Chapter 11

Sasuke had a hell of a time catching up with Naruto. He had no clue the blond could move that fast if he really wanted to.

Naruto didn't seem to know that Sasuke was tailing him, and was running blindly as far as he could and as fast as he could. They were far outside the outskirts of town by the time Sasuke finally tackled him to the ground.

"Get off!" Naruto was screaming, thrashing his fist as hard as he could. He caught Sasuke in the jaw, and managed to get up and start running again.

He'd only gotten a few paces when he got tackled again.

"Dobe! Stop fighting!" Sasuke yelled as he got another frantic fist in the face.

"Get off me!"

It took Sasuke a minute to pin Naruto's arms down, and finally he stopped moving with his face pressed in the dirt.

There was a long silence, filled only by Naruto's choking sobs. Sasuke slowly stood up, tensed and ready for the trembling boy to make another dash.

He didn't. Instead he laid face down, gasping for breath. Sasuke looked around at the darkened forest, for someone—anyone to help. No one was there. He took a deep breath and kneeled down next to Naruto, gently rolling him over.

Naruto kept his eyes closed, refusing to look at Sasuke after what had just been revealed. He had never been more ashamed in his life. He was crying so hard he could hardly breath.

Sasuke was at a complete loss. What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say? Slowly he reached his hand down and wiped some of the dirt off of Naruto's face. Blue eyes snapped open, and his hand was batted away.

"Don't touch me!" Naruto scrambled to his feet, putting a few feet between him and Sasuke. His heart was pounding so hard it resonated through his whole body. He could barely catch his breath to talk at all. "What do you want?" He choked, gasping hard, and suddenly he turned to the side and vomited.

Sasuke had to look away. He had never seen Naruto like this. Never.

By this point, Kakashi had shown up, silently taking up residence in a nearby tree. He had handed Shiroi off to the proper authorities, and had made sure that Sakura got home. He had also made sure she had promised not to repeat Shiroi's confession to anyone.

Kakashi was horribly ashamed. All the warning signs had been there, and what had he done? He had forced Naruto into the worst situation imaginable with the sick bastard who had molested him as a child. And that information had been joyfully shouted out for a room full of people to hear. He felt like a capital douche.

Sasuke scratched his arm nervously, watching Naruto back up to the nearest tree and try to slow his breathing. "I'm sorry, Naruto. If I'd have known-"

"If you'd have known? What the hell would you have done? Stop wishing me dead?" Naruto was trembling worse than ever.

Sasuke flinched, looking down at his feet. "Why didn't you ever tell me? Why didn't you tell Itachi?"

This caught Kakashi in the stomach more effectively than a plate of bad fish. Of course! How could he have missed the whole mess with Itachi?

Naruto was shaking his head. "It-it happened after Itachi… did what he did."

Sasuke was trembling now. "After Itachi…" He let the sentence trail off. "He started hurting you again? I don't understand. He'd never done that before, had he?"

Naruto violently shook his head. "It wasn't until that night. After I saw you, when you said…. He'd told me before that he'd kill me if I ever talked back to him. So, I cussed him out. But he didn't kill me."

Sasuke was shaking even more. "You tried to kill yourself? Because I wanted you dead?" He quickly choked down a sob of his own. "Oh Naruto…"

Naruto sank down to the ground, drawing his knees to his chest and burying his face in his arms.

Sasuke slowly walked up to him, and dropped to the ground next to him. "I never really wanted you dead… I didn't really hate you… It wasn't your fault… I… I just needed to blame somebody." He cautiously put his arm around Naruto's shaking shoulders.

Naruto tensed, but didn't push away. He slowly looked up at Sasuke, and gulped over the new wave of fear that engulfed him. "That's the thing… It was my fault." His voice was hoarse.

Sasuke started to say something, but Naruto cut him off. "On your birthday, after your mom came and took you home…" Naruto hesitated. "Your dad showed up. He… He wasn't happy that we had been together."

Sasuke had stiffened up, his eyes wide as he realized what Naruto was saying.

"Itachi showed up just in time. And he fought with your dad. Your dad threatened him and said that Itachi wasn't his son anymore, and Itachi threatened him. He said if Itachi ever came near you again, he'd kill him." Naruto took another deep breath. "Itachi told him that he could kill the entire clan if he wanted to."

Sasuke was shaking his head. "Itachi was always mad because my parents didn't respect him. That just pushed him more over the edge."

