave Sasuke alone for a while. The pink haired girl nodded and turned her attention back to Naruto. Not even when the dark haired, teenaged god himself came over and sat on the floor, leaning on the bed next to her did she say anything. Right now Naruto was the only person she was worried about.
“You’re his friend aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
She had not hesitated to answer and Sasuke looked up at her with those dreamy eyes of his.
“Help us get out of here.”
Sakura gasped in shock then looked around for the nurse, but did not see her.
“She left a little while ago to help Kiba.”
Looking away from the teen she had just seen slug Neji, she started to fiddle with the zipper on her coat. Wanting to talk with him but thinking he just wanted to use her to get out.
“Is it that bad here that you want to escape?”
She could feel her cheeks flush as Sasuke got to his knees next to her and as he pulled the blanket back, he brushed his arm against her’s, then he pulled Naruto's shirt up. Making her blush at the sight of the tan chest and the taunt skin over the ribs. She gasped at the sight but found no words she could voice, until the outside door opened again and the cold air rushed the room.
“What are you doing???? He’ll catch a cold like that!!”
Her small hands started to tug on Naruto's shirt to pull it down and protect him from the cold, but Sasuke brushed her hands away.
“Look.”
Slowly he pulled the taped on gauze bandage from Naruto's side and she gasped. The wound looked horrible. Blood, pus and swelling flesh, the distinct smell of infection wafting up from the cut.
“He needs a surgery that the orphanage can not afford. I don’t want to escape. I want to take him to the hospital and pay for the surgery he needs. He doesn’t have much longer to wait on bureaucratic red tape.”
Gently she took the gauze from Sasuke and replaced the bandage, then pulled the shirt back down and the covers up. Normally she would have been giddy to have Sasuke talking to her, but this was not what she wanted to talk about. Sakura had just seen him punch Neji, so he was not the most stable guy and if Naruto was the sick one then he was the suicidal one. What if he wanted to get to a place where he could kill himself?
“Sakura please.”
She wanted to trust him, but found that she could not get the nagging doubts to ease.
“Sasuke no. I can’t.”
The raven haired teen stood up and wobbled but kept on going and grabbed the medical chart from the office then returned and handed it to her.
“Look, I’m not lying about it. He needs the surgery as soon as possible.”
She flipped the folder open and read the last couple of entries. 98 pound down from 125, Request immediate surgery, request denied. Hurriedly she flipped through the rest of the papers, request denied, request denied. Then she flipped to a sheet dated a week ago and gasped when she read the prognoses was that he was raped again. Not just raped, but ‘again’, so that it was the second time it had happened. Slowly she closed the brown file and set her hands on her lap.
Sasuke was not lying to get out of here, he really wanted to help Naruto and Naruto really needed the help. Taking a deep breath she stood up and set the folder on the bed.
“What do you want me to do?”
Sasuke smiled at the girl, but then his stomach lurched sending him running to the trash can he had left by the bed. As he sat there ridding his stomach of his breakfast, soft hands held his long bangs back so he would not get vomit on them.
When he was finished with this bout, she got him a towel to wipe his face with. The pale strawberry blond was not as bad as she seemed before. Setting the soiled towel aside he told her what he planned.
“Could you get us some of the clothes Shizune said you would bring for the orphans, so we won't freeze. Then help me get him to the bus stop a block away from here.”
“The bus? You’re taking him to the hospital by the bus?”
“Kids taking a cab from the orphanage would be kinda suspicious.”
Silently, Sakura nodded her head then left to find the needed over garments. Sasuke could hear numerous kids storming passed the infirmary and went to Naruto's side. Feeling a tad bit bad for bringing Sakura in to his mess. He knew that he could get her to help, she had been one of the girls that fought over him and she was one of the blond's few real friends.
“Almost there Naruto, hold on just a little bit longer.”
He whispered as he reached over and undid the IV, pulling out the needle from the tan arm. Naruto had to be conscious and walk out of here on his own. If some one saw him caring the blond then they would be stopped for sure. The pain killers made the dobe sleep and as much as he hated to do it, Sasuke could not let him have the drug.
