Crazy Daze

II.

When I woke, Iruka-sensei was gone. A note was pinned to the blanket covering me, telling me he’d be back, but to feel free to explore. I really liked Iruka-sensei.

- Why? -

He treats me like a person.

- That’s his job. -

No. Iruka-sensei really cares.

- He’s paid to care. -

Kyuubi, shut up.

I didn’t believe Kyuubi for a second. Iruka-sensei wasn’t like the others I’ve met. He actually seemed to care about me. I rolled off the couch and stretched, staring around the office. Iruka-sensei had such a cool office too, with pictures on the wall of people and drawings and tons of stuffed dolphins.

- He said to explore. –

I grinned and moved to leave the office. The hallways were quiet, empty, but I noticed shadows moving along down the hall. I followed the shadows, smiling at Kyuubi’s mutterings, but pretty much ignoring him. I peeked into the next room and stared into pretty black eyes. The owner blinked at me through the glass and looked away, uninterested. I couldn’t help but stare at him, probably looking like a stupid tourist on the other side of the glass at an aquarium or a zoo. Obviously, the other boy thought so too, because he looked back at me and started to smirk a little bit. I grinned back, even made faces to see if I could get him to laugh. He was pretty when he laughed, his eyes closing as he covered his mouth with his hands and bowed his head, trying not to be seen. He glanced toward the door then, mouth turning from a smile to a frown, as if he were thinking about something, before he moved to get up. I followed him and heard the door click open.

“Who are you?”

I grinned at the soft voice, the kind of voice that one uses when they don’t want to be heard. I tapped my chest.

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto! What’s yours?”

- What makes you think he’s going to trust you? -

Shut up, Kyuubi.

“Me? My name is Uchiha Sasuke.” The darker whispered, smiling a bit more. “You’re a freak.”

“Aren’t we all?”

- You especially. What’s he in here for? -

Shut up, Kyuubi! Why are you so nosy?

- Because we’re in here for beating the shit out of a kid and this pansy doesn’t belong here. -

“That’s not nice,” I growled. Sasuke blinked at me, head tilting. I waved my hands in dismissal. “Not you, not you. Ah, uh, Kyuubi just wants to know why you’re in here.”

“Kyuubi?”

“My friend. He sorta exists in the back of my head.”

“In you head.”

- What is he, a parrot? -

I scowled. Sasuke smiled a little bit. “Kyuubi thinks I’m annoying, doesn’t he?”

“Kyuubi thinks everyone’s annoying,” I replied. “Even me. But, yeah, why are you here?”

Sasuke’s face hardened a bit and he looked away from me for a moment. “I can trust you right?”

“Well, if you mean trust as in I’m not going to go around telling Iruka-sensei what you told me, then yeah.”

Sasuke blinked, lips twisting in a smile. “Good. Because… because I’ve never told anyone anything. Not even Kakashi.”

“Who’s Kakashi?”

“One of the other adults here. He’s friends with Iruka and if Iruka knew he’d tell Kakashi.”

- Secrets. Why should we trust him? -

Because, Kyuubi, he trusts us and I… I like him.

Kyuubi snorted. – It’s your funeral. –

“Kyuubi doesn’t like me, does he?” Sasuke asked softly. I glowered at the floor.

“He doesn’t trust you. There’s a difference.”

Sasuke laughed softly. “Yeah, sure.”

I grinned even as Kyuubi grumbled. “So, let’s make a deal, Sasuke. You tell me one thing about you and I’ll tell you one thing about me.”

“You want to be friends?” Sasuke asked in almost monotone, his eyebrow raising in curiosity. I shrugged.

“Yeah sure. I don’t have any friends except for Kyuubi and Iruka-sensei. Besides, I like you.”

Sasuke blushed a little bit and looked away, mumbling something. When he finally looked up at me, he nodded slowly. He opened his door further and ushered me inside, apparently not caring at my gaping stare at seeing the bare room. There was nothing personal here, except for a few books and a blanket and pillow that had his scent on them. There were no pictures, nothing like Iruka-sensei’s office. Sasuke let me sit on the bed and sat beside me, though there was enough room between us to fit four more people. Silence made a blanket around us until Sasuke shifted a bit closer, closing the distance.

