MUTE: Chapter 1

"Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura-"
"Hai, I hear you-"
"Me too, dattebayo-"
"I'm here, Sensei-"
"Good. Keep a close trail; it's starting to get dark and we don't want to lose him-"
"Hai-"
"I got it-"
"Of course-"
The microphone strapped around Sasuke's neck screeched momentarily to signal the end of the transmission. He jumped from tree limb to tree limb, briefly noticing his teammates in his peripheral vision. Kakashi was farther behind them, Sasuke in the lead, then Naruto and Sakura side by side for a stable offense/defense position of the squad as they moved.
"Naruto, hurry up-" Sakura's voice broke through, followed by the screech. Sasuke could hear Naruto's voice screech through next.
"Naah, Sakura-chan I'm goin`, I'm goin`...-"
Sasuke sighed into the microphone as he continued on through the dense forest. A clearing was coming up, and now Sasuke would be able to track the target with sight, rather than earlier when all they had to go by was sound. From the information Tsunade had given them, they were tracking a Konoha rouge ninja who had gone berserk and was attempting to make it across the border. Team 7 had orders to secure the target, but not kill him...if it could be helped. Sasuke smirked as he saw the man some 300 yards ahead, moving at a steady speed.
"Kakashi, I see the target-"
"Good, don't attack, Naruto can attempt an offense first, then you follow. Upon my command, Sakura-chan and I will be back-ups...-"
"Got it. Naruto, pass me now and go after him, Dobe-"
"Right! ...Not Dobe, Teme-"
Naruto increased his speed and caught up to Sasuke. Momentarily they were side by side and Sasuke spared a glance in Naruto's direction. The blonde looked as determined as ever, and having been the one lagging behind on their last few missions, he obviously wanted to redeem himself. Half a second later, Naruto was far ahead of him and Sasuke had to increase his own speed to catch up again.
"Hah! Gettin slow there, Sasuke? Dattebayo-"
"Shut it, Dobe. On Kakashi's command, you attack. I'll be right behind you-"
Naruto nodded and they proceeded through the trees, waiting for the signal from their sensei. A second later, Kakashi's voice sounded through.
"Go now! Waste no time-"
"Hai-"
"Hai, dattebayo-"
They jumped into the clearing and ran swiftly towards the target. Before they could reach him, however, a kunai knife flew at them from the right. Both boys successfully avoided it, but had jumped in opposite directions. Naruto was closer to their original target now, as it took Sasuke a moment to avoid landing in a ditch.
"What the hell was that!?" Naruto yelled, his microphone having disconnected itself when he landed.
Sasuke continued running after Naruto, looking to his right and instantly noticing the lone Grass shinobi who was keeping pace with Naruto.
"Naruto!! On your right, your right!!" Sasuke yelled ahead of him as yet another kunai flew at the blonde. His microphone still being connected, Sasuke spoke into it, "Kakashi! He has an ally! He's going after Naruto, who's still after the rouge; I'll handle this one until you show up-" Sasuke swore as he attempted to catch up with Naruto and the two shinobi. When he and Naruto had started their lone chase, they had sped up a considerable amount. It would take Kakashi and Sakura at least sixty seconds to get to them.
A lot could happen in sixty seconds.
Naruto had avoided the last kunai, caught it mid-air, in fact, and instantly threw it at the original target, who avoided it easily. The second shinobi got out another kunai, but before he could throw it, Sasuke caught up to him and whipped some shuriken at him as they ran. Easily avoiding Sasuke's attack, the ninja wasn't ready for it when he smacked into a seemingly invisible wall. Upon closer inspection, one could see that it was really a twine net that had each corner attached to the center of the four shuriken Sasuke had purposely thrown too far in front of his adversary.
Regaining his footing, the grass shinobi swore loudly when he saw that his Konoha friend and Naruto were already out of site. He turned to face Sasuke, smirking at him.
"It's a no go, little boy. You're no match for me! I'm a rouge Jounin! There's no way you can beat me!" he boasted, preparing to attack.
It had only been about fifteen seconds since he had called for assistance. Sasuke cursed the situation, hoping Naruto could hold his own against the rouge Leaf ninja, who was also a Jounin.
Sasuke willed the man, who's boasting was insufferable, to shut up. Quickly performing the hand signs, Sasuke positioned himself for the fire ball technique and blew a large waft of fire right at the man's face. Quickly using a substitution, the shinobi dodged his attack and created 3 doppelgangers that instantly ran at Sasuke with kunai knives.
