The Last

Chapter 12

"Well. He's typing..."
"BUT IT HAS BEEN A MINUTE! NOBODY TYPES SOMETHING FOR THAT LONG!" Sasuke panicked, causing him to receive a light smack on the arm from his mother. A look was sent towards him for his outburst. Mikoto nudged Itachi a little to get his attention when Sasuke had asked a question but Itachi didn't respond. "What did you think he was gonna do?" Sasuke repeated, feeling sad that his brother was so distracted and out of it whilst thinking about Naruto. Itachi looked at him. "Before. You were like, no no no no no, and then you snatched my phone." Itachi looked down at his phone gripped in his lap.
"He's hurting himself." Itachi whispered. Mikoto gasped, looking at Sasuke and Itachi. Sasuke seems pretty shocked by that statement too. Fugaku's grip on the steering wheel tightened. Naruto's stronger than this. Naruto is stronger than this. You're stronger than this Naruto. You better don't. Fugaku reassured himself, trying to get himself to relax and do the speed limit instead of risking a car accident right now. "He what?! He would never. Naruto would never hurt himself." Sasuke said, not believing Itachi one bit. Itachi sighed and looked out the window, silently willing the car to move a little faster. Mikoto swallowed. She doesn't want to know the answer to her question but she believes she should ask, for Fugaku and Sasuke. "When did he..." Mikoto couldn't bring herself to say it. She doesn't want to believe Naruto cuts himself and she didn't even notice. Something in Itachi's features tensed as he was asked that question that Mikoto doesn't even dare to finish. "He started before I knew him. I hadn't known about it until I had gone to look for him so that we could go to a cafe together. He...  he was on the rooftop, sitting on the ledge. I haven't seen any of the actual act of him hurting himself but he was there rewrapping his arm bandages. The scars... the cuts were horrendous. They, they crisscrossed each other like he had ran out of space. I, I made him promise not to hurt himself anymore. I had to check all the bandages that he uses to hide the scars to make sure everything was healing fine and that he wasn't adding anymore underneath them."

"But... but he said those bandages were to be like Lee because Lee wanted to him to train with him in the spirit of youth or something! I don't know whatever they were exclaiming about did not make any sort of sense." Sasuke defended. Itachi shook his head, he knows better. Sasuke took a shaky breath and looked towards the front. Naruto hadn't trusted him enough to tell him that he wasn't happy. This made Sasuke reflect on his actions, he had always insulted Naruto. Not all the time, most of the time the nickname dobe was an affectionate term between their friendly rivalry. The blond knows it... but all the other times when he calls Naruto weak, and stupid and idiotic... and that he couldn't handle the truth. Sasuke looked down into his lap and scrunched his eyes shut, willing the tears to go away. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Sasuke felt more hot tears making its way out from his eyes as he had heard the phrase Don't Cry in Naruto's gentle and soothing voice. He had heard the blond say that only because they had witnessed a car accident and Naruto had literally thrown his bag onto the ground and sprinted towards the wreckage. He then started pulling everyone out as quickly and carefully as possible as to not add to any more injuries. Sasuke had stood there the whole time, frozen. He didn't know what to do and he was afraid that if he went over to help he would just get in the way by being unsure. He remembered Naruto yelling at everyone to get away from the cars as he had smelt the fuel leaking. He then watched in horror as Naruto dive back into the wreckage and seconds later, the wreckage blew up. He remembered screaming out Naruto's name and praying that the blond was okay, even if his hair was a little bit singed. He then saw a streak of blond hair dashing out from behind the fireball. Naruto had rolled out in time, hidden from Sasuke's sight. He ran towards Naruto with the blond's backpack, dropping the bag wordlessly next to the boy that was consoling a little baby. He remembered the blond always carrying a small stuff toy in his pack, and him saying that they were for emergency situations - those were one of them. From that day on, Sasuke had gotten himself a small toy too and placed it in his pack just like Naruto does. 

"I can't live without that dobe." Sasuke muttered, wiping his tears furiously. "I need him. I can't be without him." He muttered again. With that, Fugaku applied a little more pressure on the accelerator - speeding tickets can be paid for, Naruto was more important. Fugaku had made a U-turn towards the parking space next to the curb, fitting perfectly between the two cars with the little drift maneuver he just performed. "How did you do that?"Mikoto asked, still shocked by that little stunt. 

"I didn't know I could do that." Fugaku replied, also shocked. Itachi had gotten out of the vehicle before Fugaku even had the chance to turn off the engine. "Wait! Itachi, let me talk to his parents. Don't break people's door down." Mikoto called out, getting out of the car as quickly as she could. The female Uchiha took a breath to compose herself, knowing what might happen. Minato and Kushina might brush them off and say that Naruto is fine and that the boy was being anti-social but everyone would know that's not that case except for the two Namikazes who are oblivious to anything about their smallest son. Mikoto knocked and heard Kushina bustling around inside. Minato had been the one that opened the door. "Mikoto! Fugaku! What brings you here? Kushina!! Mikoto and Fugaku and their sons are here!" Itachi twitched impatiently, he wanted to see Naruto and he wants it now. "Mikoto! What are you doing here! Oh god! I haven't cleaned the house!" 

"We are here to see Naruto-kun." Mikoto said bluntly, not even greeting their old friends. Kushina and Minato's response was not what Mikoto and Fugaku had prepared themselves for. "Who's Naruto?" Kushina asked, a look of confusion riddling her face. 

"What?!" Mikoto hissed, making her own family take a tiny step away in shock. They had never seen her so angry. "You! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! Y'ALL DON'T DESERVE A SWEET AND CARING SON LIKE NARUTO! YOU FUCKING SHITHEADS LISTEN UP HERE, I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG YOU HAVEN'T SEEN NARUTO BUT THERE SHOULD BE NO WAY YOU CAN FORGET YOUR OWN SON!" Mikoto shouted, making Sasuke's hand fly towards Itachi's and gripping it tightly for some protection from his big brother. Itachi had instinctively pulled Sasuke behind him slightly as if to use himself as a shield for his little otouto despite being scared himself. Wow. Kushina, Minato you guys messed up big time. My wife never raises her voice even when she's mad. This time you guys have really pushed it too far.