2. Absence
Two hours later, he was home. The stuffiness in his nose, the sore throat and the congestion he felt in his chest were all signs he was getting sick.
He had basically been underdressed for the past eight hours as the cold played with his body as it pleased.
"Two hours-...where's your coat?" Iruka stopped his well-rehearsed speech when he noticed his son's attire.
"Ah...my classmate was cold so I lended it to her. Then I walked her home. She lives in Sapporo street....sorry I'm late..can you yell at me tomorrow, my feet are killing me," Naruto said all in one swoop. The disappointment lingered in his tone since he couldn't see his brother.
"Go take a hot shower, come downstairs for dinner" Iruka didn't know what to do with the blond. If he were to yell at him then he'd be telling him not to be nice and kind. Not to mention, it was Naruto's birthday. Although, Naruto hadn't celebrated his last three birthdays.
"Hai" Naruto replied sleepily. He slipped off his shoes and went upstairs. Iruka soon heard the water running but the sound of Naruto's coughing was too loud to be covered by water.
He froze in place for a second before going to the bathroom upstairs, searching the medical cabinet.
In the concoction of medication he had there; he couldn't find the ones he needed.
So he texted Kakashi. "Naruto got sick, I know it's really late but I don't want to leave him alone"
"Whaddaya need?" The message soon popped. Iruka sent the names and received a reply instantaneously. "Got it. Be there ASAP"
Iruka walked out of the bathroom, he finished reheating the dinner for the blond and took it upstairs just in time to find him out of the shower.
"Sorry Iruka," Naruto stated absent mindedly as he plopped on bed.
The brunet said nothing as he fed the blond teen in front of him.
This all just reminded the social worker of when he had just first taken Kurama and Naruto. The way he had to feed Naruto and teach him how to use utensils correctly.
"Kakashi is bringing the meds...tomorrow we'll go see a doctor, okay?"
"Ha-ai" his voice broke, he cleared his throat but ended up having a coughing fit.
"I'll make you some honey lemon tea," he plumped the pillows and laid Naruto against them.
The blond teen didn't seem to really care as he just drifted to sleep. Iruka took the bed table downstairs, he could still hear him cough and it kept getting worse and worse. The man counted the intervals between the fits.
When they have gotten too close to one another he turned off the kettle, honey tea wasn't going to help.
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Sasuke jerked in bed as he heard the sudden sound of thunder.
"You okay baby brother?"
"Yes....god I hate thunder." Sasuke sighed and he tightened his hold on Itachi's hand when he heard the second one.
"Aniki" without vocalizing the request, Itachi had understood from the whiny tone of his brother.
"Alright alright...I'm getting in bed" the man chuckled as he got in "aren't you a bit too old for this?"
"Shut up." Sasuke cuddled to him closer like he used to when he was a kid. His fear of thunder was something he never outgrew.
Itachi could only spend the night because the doctor had encouraged their parents to allow them to have this. So of course, since they were put in the spot; they agreed.
"Sasuke, you told me before...they only care for you in front of others....ya know that blond kid...the clown..."
"What does he have to do with them?" Sasuke was sleepy but mentioning Naruto kept him awake.
"Well before he came to me...he apparently went to them....I remember he said something that day which I haven't really given much thought..."
"What did he say?"
"He said: no offense but how do you trust people like them with your brother's life? And I didn't get it...but then I started noticing small things...things that I guess my brain didn't want to accept were real. Sasuke, they don't hit you, do they?"
"No...I bruise too easily, it would raise questions. They make sure to make me feel bad; crush down my already crushed spirits..." Sasuke replied nonchalantly as if it were no big deal.
Itachi just stayed silent, his tears streaming down his face.
"I'm sorry"
"So am I..." Sasuke closed his eyes, ready to fall back to sleep. "at least you believe me now" he could hear his brother's heartbeats, calm, strong and steady.
Itachi remained awake, his right hand playing with Sasuke's hair as the boy slept.
In the morning, the slithering snake-duo walked in.
"Rise and Shine pumpkin pies, we brought breakfast!"
"He's had a bit of a rough night, Ōkaasan. Doctor said he needs to stay in bed for the week."
"Oh my poor baby. Let him rest then" she smiled at Itachi "thank you for staying with him despite having work...we don't like to trouble you"
"He's my little brother...he's never trouble" Itachi covered Sasuke who rolled to the other side, starting to wake up "If you'll excuse me...I'll go freshen up,"
Itachi had to pull himself away, now scared of losing his baby brother every time he was left alone with them.
"Oh he's such a perfect child. Too bad he was the older one...instead we got stuck with a beaten piece of meat." The woman said "I mean really Sasuke...you ask for him to stay with you instead of me, your beloved mother? What were you thinking? Do you know how good that would have made us look?"
"Honey, at this point it doesn't even matter....we're bored. It's the fourth time he gets this...the first time was a rollercoaster...the second time was panic...I mean by the third time you and I both were just getting ready to bury him. Just do us a solid one, kid, die...just die it'll be glorious.." his father spoke.