Naruto sniffed. "After your father left, I was scared. I asked him if by the entire clan he meant you too."

Sasuke squeezed Naruto a little tighter. "There's absolutely nothing you could have done, Naruto."

Up in his tree, Kakashi was almost forgetting to breathe, he was so enthralled.

Naruto tried to shrug Sasuke's arm off his shoulder. "There's more."

Sasuke tensed a little more. "What do you mean?"

"I saw Itachi after it happened."

Sasuke didn't say anything, waiting for Naruto to continue.

"Sir had beaten the crap out of me the minute he'd found out Itachi wouldn't be around to protect me anymore, and I was hiding in the park. Itachi didn't even notice. He was really out of it. All he said was that you needed me and that nothing was going to get between us anymore."

Sasuke was crying silently now. He stood up, angrily wiping his eyes. Naruto watched him nervously.

"It wasn't your fault." Sasuke finally said. "I didn't know you would take me so seriously. When I told you I hated you, I was terrified, I was angry, and I didn't know what else to do." He kneeled in front of the blond, gently wiping the tears and dirt away from his face. "After I settled down a little, I was waiting for you to come back. When you didn't, I went looking for you at the foster home. I got the door slammed in my face. I didn't know where you went, and I thought you abandoned me."

Naruto covered Sasuke's hand with his own. "I thought you wanted me to leave. I got taken out of the foster home because I kept trying to kill myself. I stopped, eventually, and I was afraid you would hate me more because I hadn't done it. Eventually I got mad, because I couldn't do it, and I got mad at you for wanting me to, and I tried to hate you. But I never could. I tried so hard to hate you." More tears leaked out of his eyes.

Sasuke stood up, pulling Naruto up with him and drawing him into a tight hug. Naruto pulled himself deeper into the hug, and for a long moment they just stood there.

"I guess we both had the wrong ideas, huh?" Sasuke asked quietly, stroking Naruto's hair.

Naruto snorted. "We were pretty idiotic at that age." Suddenly, he tensed up again. "What happened after I left the bar?"

Sasuke pulled halfway out of the hug so he could look at Naruto. His lip was quivering, and he looked on the verge of another panic attack.

"I came this close to killing him." Sasuke held up a hand, showing Naruto the space between his thumb and finger. "This close. But that dumbass Kakashi had to intervene and I didn't get to slash his throat." Sasuke pulled Naruto in close. "I think he was given to the proper authorities. He won't be around anymore."

"So now people will know?" Naruto was trying to control his trembling, but it wasn't working.

"It's not going to be common knowledge." He went from stroking Naruto's hair to rubbing soothing circles on his back. "That's not your fault either."

Naruto didn't reply, instead burying his face into Sasuke's neck.

Up in his tree, Kakashi watched intently. He had gotten to the bottom of the Naruto/Sasuke mystery, but at what cost? And was the personal moment the two boys were sharing going to change their relationship again? He decided he had seen enough, and silently vowed that he wasn't going to let his curiosity get the better of him again.

He had barely made it back into town, when he found himself confronted by one very pissed off academy teacher.

"Didn't I tell you to mind your own fucking business!" Iruka was screaming. He punched Kakashi in the mouth, and though Kakashi could have easily avoided it, he let the blow land. "Didn't I tell you that man was a sick, twisted bastard? Did you listen? NO! You had to go and drag your students down to a dingy bar and bait him, and scare Naruto half to death!"

Kakashi remained silent.

"Where is he, by the way! Is he alright?" Iruka's voice suddenly dropped a hundred decibels. "I never had any idea… I knew he'd had it bad… But this… It's too much…"

Kakashi put a hand on the man's shoulder. "Naruto is fine. He's upset, but he's okay. The 'sick bastard' is currently being escorted far away to be executed. And Sasuke and Naruto have figured out where their friendship went wrong. Turns out it was a huge misunderstanding. The last I saw, Sasuke was doing a damn good job of comforting Naruto, and I'm not sure, but I think they may be best friends again before long."

Iruka was glaring at him again. "Don't you dare try to play this off like you did it for their benefit!"

Kakashi quickly shook his head. "No. I messed up bad. I had no right to interfere like that. I'm going to apologize to Naruto in the morning, if he'll speak to me at all. I had no idea that Naruto had been through that." Kakashi hung his head.

Iruka sniffed, wiping tears out of his eyes. "I didn't know either. Why would he keep something like this a secret?"