"Damn it! I don't have time for this!" Sasuke yelled, trying to fight off the doppelgangers.
30 seconds.
40 seconds.
50 seconds.
55 seconds- Sasuke and his opponent both gasped as an explosion shook the ground they stood on. It seemed to come from the direction Naruto had run in. Not even a second later 3 Kakashi doppelgangers came to Sasuke's aid and dispelled the Grass clones. Several kunai shot through the air, most of them hitting the shinobi's face. A kunai knife instantly sliced over the man's neck, forcing him to fall backwards. He was dead before he hit the ground.
Kakashi and Sakura landed swiftly on either side of Sasuke.
Kakashi glanced at him.
"How far away is Naruto?"
"I don't know...maybe 600 yards by now, but what was the explosion?"
"Seems like a paper bomb. But who's?" Sakura asked, as she inspected the dead man's body. "Kakashi-sensei, you might wanna check your bingo book for this guy..."
Kakashi was about to respond when he noticed movement in the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he could see Naruto coming out of the dense woods that he had chased the rouge ninja into. He was alone, and by the look of it, possibly wounded, judging by his slow pace.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, running towards the blonde. When he reached him, Sasuke expected the usual tough-guy act, but was met with no words. Naruto only kept staring at the ground, not even bringing attention to the spattered blood on his face. Seeing no wounds, Sasuke judged it to be the rouge's blood. He grabbed Naruto's shoulders and shook him slightly. "Hey, Naruto...did you kill him? Was that your bomb then?" Sasuke asked, sounding slightly urgent. Why wasn't Naruto talking to him!?
Naruto continued to stare at the ground, his face crinkling momentarily. Kakashi and Sakura ran over, both stopping in front of Naruto. Kakashi studied the boy for a moment, taking into account that he had no visible wounds, although he was covered in blood. Before he could speak, Naruto fell forward, sinking into unconsciousness as Sasuke caught him in mid-air.
0-O-0-O-0-O-0-O-0-O-0
"Yo, Sasuke, Sakura."
"Hmm? Oh, it's you guys. Hi." Sasuke said, turning in his chair to see Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji enter the pristine looking hospital room. Sakura was seated across the room in a comfy looking light blue chair. Sasuke was seated exactly next to Naruto's hospital bed, he was so close to it because although Naruto was asleep, the blonde wouldn't let go of the fabric of Sasuke's arm band.
Noticing this, Shikamaru gestured at the sleeping Naruto. "Why's he hangin` on you like that?" he asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know. As soon as he became conscious again, he wouldn't let me go. I'd ask him, but I'm sure you already heard what the doctor said, since he was leaving right before you guys came in."
Ino nodded, "He won't talk, right? Did he actually go mute, or is he choosing to stay quiet?"
Sakura shook her head, "They don't know yet, but they think he's choosing not to speak.” “It's so weird for Naruto to be quiet..."
Chouji swallowed a potato chip, "What's even weirder is that you're letting him hang onto you like that, Sasuke."
Sasuke blushed momentarily, but dispersed it. "Kakashi told me to let him. He said it's probably psychological, and that the ninja we were tracking may have said something that put him in shock or denial..."
At that moment, Naruto's eyes flickered open. He sat up, momentarily relinquishing his grip on Sasuke's arm band, but only long enough to move his hand to grab onto Sasuke's sleeve. He glanced at the others in the room, but gave them no kind of greeting as he stared down at the bed sheets. Sasuke watched him for a moment before looking back at the others.
"Did you see Kakashi on your way up here? He said he'd only be gone long enough to alert the Hokage about Naruto's condition."
They all shook their heads, "Sorry, Sasuke. Well, it's a drag that you won't say hi to me, Naruto, but we have to get to the training grounds. I'll see ya, Sasuke, Sakura..." Shikamaru said, taking his leave, followed by his teammates who gave similar goodbyes.
Once they were gone, Sasuke and Sakura sat in silence until Naruto returned to sleep. As soon as he was, Sakura watched Sasuke watching Naruto. The look on Sasuke's face told her enough.
"Sasuke-kun...Do you...care for Naruto?"
"Of course I do, he's part of our squad..."
"That's...not what I mean. I mean...do you...love him?"
"..."
Neither spoke for a few minutes, until Sasuke finally replied.
"...I don't know."
