Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Age of Innocence	By : dolphina23 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 867 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters from it and make no money from this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
A/N: Gift fic for
Cupricanka�s birthday. I said it would be a chapter fic didn�t I? Anyway,
thanks for reading, if indeed you all stuck around. Lots of action
in this chapter so I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter�� 2

The High Road Can Be Lonely . . . But Only Sometimes

��
�� Naruto
sighed inwardly. He was very careful not to let it get out. All the eyes
trained on him made him feel itchy. The almost angry glares made him want to
explain more, as if it would help. He hated dealing with parents. He didn�t
have enough experience with them. But he wouldn�t have been sent here, or to
all the other schools, if he hadn�t been good at convincing people to do
things. It was a wonder he hadn�t used it to run a good con job. Naruto smiled
a little to himself at that. Some of the parents drew themselves up straighter,
but most just waited to hear if he had anything else to say.
�� All the
noise the students had made earlier in their attempts to get out of being
treated like the children they were had given Naruto a headache. He fervently
wished to see the security guard on his way out so he could do something
equally as childish, like one of his famous pranks. Naruto shook his head,
shrugged haplessly and sat back down.
�� I�ve said
all I can. It�s up to you whether you think your kids are worth it.�
�� A few of
the fathers� faces set into harder, angrier looks, their mouths turned down
harshly. Naruto didn�t blame them. He rose up off his chair and looked over at
Sarutobi, the old administrator of the school. Naruto thought him old, even by
his standards. The guy should have retired years earlier but had loved his job
and likely didn�t have anything else to do with himself. The old man gave him a
tired, embarrassed smile. His thinning white hair, heavily lined face, kind
eyes and slightly perverted jokes made him the weird grandfather everybody
liked but barely associated with. Naruto chuckled at him. Turning back to the
other people in the room, he rubbed at the back of his neck and smiled
abashedly for them.
�� Hey now,
it�s your right to do whatever you please. I�m just here to try to offer your
kids something extra beyond the programs at the school and the outside
activities. And we all know some of them, as hard as it is to admit, could get
them into a lot of trouble. You have the guides and the maps.� Naruto gestured
to the pamphlets they all held, the ones he�d brought from the Center to all
his presentations.
�� None of
you have to participate. If you can�t afford it, it�s not like there aren�t
other places to go for. I�m just trying to urge you to consider, because of the
risk this city can carry, giving your kids a safe, reliable and fun place to
hang out. The fact that we also help people with college, tutoring and a lot of
other services that would all work to their benefit is just cream. You know,
like on shortcake.�
�� Naruto
giggled a little at the lame joke. But it had served its purpose. Though most
of the parents, and a few teachers, rolled their eyes, Naruto saw that they had
also relaxed enough to listen properly again.
�� I have a
tour scheduled for you all. Students as well, seeing as how they�re the ones
that�ll be using the Center. The school has offered the use of their buses and
whoever chooses to apply at the facility can talk about it further with the
director.�
�� Naruto
winked at them and raised a hand, as if he was letting out a secret.
�� Just make
sure you see a cup of coffee nearby. He gets grumpy without enough caffeine.�
�� Some of the
adults smiled a little while others looked away, still unable to trust that what
Naruto was offering would do any good. Naruto knew that many would choose other
sources because of their income, but he felt he had sold at least a few on the
idea. He smiled cheerfully, closing his eyes, and beckoned for them all to
stand.��
�� Okay! So,
we�ll head over there and you all can take a look at what we have to offer
before deciding on what you want.�
�� The chairs
the janitor services had scraped back in the shuffle as people began to stand
and turn for the doors at the rear of the gym. The low murmur of side
conversations had risen to a dull clamor. Many of the kids looked even more
bored than their parents. Some had twisted their faces in an effort to look
frightening. It could be, for some, a better way to keep from getting hassled
by cops, teachers and other, bigger kids. Naruto wanted them and a few of the
harder cases to sign up. He would have to make some time in that day�s schedule
to accommodate talking it over in more detail with those parents. They all
deserved the chance to grow in a good environment, just like everyone else.
�� A loud
bang, nearly an explosive thundering, filled the air and an acrid smell reached
Naruto�s nose. He swallowed hard and searched the back of the room with his
eyes. Catching sight of a guy in a long black coat and greasy, long, black
hair, he made sure to keep him in view. The man stepped forward and raised his
arm, a long automatic rifle grasped tightly in his fist. Naruto couldn�t help
focusing on how white it made his knuckles look.