Sitting down on the bed, he pulled Naruto up so that he was leaning on his chest and ran a hand through the golden locks, talking about random things, trying to wake blue eyed teen up. A groggy slurred “Sasuke” let him know that Naruto was awake and now all they were waiting for was Sakura to return with the clothes.
Overly warm tan hands wrapped around the Uchiha’s waist and the soft, almost begging tone from Naruto startled Sasuke.
“Sasuke don’t go. Don’t leave me.”
Running his hand down the blonds back, the raven haired teen whispered assurances to the fevered blond. Waking him up more and helping him to sit up, eventually getting him to let go of his waist. Turning around when the sound of heavy foot falls reached his ears and Sakura burst in with a arm load of clothes.
“Come on we don’t have much time.”
“Until what?”
“Just hurry up, okay. I set up a distraction and it will go off soon.”
“A distraction?”
“Yeah. Did you think that you could just waltz out of here with out no one noticing?”
There was a very Uchiha like grunt and Sakura started to dress Naruto in the older, but still warm clothes, generously donated by the students of Konoha high school. Sasuke pulled on a long sleeved shirt followed by a faded hoody and then a pair of monster cargo pants that looked like they could hold both him and Naruto in them at the same time. Jamming his feet in to the large snow boots, he wished that she had brought socks. Turning he saw that Sakura had outfitted the blond in much of the same fashion as him, he pulled on the heavy over coat and went to help Naruto put on the last of the outdoor clothes.
Just as Sasuke was helping Naruto to his feet and in to a pair of overly large snow boots, a loud crash followed by screaming echoed in the halls. The sound of many feet running through the corridors reverberated through the small room and Sasuke cast a sideways glance at the strawberry blond who was beckoning them to exit the infirmary quickly. Pulling Naruto to his feet and letting the blond lean heavily on him, they made their way out of the infirmary, with Sakura acting as look out.
Leaving the room and entering the main hall, he could see a large group of people gathering farther down toward the class rooms. As soon as they were in the hall amidst the crowded kids clamoring to see what had happened, Sakura draped Naruto's other arm around her shoulders, helping the blond walk down the hall a ways then in to a smaller side hall where the strawberry blond told them to stop.
“Why!?”
Sasuke hissed impatiently and Naruto flinched.
“There is a snow cap in your pocket for Naruto.”
Growling, he pulled the multi-colored thing from one of the many pockets in his coat and put it on the blond's head. Earning him a half hearted glare from the blue eyed teen.
Despite being so damn sick, the blond still did not want any help when he thought he could do it himself.
A person dressed in a tan over coat sped by and Sakura let go of Naruto, jumping back in to the main hall to flag the person back. The blond slipped in his grip and as he re-balanced the blue eyed teen leaning against him, the nausea from the sedative came back.
He had to puke and he had to do it now.
Sasuke darted through the door that led to the employees parking lot and the cold snow banks that lined it. He managed to get down the few steps and set Naruto down in a snow bank before he forcefully regurgitated everything in his stomach.
Falling to his hands and knees and feeling the bite of the cold snow on his uncovered fingers as he threw up. The world spun around him and the mess he just made blurred as his eyes unfocused. Before he could fall face first in to his mess, someone wrapped there arms around his chest and pulled him over to lean on them.
Sasuke felt the person rub his back and slowly the nausea and vertigo faded away. Getting to his feet, Sasuke looked over at Naruto who was being helped up out of the snow bank by Sakura. Turning around he saw the tan over coat and the familiar pale eyes and dark hair of the person that had prevented his face plant in to his own vomit.
“Hinata?”
The pale heiress smiled and offered a tissue so he could wipe his face.
“Come on Sasuke, w-we have to get Naruto to the h-hospital quick.”
The slight stutter betrayed her nervousness and the raven haired teen almost smiled. She was the first person he thought would help them. But he never got the chance to ask her and had to go with Sakura, who was turning out to be a better person then he first thought if she had recruited the Hyuuga heiress.
