He Walked Away

{Ahem...I do not own Naruto.}



He Walked Away...



{Naruto's POV~Inside his head}



There was a painful ringing in my ears my whole body ached, Why must I endure this world that hates me so?



"Pathetic, Kit, Just Pathetic," The voice was inside it was one he often ignored, but today he didn't have the will to fight. "You weak, disgusting little shit. You should be thanking me for allowing you to survive," The demon inside snarled ferociously.



'Why, because I have such a wonderful life that I should cherish? Friends who would miss me? A girl who loves me? A teacher who respects me? Any of those things? I have nothing, less then nothing. People would rejoice at the news of my death. They would have yet another festival to help forget the reviled Kyuubi Container. 'I spat through the bars in my mind that kept the beast in check. He sulked, he had not been in the healing mood lately and I was feeling the pain tenfold of what I am accustom.



"You wanna forget you little bastard! I can make you forget about that damned Uchiha, that bitch with the pink hair, and the gray haired pervert. Your old sensei-the one with the scar. Everyone. None of them matter now. Just relax and I can take all the hurt out of you and shield you from further attacks," Kyuubi purred seductively, "Kit just say the word and you will have no pain, no loneliness...You just need to turn that key," Surly enough there laying on the dank ground was a large brass key and on the bars a lock that had not been there before, Naruto swore it hadn't been there a second before.



{Normal POV}



Then he didn't wake up. There was no explanation why. His body healed so suddenly. After nearly loosing his life twice in the hospital his wounds seemed to close up and heal before the eyes of his attending physician and nurses. His body was whole, so why should he not wake up. No one would have guessed it was by his choice that he was in a coma. The emotional pain he felt caused a self induced coma.



The rookie nine, or what was left of them, and Team Gai visited regularly Naruto in his sleeping state. Flowers were left, cards given. On his birthday, Sakura was there with him. This would be the first time in his life, since he was out of diapers, that he was not beaten up on his birthday. If only he would just wake up things could be alright, they could return to a semblance of normality.



In several months passed he had lost a considerable amount of weight. His limbs resembled twigs and his ribs seemed more prominent then they ever had. The visits slowly dropped to a scant few. No body had time for a lifeless shell that only brought pain to look upon. Sakura made sure he was well taken care of because she was working in the hospital, she withdrew from team seven since it was just her. She found her calling caring for the sick and injured.



She made sure to always have Naruto's bed as part of her rounds. She often crossed paths with the shy Hyuuga. Hinata never missed a week, she could not visit more then that due to her own responsibilities, but she always brought fresh flowers for him.



Sakura grinned for a second, remembering the girl blushing for Naruto, the dobe never noticed he had a pretty girl fainting in his presence. He was such a baka, 'There I go thinking of him in the past. He is not dead, someday he will wake up. Then I'm going to pound him right back into the coma for putting me through this.'



Kakashi still visited when he got the chance, but his visits were silent, and the man looked more and more depressed each time. Sakura saw him and could swear he looked like a ghost. She thought about telling him not to visit the sleeping boy, she could not bring herself to stop her former sensei.



Iruka was always faithful to visit on Saturdays. He would bring Ichiraku ramen and leave it for Naruto, just in case he would smell it and decide, 'Hey I'll just wake up, no point in wasting good food.' Sakura wished it were so easy, but the longer he slept the less likely it was that he would ever wake up. The damnedest part of it was Sakura had started to forget about Sasuke, not her anger at what he did, but why she had liked him in the first place. Her heart pulled toward the frail quiet Naruto and she saw the beauty in his face and never knew why she had not noticed how beautiful he was. She could almost be jealous of his heart shaped face and clear blue eyes that held sincerity. She missed seeing those eyes. Seeing them in her blissful ignorance.



Yes she had been a blind fool. Her memories had become tainted by those eyes. Such profound sadness they held, but he would smile. She was the fool! A stupid baka. Sakura had decided that she knew all along, she had seen the pain, hell she knew what the villagers had done to him. She really had no idea of the horrifying extent until she started at the hospital and saw his medical records.