�� Parents,
students and teachers screamed and rallied for the doors, trying to get as far
away from the lethal weapon and the man as possible. He fired again, into the
ceiling, and glared wildly at them all.
�� Nobody
moves! I�m here to get my kid and as long as you all stay nice and quiet, I
won�t kill you. Got it?�
�� Naruto
gritted his teeth and pushed forward to stand in a cleared space on the stage.
Most of the participants of the assembly had fled to the corners and sides of
the gymnasium with some crouching below their seats.
�� Fuck! You
gotta be kidding me! You�re gonna hold people hostage
for something as selfish as that? What�d she do, insult your manhood and refuse
you your second visit for the month? And you think threatening a bunch of
decent people who had nothing to do with it will help?�
�� Naruto had
the gun leveled at his chest for his trouble. He gazed at it calmly and without
moving. The old principal Sarutobi hissed and clawed at Naruto�s hand from his
place crouched behind the podium.
�� What the
hell is wrong with you? You wanna die, be my guest. I
said I�m just here for my kid. Give
him to me and I�ll go. Nobody has to die today.�
�� Naruto
raised his hands to shoulder height and stepped forward the smallest of inches,
creeping forward the best he dared considering how devastating he knew a rifle
blast could be. He wasn�t so stupid to believe in all those dramas on TV. Most
hostage situations ended badly, usually with police accidentally killing just
as many bystanders as the suspects did.
�� Okay, all
right. If your son�s here today, we can all sit down and talk. But I can�t let
you leave here with him. So you�re going to have to shoot me for it. Of course,
that just means the cops that are probably already on their way might kill you
to keep everybody here safe. And, that won�t help your son, not at all.�
�� The man
looked wildly about the room, barely focusing on Naruto. He looked terrified.
But, unlike how it happened in books, Naruto knew that fear was just as
dangerous as anger. His mind played tricks on him, morphing the face in front
of him to that of many. The older gentlemen and the unattractive closeted gays
he had serviced in Crow Alley floated over the man�s face. And then it changed
again into much harsher, and far more frightening, lines that housed sleepy,
empty eyes. Naruto swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, but
only a moment.
�� He had to
stay calm. He couldn�t afford to say the wrong thing, make the wrong move.
Although, he supposed that trying to talk a crazed gunman into giving in before
they�d even found out what he wanted probably constituted as recklessness. He
just knew; could feel it in his stomach; that someone was going to get shot. He
only hoped he could keep the man focused on him and not on any of the other
bodies he could pick off should he decide a melee killing spree was in
order.�
�� Look,�
Naruto tried again. He raised his arms even higher when the man pushed the gun
out further toward him.
�� Why not
give me his name at least? Or his grade? He�s
obviously not in the room right? And we can�t find him for you two to talk
without knowing his name.�
�� Naruto
prayed he was going in the right direction. He could hear crying and whimpering
all around him, stifled as much as possible by hands or collars. People shifted
in their fear restlessly. The gunman turned wildly around in his spot,
searching the corners and walls hurriedly. He looked so frenzied that it became
a familiar trip to Naruto. The guy was on something, coke or heroine maybe. It
was probably a mix of the two, and quite a lot of it, to make him so paranoid
and twitchy. Naruto swallowed heavily again and started to kneel on the floor.
He lowered his eyes when the man caught the motion.
�� I�m a
little tired of standing. So, if you don�t mind, I�m going to sit. And, like I
said, no one here can help if you don�t let us know a few things. How about
telling me your name?�
�� Naruto
tried to keep his voice light and airy without sounding patronizing. It was
incredibly hard to guess if it was working or not and his heart picked up speed
every time the man in front of him moved. But it seemed to have calmed him down
enough to relent, at least in giving more information. He rocked his gaze
between Naruto, the door and the other hostages. Because that was what they
were now, Naruto mused.
�� My name�s
Henry. My kid�s name is Skylar. He�s twelve.�
�� Naruto
fought back the breath he�d been holding and breathed through his nose. He
tried not to smile at Henry either. The guy was so nervous, hopping madly on .
. . whatever, that Naruto knew it wouldn�t take much of a push.
�� Okay, Skylar. That�s a nice name. Mine�s Naruto. And you�re
Henry. Can I call you Henry?�
�� Henry�s
face twisted and he rushed forward quicker than Naruto could prepare for. It
wasn�t likely he was going to survive a full-out fist fight with a gunman
anyway. So he let the guy hit him, throwing back his head a little just before
the knuckles came down so that his cheekbone only ached instead of broke.