Hinata walked over and grabbed on to Naruto's free side and started to help him walk across the parking lot, keeping close to the building so that no one could see them from the windows. Quickly he followed the two girls and the blond idiot.
After the parking lot Sasuke stepped in to give Sakura a break and slowly the four of them made it to the bus stop. Sasuke still felt a little ill and sat on the bench with Naruto, letting the girls figure out what bus they had to take. Luck was with them and the next bus that stopped was the one they needed.
Sakura paid the bus fare being the only one that remembered to bring cash. Sasuke had gotten his bank card from the safe last night but the city transit did not accept plastic. The bus was crowded and there were only three seats open. Sakura got the window so that Naruto would not be pressed against the cold metal side and Hinata pushed Sasuke in to the remaining seat after he had tried to give it to her.
Glaring up at her, she smiled sweetly back and whispered to him.
“If your s-sick now, just w-wait until this t-thing starts to move, it’s b-better if your sitting.”
The bus lurched and the raven haired teen's stomach followed suit, making him enduring the bumpy 45 minute ride coupled with dry heaves.
Hinata had to guide him off the bus when their stop came and set him in a dirty snow bank so he could puke. This time was not as bad and after he finished he felt much better. Hearing Sakura yell at him and looking over, he saw the blond teen panting and barely standing on his own, made him forget he was ever sick to begin with. As Naruto's legs gave out, Sakura almost fell with the blond, but the raven haired teen came over and scooped up Naruto from her before they could tumble to the cold ground.
Sasuke wrapped his arms around the blond moron and felt Naruto's forehead brush against his chin.
Just that brief touch made Sasuke’s heart sink. The blond's temp was spiking again, he did not have much time. Gathering the unconscious teen in to his arms, Sasuke lifted Naruto up and started the three block journey to the private hospital, with Hinata and Sakura by his side the entire time.
The strawberry blond's near continuous nervous chatter was cut off when they reached the entrance to the hospital.
The place was like the front desk of a five star hotel. Plush carpets and fine vases with flowers lined the walls, the place did not even smell of aniseptic but more of a gentle hint of rose.
Sasuke rushed over to the front desk still carrying Naruto in his arms and demanded that he be seen immediately. Sakura pulled the brown medical record from the inside of her coat and passed it to the woman behind the desk.
The woman pushed her glasses up and looked at the out of breath teens that stood in front of her.
“You do know that this is a private hospital and that we require a down payment before services are rendered.”
Growling, the raven haired teen removed the bank card with the trusty Visa logo on it and handed it to the woman. His arms were getting tired and Naruto felt hotter to him. Shifting the blond burden in his arms, Naruto's head rolled on to his shoulder and the pants of breath from the hurt teen were not there.
Naruto had stopped breathing.
Swearing loudly, Sasuke quickly set the blond on to the floor and started to panic.
He was not breathing, his pulse was flickering and the bug-like woman behind the desk was saying something to him that did not sound like he wanted to hear it.
“Your cards been declined. I’m sorry but you’ll have to leave.”
Time stopped for Sasuke at the woman’s words, he stayed kneeling next to the blond he had carted across town, having promised him to get him the surgery he needed and save him. The blond's lips were blue and his eyes closed as Sasuke's fingers felt the flickering pulse in Naruto's neck stop.
There was nothing, no tears fell down his face no wail of anguish, just the heart break of knowing that he had been left again. Naruto had left him.
Hinata saw the indescribable look of pain on Sasuke’s face as Sakura pushed him away to start CPR on Naruto. The hopelessness and sorrow, the blank, broken face of shock from Sasuke and the tears streaming down Sakura’s face as she breathed for her friend. Turning she saw the mildly amused look on the woman’s bug-eyed face and the painting of her family that hung on the wall behind her.
The Hyuugas' owned this hospital and she would be damned if a person she admired died because he was turned away.
Stepping up to the counter and facing the woman who was watching Sakura on the floor, she took a deep breath then slammed her hand down on to the counter, making the bug-eyed woman look at her.
