Parasomnia

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Warnings: Language, blood, eventually yaoi. Most of my information comes from Wikipedia and other websites, so if some of this information is wrong, please tell me so I can fix it. Also, this story is not meant to offend, insult, or make fun of anyone.

Beta-ed by Akiru chan. Love her, she was able to get two chapters out of me in about a weeks time.

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A single drop of water never believes that it will be the cause of a flood, nor does a single snowflake believe that it can cause an almighty avalanche. However, when the elements build up and conditions are right, they unleash with them, a force to be reckoned with. It seems strange that we would try to force the elements to do our bidding without a thought of how they would act. Stranger still, that humans themselves act upon each other in the same way; yet they seem so surprised when they get retaliation in return. While we consider ourselves better than our surroundings, we really are no better than them. We always try to bend others to our needs, and like the drops of water, we never believe that our simple actions can cause a multitude of problems. The human race may be smarter than most things on this planet, but we still have a long way to go when you look at the larger picture.

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Laughter sounded in the hallways, announcing that many of the other patients in the ward were leaving breakfast. Amidst the laughter from the younger teens, there were those who were silent as they moved up and down the corridor, blank eyes taking in the simple surroundings. These were the ones that had stayed the longest, the ones that were the hardest to treat, and as he watched them move like dead men, he vowed that he would never let himself fall that far.

Which was one of the reasons why he was sitting outside in the hallway; waiting to talk with Tsunade.

He had been good; something that you normally shouldn’t take pride in, as it should be common sense that you act and behave well. But when you’re surrounded by things that are tempting you, it’s often appealing to just cave and forget everything that was taught to you as a child. Still, Itachi had been good; following a simple plan that involved not checking on his work and making sure that, he didn’t skip on his sleep.

And now he wanted to move on.

Tsunade had told him that if he settled in well, he would be able to have his laptop again. It had been a few weeks since his arrival and he wanted his laptop. Even though he didn’t like dealing with the world at times, he still missed the reality that seemed to never penetrate the walls. At least in the real world, he could make sense of things easier.

“Itachi?”

The Uchiha turned his head towards the person and nodded. “Yes.”

“Dr. Tsunade will see you now.”

“Thank you.”

He walked into the large office and his ears noticed the soft music playing from the computer speakers. The door was shut behind him, effectively cutting off the noise from the hallway as he took a seat and looked towards the doctor.

“Itachi,” Tsunade said, “Is everything all right?”

The raven nodded, “Yes. I’ve been here for a few weeks now and I would like to know if I can have my laptop delivered to me.”

The blond haired doctor studied him for a moment before she shuffled through some papers on her desk, “Kakashi has been providing me with the records of your sessions with him. He says that you just started to talk to him.”

“That's correct.”

“How are you fairing?” she asked, “You’re not missing any sleep or meals are you?”

Itachi shook his head, “No.”

Tsunade pursed her lips and Itachi could see her toying with the idea in her mind. She didn’t have anything that would prevent him from obtaining his computer, his record was clean. Finally, she looked at him and stared into his eyes, “You haven’t shown any signs of restlessness that you would be aware of?”

“No.” He answered, “I’ve been sleeping fine at night, most of the time I sleep straight through the night.”

She opened her mouth but was cut off by the door bursting open, startling both of them.

“Why are you keeping my book away from me?”

Tsunade glared at the figure in the door and Itachi didn’t need to turn his head to know who was there. He was starting to recognize the voice as the days passed by.

“Naruto, you started a fight; I needed to give you some type of punishment, and this was the best one I could think of.”

The blond crossed his arms across his chest, “But it’s not fair; I’ve been dying to read the last book. You can’t just snatch it away from me like that.”

Tsunade massaged her forehead, “I can and I did. Let’s not mention, that not only did you start a fight, you started a fight in order to trigger someone’s condition.” She watched as a flush crept over Naruto’s features, “Kiba could have been badly hurt if his narcolepsy was triggered during the fight or worse, his cataplexy might not have been that simple. What if his whole body collapsed at once? He could have knocked himself out by hitting the ground.”

Azure eyes cast themselves to the ground, “He asked me to. He said that the cataplexy was triggered by strong emotions and he figured that fighting would help start one.”

“Naruto, I know you wanted to help him,” she said gently, “but these things usually aren’t that simple.”