"Wouldn't you?" Kakashi slowly walked away.

When Naruto woke up, he had no idea where he was. Everything was white, and he was in a really soft bed. For a minute, he thought he was dead, until he moved and every muscle in his body screamed in agony.

He yelled, partly out of pain, partly out of desperation, and sat up. He wasn't bleeding anymore, and he had been bandaged up, but his body was still on fire. He had been changed into loose, white pants. Then, he realized that he had failed to kill himself for the second time, and he started crying.

Suddenly, he realized he wasn't alone in the room. There was a ninja sitting in the chair by the window, and the man looked like he had just woken up. It was the same ninja that Naruto had found in the street the previous night. He was staring at Naruto with wide eyes.

"It's okay kid. You're okay. They got all the poison out of your system. You're going to be okay."

Naruto only cried harder.

The door to the room opened, and a lady in a white uniform walked in. Naruto watched her carefully through his tears. She gave a pointed look at the ninja, and he got up, glancing at Naruto one last time before he left. "Take care kid. And don't ask any more drunk Jounin for poison, will ya?" And he was gone, leaving Naruto alone with the lady.

"Where am I?" Naruto asked as the lady came up to him, looking over a chart in her hand. "Who are you?"

"You are at the Konoha Medical Center. I'm a medic nin. My name is Hakka." Her tone of voice was very impersonal. "You are very fortunate to be alive. You swallowed enough poison to kill twenty full-grown men. You're still suffering from the after effects, so don't be surprised if you get sick, and you'll be laid up for a few days." She pushed Naruto back on the bed. "Don't move around a lot. You're body is very weak right now, and the pain will only get worse if you're up and about."

And just like that, she was gone.

But Naruto didn't stay in bed. The minute the door had closed, he had jumped up, stifling the cry of pain that tried to squeeze past his throat.

He looked around, going to the window and noticing that he was looking down on the rest of the village. That meant the building was very tall, and it gave him an idea.

Iruka sighed as he stepped out of the hospital room. He had just been visiting one of his students, a real trouble-maker who had a lot of trouble paying attention in class. Which was why he had ended up hurt so badly.

This whole teacher bit was really starting to get on his nerves. At first, the idea of passing on his knowledge to the next generation had appealed to him. Now, however, it was just a capital pain in the ass.

And of course, the kids' parents couldn't blame their own kid for screwing up. It was the teachers' fault. It was always the teachers' fault. Like Iruka could actually keep an eye on every single one of the snot-rags in his class when he was first introducing them to very sharp weapons.

Iruka was bumped out of his thoughts by a medic nin who came racing out of the room he was walking past. He jumped when she started shouting.

"Where the hell did my patient go!" She turned to Iruka, but didn't apologize. "Have you seen a little boy? He's blonde, got blue eyes, three scars on each cheek?"

Iruka shook his head, and suppressed a shudder at the description of the boy. He had a feeling that the boy she was talking about was probably the same boy that had the nine-tailed fox sealed away inside him, and he was glad that he had not run into the boy.

The med huffed and pushed passed Iruka, shouting "I'm missing a patient!"

Iruka tried to shrug it off as he wound his way out of the building. There was increasing activity as the search for the boy turned large scale.

When he was finally outside, Iruka let out a sigh of relief, quickly taking in the crowd that was huddled together and staring at something in the sky. He quickly followed their line of sight, and found that they weren't looking at the sky, but at the roof of the building.

A little blonde boy was standing there, very close to the edge. Iruka watched with growing horror as the boy took another step, and was suddenly hurdling through the air.

He didn't stop to think. He just reacted. He leapt up into the air as hard as he could and grabbed the boy. They fell back to the ground and rolled a few times, but they were both okay.

Iruka sat there staring at the boy, taking in the whisker-like scars, the bandages all over his body, and his intense blue eyes that were currently clouded with confusion. The confusion soon gave way to helpless rage as the boy scrambled to his feet, howling with pain.

"No! What is wrong with you people! I hate you! I hate you all! Why would you do that!" He was glaring at Iruka, and didn't notice the medic nins coming up behind him. They grabbed him up, and he started screaming.

"NO! I was supposed to die! You ruined it! Everyone ruined it! I need to die! I have to!" He was fighting with all his might to get free, but it did no good and he was whisked back into the building.

Iruka was in shock. Whatever he had been expecting when he met the kyuubi vessel, it hadn't been that. Why the hell would a nine year old want to kill himself?