“I am Hinata HYUUGA and I own this damn Hospital, YOU will be fired if you do not call the doctors in NOW.”
The woman looked over her shoulder at the painting then gasped.
“I’m sorry ma’am.”
The woman picked the phone and called the attending doctors to the front desk immediately over the PA system.
“Call all of them.”
“All of them?”
Hinata glowered at the woman and she picked up the phone again, paging every doctor in the hospital to the front desk.
There was a moment of silence then the doors were pushed open as a sea of white coats flooded the lobby demanded to know what the hell was going on.
Hinata turned around from the desk and had her hand on her hips, shouting over the doctors' comments.
“IF HE DIES, NONE OF YOU WILL EVER PRACTICE IN KONOHA AGAIN.”
There was a stunned silence then one doctor said that he did not have time for a mental little girl. One of the older doctors stepped forward and loudly recognized Hinata as the Hyuuga heiress. She smiled and fired the man who called her a mental little girl.
The next few moments had a white coat stepping forward and taking over for Sakura. A stretcher was brought in and the blond was put on to it. No less then a dozen doctors surrounded the blond as he was wheeled off.
Orders for tests and other things were being shouted and someone cleared a booked surgery room for Naruto to be taken as soon as he was stabilized. In the mist of all the confusion stood Hinata, directing and intimidating any who said other wise.
When the herd of doctors had taken Naruto to the emergency room and preparations for his surgery were made, Hinata suppressed a shutter. She hated confrontations and it always bothered her to use her last name to get what she wanted. In fact she had thought she might faint several times and she still was shaking.
“Hinata come quick.”
Sakura’s harsh whisper made her look over to were Sasuke was still kneeling on the floor and the strawberry blond was kneeling next to him.
“I think he’s hyperventilating or something.”
Sasuke face was blank but his breathing suggested that he was sobbing. Taking a deep breath to calm her raging nerves she walked over and held out her hand.
“Come on S-Sasuke, lets go see N-Naruto.”
The dark eyes met hers and she tried to smile, but the lost look in the dark eyes scared her.
“C-Come on, I know y-you want to s-see him. He’s getting t-treated right now, r-right over here.”
Slowly his hand took hers and she helped him to his feet, his skin was cool and clammy, a sure sign of shock.
Still holding his hand she led him through the doors to the emergency room and merely had to look at the nurse that told them that they could not be in here, to send her scurrying the other way. Glad that she did not have to talk and give away her stutter.
Leading Sasuke to the bed that held Naruto, she stopped and together with Sakura, they watched as a tube was put down the blond's throat to help him breath. Sasuke nearly crushed her hand with his own, as a monitor was hooked up and started to beep in time with the blond's weak heart beat.
Weak but beating.
“He’s alive Sasuke. He’s to stubborn to die like that.”
The Hyuuga heiress heard Sakura’s voice catch and the sobs that started to seep out of the strawberry blond. Letting go of Sasuke’s hand she went over and hugged the crying girl. Sakura wrapped her arms around Hinata and held the pale girl tightly as she cried on her shoulder. Finding strength in the quiet girl.
Sasuke felt feeling return to his life and pulse in time to Naruto's heart monitor. He was alive. Naruto was still alive. He had not killed him by dragging him across town. Naruto was alive and going to get the surgery he needed and be fine. He stood watching numbly as the doctors worked frantically on Naruto not believing himself that his friend would be alright.
After the blond had stabilized and he was being taken to the surgical wing of the hospital, Sasuke turned to the two girls and was surprised to see Hinata still holding Sakura tightly. But now it was Sakura telling Hinata that it would be ok, that she was a force to be reckoned with and her father would be proud of her taking a stand today. The green eyed teen was gently running her hand through the short black hair of Hinata and the Hyuuga heiress was clutching tightly to Sakura’s coat, her face buried in the crook of the strawberry blond's neck.
Not wanting to interrupt, he left them there and followed Naruto up to the surgical floor, staying in the waiting room as his friend was operated on.