A scoff formed across Naruto’s face, “I still don’t think that means you can just take my book.”

“I’m in a meeting right now.” She stated, effectively ending the conversation.

Naruto blinked and looked towards the chair that sat in front of Tsunade’s desk as the person turned around to look at him. His lips twitched in amusement and he brought up his hand, giving it a slight wave, “Heh, hey Itachi.”

“Hello Naruto.”

“Um, sorry about uh, interrupting your meeting. I’ll be leaving now.” He said and vanished from the room.

Itachi turned back to Tsunade and watched as she pulled a book out her bag. “All that trouble for this little paperback book.” She shook her head and set it on a self behind her desk before turning back towards Itachi, “I did tell you that if you didn’t show any symptoms that I would let you have a computer on your person. However, if you get this computer and it starts to hinder with your sleeping and sessions, we’ll take it back.”

“I understand.”

Tsunade nodded, “Very well, there is a phone down the hall if you wish to use it.”

The raven stood up, “Thank you.” He said and swept out of the room.

The phone was easily located and he dialed in familiar numbers that would connect him to his office.

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Naruto pouted as he walked towards the library. He understood the concern that Tsunade had for Kiba, but he didn’t understand why that entitled her to punish him and take his book away. He hoped that Kiba was being punished in some way as well.

When he entered the library, Gaara was sitting behind the desk, eyes skimming the computer in front of him. He glanced up from the device when he heard the door opened and looked at the blond, “How did it go?”

“She won’t give me my book.” He dropped into a seat, “And right when I was getting inspired too. I need that book Gaara; I’ve been dying to finish reading the series.”

“How long is she keeping it?”

Naruto snorted, “Too long.”

Gaara’s attention turned back to the computer, “Perhaps you shouldn’t have tried Kiba’s idiotic plan. You should have known that it would get you in trouble.”

“He was desperate to have something trigger it.” Naruto stated, “Normally things like laughter trigger it, but it doesn’t work for him; what would you have done?”

The monitor was turned around and Gaara pointed towards the screen, “I would have gotten him a dog like this.”

Naruto frowned, “Why didn’t you show me this earlier?”

“I didn’t think you were going to go through with his idiotic plan.”

Azure eyes rolled, “Yes, because a dog sounds much better.” He said but skimmed the page anyway.

The article talked about a certain case of narcolepsy, in which the person was kept from falling asleep by a dog. It seemed that when the man started to fall asleep, the dog would bite him on the ear, waking the man. The dog had allowed him to live a normal life and do things that he would have otherwise thought impossible. Naruto grunted as he finished reading the article; perhaps it would have been wiser to look into this before agreeing with Kiba’s idea to start a fight.

He pushed the monitor back towards Gaara and leaned back against the chair in the thought. The dog idea sounded brilliant and the only problem that he could see was convincing Tsunade to try it. It wasn’t as though she was against the idea having pets; he was pretty sure that he had seen a pig running around her office once or twice. Granted, no one else had seen it and Gaara thought he was crazy, but he knew that one was back there.

“Hey Gaara, you think I can use this to convince Tsunade to give me my book back?”

Gaara shrugged, “It’s worth a shot, although I would wait until she’s in a better mood.”

A groan escaped Naruto’s mouth, “But that could take forever.”

The redhead didn’t answer and instead chose to focus on the article again, trying to find the source that it came from. Silence settled over the library and Naruto leaned his head back against the headrest to listen to the tapping of keys from the keyboard. His mind was slowly starting to unwind and he found himself drifting to sleep as the heat from the heater warmed his body.

“Hey.”

Naruto cracked an eye open to look at Gaara, “Yeah?”

“I turned the heater off last night in the room; you weren’t too cold were you?”

He shook his head, “No, I was fine, I slept okay.”

“I could tell you slept well last night.” Gaara said and Naruto could detect the faintest trace of amusement in his voice, “You were snoring a bit.”

A small flush covered the tanned face, “That didn’t keep you up did it?”

Gaara stared at him, “I rarely sleep as is Naruto; your snoring didn’t bother me.”

“But for the past few days you’ve said that you’ve been feeling drowsy.” Naruto replied. “I’d feel bad if my snoring kept you from falling asleep after all this time.”

“Naruto,” Gaara stated, “I’m an insomniac, and missing one more night of sleep because you couldn’t breathe properly won’t kill me.”