Naruto winced and looked back at the man being sure to make eye contact.
�� Are you
sure you�re where you wanna be? This is George
Washington High School,�
Naruto told him evenly, his teeth and jaw set to control the pain in his head
from the blow.
�� Of course
this is where I wanna be!� Henry shouted in his face.
He was leaning in too close and Naruto moved his head to the side but didn�t
back away. He didn�t want to get hit again after all.
�� My kid�s
gifted and that bitch . . . ,� Henry
railed on, waving his arms now, including the one with gun. The sight, Naruto
could see the red dot of light now, danced along the wall and zeroed in on a
spot that was level with Henry�s chest. Naruto frowned.
�� That bitch
took him to New York. She
enrolled him here, �cause he�s a genius. And then, she
married that man,� Henry ranted, disgust plain on his face and his voice
dripping with sarcasm.
�� Naruto kept
his eyes away from the red light, finally figuring out through the panic and
the noise of Henry�s shouting that it couldn�t have been from his gun. There
was a sudden loud squawk, a piercing whine and a voice floated in from the
outside. Naruto recognized it immediately and drew in a quick, harsh breath. It
felt like he hadn�t done it in forever, and was instantly grateful.
�� This is
Sergeant Sasuke Uchiha with the New York Police Hostage Rescue. We�re sending
in a phone through the window. I�d like you to use it.�
��
��
�� Sasuke let
go of the button on the megaphone and stepped back. Having arrived just a few
minutes ago they had already cleared the rest of the school on the east side
where the gymnasium was located. One of the other teachers had filled them in
on exactly who was inside and had even been able to give them some of the
parents and teachers names as well. She had also told them why there had been
an assembly that day, with each class going in one at a time. So Sasuke knew
that Naruto was currently in a room full of scared adults and their children, a
principal, a few teachers . . . and one crazed man with a very large rifle
judging from witness testimony on how loud the report had been.�
�� Sasuke made
a quick decision and handed the headset to his second in command, his partner
Kakashi Hatake. The man had also been something of a mentor to Sasuke so he
couldn�t understand why he hadn�t wanted to lead the team any longer. But the
stress of their jobs, trying to talk some very troubled or very angry people
out of doing something heinous or possibly deadly could do that, he guessed.
Kakashi�s eyebrows rose until they almost met the mop of silver hair falling
all around his head. His one visible eye, the other gone in some past firefight
he never talked about, held a quiet intelligence that over-rode the lazy air
everyone else saw. It had been replaced by red glass, something that tended to
throw suspects off whenever Kakashi bothered to remove the patch.
�� You take
negotiations on this one. I�ll be with the rest of the team outside the door.�
�� Sasuke knew
he had to make this one good. It wasn�t just the safety of all the hostages,
Naruto included, that weighed on his mind. He had to make sure he could pull
his own weight as the youngest commander of a hostage rescue team. Even though
he�d been a detective with Homicide, and before that a patrol officer as most
who applied for HRT had been, Sasuke knew that the
men who worked under him only saw that he was barely twenty-five. He stood
rigid for a moment before gathering his rifle and hand gun and zipping the flak
jacket he wore all the way up. He eyed the other team members with careful
scrutiny when, crouching, he approached the door to the gym inside the school.
�� Sasuke
keyed the radio microphone open from the button at his throat and heard the
rasp of static that let him know he could speak.
�� Hatake,
I�m in position. Throw it.�
�� Kakashi,
already in place at the base of the gym�s only our-facing window in the door
that lead to the fields, took and aim tossed the phone and chord through it.
The resulting crash had some of the hostages crying out. He waited a moment to
make sure the assailant didn�t retaliate and then headed quietly back to the
van parked out of the line of fire. Once he�d positioned himself at the
computer, he flipped the switch that would open the line and dial in to the
throw phone, as they called it.
�� Henry swept
the gun at all the walls, nearly whimpering and Naruto kept an eye on him as
well as the only other door to the gym. He could see it had opened up just a
spare few inches and a long metal pole with a mirror had come through. It
retracted back the moment Henry turned in that direction and Naruto blew out a
breath. Henry spun to train the gun on him suddenly and pointed at him.
