Afraid of the Dark

Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 3: Hiding the Truth

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"Words create lies. Pain can be trusted." - Audition, Miike Takashi

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"What did Dr. Ibiki talk to you about?" Mikoto asked her son gently as he emerged from the office.

Sasuke scratched the back of his head thoughtfully as he tried to figure out what exactly to tell his mom. He knew that he wasn't supposed to talk to her about the monsters, so he would have to be careful about what he said. Thinking so hard about it made his stomach clench in knots. It felt like that time when he had broken the arm of the chair in the dining room. It had made him feel so guilty that it had made him sick to his stomach keeping it all to himself until he had finally told his mom what had happened.

"Just wanted to make sure the thoughts in my head were okay," Sasuke said, grateful that the doctor hadn't actually touched his brain or head or anything like that. Of course, what he had said had given young Sasuke a lot to think about.

They began walking from the doctor's office back to the main waiting room, but Sasuke barely noticed where his feet headed as his mind whirled.

As Sasuke was a very intelligent child, he understood that what Dr. Ibiki had said was important, but as he was still young, he didn't understand the importance of everything that was going on.

He did know that something special and strange had happened, and it excited Sasuke.

Of course, he was still somewhat worried about Naruto, so that dulled his excitement.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Mikoto smiled at her son strangely.

"He's getting another check up. He’s doing much better, and he'll be coming home with us. You'll have someone to play with your own age, doesn't that sound nice?" Mikoto asked her son, smiling in that way parents do when they're not sure how their kids will take certain news.

Sasuke nodded. Dr. Ibiki had told him that Naruto would be coming back to their house now.

"His mom is gone, and so is his house. We're going to make sure he's okay, right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, yes of course dear. Now, we don't want to upset Naruto, so why don't we not mention how his mom and his house are missing? We might make Naruto sad if he thinks about it too much. We can make it seem like he’s staying with us for fun!" Mikoto said, trying to distract her son from the topic.

"Will the police find Naruto's mom? And what about his dad? Did his dad get kidnapped too? Where is he at? Was he working really late like Dad does sometimes?" Sasuke asked.

"You see, Sasuke sweetie, sometimes mommies and daddies don't stay together. Sometimes the dad has to go away in order to do some work for the family to make money, but they are not able to come back."

"And sometimes the dad walks out and leaves the kid all alone because they can't handle the responsibility right?" Sasuke asked as he plopped himself down into one of the chairs in the waiting room. Mikoto looked taken aback.

"Where did you hear that?"

"When Itachi had to baby-sit me one time he told me that if I didn't behave that you and Dad would leave me all by myself because I'd become too big a responsibility," Sasuke explained. "He also told me I was adopted, but I didn't believe him."

"I only told you those things because it's the duty of the older brother to antagonize and strike fear into the heart of his younger brother. It's how the world works," Itachi said as he appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It gave Sasuke the creeps when his brother materialized out of nowhere like that.

Sasuke peered around his mom and saw that Itachi had in fact just exited out of the men's bathroom.

"Itachi, you shouldn't tell Sasuke things like that. He'll believe you."

"He just said he didn't. No harm done," Itachi said as he sat down next to Sasuke and poked his forehead. Sasuke grumbled, and Itachi smirked before his expression turned very serious. "What happened?"

But Sasuke didn't get a chance to answer as Naruto appeared in the waiting room. Sasuke could see bandages peeking out from underneath Naruto’s hospital issued clothes. Fugaku stood behind him looking tired.

"We're ready to go," Fugaku said as he motioned for Naruto to head outside. Itachi, Mikoto, and Sasuke all got up as one, and followed behind them.

There was complete silence on the way home from the hospital. It felt awkward. Sasuke wanted to ask so many questions, but he knew his father hated it when he babbled about things. Naruto had fallen asleep as soon as he was in the car, and Itachi kept looking back and forth between Naruto and his parents in confusion. It was the first time that Sasuke had seen Itachi looking as curious as he usually felt.

Meanwhile, Sasuke realized that he hadn’t used the bathroom since the night before, and he crossed his legs, finding that he really had to pee all of a sudden.

When they pulled into the driveway, Naruto woke up with a yelp. Everyone's eyes turned to look at him, and he grinned sheepishly.

"Ah, sorry," he said and rubbed the back of his head and made a face of discomfort. Mikoto winced, and Sasuke realized that Naruto was rubbing at the spot where his mom had hit him.

"It's okay dear. You've had a rough day. Just take it easy. No need to apologize for anything. I know we talked a little in the hospital, but you won't be able to go back home right now," Mikoto said kindly as she got out of the car and opened the door to let Naruto and her two sons out.

