The Challenge

Chapter Five: “Remembering The Past”

Before heading to bed Itachi stopped in front of his brother’s room when he saw the light on under the door. Sasuke knew better then to stay up reading or studying. Sighing he opened the door ready to tell him to go to sleep only to find he already was. He was in his pajamas but asleep on top of his blankets and the lamp on his nightstand was on. He walked in and gathered Sasuke into his arms in order to pull his covers down and tuck him in. His brother must have been very tired because he didn’t wake even when lifted and put in to his lap.

The younger boy was light in his arms making it hard to believe he was fifteen. While sleeping he could easily be mistaken for twelve. He made a mental note to change Sasuke’s diet; he needed to gain some weight. It shouldn’t be too hard since Sasuke didn’t really do anything physical but had a high metabolism. They had a doctor’s appointment coming up so he would bring it up. Sasuke was thin and having a hard time staying warm sometimes it worried him.

Carefully he slid Sasuke off his lap and on to the bed under his blankets. Once he was out of his arms he curled up in a ball tucking his hands under his chin. Itachi stood watching the younger boy sleep. Usually he lay on his side but hadn’t curled in on himself for a long time. When he was younger he always slept in that manner to make a smaller target. It took weeks to break him of it when he got out of the foster home. He decided not to let it bother him unless he started sucking his thumb again then it would be a problem.

He needed to pay more attention to his brother. When he picked him up from the Hyuugas he slept in the car on the way home. Usually he talked a mile a minute about the project or something funny one of his classmates said or did. Today he mulled around the house in silence barely touching his dinner and missed more questions than usual on his math homework. Maybe the project was a bad idea but it was too late to change his mind now and spending time with other students was good for him. Hinata was exactly the kind of person he liked Sasuke to spend time with but it wouldn’t do any good to get ahead of himself.

After turning off the light he headed towards his own room.

XX***XX

Two screaming figures engulfed in flames yelled in agony while strange unyielding arms held him in place. The flames crackling and the breaking wood of the house drowned out their screams as he was forced further from the heat. Men in special clothes shouted orders at each other and ran towards the building with axes and hoses only to driven back by an explosion. The man holding him back threw him to the ground and dropped on top of him to shield him from the heat.

The weight pressing him to the ground removed it’s self and put him back on his feet. He didn’t stand for long before collapsing under the weight of his sadness and grief. Those men were not reentering the fire for the two burning figures but for the one small one he left behind. He didn’t mean to leave him behind but he was getting heavy and it was just so hot and he couldn’t breath or see. He was just going to step out side for a breath of fresh air and then go back for him but those men showed up and grabbed him.

“Let go of me, my brother’s still in there.” They sent men in after him then men in after those men. Finally something walked out of the flames holding something in it’s arms.

Fire fighters and EMTs quickly surrounded him hiding him from Itachi’s view. They were yelling and moving and he was pushed towards an ambulance. Once inside he was stuck looking at the scene through small windows. When the door opened a rolling bed was crammed in followed by EMTs an a firefighter. They were shouting medical things at each other that he couldn’t understand. Then he finally took a closer look at the bed.

Laying in the center of what looked like tin foil was his baby brother. His face was streaked black form soot and his hair looked too short on one side. “Is he okay?” He tried to ask over them shouting. They were too busy saying things like ‘smoke inhalation’ and ‘minor burns’. He was ready to cry again when black eyes finally opened.

XX***XX

For the first time in years Itachi jerked awake from a nightmare. Usually he didn’t have nightmares of his own but spent his time helping Sasuke with his own. If the nightmare wasn’t bad enough it had to be about the fire. Lying in his bed he could almost still feel the heat from the flames causing him to kick away his covers. He looked over at his clock noticing he only had less than an hour before he had to get up. It was too early to go back to sleep; if he did he ran the risk of sleeping through his alarm. Normally he got up way earlier than Sasuke to have a jog and get breakfast ready before his brother woke up. Today he didn’t feel like getting bundled up and run in the cold. The cold didn’t bother him; it was a good way to wake up and worked better then coffee. Waking early from the nightmare left him too tired to go for a jog.

Instead he got out of bed and showered. Sasuke was still sleeping curled in a tight ball in the middle of his bed. Itachi stood in the younger boy’s doorway watching him sleep while drying his hair with a towel.