“Promise not to hate me?”

“Why would I hate you?”

“Because everyone else does.”

“Then screw everyone else.”

He stared at me unblinking. I gave a growl and lay back on Sasuke’s bed with my hands under my head. I heard Kyuubi grumbling about Sasuke being some emotional brat who needed a kick in the ass to get him on the right track. Public tax dollars at work on this kid, please. Still, after a moment I turned my head to look at him, heaving a great sigh.

“It’s not fair to hate someone because they’re different. Right now, hell Sasuke, you and I are the same. Why shouldn’t we be friends?”

“But we are different. Our reasons for being here are different.”

“But we’re here, aren’t we?”

His lips drew into a thin line at that, but after a moment he nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.”

Sasuke laughed softly and shook his head, bracing himself back on his hands to watch me. I stared back, grinning, before I sat up and scratched the back of my head. Sasuke looked away from me after a moment and stared back out the window that allowed observers to treat him like an exhibit before he began to speak.

“I’ve been here since I was about seven. Ever since my family was murdered.”

- I heard about that, - Kyuubi said. – The Uchiha clan was murdered, one by one and the only suspect was the elder son. -

“Kyuubi says he heard about that. The news said that the eldest son was responsible.”

“He’s not!” Sasuke cried, vehemently. The outburst seemed to take even him back a bit and he quietly repeated himself, “He’s not.”

“But didn’t the evidence-?”

“The evidence was wrong. I was there. I saw everything. But…” Sasuke shivered, turning to me as if looking for understanding or comfort, I wasn’t sure which one. I reached out to touch his shoulder anyway, felt him relax, feeling the acceptance through the gentle grip, I guess.

“But?” I prompted. His lips drew into a thin line and his voice lowered to barely a whisper.

“But the prosecutors want me to lie. They want me to say what they want to hear and every time I tell the truth they say that Itachi scared me into misbelieving what I saw and because of him I’m too scared to say anything against my brother.”

“They’ve already placed the blame, huh?”

“Yeah.” Sasuke shivered. “Itachi didn’t do it.”

“So what happened?”

Sasuke’s eyes flicked up toward the window and something in him changed. I saw it, how he just closed up on me and fell silent. I looked up from him and stared at what he was staring at, a tall silver-haired man on the other side of the window, a patch over his left eye, a long white coat covering his body.

- That must be Kakashi. – Kyuubi said.

I swallowed and slipped off the bed, but not before giving Sasuke’s shoulder a good squeeze. He seemed to warm up at that, but hid it well as soon as I was far enough away for the man’s attention to be on me. I slipped out of Sasuke’s room, grinning sheepishly at Kakashi before bolting down the hall, back to Iruka-sensei’s office. I didn’t know Kakashi had followed me until I turned around at Iruka-sensei’s door, eyes going wide. Even Kyuubi was silent in surprise. He stared at me for the longest time, keeping me frozen to my spot at the door, my hand on the knob, unable to turn.

“Kakashi-sempai, please don’t scare Naruto-kun,” Iruka-sensei’s voice was like a godsend, we thought, and we darted around Kakashi to hide behind Iruka-sensei. The brunette was glaring at the silver-haired man who only grinned sheepishly at him. I watched Iruka-sensei huff and let him take my hand to lead me into the office before he turned around and pointedly slammed the door in Kakashi’s face.

- I’m starting to wonder if maybe we’re not the ones who belong here. – Kyuubi said dryly, watching Iruka-sensei fume for a few moments before turning to me. I wondered for a moment then, if what Kyuubi said was true, watching Iruka-sensei’s face turn red for a moment at something muffled from the other side of the door. Then we had to hold in our laughter as Iruka-sensei replied in a strangled, embarrassed voice.

“Leave Naruto-kun alone, Kakashi-sempai! Go tend your other patients!”

When he turned to me, Iruka-sensei smiled apologetically. I could only grin in return and settled down on my chair, kicking my feet up onto Iruka-sensei’s desk. Perhaps our stay here wasn’t going to be so bad after all, not if every day was entertaining like this one.