"...I see. And you...don't love me...do you?" Sakura asked, a pained expression in her eyes. Sasuke sat quietly for a moment.
"...No."
Sakura sighed, "Does loving him make you happy? Because, if it does...then I guess I'm happy..." her eyes looked ready to tear over.
Sasuke looked taken aback. "You make it seem like I'm dating him, Sakura."
Sakura shook her head, unable to speak any longer without the threat of tears. She stood and walked quietly from the room. Once she slid the door shut, Sasuke sat and stared at Naruto for a long time while the blonde slept.
"But she's right...it does make me happ-" "YO!"
Sasuke fell backwards off of his chair, almost smacking head off of the floor. His sudden movement tore him from Naruto's sleeping grip, and the blonde's hand twitched at the empty space in it's palm. Sasuke looked toward the window, to see who had spoken.
Of course, it was Kakashi, who was now sitting comfortably on the window sill, "Sakura-chan got pretty upset...but she's trying to put up a front."
Sasuke barely spared him another glance, feeling embarrassed about being caught off guard. "I know. What's your point? You left 3 hours ago and never came back."
Kakashi sighed, "Well, it happened like this; I was on my way to see Tsunade-sama, and I saw this little kitty cat that was stuck in a...in a ramen bowl, so I just HAD to stop and help it..."
"You went for lunch!? You at least talked to the Hokage afterwards, right?"
Kakashi nodded, "Yeap. She said that since Naruto suffered no outer injuries, he may leave the hospital, but since he can't, or won't, speak, she wants to make sure there is someone with him most of the time. I volunteered you for this, Sasuke, but we can all take turns between you, myself, and Sakura."
Sasuke nodded, looking once more at Naruto before waking him up. The blonde sat up and watched Kakashi climb off of the window sill. The Jounin handed Naruto a bag, "I picked up your clothes from the hospital laundry, Naruto. You can change while I have a word with Sasuke, then we can all leave, neh?"
Naruto took the bag and watched Kakashi lead Sasuke out the door. In the hall, Kakashi lectured Sasuke.
"I know it will be hard, but act as if nothing is wrong with him. Psychological problems like this can't be solved by freaking out, so act as you normally do."
Sasuke nodded, but asked a question he had thought of earlier, "Why doesn't one of the Anbu squads simply hypnotize him and get him to spill what happened?"
Kakashi shook his head, "That was suggested while I was speaking with the Hokage. The idea was vetoed; in Naruto's current state, we don't know what damage it could do on his conscious mind. Let's go back in, he should be dressed now..."
Upon reentering the room, they saw Naruto tying on his head band. Still he said nothing, but followed them out of the hospital clutching to Sasuke's sleeve yet again.
As they walked, Kakashi eventually ditched them, preferring to sneak off to the "book store". Sasuke and Naruto headed towards Ichiraku, stopping once to explain to Kiba, Hinata, and Shino why Naruto was attached to Sasuke's sleeve.
Needless to say, Kiba tried to laugh it off, Shino had no comment, and Hinata turned as red as a tomato. The boys got away from them as quickly as possible, Sasuke didn't feel like making another trip to the hospital if Hinata fainted.
Throwing aside the heavy cloth that hung over Ichiraku, Sasuke and Naruto sat down on stools next to the wall. Naruto still clung to Sasuke, and sat quietly as Sasuke ordered for them and explained yet again why Naruto was hanging on him. The old man looked surprised when Naruto wouldn't even touch his ramen, and his daughter, looked sad for Naruto.
"Naruto-kun, you of all people turning down ramen? It's just not right. Please, get better soon." she smiled at Naruto, who, unfortunately, did not return the smile. Sasuke apologized and put some extra money on the counter before they left.
"This is to apologize for him not eating anything."
She nodded sadly and watched the two of them leave the stand.
As they were going down the street, a sudden burst of green ran past them, forcing them to stop. When whatever it was that ran past them realized it, it ran backwards until it was running in place in front of them. Actually, it was Lee, who stopped running in place and greeted them.
"Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun! Good afternoon, how are you!?!" the over-enthusiastic Lee asked them. Naruto remained silent and watched Lee gibber on for a moment until Neji and Ten Ten showed up. Neji looked at Sasuke and Naruto, his eyebrows raised questionably once he saw Naruto holding Sasuke's sleeve.