�� You! Go pick up the phone and toss it back!�
�� Naruto got
to his feet and tried to make his steps steady and not too slow. When he
reached the phone, he hesitated. Apparently, Henry hadn�t liked that.
�� What are
you waiting for?! Throw it!� he shouted, turning his back to the door. He
rubbed his forearm with his free hand and breathed in and out heavily. Naruto
turned to face him and fought to keep his own breathing under control as he tried
to reason with him.
�� Listen.
You want them to go away, right Henry?� Naruto said.
�� His voice
had begun to shake a little but he swallowed back enough fear to keep going.
Henry hadn�t come over to shoot him, after all, and he was going to use the
time.
�� I think we
should pick it up,� Naruto commented hopefully. He tried to make his voice as
light as before but feared that it had gotten too high.
�� Henry had
begun walking toward him, fist raised to strike, when the phone began to ring.
Naruto chanced a look down to the handle. He could see it vibrate slightly with
the sound. Henry glanced back up at him and swept his gaze over the other
people in the room nervously. He licked his lips. Naruto nodded and kept his
hands raised, wiggling his fingers a little at the tingling pressure from
having to do it for so long.
�� Look, if
we answer it maybe they can tell you where Skylar is.
You know, I don�t think anyone here has seen your kid.�
�� Naruto
silently prayed that the cops on the other side of the door had heard and were
now trying to find the boy so they could keep him out of his deranged father�s
hands. But that had been the wrong thing to say. Henry flashed angry eyes at
him and his mouth had nearly collapsed it had thinned out so much. When he
spoke, it was more of an explosion.
�� What the
hell makes you so sure?! He�s here! I saw her take him to school this
morning!!�
�� Henry was
nearly screaming now, the phone continued to ring, and outside, a booming voice
called to them through the static blowback of a megaphone. Naruto slid his feet
in front of him in tiny, nearly noiseless shuffles.
�� Mr.
Silver? This is Officer Hatake from the NY police. I�d like you to pick up the
phone so we know what�s happening. We want to make sure everything is all right
in there.�
�� That just
made Henry even angrier or maybe it was the paranoia creeping in again. Henry
kept darting back and forth between watching the door to the outside, the door
into the rest of the school and the phone near Naruto�s feet. Naruto slid his
feet forward just a bit more. It caught Henry�s attention, finally, and the man
leapt forward to drag Naruto around by his hair. Naruto could suddenly see a
gun in his face and feel the cold metal of the barrel on his cheek. He kept his
eyes narrowed and gritted his teeth. Naruto hissed when Henry brought the
muzzle up and sent it back down in a powerful arc, right into the side of his
head.
�� His
thoughts spun and became fuzzy nearly instantly and Naruto wanted to laugh. It
was all too funny. At twenty-three, he�d spent nearly ten years of his life on
the street, doing one of the most dangerous jobs even if it wasn�t recognized
as such. He fought drug dealers who tried to scare him from the alley he�d
worked, dealt with coked out or freakish customers and had gone weeks without
food or adequate water when he hadn�t gotten a single bite from nightly walks
in frigid weather. He couldn�t believe that he was going to die in this
godforsaken place. Jesus, his own god damned high school.
�� Naruto felt
himself being pulled forward a bit more and he dragged his feet trying to find
a way to break the man�s hold on his hair. He wanted to keep the gun in view
too but hated the sight of it.

�� You wanna
know what�s happening?!� Henry shouted out the door. �I�m giving you back your
phone! And then I�m gonna go see my kid! Sunshine,
here, is gonna take me.�
�� He grabbed
the phone and tossed it through the broken window. Naruto thought it had been
really reckless. They could have shot him then and there. But he supposed it
was his own fault, just as it was his fault that he was having trouble focusing
on anything but Henry�s image swimming in his head. Naruto felt Henry reach
around his shoulders and turn him around. But the next thing that he was aware
of scared the living shit out of him. Not only had Henry grasped him around his
neck from behind, but the door to the rest of the school had slid slowly open.
In walked three armed police officers, Sasuke leading them.
�� Naruto
began to struggle then, everything around him coming into sharper focus. His
lip felt swollen and he realized it had taken some if the hit from the gun
muzzle. Or maybe it was two hits. Arms raised above him, Naruto tried to claw
at Henry�s shoulders to get him to loosen his grip. But Henry fought to keep
him still and used the hand around his collar to do it. Suddenly now, there
wasn�t enough air. Naruto gasped . . . and gasped again. He stared right into
Sasuke�s dark, burning gaze and felt the burning in his own. It reached down
into his throat and chest, making it even harder to get whatever air Henry
allowed him.