This wasn't anything new to Sasuke. He had heard much worse during his third time fighting cancer, he actually had given up all will to survive. How he did make it to remission last time was beyond him.
"So mommy made you something to eat, you think you can stomach a little bit? I know you weren't feel well yesterday" she changed her tone as she spotted Itachi.
"Ōkaasan, Ōtousan I'll be going now" Itachi wore his coat and took his phone sliding it in his pocket. "Rest well, Sasuke. I'll see you real soon okay?" He kissed his forehead "you're going to make it"
Sasuke didn't feel comfortable saying anything in front of them so he just nodded. He couldn't even return the I love you he received from his one and only family.
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He was supposed to be in bed resting, but here he was in class. The seat next to him was empty. He looked at it, he could almost imagine the blond balancing a pencil on his philtrum while making a duck face. Or how he would just occasionally smile to himself as if he figured something out.
Sasuke noticed a lot of things about Naruto just from sitting next to him. But whenever Naruto noticed eyes were fixed on him and turned around; Sasuke would always pretend he wasn't even staring.
He was intrigued. The blond was a mystery and obviously everyone else in school, or at least the classroom, were just as curious.
He dozed off until the bell woke him up. The seat next to him still empty but soon the tables were turned and his group of 'friends' joined him for lunch.
"Guys can you not...it just makes me sick." He stated but no one cared about what he said.
"So we put him to the test yesterday. He totally bailed on my cousin...she's got a mild cold but she'll be fine" Neji munched on "told you, the dude's totally playing you."
"Poor Hinata, why did you get her involved in this?" Sakura hit him.
"I wonder how he got Kakashi sensei wrapped around his finger," Ino asked innocently.
Sasuke got out needing to use the bathroom, he really couldn't stomach food and the smell of it made it worse.
Luckily, he had managed to reach the bathroom this time, where he had emptied an already empty stomach.
He looked at himself in the mirror. The words of his father, echoed. To die is easy isn't it? Just as his mind began being swallowed by the darkness a yellow sticker stood out from the reflection.
When he looked at the bottle beside him, it was the same ginger tea brand Naruto had bought him the day before. "Hope this helps"
Sasuke didn't bother drink it. He threw it straight in the garbage can. He didn't want nor need anyone's pity. Specially not someone using people around him for his own benefit.
For the whole week, the seat next to him was empty. The dark haired teen that would come by never showed up. But that Friday, he saw a blue haired girl with eyes identical to Neji's.
"Hinata, what are you doing here?" Neji got up worried that she would ruin everything.
The girl was holding an orange coat that took Sasuke a second to recognize.
"Is Naruto-kun here?" She seemed to direct her question to Sakura.
"Naruto's cut off class all week, Hinata-chan. He comes and goes as he pleases." She shrugged.
"You wouldn't know where he lives, would you?" The Hyūga girl held on to the coat. "I want to-..."
"You know well we don't associate ourselves with the likes of him, Hinata." Neji glared "he's just trouble."
"At least he didn't lie to me and cause me pneumonia..." She fired back before she left.
It was extremely rare to hear the female Hyūga clap back at anyone.
They expected Sasuke to ask them what that was all about but he didn't.
If they have lied to him once, they would lie to him again. So why bother asking to begin with?
"So Neji....how about you tell us what really happened?" Sakura wondered instead "that was Naruto's coat. Ino, Kiba...you both were there. Spill it out!"
"He gave her his coat," Ino mumbled, they didn't even know that part. "Neji, next time don't get Hinata into this," she got her stuff and left the classroom.
"I'm heading home early" Sasuke talked to no one in particular and just got up. He took his stuff and started heading out.
In the hallway, he saw Ino and Hinata talk to the mysterious guy that always came for Naruto. Their eyes met momentarily before Sasuke shifted his attention elsewhere.
The raven was walking home by his lonesome when a yellow umbrella came to view. There were only a couple droplets, so Sasuke wasn't worried about getting wet.
He turned around to snap at the only person he knew owned such a hideously coloured umbrella only to see a brunet, in about his early to mid-forties. Brown eyes that matched his hair. An extremely tanned skin and a scar above his nose.
"Uchiha Sasuke..." He said almost in shock. He had the file right at hand, he didn't know this was the kid when he was going to help. "Shouldn't you be-...never mind that..."
"Who are you?" Sasuke walked back. The man was well dressed.
"Where are my manners? Umino Iruka, I'm with the child protective services" he showed his ID and allowed the teen to study it. "I'm here for an inspection...come on..."
Sasuke didn't have much of a saying in what to do, he opened the door of the house and walked in.
"Are you normally alone at home?" Iruka asked.
"Yeah...they come back around 4 or 5... Sometimes later, depending on their plans." The boy shrugged.
"Do they take you from and to school?"
"If it works for their schedule of the day...if not they tell me to just walk. Do you want anything to drink?"