The blonde-haired person crossed his arms, “I still feel bad.”

Gaara chose not to answer and instead turned away from the computer after he shut it down. It was still early in the morning and no one would be coming by the library today. His gaze settled on the blond who was dozing lightly in the chair and he wondered how well Naruto actually slept last night. Naruto liked to sleep when it was warm and sometimes when the room became to cold, he wouldn’t sleep as soundly as he normally did.

“Come on; let’s go back to the room.” He said, waking Naruto, “You can take a quick nap before lunch.”

Naruto stood but shook his head, “If I nap I won’t be able to sleep tonight.” He rolled his shoulders, “Let’s get Kiba and play a game of Egyptian Rat Screw.”

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Two hours and six games of cards later, Gaara snatched the deck away from Naruto. He was tempted to throw the deck into the trash but quelled the urge and tossed them into a drawer instead. Playing cards could only entertain the two males in front of him for so long and when that wore away, the competitiveness took its place; and Gaara rather liked his room and preferred it in tact.

After living with Naruto for a while, he had learned when the blond started to get too competitive and when to stop him. However, now that they didn’t have a game to play, they were back to being bored and it reminded Naruto of the book he wanted.

“So take it back.” Kiba told him as he reclined on Naruto’s bed.

“Get your shoes off my covers.” Naruto snapped, “They were just washed.”

Kiba rolled his eyes but swung his feet off the bed, “You know the old lady has your book stashed somewhere in her office and it’s rightfully yours. You should just take it back.”

The redhead sighed, he could tell where this was going and he could only hope that Naruto was smart enough to ignore the suggestion.

“That’s stupid Kiba.” Naruto said and Gaara breathed a sigh of relief, “I’d get caught, she’s always in her office.”

A gleam appeared in Kiba’s eye, “Not at lunchtime.”

Naruto stared at Kiba for a while, trying to decide what to make of the statement and his eyes lit up. “Kiba, you’re brilliant.”

“Took you long enough to come to your senses.”

Gaara just groaned.

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Itachi looked at his watch as he waited in the lobby of the office area. He had told Kisame to meet him here at lunchtime, knowing that the man could use his break to deliver his computer. He also wanted to know what was going on with his company and how Sasuke was doing. It had been a while since he heard from the man and wanted to know how things were fairing.

“If you keep looking at your watch like that, you’ll let time run your life.” A voice said.

“Kisame.” He growled and his partner laughed, “You’re late.”

“There was traffic.”

Itachi scowled, “I already have to deal with a doctor who is late all the time, and I’d hope you aren’t falling into a pattern like that. Otherwise I’ll ha-”

He stopped mid sentence when he spied a blond head of hair pressed up against the wall and tiptoeing down the hallway. His eyes widened slightly as he watched Naruto drop to his knees outside a door and pull out a small hairpin.

“He wouldn’t.” He muttered softly and Kisame cocked his head in confusion. The door swung open and he could only watch as Naruto vanished into the room. “He would.”

“What are you talking about Itachi?” Kisame asked, trying to see past the raven.

“Nothing.” He answered, “Do you have my computer?”

Kisame held up his arm and set the computer case on the table, “Right here, and all the paperwork and files that we’ve reviewed are in this box. We haven’t approved anything yet since we were waiting for your approval.”

“Thanks Kisame.” He answered and took the case from the older man.

“Are you doing okay here?” Kisame asked as he stood up, “We lost contact with you for a while.”

Itachi grunted, “I’m fine and don’t worry, I’ll be in contact with you more now that I have my own computer.” He stood up as well, “Now, get back to work.”

“Yes boss.” Kisame teased and he headed towards the front door, “Don’t work too hard now.”

“Kisame.” Itachi warned and the man laughed before vanishing out the front door.

The raven dug through the box and mentally groaned at the stack of papers that filled the box. It would take him a while to shift and read through everything. But at least it would keep him busy during his time here and show that his work hadn’t caused the action of that night. No one was going to stop him from doing his work now.

A shadow appeared over his shoulder, “Hello Itachi.”

Itachi closed his eyes, “Yes Kakashi?”

The doctor chuckled as he moved around to face the raven, “No need to act so hostile Itachi, I was just wondering what you were doing.”

“My job.” Itachi answered, “Tsunade told me that I could start working again, so long as it didn’t interfere with my sessions and sleep. Do you have a problem with that?”