�� Let him
go, Henry. You have five seconds. I won�t say it again.� Sasuke�s voice floated
to him from a dream. A wonderful dream, where they were playing down in a field
as kids, laughing as Naruto tried to trip Sasuke into the stream that split the
grassy plain in two.
�� Let him go
now, and this can end without making your kid an orphan, Henry.� Naruto didn�t recognize that voice but he knew
it had been behind them. Or to the side . . . it was so hard to see, to
concentrate. Fear and whatever drug combination he was on driving him, Henry
tossed Naruto to the ground and tried to raise the gun at the officers in front
of him. The man who�d come from the door to the outside caught his free arm and
held the elbow bent back to near breaking. Sasuke focused on the gun arm,
keeping his finger behind the trigger so Henry couldn�t fire, either
accidentally or otherwise. But even though they had managed to grasp the gun
and render it away from him, Henry apparently had other ideas. Naruto, gasping
and coughing while crouching on the floor, caught sight of a glint of metal in
his belt as Sasuke and the other cop struggled to get Henry to the ground. He
sucked in a quick breath, realizing what it was, and called out.
�� Look out!
He�s got a knife!�
�� It was too
late. The hold the other officer had on Henry�s arm slipped away as Sasuke
finally wrestled the gun from him. The momentum from Henry trying to struggle
free carried through to when he reached for the blade and drove it right into
Sasuke�s thigh, high up, near his hip. Sasuke snapped his teeth together and
grimaced, narrowing his eyes. But he didn�t cry out. Naruto watched the other
officers converge on the man and drag him away from Sasuke to the floor. Henry screamed,
enraged, his eyes flaring wide until Naruto could see white all around the dark
irises. He could feel the others all around them: the parents that cried and
questioned their children, the principal who was speaking to one of the other
officers now that they had cuffed and dragged Henry out of the room. It all
came to him in flashes, fits and starts.
�� Naruto
dragged himself forward, feeling his limbs weakening at the sight of blood
seeping into Sasuke�s dark green pants. It probably didn�t help that his head
ached badly enough to make his eyes burn and dizziness created spots in front
of his line of sight. But he continued on until he could see the knife right in
front of him and reached shaking hands out to cover the sides and pressed down.
Sasuke hissed and tried to pull away, glaring down at him.
�� I�m fine.
It didn�t go very deep and there isn�t much blood. So I�ll be fine,� Sasuke
wheezed out through the breath he�d been holding. Naruto shook his head and
held on tighter.��
�� You have
to keep still,� Naruto murmured to Sasuke, fighting the darkness in his own
vision.
�� Kakashi,�
Sasuke said, turning to the cop that had helped him earlier.
�� The older
man with the silver hair and strangely colored eyes and a scar running down one
of them came towards them, but Naruto was desperate to try to keep his hold on
Sasuke.
�� Easy now, kid. We can handle this. It�s better if you move
away.�
�� Naruto
shook his head again furiously.
�� Naruto,
listen to him. You�re injured,� Sasuke said quietly. �I�ll be fine, really. Let
go.�
�� Naruto
struggled to get air past his mouth and down his burning throat. His fingers
weren�t working right, not at all. He squeezed the damp cloth underneath them,
feeling the blood leak out anyway. Kakashi grabbed at them and Naruto jumped,
shuddering.
�� It�s okay.
He�ll be alright. Let go now.�
�� The voice
was soft, lulling a calm Naruto did not want to feel straight to his bones. He
let go finally and allowed Kakashi to help him to Sasuke�s side. Moving to
stretch his legs out, he canted his head so he could keep Sasuke in view. One
of the other cops was on a radio and there were men in blue jumpsuits carrying
red bags coming into the room. Two of them came over to Naruto and glanced up
at his head. Naruto could feel sweat trickling down the side of his face but
smelled metal. He tasted it too, on the tip of his tongue.
�� You�ve got
a pretty good knot on your head there. Mind if I take a look?� one of the blue
jumpsuit men said.
�� Naruto
nodded numbly but twisted away from the probing fingers. It hurt. His stomach
rolled and tried to kick up the pastry he�d sneaked from the school�s kitchen
when they�d had a break an hour ago. It felt like it had been days since he�d
walked out of the Center earlier that morning. His eyes caught sight of all the
other people being guided out by medics and cops. Some were being asked things
Naruto couldn�t hear while sitting on the stiff plastic chairs and gripping
their kids or their arms for dear life. They all looked so hollow. Naruto
wondered if he was the same. He heard his name being called and turned to focus
on the medic in front of him, the blue jumpsuit looking even funnier with every
passing second.