"Is he staying here with us?" Itachi asked confused as they walked up the front steps, but no one answered him directly.

"This will be your new home for a while," Mikoto said kindly to Naruto as she opened the front door of their home. Itachi looked mildly surprised, but Sasuke only saw this out of the corner of his eye as he watched Naruto frown at the door, not entering.

"Where's my mom and my house?" Naruto asked, his wide blue eyes turning to look up at Sasuke's mom with an expectant look on his face. Mikoto smiled gently, but there was a hint of something else in her eyes that Sasuke had never seen before.

"People are looking for them," Mikoto answered.

"But-"

"Naruto," Sasuke said, almost annoyed after a moment. "Hurry up."

Sasuke really needed to use the bathroom.

Naruto and his mom still stood in the doorway, blocking the entrance.

"Sasuke, be nice to our guest," Mikoto said firmly, but kindly. Nonetheless she moved out of the way, and Naruto did the same. Fugaku entered followed by Itachi and Sasuke.

When Sasuke passed by him to head to the bathroom, Naruto reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Why am I staying here with you?" Naruto asked Sasuke. Mikoto answered before Sasuke could say anything.

"Sweetie, when the police went to see where your house was..." Mikoto stopped, as though not quite sure what to say, "they found nothing there. Nothing. They tried calling relatives, but you said you didn't have any that you knew of. Since they couldn't find anyone to take you in, and there was no way to check your house for any phone numbers of people who knew you, you're going to stay here. Won't that be nice?"

"Why isn't he going to child social services?" Itachi asked thoughtfully. Sasuke watched as his father gave Itachi an almost scathing look. His father never gave Itachi that kind of look; Itachi was perfect. The faces of his parents seemed strained, and while Sasuke was young, he could always tell when his parents were not in a good mood. It was that look that they had on their face when he wanted to ask for something but knew if you did right then that he would get yelled at. It was the type of look that parents wore: the look the said if you wanted to talk to them, you would have to wait until that look went away.

Sasuke could tell something wasn't right with the situation, but he didn't understand what.

"What's so-sheal services?" Naruto asked, slurring over the unfamiliar word.

"Don't worry Sweetie. Don't worry about anything. Why don't I show you to your new room? We can get you some new things to make it how you like it. Doesn't that sound nice?" Mikoto asked sweetly.

"But...I wanna stay with Sasuke in his room," Naruto said, his grip on Sasuke's wrist sliding down so that he held Sasuke's hand, as though not wanting to let Sasuke go. Sasuke noticed that Naruto's hand was much warmer than it had been the night before.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Sasuke watched as his father took his brother aside and began to speak with him. They talked quickly and quietly, and Sasuke didn't hear much of their conversation other than his father say "he's similar to us" to Itachi. That didn't make much sense to Sasuke, so he ignored them again and instead focused on what his mom was saying.

"That...well...stay in Sasuke's room?" Mikoto asked uncertainly. "Is that okay Sasuke?" Mikoto asked hesitantly.

"Yes. We have to-" Sasuke was about to say that they had to figure out how to fight the monsters together, but Dr. Ibiki had told him not to mention that. However, Dr. Ibiki had said that he had to stay close to Naruto. "We have to." Sasuke repeated firmly without elaborating more. Dr. Ibiki had told them to stay close after all.

"O-okay. Well, why don't you show Naruto around Sasuke? Just take it easy. Naruto's still healing."

Sasuke didn't answer his mother as he gripped Naruto's hand in return and began to drag Naruto up to his room. As they went back up the steps, Sasuke began talking.

"Remember, this is my room. So you have to ask permission for things. And I'm older," Sasuke said, trying to get Naruto to realize that since he was six and Naruto was only five and three quarters that Naruto should look up to him like Sasuke looked up to Itachi. Sasuke pushed open his bedroom door and looked around. There was no blood on anything in his room any more, and it looked like Mom had even made his bed.

Naruto let go of Sasuke's hand and walked over to Sasuke's bed. He went to lie down onto his back.

"Don't lie on your back, stupid. It's all bandaged up," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.

"Well I can't feel it! It doesn't hurt," Naruto said but rolled over onto his stomach anyway.

Sasuke felt excitement well up with him. It was daylight out now, and the events of the previous night seemed less frightening now, and much more exciting and adventurous.

"We have to figure out how to fight the monsters," Sasuke said, trying to hold in his excitement. That had to be why Naruto was really at his house; Ibiki wanted them to figure out how to fight off the monsters.