To this day the cause of the fire was still undetermined but the most likely cause was something electrical in the wall. The only thing that was certain was that they ruled out arson with the absence of accelerants. Accidental arson was their first explanation because of the fireplace and the two young boys. At eight and thirteen it was possible that one or both of them could have been playing with matches or the stove. The theory was quickly thrown out when the investigation couldn’t find a point of origin.

Thinking of the fire made him look up at the smoke alarm hanging above Sasuke’s door to make sure the red light was still blinking. There was one in every room and two on either side of the kitchen. Itachi made sure to check everyone of them religiously. It was the one thing he did remember from the original accident, how the investigation team was constantly saying that if they had more smoke alarms then they all could have gotten out in time. The only working alarm was in his room waking him up. His first thought was Sasuke; his first was always Sasuke. Their parents had taught them what to do in case of a fire so Itachi racked his brain to remember. The fire wasn’t on the second floor where the bedrooms were but everything was full of smoke. He quickly entered Sasuke’s room and woke the little boy putting him on his back. The thought of his parents didn’t enter his mind as he moved through the smoke. He was only thirteen protecting his parents wasn’t his job; the only responsibility was to the helpless boy on his back.

As he made his way downstairs outside the neighbors called the fire department. He took the stairs by memory not being able to see through the smoke and becoming light headed from breathing it. Half way down Sasuke passed out from smoke inhalation but he didn’t know that until he started to fall off his back. Itachi struggled through tearing eyes and burning lungs to drag him downstairs. He was almost there when the coughing started. Any minute his Dad and Mom should rush in and carry them out of the house but they were no where in sight. It was then that he made another mistake. He put Sasuke on the floor face down remembering that smoke rose upward. All he needed to do was run outside for a breath of air and let the open door vent the house some. Then he would go back for Sasuke. Unfortunately he didn’t know that opening the door pulled more oxygen into the house fueling the fire in the back of the house that he couldn’t see. Right outside a fireman grabbed him not letting him reenter the house.

Itachi shook the memory from his head. That helpless feeling of watching those men run into the burning building to rescue his brother. He was torn between quilt and jealousy at leaving the boy behind and letting them do his job. It was at that moment that he swore that he would always protect him in the way that he couldn’t back then.

XX***XX

A gentle shacking to his shoulder brought him out of a dreamless sleep. Usually he got up with his alarm clock but sometimes Itachi would make him up. It was a nicer way to wake up then the chime of the alarm. His brother moved his blankets and pulled him in to a sitting position while he wiped sleep from his eyes. The night before he fell asleep early not even remembering getting under his covers.

“Did you sleep well?” Itachi asked standing up and running his hand through his still wet hair.

“I did, what about you?”

“Yes, now get up and take your shower.” His brother turned and left carrying his towel with him.

For some reason he sensed something wrong with his brother, well maybe not wrong but different. Itachi got distant emotionally sometimes and then when the episode passed he got even more clinging then usual. He remembered the last bad episode happened over a year ago and he kept Sasuke in the house for three days not allowing him to even go outside. It had happened during summer so school was a non-issue but Itachi had to call in sick to work. Sasuke was not looking forwards to that happening again.

Outside the shower he dressed, fixed his hair. And headed towards the kitchen. Itachi was drinking coffee as usual and had placed cereal and a glass of orange juice for him on the table. His brother stood before the kitchen window over the sink looking out over the back yard. Sasuke sipped his juice watching his brother’s square shoulders and strait back. The hair that he always kept long but neat was in it’s normal ponytail laying down his strait spine. There were no creases or lines in his black slacks and dark blue button up dress shirt and his shoes were shiny. Sasuke always wondered why he took the time to iron his clothe and shine his shoes just for school. Itachi told him that ‘clothe are your first impression and you can’t over look it. You never know who you’ll run into just walking down the street.’

The foggy winter morning light shone through the window hitting his brother’s face. As he thought about how handsome his brother was an odd question hit his mind so hard that it was out of his mouth before he could think better of it. “Itachi why don’t you have a girlfriend? You’re good looking; you must have a ton of girls following you around.” The statement made him blush but it was all true. He could probably guess that the answer had something to do with Itachi devoting all his time to raising him.

Itachi turning to him smiling. “I could ask you the same thing.” That was Itachi’s style; avoid a question by embarrassing him.