�� Naruto? Can you hear me? Can you tell me if you passed out
at all?�
�� Naruto
shook his head but the medic wouldn�t let him up.
�� How about
what you had for breakfast? Can you tell me that?�
�� Naruto
sighed and relayed not only what he�d eaten but the date and the time the
presentation had ended. He had glanced at his watch at that moment, hoping by
some twist of temporal distortion that he could leave. The medic smiled at him
and looked slightly relieved though he hid it well.
�� Alright
that�s good. So you�re going to go with us to the hospital now. I�d like you to
get on the gurney and I�m going to put a collar on you. It won�t hurt. We just
need to make sure your neck and head aren�t seriously injured.�
�� Naruto
nodded again silently, not trusting his voice at the moment. It had already
begun to crack as it was. He made sure to see that Sasuke had gotten out of the
room first, though he felt irrationally pissed off at him. The parting shot
Sasuke had sent him probably didn�t help.
�� Don�t
leave,� Sasuke had said. Naruto had felt his heart jump a bit, thumping almost
painfully against his ribs. Then Sasuke had gone and ruined it.
�� I mean
after the hospital. There�ll be officers who will want to know what happened
before we arrived.�
�� Naruto had
tried to glare at him but the increasing pain reverberating in his skull had
turned it into a wince. Sasuke had reached over, strapped to the gurney as he�d
been, and ghosted a finger along the bruise on his cheek. Well, Naruto thought
it must be bruised. It felt broken.
�� I�ve had
worse,� Naruto tried to say, though it came out more of a croak. He winced
again but not from pain. Sasuke eyed him carefully, concern swimming in his
eyes. Naruto saw more bright lights and spots in his vision, but fought them
and the nausea creeping up his stomach.
�� I�ll be
fine,� Naruto mumbled. Sasuke hummed under his breath and waved the medics to
continue on.
�� Naruto let
all the tension and the breath he�d been straining to hold out in one long
sigh. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, willing the throbbing in his skull
to ease up. When he opened them again, the gurney he�d gotten onto started to
move and the collar tugged at the hairs on the back of his neck. But what made
him feel even worse was that he knew it would be hours before he could talk to
Sasuke again, if at all.

�� Sasuke
rested his head back against the wall and waited. The doctors had already
removed the blade after extensive MRIs and x-rays
determined it hadn�t hit anything vital and could be brought out without
surgery. They�d stitched him up and he was cleared to return home as soon as
the nurse came back with the post-ER instructions. He was to keep the bandaging
around his leg dry, not get the stitches themselves wet and take a course of
antibiotics. He would return in a week to get them taken out provided he didn�t
start to feel sick or contract a fever, a sure sign of infection. While he had
never been injured before, he�d spent enough time following his mother on her
rounds as an ER physician to know more than he�d like about it.
�� He was more
worried about Naruto than himself at the moment, though. The doctors had released
him half an hour ago. He�d left the hospital with a promise to travel to the
station to sign the witness statement Kakashi had taken from him while he�d
been downstairs. According to Sasuke�s own doctor, who he�d threatened with a
trumped up arrest should he pull any of that doctor/patient privilege crap on
him, Naruto had had a moderate concussion but no bruising or bleeding in his
brain. They�d watched him for a few hours and then decided he could go home if
he had someone who could stay close and wake him every few hours, just to be
sure. Naruto had lied through his teeth to get out, Sasuke was sure.
�� He was the
only one Naruto had ever trusted with anything. They�d known each other a long
time, even if his family had moved him and his brother Itachi to another city
when Sasuke was eight. It didn�t matter, either, that Sasuke hadn�t spoken to
him in nearly a year after he�d returned. He�d been going after the HRT slot left open by Kakashi when he�d chosen to give up
command. And Naruto had been too screwed up with the hustling, the occasional
drug use and the risks he took sleeping out in the open, especially in a place
like New York. Sasuke had taken
him out for coffee and a meal on more than one occasion, fighting to keep his
friend from a jail cell, or worse, death. Sasuke opened his eyes, unaware they
had closed. The nurse bustled into the room carrying the forms he was to sign
and the antibiotic samples he had to take.