"Sasuke, I'm tired. I want to take a nap," Naruto said, and yawned. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto. He didn't know any five year olds that still took naps, but Naruto was hurt, and he knew that could make you sick. Maybe he was supposed to take a nap?

"Don’t fall asleep yet. Wait. I have to go to the bathroom. When I come back we’ll talk about the monsters."

Sasuke went to the bathroom as quickly as possible, trying not to think about monsters-who-appear-when-you-flush-the-toilet, even though Dr. Ibiki had said they weren’t real. Or rather, the monster he had seen wasn’t that kind. He hurried back to talk with Naruto, but didn't get to say anything else to him. He was already fast asleep. Sasuke scowled at Naruto. They had to start planning how to fight them right away! What if they came back? He shook his head. Sasuke looked at Naruto lying on his bed. There wasn't anything that Sasuke really wanted to do other than to figure out how to fight the monsters, but Naruto was sleeping.

Sasuke thought about waking Naruto up, but he was hurt. He should wait, right?

He decided to head down to ask his mom how long Naruto would stay with them for. They might not have that much time to figure out how to fight the monsters before Naruto went to that social service place Itachi had mentioned.

It took a while for Sasuke to find his mom. He was certain that she would be downstairs making food, but she wasn’t there. She wasn’t doing laundry; though she must have put some stuff in the washer because Sasuke could hear the machine running. After looking in other spots he usually found his mom, he finally heard her talking in her room. Sasuke was about to knock when he heard his father speak through the closed door.

"His home is over forty miles from here! How could he have gotten here on his own?" Fugaku asked.

"It must have been her. Poor Kushina," Mikoto said sadly. It sounded like she was crying. Sasuke scratched his head, wondering who Kushina was.

"Did she send him here?"

"I don't know. I just don't know. They said that the house is gone. Naruto had to have come here last night as his neighbors said that they saw his house yesterday. He couldn't have walked that far on his own. When Ibiki questioned him, all Naruto said was that he'd heard the monsters come into his house. When he'd finally told Kushina that they were there, she told him to keep running until he felt that it was okay to stop."

"Does he know? And did he get here on his own, or was Kushina involved?"

"I don't think he knows. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t asked about it yet. I also believe that he can’t do anything big yet. He seems too young and untrained to go forty miles on his own," Mikoto explained.

Forty miles away? That was a lot, wasn't it? Naruto couldn't have run that far all in one night. The Kushina-person must have driven him. There was no way that Naruto could have walked that far all in one night.

"Then she had to be involved. How else would Naruto have ended up by our house if he hasn’t asked? She must have sent him here right before she was taken. Besides, his wounds were so bad that it would have killed him had he exerted the energy to get here on his own," Fugaku reasoned out.

"Poor, poor Kushina. I can't believe she's gone."

"I doubt that they could get rid of her. She's strong and powerful. Not to mention that her husband-"

"-hasn't been seen since Naruto's birth. I know the rumors say he's still alive, but I don't think so. The last time that I spoke with Kushina she said that she hadn't seen him in over five years and doubted that he was ever coming back."

Sasuke listened intently, not sure what was going on, but like earlier, had that feeling that there was something big that he was missing.

He'd seen something like this on one of those mystery shows two weeks ago.

"But can we truly keep Naruto here? What if more of those creatures come after him? What if he asks? It’s one thing if Sasuke does, but how do we handle if Naruto does? I doubt that they would be able to get past the house's defenses without our knowledge, but they could do damage to the neighbors' homes."

"I think one came into our house before," Mikoto said quietly. Sasuke leaned closer when there was no sound. He thought that they had stopped talking before his father spoke at last.

"What? That’s preposterous."

"I don't even remember how long ago it was, but Sasuke said that he saw a monster. He said that it knocked down a picture frame. I thought he had done it and blamed it on a childish creation, but what if he did see one?"

Sasuke's head was reeling. His parents knew about the monsters? How did they know? Did that mean that he could tell them about the monsters? Maybe Dr. Ibiki just didn't know that his parents had known. All he needed to do was, ask, right? They kept talking about asking.

"Doubtful. You would have sensed it. After all, you sensed the wounds on Naruto had been created by one of them."

Mikoto let out a sorrowful sound.

"I can't believe I hit that poor child. If I had been thinking, I would have known he couldn't have been one of them. He was under the light after all. It was just that the presence of the monster still lingered in the wounds. Those horrible, horrible wounds were terribly infected, and he was so cold, like a corpse. I could tell that he had lost a lot of his energy because his body was like ice. Losing that much energy and blood should have killed him. Clearly he inherited his parents' strength and some of their abilities, and if it weren't for Sasuke..."