Kakashi held up his hands, “Of course not, I just like to know what my patients are doing.”

There was movement behind Kakashi and Itachi’s eyes snapped towards it, and he found his body tensing when he saw Tsunade heading back to her office. He wondered if Naruto had managed to leave the office yet and his answer was confirmed when he noticed a brunette running towards the doctor. He recognized the teen from the other day and watched as he tried to keep her from getting to her office.

It seemed that Naruto wasn’t out yet.

He watched as the brunette pointed towards something in the opposite direction and as soon as Tsunade had her head turned, motioned with his other hand. A golden blur escaped from the office and into an empty hallway as the doctor turned her attention back to the teen in front of her.

“What is he up to?” Kakashi murmured, watching the scene curiously.

Tsunade dismissed the boy and headed towards her office. Once the door was shut, Naruto bolted from the vacant hallway and into the lobby. His eyes darted around the area, trying to find a place to stash the book and his eyes landed on duo who was watching him. A smile crept across his face and he was across the lobby in an instant.

He quickly shoved the book into Kakashi’s hand and ducked behind Itachi, “I was with you the whole time.” He said, poking his head over Itachi’s shoulder, “Right?”

Itachi’s eyes slid over to where Naruto’s chin rested on his shoulder and the blond seemed to take the hint as he quickly removed his head. He glanced at Kakashi who was looking at the book in his hands with interest and wondered what was going through the doctor’s mind.

“NARUTO!”

The blond flinched and ducked back behind Itachi again as an angry Tsunade stormed out of her office.

Hazel eyes quickly located the blond tucked behind Itachi and she stormed over to him, “Naruto, what did you do with the book that was in my office?”

Naruto glared at her, “I didn’t do anything. I’ve been with Gaara and Itachi all day.”

“I somehow doubt that.” She said.

“Why do you always blame me?” Naruto cried.

“First of all, you barged into my office demanding the book back, and then Kiba stopped me today when I was going back to my office.” She paused, “My door was cracked open when I came back, the book was missing and you’re hiding behind Itachi like a scared puppy. Plus, I found this.”

A small hairpin was held up and Naruto gawked at it, “I don’t wear hair things. And I told you, I was with Gaara and Itachi all day.”

Tsunade glanced towards Itachi, who was skimming the papers that had been sitting in the box. He looked content to ignore them and read whatever was on the papers but she was going to need to interrupt him. Normally, she wouldn’t believe Naruto when he said that he spent the day with Itachi, but reading the reports on Itachi from Kakashi made her hesitate.

He had stated that Itachi was letting the blond hang around him at times and that he seemed to be tolerating him. She wasn’t sure why Itachi was putting up with Naruto, and chalked it up to the fact that perhaps he was just trying to be nice.

“Itachi?” she asked and obsidian eyes flickered in her direction, “Was Naruto with you earlier today?”

His gaze flickered back down towards the papers and he felt Naruto shift next to him, “Hn.”

Tsunade frowned; that wasn’t an answer.

“I took the book, Tsunade.”

Three sets of eyes glanced up to the source and Itachi raised an eyebrow at the person.

“Kakashi, why would you take the book?” Tsunade asked curiously.

The silver haired doctor shrugged, “He’s my patient. I can’t have him moping and complaining about a missing book during my sessions. Plus, his father taught me in college and I owe him a few favors.”

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the other doctor but didn’t say anything. She was aware that Naruto’s father had taught Kakashi prior to him receiving his degree, but he rarely mentioned it, saying that it was in the past. Her gaze traveled to the book that rested in his hands and she let out a sigh; all this trouble over a stupid paperback book.

Thank god, the weekend was coming up soon.

“I should take your book away from you, Kakashi,” she threatened and the male stiffened, “But I can’t have someone else breaking into my office to retrieve that book.” She rubbed her temples, “Just, ask next time.”

Kakashi scratched his head sheepishly, “Sure.”

She grumbled something unintelligible and walked back to her office. Once her office door was shut, Naruto turned towards Kakashi and grinned. “You’re awesome Kakashi!” he blinked innocently, “Can I keep my book?”

A smile slid across Kakashi’s face and he held out the book, “Just don’t get on her bad side again, it’ll be better for both of us.”