�� So, you�re
all set,� she said, smiling pleasantly after he�d finished and rolled off the
bed.
�� Uh un, not
that way, honey,� she called him back from the door.
�� He felt her
hand on his arm and it irritated him. Why the hell couldn�t he just leave? He
wasn�t going to sue the place if he slipped and fell on a wet floor. If he was
stupid enough to let that happen then he deserved more than getting stabbed by
a cokehead derelict father. The school had recorded the child, twelve year old Skylar, as having been called out sick that day. Another
detective from the special crimes unit had called his mother. They dealt with
anything involving kids and that included attempted abduction even if they
hadn�t been aware of it.
�� Sasuke just
wanted a hot shower and his bed with the Egyptian cotton sheets his grandmother
had sent him for Christmas. He hadn�t gotten to try them out yet. So he allowed
the nurse to set him up in a wheelchair and glared holes through his men as
they held back grins. It wasn�t everyday that the upstart prodigy son of a
detective got stabbed apparently. Sasuke hissed at Kakashi as he took over for
the nurse and, bending down to whisper in his ear, told him how he�d swiped her
number when she was supposed to have been getting him another IV.
�� Another
twenty-minute drive through the tangled streets and aggravated crowds of New
Yorkers and Sasuke was home. The modest brownstone he lived in, a split-level
home with a small patch of grass in front and decorative wrought-iron fence,
was not as high end as his family trust fund could offer but it was in a
quieter part of the city. Sometimes, when the detritus and the noise of the
night spilled into his bedroom, Sasuke couldn�t imagine living in this place
without going insane. So he kept to the outskirts and it made the trials of
being a cop in such a large, broken-down city far more tolerable. He�d even
begun to like it, finally. And it only
took five years, he mused as he hobbled up the stairs to his door. He�d
waved Kakashi off and then threatened to fire him before skinning him alive if
he even hinted at helping Sasuke get into his own house. He was going to bed.
�� Turning the
key to the deadbolt and sliding the oak front door open Sasuke�s instincts,
still buzzing from the successful capture from earlier, went on alert. Someone
was in his house. He could hear rustling in . . . his kitchen of all places.
Sasuke tread quickly and carefully through his living room and down the
connecting hall. By the time he�d reached the kitchen and caught sight of the
bright blonde hair from the man leaning into the refrigerator, he�d already drawn
his gun, a standard Glock 9mm,
out of the holster strapped to his good hip. The movement was awkward and meant
he had to change the grip because he was right-handed and the knife wound
happened to be on that side.
�� What the
hell do you think you�re doing?� he barked from his place at the door. He
already pulled back the weapon and replaced it. The hair was just too familiar,
though Sasuke had a feeling that threatening him wasn�t going to get him to go
away this time.
�� Naruto
peeked up from over the top of the fridge and grinned embarrassedly at him.
�� Hey,� he
said quietly. He took his hands out and lifted them to show Sasuke the salami
he�d bought the other day. He�d meant to make panini sandwiches with it, and now Naruto wanted to
have lunch? He took a deep breath and tried again before he really lost his
temper.
�� Naruto,
why are you here?�
�� Naruto
grinned wider and stepped around the fridge door, bumping it closed again with
his hip. His gait was a bit unsteady and his hands still shook. Sasuke wondered
if they�d given him anything for the pain his concussion must be causing. He
wondered if Naruto would dare take it with his history, though he�d never been
an addict as far as Sasuke knew. Sasuke didn�t like seeing the butterfly
bandages over his brow that covered the laceration from the gun muzzle either.
Naruto set the meat on the counter and went to root in his bread box for a
loaf. He called to Sasuke over his shoulder, freezing his blood as he spoke.
�� I�m here
to watch out for you �til you�re better, Sasuke, of course. I�m gonna be staying for a while.�
�� Naruto
grinned even wider, something Sasuke didn�t think was possible. He shuddered
and stopped himself from groaning just in time. It was not going to be a good
week if he had to fight his own needs while trying to recover from a stab
wound. Damn you, Naruto, he thought.
But the look Naruto had had in his eyes when he�d been trying to help Sasuke
after risking his own life to keep Henry involved with him and no one else
stopped him. Sasuke couldn�t take that again. He sighed and walked to the
fridge to pull out the bread. He then walked, or limped rather, to the table to
sit down. At least he could be sure Naruto would eat something. The man was far
too skinny to satisfy him.��
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Age of Innocence