“No, girls think I’m cute but not boyfriend material. They’d rather date Naruto or Gaara.” His voice chocked up on the last boy’s name remembering the other morning. Of course Itachi noticed his sudden discomfort, he always noticed everything.

“Now I know that can’t be true besides what about Hinata?” Itachi finally turned all the way around to face him but didn’t sit down.

Sasuke looked down at his cereal that was getting soggy and he would have to eat it anyway or Itachi would worry. “She’s nice but we’re just friends. Hinata likes Naruto anyways and he’s good friends with Neji. She says Neji won’t let him near her when he’s around.”

In front of him Itachi sighed heavily then dropped into his seat. “I didn’t know you knew this many people: Gaara, Naruto, Hinata, and Neji. Until last week you never mentioned any of the names of people you went to school with.”

“Yeah I guess.” In fact he knew almost everyone at school because of in class group projects and listening to their conversations. He didn’t get close to anyone because eventually friends would wonder why he couldn’t go to their house or why they couldn’t come over. With spending time being restricted to just at school any friends he made usually moved on to others after so long. He didn’t mention any of this to Itachi.

“I’m glad you have friends.” He got up and put his cup in the sink. “Get your stuff and I’ll take you to school.” Itachi didn’t notice he hadn’t finished his breakfast. Usually his brother was insistent on him eating all his meals but today he seemed distant. Not thinking too much about it he gathered his things and bundled up. In the car on the way to school he remembered that there was no homework assignments from science yesterday. Iruka-sensei spent the class time lecturing but didn’t finish; he would finish today. Sasuke suspected that he probably taught the same curriculum in all his classes so most likely Naruto didn’t get homework either.

Sasuke didn’t know how he felt about that. It always made him nervously to spent time alone with other classmates when he didn’t have something to occupy the time. With Hinata it was all about the project and with Naruto it was supposed to be all about homework. He expected Naruto to either just copy his work or work through it as fast as possible to get back to his friends. It surprised him when the blond gave him a completed assignment to look at and even bought him a milk then went back to get him a straw. Naruto was nicer then he thought he would be and even dropped his stupid flirting. It was nice to sit with him after what happened with Gaara.

He shivered gently at the moment drawing Itachi’s attention. His brother leaned over and adjusted to temp in the car. “Are you cold?” He nodded but didn’t answer. They drove to the back of the school where he immediately noticed the familiar car among the few faculty vehicles. Itachi turned to him and smoothed out his hair smiling gently. “I’ll be right here when you get out of class.”

Outside of the car he shouldered his bag and walked into the building noticing that Itachi wasn’t leaving. Ignoring it he walked to his locker to get just the books he needed and to change shoes. After that he went to the library. He didn’t expect to see Naruto there but he was sitting at a table near the back almost hidden behind book shelves. The blond smiled big and goofy and waved him over obnoxiously. Before heading over he looked both ways as if crossing the road in case maybe Naruto was waving at someone else. It seemed strange for him to be so happy just to see him.

“Sasuke come over here.” Naruto’s voice filled the empty library drawing an angry look from the women at the desk.

“Yes okay just shut up.” He sat in the chair that couldn’t be seen by the librarian. That stupid blond drawing unwanted attention to him. “Did you get homework from Iruka-sensei?”

“No,” Naruto scratched at the back of his head in what Sasuke was beginning to realize was his biggest habit.

“You didn’t need to come in early then.” He didn’t understand, it wasn’t like the two of them were friends or anything.

“Yes I know that but last night I was thinking about yesterday morning.” Sasuke blushed and looked down at his hands folded neatly in his lap when Naruto’s gaze turned serious. “I was wondering what did Gaara do to scare you?”

“Oh well he just,” his voice stuttered against his will. Why did Naruto have to bring up that red haired jerk? Suddenly he could feel Gaara against him breathing in his ear. One hand circling his wrist tracing a thumb on the inside. Unconsciously he pulled the sweatshirt sleeve down further to cover his hands. He clenched his eyes shut at the memory of unwanted lips pressed to his forcing a kiss on him. It reminded him of a past he thought he had forgotten. A past of being held down and forced to… Unnoticed in his currant state his breathing had sped up leaving him lightheaded. Somewhere in front of him someone was calling his name. He could barely hear it over the thudding of his own heart in his ears. All of this was strangely familiar, the panic and lightheadedness. It seemed like deja-vu at least that was his last thought before everything went black.