The blond took the book from his hand and gazed down at it happily. Excitement danced in his eyes as he skimmed the summary that was on the back of the book and he was itching to run to his room so he could curl up and read. He looked back up at Kakashi whose hand was still frozen in the air, but it lowered at his gaze.

“Don’t stay up too late reading.” He teased and then glanced at his watch, “I need to go, my shift is starting.”

Naruto nodded and once Kakashi had vanished, the blond turned towards Itachi, who was sorting papers into small stacks. He watched him for a while, wondering why the raven enjoyed working in a business setting. It seemed that all they did was read over fine print and look at numbers that never seemed to end.

“Hey Itachi?”

Itachi paused in his sorting before continuing and Naruto took that as a sign that he had the Uchiha’s attention.

“Thanks for not saying anything to Tsunade.” He said and squirmed slightly when Itachi looked up at him, “If you want you can borrow the first two books, and I suppose, I can let you back in the library.”

The raven looked him over before turning his attention back to the papers, “I don’t think I’ll need to rely on books to keep myself occupied now.” He said, “I have other items that require my immediate attention.”

“Oh,” Naruto said softly, “Well, the offer still stands, and thanks again.”

Naruto’s footsteps vanished as he walked down the corridor and Itachi’s hand paused as he reached into the box. He looked towards the hallway where the blond had disappeared and for a moment, he felt slightly unnerved, but he shook his head, making the feeling vanish.

He had work to do.

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It was late when Itachi finally turned off his computer and pushed his chair away from his desk. After separating the folders in the lobby, he had dropped the box and computer off in his room before going to get something to eat. When he had finished eating, he returned to his room and began to work.

It felt great to work again; to lose himself in the words and numbers that flowed across the page, but halfway into the work, something felt wrong. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he convinced himself that he was rusty from staying away from work for so long. With that in mind, he continued to plow on and worked through the afternoon, pausing only to eat dinner.

Now though, he had an idea of what was going on with the company thanks to Kisame. Kisame had also been thoughtful enough to include papers on his brother, since he couldn’t talk about the younger Uchiha without insulting him.

Itachi was glad to see that Sasuke was doing well and reminded himself to call him if he had the chance.

He stretched his legs and moved around his small room as he prepared to go to bed. It wasn’t that late and he could have easily stayed up through the night to work, but he didn’t want to get on Tsunade’s bad side after seeing her this afternoon. With that thought in mind, he clicked the light off in the lamp and crawled into the bed.

Once in bed, it didn’t take long for him to find a comfortable position and fall asleep. The hours passed by silently and a few hours after he had fallen asleep, his door opened, casting soft light into his room.

Quiet feet padded into his room and then stopped next to the side of his bed. Silent eyes skimmed over the sleeping man before crawling onto the mattress, making it dip slightly with the added weight.

Itachi flinched when he felt something drape itself over his body, but his mind slipped back into unawareness and his body relaxed once again. He fell into a light sleep and a dream had just started to form when there was pressure added onto his body. It pulled him from his dream, but it wasn’t until he felt something wet against his neck that his eyes snapped open.

He hissed as something attacked his neck and he realized that the added weight on his body was another person. His body stiffened as the person sucked gently on his earlobe before moving down to the side of his neck. Soft pants ghosted over his ear and his eyes finally adjusted to the soft light that was casting in the room, allowing him to see his assaulter.

The light cast its glow on the head of blond hair and the blue eyes were darkened with something that he couldn’t place.

“Na-Naruto?”

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A/N: So, um, in case you didn’t know, Kiba has narcolepsy, which is a sleep disorder where a person experiences extreme tiredness and possibly falls asleep during the day at inappropriate times, such as at work or school. The cataplexy that was mentioned is often a side affect of narcolepsy and is when the muscles become weak. They range from something simple, such as a slack jaw to entire body collapse. Cataplexy is usually triggered by a strong emotional reaction, such as laughing, crying, fighting, etc.

On the note of the dog that was mentioned; when I was in high school, my agriculture teacher told us about a friend that he had who had narcolepsy. He had two dogs with him that could detect (or something like that) when he was starting to fall asleep, and they would bite his ear. It’s been a few years since he told us that, so I hope I remembered that right, and if not; well this is a fiction story right?

So I'll leave ya'll on a small cliffy, but the next chapter is already typed and edited. Actually this one had been ready for a while, but I was at one last meet this weekend and it's hard to get on the computer when all you want to do is nap between sessions and study.