Sasuke sighed, "I'm getting really sick of explaining this, you know...okay, we were on a mission today, and Naruto got separated from the rest of us...when he came back, he was so shaken up that he stopped talking, and now, for whatever reason, he feels the need to constantly hang onto someone...usually me." Neji nodded, filling in the missing spots of the story on his own. He could also see the range of psychological involvement with Naruto's condition. Ten Ten understood it nearly as much, although Lee looked completely perplexed.
"So then...he's like a puppy?" Lee asked, comparing the fact that puppies sometimes follow people, as Naruto was constantly with someone now.
Sasuke rubbed his temple, "I...I guess?" the thought of Naruto as a puppy was a bit much for his self control, so he instead focused on the fact that Ten Ten had a small box with her. Following his gaze, Ten Ten held the box up.
"We bought some dango. Gai-sensei was sent on a mission, so we have the day off...but the one who told us he was gone for the day was Anko-sensei...who told us we have to buy her some dango, or she's kill us. I wouldn't put it past her either..." she laughed lightly, not doubting for a second that Anko would get violent over the food, "We also bought some extra for ourselves. Would you two like some?"
She held the box out to Sasuke, who shook his head. "No way, I hate sweet stuff..."
When the box was in front of him, Naruto just stared at it before lightly shaking his head, denying it. Sasuke snapped on him.
"What the hell, Naruto? First you wouldn't eat anything at the hospital, then you turned down Ichiraku, and now you won't even eat some dango!? You LOVE sweet foods! I know Kakashi told me to put up with you, and act normal, but I can't! Not if you're going to act like this! Screw it, I'm DONE." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and tore it off of his shirt sleeve before storming off in the opposite direction. Naruto, Lee, Ten Ten, and Neji stared after him, shocked that Sasuke had spoken so many words at once.
Turning to look at Naruto, Neji saw him wringing his hands at the air. He was obviously regretting the fact that he had nobody to hold onto. Naruto glanced around him, looking for a shirt sleeve.
Ten Ten had no sleeves, so she was out. Lee jumped up and down, "If you need to hang onto someone, Naruto-kun, feel free to-oooh..." Lee pouted as Naruto ignored him and promptly grabbed Neji's sleeve.
The Hyuuga scratched the back of his neck.
"I can understand not picking Lee, Naruto, but is this necessary? Well...I guess it's stupid to ask, since I know you won't answer." he looked at Ten Ten, "Take the dango to Anko-sensei...Lee and I will go find someone from Team 7 to hand Naruto over to."
Ten Ten nodded and left them. Lee, recovering easily from his disappointment walked with Neji and Naruto down the street. Lee and Neji brainstormed about where Kakashi or Sakura might be.
"I'll bet Kakashi is in a book store somewhere...and Sakura-san might be at home...she may very well be at the Hokage's place, though." Lee said, shrugging. Neji agreed with him.
"Well, who should we go find then? No offense to you, Naruto, but I'd rather not have someone clinging to my shirt all day...the book store is closer, we can go find Kakashi."
They headed towards the bookstore, a little bell ringing when they entered. Neji glanced around, finally noticing a bob of silver hair among the book shelves.
"Kakashi-sensei; I believe this is yours..." Neji said, walking up to the man. Kakashi was browsing through a shelf of Icha Icha Paradise volumes, looking for the ones with a limited edition cover on them. He turned around to face the three genin, a small hint of surprise at the lack of Sasuke.
"What happened? No, wait...I'll guess: Sasuke got pissed off, didn't he? You were the unlucky souls that happened to be around, thus, Naruto attached himself to you?"
As Lee marveled Kakashi's deduction skills, Neji calmly removed Naruto's hand from his own shirt and placed it on Kakashi's sleeve.
"He's your problem now."
Kakashi sighed, "But I'm not done...shopping." not listening, Neji and Lee walked away to go and find Ten Ten. Kakashi looked at Naruto, who was watching them go.
"Well, okay Naruto...maybe we should go find Sasuke? Hokage-sama gave the order for someone to always be with you, and I may be called on a mission. I doubt Sakura-chan has any plans, but...she might not be in such great mood right now."
Naruto didn’t reply, but he followed Kakashi from the store none the less. They seemed to be heading in the direction of the Uchiha District, but got side-tracked momentarily on the way there.
“Oi, Kakashi!” a voice yelled from behind them. Kakashi turned around, Naruto turning with him, and faced the voice.
“Hello, Kurenai, Asuma, do you need something?”