And suddenly he realized he didn't hate the kid. He slowly got up and followed the medics.

He waited outside the room they took him in, and heard the screaming double. When the medics came out, he got the chiefs' attention.

"What's wrong with him?"

She shook her head. "A Jounin brought him in really early this morning. Somehow the kid got hold of his poison and ate it all. I thought it had to be an accident, until just now. He was beat up bad. I don't know if that's why he's trying to kill himself or if there's something else. I suspect abuse. It doesn't help that no guardian has shown up for him yet, and the hokage himself is going to be coming to see him soon." She shrugged, and was on her way.

Iruka was frowning at the door. He could still hear the blonde screaming, although his voice seemed to be losing strength. He waited, and finally the screaming stopped. Stepping closer to the door, he heard sobs, and pity and anger welled up in the pit of his stomach. He took another deep breath and opened the door.

Naruto kicked, screamed, and bit until he was back in his bed. This time, they strapped him down and he started screaming even louder.

The medics examined him quickly and left, and Naruto was left alone. He fought against the restraints as hard as he could, but he couldn't get free.

He screamed as loud as he could and as long as he could until he was reduced to sobs that hurt his whole body. He didn't even noticed Iruka enter the room.

Finally, he had cried so hard he couldn't breathe, and his sobs came to a halt in a series of choking coughs. He was gasping for breath.

Iruka was watching him, swallowing the lump in his throat as he was forced to think about his dead parents, and swallowing the guilty knot in the pit of his stomach when he thought about how much he wanted to hate the child in front of him.

But he couldn't. There was something pathetic and sad about the shivering boy in front of him that wrenched his heart in all the wrong places.

Naruto finally noticed the man standing beside his bed. "What do you want?"

"What's your name?" Iruka asked, automatically reaching out to wipe away the tears on the blondes face. He jerked his head away, flinching, and Iruka hesitated for a moment before slowly and deliberately continuing the motion. The boy tensed when Iruka made contact, and Iruka had to swallow down the rush of anger he felt as he realized that this boy had indeed been abused—and badly.

When Iruka withdrew his hand, the boy relaxed a little. "My name is Naruto."

"It's nice to meet you Naruto. My name is Iruka."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What do you want? Did you come to rub it in?"

Iruka was taken aback by Naruto's bitterness. "I just want to talk to you."

Naruto turned his head away. "Why?"

"It scares me that you're trying to kill yourself." Iruka answered slowly. "Why would you do something like that?"

Naruto turned back towards him with a glare. "Why do you care? No one else does!"

Iruka knew at once that was probably right. "I guess I just have a big heart. Where do you live?"

Naruto sniffed, turning away again. "In a foster home."

Iruka was surprised that he was getting answers. "What are your foster parents names?"

"I don't know."

Iruka had to fight to not patronize the boy. "How can you not know their names?"

"I don't know! I've never been allowed to call them anything but 'Sir' and 'Ma'am,' okay! They never told me their names."

"Okay. I'm sorry. Are they the reason you want to kill yourself?"

Naruto shook his head, still not looking at Iruka. "I just have to die. I need to."

"Why?" Iruka was probably pushing a little too hard, but he really wanted to know what drove a kid to attempt suicide.

"I just do! But it's not working! I've tried! And tried! And tried!" Naruto was starting to cry again. "Sir was right! I'm not good for anything!"

"What did you try?"

"I talked back, because Sir said he would kill me if I talked back to him. I told him to 'shut the fuck up' but he didn't kill me! He started to, but he didn't finish! Then I asked that ninja how, and he gave me that stuff that burned! And then I tried to jump, but you stopped me! You stopped me!" He was lost to tears again.

Iruka was horrified. He tried to stroke Naruto's hair, but the boy jerked away, more violently this time.

"I'm sorry I couldn't let you do it." Iruka almost meant it. "But you're too young to be deciding that your life is over. It will get better. I promise."

"No-no! It won't! It was better but now it's not and it's all my fault! It will never get better!"

Iruka was at a loss as Naruto slipped back into the body wrenching sobs that made him want to gouge out his heart just to make it stop hurting.

AN: Well there it is... Chapter twelve is currently underway, and I think there will only be one chapter after that to end the story... I apologize ahead of time if the shit hits the fan and I get thrown back into the stoneage again... this whole internet-less business is a pain in the ass...