"I know. I didn't think Sasuke had it in him. I thought it was just Itachi who had inherited it. If we’re lucky, he’ll be asking us soon like Itachi did," Fugaku said, his voice sounding prideful.

Inherited it? Inherited what? Ask about what?

The pride in his father’s voice sounded so strong, and Sasuke never remembered his father sounding that boastful when talking about him. But what were they talking about?

Sasuke leaned closer, waiting for his parents to explain more, when a hand grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around.

He stumbled back in shock, half expecting his parents to have materialized on the other side of the door to catch him eavesdropping, but was met with the cool eyes of his older brother.

"I think that's enough information for you," Itachi said quietly.

"Itachi-nii-san, do you know what they were talking about? Did you hear what they said?" Sasuke asked, looking up expectantly at his older brother to answer the question.

"Don't worry about it, otouto. It’s better if you don’t know. It’s especially better if you don’t ever ask. You won't remember any of it," Itachi said calmly. Sasuke looked at his brother in confusion.

"Yes I will. I-" but Sasuke's words were cut off when Itachi placed a finger to Sasuke's forehead, and Sasuke suddenly felt very heavy, very sleepy. The last thing he remembered was slumping to the floor feeling as though he had been forced to fall asleep on his feet.

And Sasuke didn't remember it. In fact, he didn't remember anything correctly of the past twenty-four hours...

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There was something warm lying next to Sasuke, and he snuggled closer to it, wondering why he felt so cold all of a sudden.

"Were you tired too?" Naruto asked, groggily waking up as Sasuke snuggled closer to him.

Sasuke's eyes fluttered open, and he rubbed his head. He felt like someone was throwing stones at his forehead.

"I have a bad headache," Sasuke said and winced at the pain. He sat up in bed, and looked around.

How had he gotten to bed? Had he gone to bed when Naruto had? Hadn't he done something else? Sasuke frowned, trying to remember, but when he tried to think about what he did, his headache got worse.

"Oww," Sasuke groaned, rubbing his head, trying to remember. Maybe he had been dreaming? What had he been dreaming?

"I had a weird dream," Naruto said, rubbing his head. "There were monsters in it, but I don't remember much else," Naruto said.

"I think I dreamt about monsters too," Sasuke said, frowning.

"Itachi said we would get nightmares if we watched that horror movie with him last night," Naruto said, sitting up in Sasuke's bed, stretching, and looking around him.

Had they watched a movie last night? His memory seemed fuzzy, but something in his brain seemed to tell him that he had. Sasuke suddenly remembered Itachi telling them that they shouldn't watch the scary movie that he had been watching. They had anyway. And now, he and Naruto had both had weird dreams about monsters. Itachi had said that they would.

The memory seemed off, but he definitely had a memory of it. Yet why did it feel like there was something else he was supposed to remember?

"Were we supposed to do something?" Sasuke asked, rubbing his head. It hurt a lot, especially right in the center of his forehead as though something sharp had poked him there. Naruto frowned.

"I don't remember. My head kinda feels fuzzy," Naruto said, scratching his head.

Sasuke shook his head, trying to remember, but the more he thought, the worse the pain in his head got. He decided not to think about it.

"I'm hungry," Naruto said suddenly. Sasuke looked around, noticing that his clock said that it was almost dinnertime. They must have slept for a while.

"Hn," Sasuke said. "I'll show you where the kitchen is." Sasuke suddenly remembered that he was supposed to give Naruto a tour of their house since he would be staying there while Naruto's mom was in a coma at the hospital.

How had he forgotten that Naruto’s mom was in a coma in the hospital? That was the reason Naruto was staying with them now.

That must have been what he had forgotten!

Convinced that he had figured out what he had forgotten, Sasuke led Naruto downstairs to eat, ignoring the dull throb in his forehead, not giving any more thought to his supposed dream about monsters.

He ignored the little voice in his head telling him that he needed to remember something very important.

Sasuke even ignored the little voice in his head telling him that he ought to be careful, careful of the feeling that something was watching him.

Sasuke was ignoring everything so well that he missed the pair of eyes that stared at him and Naruto through his bedroom window.


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Never ignore that feeling in your gut. Instinct keeps you alive when logic fails. ~ Jelp

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Next Chapter: Running From A Forgotten Past


There will be a time jump between this chapter and the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this fic so far! Let me know what you think. ~ Jelp