Sakura and Hinata came by and dropped off some food before saying that they had to go or their parents would send the army out after them. Leaving him to sit and pick at the reuben sandwich they had brought him for the next 6 hours Naruto was in surgery.
The sun set and still half the sandwich sat on the wrapper, vaguely he was aware of someone else in the room with him, but he ignored the presence. Concentrating on the thousand other things running through his head.
“You know, it was rude to leave Shizune like that, she nearly had an aneurism when she found you two missing.”
Looking up and seeing the white haired police chief sitting across from him, flipping through the channels of the tv and stopping at a swimsuit special.
“We did not want to get her in trouble.”
Never taking his eyes off the television and the cleavage it showed, Jiraiya shrugged.
“You scared a lot of people today, by running off like that.”
“He was going to die if he had to wait any longer.”
“He was going to get the surgery he needed when he had progressed enough to warrant it.”
“When was that going to be, when he was already dead?.”
The Uchiha snapped at the police chief, he was tempted to tell him that Orochimaru would never let the operation happen, that the snake was the one that had hurt him and raped him. But he had promised Naruto to not say that he talked.
His fist were shaking at his sides and the sound of doors opening made him glance over to the double doors that held the intensive care units. A doctor in scrubs walked over and looked at him then the police chief.
“Is he ok?”
The way Jiraiya said it made it seem like the blond had stubbed his toe.
“Considering the advanced stage of infection and malnutrition it was amazing that he was alive when he was brought in.”
The police chief's eyebrows lifted in surprise and Sasuke suppressed the ‘I told you so’ he wanted to say.
“There were a few complications because of this but Naruto pulled through. He is being moved to the ICU as we speak and will need at least a week of hospitalization to ensure that we got all of the infected tissue out of him. It is still to soon to tell if the infection got in to his heart but it was in his lungs and he will be on a ventilator for a while. Other than that, he’s doing fine.”
Sasuke stood in shock for a moment as the information sunk in, he was fine. Naruto was not going to die. He had kept telling himself that Naruto would pull through, but there was always that voice that said otherwise.
Pushing past the doctor he ran through the double doors and down the hall. Not listening to the yells to stop. Looking at the board that was positioned behind the nurses' station, he saw her write Uzumaki next to room 643. Bolting down the hall he came to the room and peered in.
Naruto was laying on the bed hooked up to things that booped and beeped, tubes and wires were draped across him and there was still a tube down his throat that helped him breath.
But he was not dead.
He was still here with him. He had not left him alone.
Slowly Sasuke inched forward to stand next to the sleeping blond and placed his hand over the scar on Naruto's wrist. They had promised to be there for each other and Naruto had not left him.
Jiraiya looked in on the Uchiha as he held Naruto's wrist, the pale teen had been right. Naruto would not of lasted another night if he had not gotten the surgery and even now the infection had destroyed most of his stomach. Just looking at the blond he could count ribs and he sighed as he leaned against the door frame.
He had looked over the medical record Sasuke and the girls had brought in with them. Shizune had made 27 requests for surgery and all of them were declined. By not just one but five different doctors. Something did not add up, who could get that many doctors to do something like that.
‘How did Sasuke know that Naruto would never get the surgery if he stayed?’
He would look into that.
The sound of bed springs softly creaking as Sasuke sat next to Naruto on the bed, making sure to not disturb the blond or any thing that was attached to him, drew Jiraiya’s attention. Sasuke could stay here as he figured this out and he had a feeling that it would take a lot to drag the Uchiha away from Naruto.
Turning he walked down the hall he had come and stopped one of the hospital workers, curently dust mopping the floors, telling him to get a cot or a chair and to take it to room 643 so Sasuke did not have to sit on the bed with Naruto.
The white haired young man wore red make up around his eyes and had a zig-zag part in his hair.
Jiraiya stopped and repeated his request and the older teen just stared at him.
‘Maybe he was new?’
Looking at the teen's name tag, the police chief went to the nurses' station and repeated his request and told the nurse to better train Kimimaro in dealing with people.