Iruka just took notes, "no, thank you," he watched the teen carefully sit down and offer Iruka to sit as well. "Are there any maids?"
"She comes in the morning...usually leaves at midday," his palms sweat as if he was the one under in investigation.
"Do they hire someone to look after you based on the need or-..."
"No...they haven't done that since I was twelve or thirteen." He shrugged "I normally call the emergency line if I don't feel well enough,"
"They treat you well?"
"They don't beat me if that's what you're asking."
"Sasuke...do you feel at home here?"
"It's uhm...I'm thankful they took me in..." He tried to avoid the question.
"Okay, can you show me around the house? Your room?" Iruka kept a friendly smile on his face and followed Sasuke.
The tour of the house was rather normal. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Iruka took notes and followed him upstairs.
The teen subconsciously stopped at his real room before it hit him, he was supposed to show the fake one.
"Sorry...this used to be my room...I still just forget sometimes..."
"It's okay" Iruka followed to the bigger room. The plushies were all over the bed, decoratively.
The adult social worker knew there was no way someone lived in this room. Everything was too studied in place.
"Can we go see your old room?"
"It's just-...storage now.." Sasuke fumbled to say.
"I'm inspecting the place.....so we have to see it either ways" Iruka walked out and headed to the last room on the right.
A small bed, a bookcase, a nightstand with meds on it...
This was Uchiha Sasuke's real room. The walls were a plain off-white colour. It looked like an old decrepit storage room.
There was no closet or wardrobe, so he assumed all of the teen's stuff were in the warn down dresser in front of him.
"This is your bedroom" Iruka stated as he inspected it and stopped when he saw an old green dragon plushie on the floor.
Sasuke panicked as his parents tried to throw it away once and he had been hiding it ever since. But the man in front of him just smiled.
"My son has one of these...it's so weird...this looks exactly like it..." Iruka started babbling "he had the habit of writing his initials on the tags when he was-..." He stopped when he saw the initials of his son on it. "Younger" he small smiled. "This was a gift?"
"Yeah...uhm. that and the ones in the other room...from this really annoying clown. How did you know that is not mine?" Sasuke took it from the man and sat down holding it.
"Your initials are U.S" Iruka smiled. The teen obviously treasured this one more than the rest since he kept it with him. "So I'm gonna make a phone call and I'll help you pack. You're going to stay with me for a while and then hopefully when all goes well, you will live with your older brother"
"Come again?" Sasuke looked at him in disbelief.
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Sasuke was by the door with the man as the police came over. Iruka calmly gave them the kid's duffle bag. They were gone out of the house before his parents were even back home.
He watched the house, he grew up in, disappear from the side mirror of the car.
"They'll be angry" Sasuke feared what they could do. "Why the sudden visit?"
"Your brother's been coming to my office the past week. He had a very disturbing recording of your parents with you. I was coming to collect you a few days ago but I needed to conduct more research to build a more solid case."
Sasuke smiled as his brother had actually done something about it. But then again, it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for that stupid clown. He held on to that plushie a little bit tighter.
They got to the house. A big two storey house, it looked fairly modern and new. (Although, it wasn't.)
Iruka got out of the car and grabbed the teen's stuff from the trunk, going over to the side for Sasuke.
"So I don't have many rules...curfew is at 9pm. That's my one most important rule"
"How old is your son?" Sasuke asked wanted to be ready in case this kid was going to be annoying.
"He just turned seventeen last week. He's a bit hyperactive and can tend to get on your nerve sometimes but he has a heart of gold." Iruka smiled. "He's really smart so if you need help with anything concerning school work I'm sure he'll be happy to lend a hand,"
Sasuke for a small moment thought it could be Naruto, even if they looked like polar opposites but he scratched that idea when the man said he was smart. Naruto was a lot of things, smart wasn't one of them.
Sasuke was allowed in first. A narrow hallway, a door to the left, stairs to the right and another door straight ahead.
Iruka took him on a tour, he found out the son was into photography so Iruka had a small dark room constructed on an unused side of the giant living room.
But he couldn't find any pictures of this mysterious boy of his.
Only pictures in there were of Iruka with his parents.
"You're not gonna find any, he hoards them in his room" Iruka chuckled "he's a bit weird."
"Oh...okay" was all Sasuke said not to offend his host. They walked upstairs. "So this is a four-bedroom house, the first on the left is his...mine is right down the hall. The one next to it is..." Iruka bit his lip and looked away. "This one would be yours" he moved on not saying anything about who that room belonged to "you get your own bathroom included. Here's your closet...if you need anything you just let me know," he smiled.
"Thank you" Sasuke sat down. The bed was much bigger, much softer than his last one. And as he was given privacy in his new temporary bedroom he just fell asleep.
He slept peacefully for the first time in his life. Without having to worry about being woken up abruptly or hearing words of discouragement.
He slept knowing that it won't be long before he could live with his big brother not worrying about all of this.