Asuma shook his head, “Naa…Kurenai and I were on our way to collect our teams from the training grounds. Where’s the rest of yours? And what’s….” Asuma didn’t need to finish the question, but instead gestured at Naruto, who wasn’t even listening. The boy was just standing there, hanging onto Kakashi’s sleeve and looking around with a bored expression that could have rivaled Shikamaru’s.
Kakashi’s visible eye appeared amused.
“Mission accident; he won’t talk and he seems to have a growing affection for shirt sleeves.” he tried making light of the situation, also using such a simple statement to tell Asuma and Kurenai so much.
Kurenai nodded, “I see…is it only with select people, or is he hanging on everyone?”
“It seems he prefers Sasuke, but Sasuke got frustrated and abandoned him with Gai’s team, who handed him over to me…so I think it’s anybody goes. We’re on our way to find Sasuke now, Sakura is upset, so she’s out.” He rolled his right eye and chuckled.
None of the three Jounin failed to notice Naruto’s reaction to Kakashi speaking of Sasuke. He went quickly tense and then gripped Kakashi’s sleeve even tighter than before. Suddenly he seemed to relax and he stopped pretending to ignore them all. His blue eyes looked from Kakashi to Asuma to Kurenai.
“Right, well, I’m sure Naruto wants to go and find Sasuke, so we’ll be seeing you, Kakashi.” Kurenai said, waving to them both as she and Asuma continued towards the training grounds.
Kakashi watched them go then started walking again, “I think Sasuke is at home, so we can check there. If he is there, then you can stay with him for a few hours; I want to….shop. Can I ask you for a favor, Naruto?” Kakashi asked just as they were inside the main entrance to the Uchiha District. Kakashi bent down and looked Naruto in the eyes.
The blonde stared back at him, slight apprehension apparent on his face.
“Do your best not to aggravate Sasuke, okay? It’s true that I can be called away at any time, and Sakura-chan needs some time to herself, but Sasuke is around. Believe me when I say that Sasuke didn’t want to get so mad at you. He…he cares, Naruto…” with that, Kakashi stood up again and led Naruto to Sasuke’s house.
After knocking a couple of times, Kakashi had almost given up when Sasuke suddenly opened the door. He glared at Kakashi and did his best to simply ignore Naruto.
“What do you want, Kakashi?”
“What do you think, Sasuke? You lost something.” Kakashi gently removed Naruto’s hand from his sleeve and pushed him into Sasuke, who caught him then stepped to the side in order to allow the blonde through the door. Naruto was clearly at a loss. He wanted to hold onto Sasuke’s sleeve, Kakashi judged by the twitch of his hand, but with Sasuke in such need of an attitude adjustment, he didn’t know if he should or not.
Sasuke sighed and grabbed Naruto’s wrist, placing the boy’s hand on his shirt sleeve. To Kakashi he said, “There. Happy? You can go now.” he finished with a glare.
Kakashi appeared to smile and waved minutely to them both before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving Sasuke with someone that would give less conversation than a brick wall.
“Okay…okay….come on.” Sasuke said to Naruto as he closed the door. The blonde was tugging on his sleeve. Sasuke turned and looked him in the eyes and saw a curious hint of emotion in there.
“No, Naruto, I won’t freak out like that again…you don’t have to worry about that; I’m sorry…” As if just saying that he was sorry wasn’t enough, Sasuke couldn’t stop himself from hugging Naruto tightly, not letting go for more than a minute.
“I was….so scared when I lost sight of you…I thought that….I don’t know what I thought, but it was a horrible feeling. I never thought you would get hurt like this…Naruto…”
Naruto hugged Sasuke back and remained silent as he did so.
Naruto shut his eyes tightly.
If I speak, I'm afraid I'll scream
He gripped Sasuke's shirt sleeve so tightly that he could feels his nails digging into his palm through the fabric.
I don't think that would be very smart
Sasuke quit hugging him and led him to the kitchen for something to eat.
But Sasuke said that he was scared for me
As the day wore on they hung around in Sasuke's house, until finally, it was dark outside.
...Sasuke...
In Sasuke's bedroom, Sasuke shrugged as he stared at the single bed. Naruto didn't seem to mind -or really even notice- when they both slid under the covers and faced opposite directions, their backs touching. Naruto had his left hand slightly behind his back, holding onto the back of Sasuke's shirt as they both began to drift into sleep.
"...I'm sorry I scared you..."
But Sasuke was already asleep.