XX***XX

It was an innocent question or so Naruto thought. He didn’t expect the other boy to start shacking and hyperventilate. Suddenly he lurched forwards, falling into his arms. “Hey,” he yelled, “I need some help.” The women behind the desk rushed to his side. “Can you call the school nurse. I’ll take him, I think he just fainted.” She nodded and ran back over to her desk to use the inter school phone. Naruto maneuvered Sasuke into a different position to make it easier for him to lift the other boy into his arms. The school was still mostly empty so there was little to no chance of being seen carrying the pale boy.

“The nurse is expecting him. I told her that he just fainted. That’s what happened right?” She seemed skeptical and he didn’t blame her but it left him kind of angry. In the past he had been a bully and when something happened to another student near him it had usually been his fault. He would have thought that him holding the other boy would have said something about his change. Nodding at her he left the library and started towards the nurse’s office.

Nurse Shizune was standing outside the office as he approached. “Come on I have a bed for him. Lay him down and I’ll see if I can find his personal information.” She pointed at an empty bed by a window.

He placed the other boy on the bed while Shizune disappeared into a back room. It wasn’t until he pulled back after putting him down that he noticed how light Sasuke was. After picking him up especially as dead weight, his shoulders and arms should be sore but it was like he hadn’t lifted anything at all. Sasuke didn’t lay peacefully. His facial features crunched up and his head tossed from side to side.

“Sasuke.” His hand barely touched his shoulder but he pulled away and whimpered.

“Naruto,” Shizune’s voice pulled his attention away from the sleeping boy. “I have his medical information and aside from a couple allergies he doesn’t seem to have any medical issues.” She pulled a chair over by him and pushed him into it. “Wait with him while I call his guardian.”

“No,” he practically yelled latching on to her hand. “His brother’s very protective. He’ll overreact and embarrass him. Could you at least wait until he wakes up.”

“I can’t do that. People don’t just faint for no reason. His brother has to be contacted.” Her voice was firm and unyielding but he couldn’t give up.

“Please,” he begged, “just wait until he wakes then if he still feels bad you can call his brother.” Shizune was good friends with the principal Tsunade who in turn was good friends with his guardian Jiraiya. “I’ll explain everything to Principal Tsunade no one will get into trouble.” He tried to give her his best puppy dog eyes.

To his utmost surprise she folded. “Fine, I’ll write notes for your first class but if he doesn’t wake in the next half and hour then I call his brother.”

“Okay that’s good.” He turned from her to look at the now calm sleeping boy. Sasuke had stopped moving and was still. “Don’t you have smelling salts or anything you know to wake him.”

“Yes but it would be better for him to wake up naturally.” She patted him on the shoulder. “When he wakes up I would like to speak to you alone with the principal.” He was barely listening to her words being more interested in Sasuke’s sleeping face. Her shoes made soft patting noises as she walked away.

Sasuke was breathing through his slightly opened mouth with soft wet sounds that were cuter than snores. It made Naruto smile as he reached down to remove his white in-school sneakers. His intension was to make the other student more comfortable. Next he maneuvered him to pull off his sweater because the office was warm and a film of sweat was covering his forehead. His uniform jacket road up on his back some so he straitened it out. Bunching his own hands in the material he noticed how big his clothes were. Sasuke had to be at least a size smaller than himself if not more but they wore the same size uniform. “You’re just full of surprises.”

As he spread a light sheet over Sasuke he noticed a thick black watch on his right wrist. His mind drifted back through the memories he had of watching the other boy trying to remember if he was right or left handed. Usually people wore their watches on the opposite hand they wrote with. A couple days ago at lunch Sasuke was sitting with Hinata writing and he used his left hand. It wasn’t odd but being right handed himself he was fascinated by the upside down way left handed people wrote. His guardian Jiraiya was left handed and he always said that most his artistic friends were left handed.

He gently lifted the pale and slightly cold hand to investigate the thick black watch. It was latched through a homemade hole to make it fit around the boy’s thin wrist and some of the band had been cut off leaving the edge strait and not rounded. His fingers slowly pulled the watch band out of the loop and pulled it back to remove the metal catch. He wanted to take it off in case he curled up and he didn’t want him to lay his head on the hard watch. What he saw on the inside of the pale wrist made him stop and gasp. There were two maybe three pink scars running across the folds of the wrist. He refastened the watch hiding the marks. His hand pushed his sleeve up but didn’t find any more marks there or when he checked the other wrist and arm. Shocked and curious he sat back in his chair to wait for him to wake up.