He had been beaten, she knew he was picked on. He had been burned, She had heard some things. He had been raped, She had no clue. He had been raped on numerous occasions, even after joining the academy, once after he became part of team seven.



Did Kakashi know? How could he not? She remembers after that occasion they were retrieving a cat for a d-rank mission. Naruto climbed the tree to get the cat, for some reason he cried out in pain and fell to the ground. She had assumed the cat scratched him, but when Kakashi tried to check him he screamed and pushed their sensei away. 'I laughed at him, Sasuke called him a stupid dobe, Naruto had just been raped! He how could he have functioned after that trauma?



They checked him out and released him they didn't even investigate it.' Sakura sniffed as she changed a patient's bed, 'I hit him for letting the cat get a away and I told him he was useless.' She gasped at herself.



She remembered what he said, "Sorry Sakura-chan I'll do better next time. Believe it.“ His 'believe it' had been very unconvincing, but she didn't care enough to see the hurt in his eyes, the pain, the loneliness in his voice. The yearning for acceptance. His eyes were shining she though in admiration of her. Now she realized that they were glazed over with tears of hurt. Her eyes filled with her own tears. 'How could I have? I was crueler to him even then Sasuke and Sasuke was a bastard!'



Ino had come to get her for lunch and caught the girl crying, "Hey forehead, what's wrong?" Despite the insult her words were soft and caring.



"I'm only realizing what a horrible bitch I had been to him," Ino knew who him was, "And what a despicable bastard Sasuke is, If I never see him again it will be too soon!"



Ino was a bit taken aback, but she hugged the young medic, "You don't mean that. Naruto would..."



"Naruto would die for him, or me, or you, or any of us. You know what I learned since I started working here..." Sakura bit her tongue, much as she wanted everyone, at least her peers, to realize how hurt and used her friend had been—she had no right to say, "Let's just say that Naruto has every right to hate this village and everyone in it, and yet he loves us all. I think he loves Sasuke more then any of us did. They were-at one time-just alike. I didn't see it before, now It's painfully clear."



"Let's go get lunch and you can talk it out," Ino grabbed her friend's arm. Sakura confided her new feelings for Naruto, "Ino have you checked on him lately, look at Naruto's face he looks like an angel, he is getting very pale, but he has become eerily beautiful. I think," She caught a sob in her throat, "I think he's going to die. Very soon."



Ino paled, a piece of ramen hanging out of her mouth, "You can't mean that."



"What's worse, I think I'm in love with him. He's in a coma, and I know strange attractions to patients occur, but I think this was coming on since before. I just didn't know it until I looked back. I don't know what I will do when he dies."



"Don't," Ino looked at her worried.



"I think I'll just go hunt down Sasuke myself, but don't expect him or me to come out of it alive," Ino was scared. Sakura was in earnest. She was not hysterical when she said such things. It was painfully obvious that she had given this whole farce a lot of thought.

"Sakura, please don't you're scaring me," Ino hugged her friend and cried.



Naruto slept on until disaster struck Konoha and the citizens did not care. Orochimaru. Or rather some of his followers managed to abscond with the nine tails container. He would not stand a chance if the Kyuubi was extracted he would be dead. No big loss for Konoha. Except it was a big loss the boy that had been protecting them even as they beat, ostracized and hated him. Now they had not their protector to look after everybody. He would lose his life passive and uncaring, rather then fiercely fighting as he was meant to die.



A certain raven haired avenger. Student of the snake sannin. Sasuke Uchiha heard the rumors. They captured the Kyuubi. The men boasted as if it had been some great feat when in actuality they had simply walked into the hospital, picked him up, and walked out undetected. The first one to notice the loss was a pink haired medic nin...and she screamed frantically until the whole village knew. Naruto was gone.