Broken

Chapter 39: What Hurts the Most

The next day, Itachi felt worse then before – like the energy he did have was being drained from him. Laying in the chair like yesterday after getting out of bed with Naruto's help, he stared at the newspaper that was in his hands.

"Naruto, what was it like when you came out besides people thinking you were just trying to get attention?" Itachi questioned, putting the paper down and staring at the blond through his glasses.

Sticking his lip out a bit and looking at the ceiling, Naruto thought about it. "Well we didn't really have any problems. There were a few like Sakura who hated it. She showed that really well but tossing my stuff to the floor and making rude comments to me. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering." Itachi replied and went back to the paper. He didn't really want to bring up the real reason behind the question that was personal to the ebony haired man. The paper disappeared from his hands with Naruto staring at him, wanting an answer.

"Why did you ask?" Naruto repeated.

"I wanted to know what it was like when you came out. You had it differently then me. I had to put up with my locker being vandalized with vulgar words like faggot, homo, shit like that. People pushed me around in the halls and in PE. They forced me out of the boys' locker room once when I was shirtless, telling me I should go to the girls' locker room." Itachi reminisced his nightmares of his highschool and middle school life. How he hated those moments?

"Why would they do that?" Naruto asked as he turned his attention to something else then the long-haired man.

"Because they wouldn't – weren't – tolerant like people are today. Yeah, there's people like that still but not like it used to be it seems like." Itachi heard his voice rise and quit his rant. Looking toward the blond that he cherished, Itachi shook his head. "People back then thought it was against this or that. They didn't believe that people had the right to love whom they want."

Naruto took hold of the pale hand, rubbing his thumb against the back of it. "Well you don't have to worry about it anymore. You don't have to see them any more because you're not in high school."

"Then what happened to that girl that you and Sasuke sat with? The girl that had a girlfriend back in her hometown?"

"I don't really know. I found her on that social network, friended her but hadn't got anything back." Naruto replied. "Why?"

Itachi smiled. Once he was better then they'll be making a little trip. He'll also propose to his boyfriend where that girl is. "Just wondering. Do you know where her hometown is?"

"It's in the U.S. she was a foreign exchange student I think. I can't remember but I think Sasuke would remember." Naruto thought and racked his head over it. It was going to bug him all day. Pulling out his phone, he asked Sasuke, putting it back.

"Sasuke might know because he found her on there first."

Itachi turned his attention to the ball of fur that was curled up on his lap. Petting the calico's fur, he saw Kyuubi pout and sulk away. "Get back here. Just be careful."

Kyuubi hopped up onto his lap and received the treatment that his friend was also getting from the man.

"Sasuke said that she was from Ohio. He said he talked to her the day before and she was still living in the state. She's working on getting her public safety degree from the local college so she can start working as a probation officer."

"Where does she live at?" Itachi asked.

Naruto asked his old friend again and waited with the only sound coming from the television. Feeling his phone move in his hand, he flipped it open. "She's living on a farm close by to a town called Mount Vernon. She lives way out from the city but is still considered part of it."

Nodding, Itachi smirked as he heard the fox yip with enjoyment of the attention and the scratch he was getting behind his ears.

Please review