“Naruto,” Shizune approached him talking softly. “I called his home but there was no answer. Do you know if he’s at school or work?”

“He’s probably at school.” He didn’t take his eyes off of Sasuke who started moving again. These weren’t the movements of a nightmare but of waking. He licked his lips and blinked his eyes before fully opening them. “Sasuke wake up,” Naruto gently coaxed.

Looking almost too cute for words he reached up and rubbed at his eyes. “Where am I?” Naruto helped him sit up slowly. “How’d I get here?”

“It’s the nurses office and I carried you.” This made Sasuke blush and look down at his lap. “You scared the crap out of me in the library; passing out like that. Are you okay?” Sasuke yawned and rolled his shoulders.

“Yes.” Naruto wasn’t fully convinced by his answer but knew Sasuke was in no condition to be questioned. Instead he walked over to the sink and got him a paper cup full of cold water. “Thanks,” cold fingers took the cup from his warm ones and sipped at it slowly.

“Sasuke,” Shizune started, “do you have a number other than your home where we could reach your brother?”

The brunet fidgeted with his empty cup before crunching it in his hands. “Do you have to call him?” His voice was quiet and he didn’t look up.

“You were out for over forty-five minutes for an unknown reason. I’m not approving you for returning to class.” She took her attention off of him to turn to Naruto. “You can stay until his brother comes for him but then you need to go to class.”

“He just got a new cell phone but I don’t remember the number and he turns it off while in class. You can call the University Of Konoha and they might be able to get a hold of him.”

“Okay I’ll call.”

Before Shizune could leave Naruto spoke up making both of them gawk at him. “Why don’t I take him home and stay with him until his brother gets there?”

“Naruto I can’t just let students go home with anyone, besides you have classes of your own to worry about.”

“Oh come on we’re old enough to be alone. I mean Jiraiya hasn’t been home in over a month.” Naruto argued. “I can get my homework assignments from Iruka, Shikamaru, and Neji. Just let me talk to grandma… oh I mean principal Tsunade; it’ll be fine.”

Shizune frowned at his slipped insult towards Tsunade. “You are lucky she’s in meetings all day, but we are still going to talk later.” She walked over to a desk and wrote something on two pink forms. “I will explain everything to Tsunade on her lunch break.” She handed Naruto a pink slip then turned to Sasuke. “When I call your brother I’ll tell him you were taken home by another classmate.” He took his note from her hand.

Naruto shoved the slip into his pocket and looked over at Sasuke. He wasn’t sure what the fall out of this would be but he was sure that Sasuke wasn’t just ready to be smothered by his over protective brother. “Are you sure you want me to take you home?” Sasuke nodded and climbed out of the bed. That was all he need to know as he helped the other boy gather his things.

XX***XX

NOTES:
1) Normally when I write non AU stories I like to make Naruto and Sasuke equal in the way of strength. As the story progresses Sasuke will become less weak and sickly.

2) Leaving Sasuke behind in the burning house is one half of the reason Itachi is so protective of his brother. The other half of the reason will be revealed in the next chapter.

3) I am right handed but wear my watch on my right hand and am mistaken for being left handed. The artist statement isn’t always true but most people I know who can draw are left handed. I find this interesting because I can not draw to save my live.

XX***XX

Responses to Reviews:

1) Kyra: There is no rhyme or reason behind when I post. I am so sorry. I try to post with in a reasonable amount of time. The problem is my writing process takes forever. I take notes, outline the chapter, write the chapter on paper, type it up, proof read, let it sit for at least a day, then proofread again before posting. It is a long process but it makes the chapters long and well written.

2) Lane: Thank you for reading. The Gaara going after Naruto was something I came up with at the last minute but I’m glad you like it. He was very mean but he only stays the bad guy for the first half of the story.

3) mrwonderwall: I used to not care who was on top Sasuke or Naruto but I have acquired an obsession for UkeSasuke. I like to experiment with different ways of writing the characters. In this story he is a weak girly uke but I have a story coming up were he is strong and powerful but still uke. As for dialogue I’m working on it. If I could write the story without anyone talking to each other I would.