Chapter Five
Part One
“What were you doing the night of the murder?”
“I was - I was at school.”
“Doing what?”
“Correcting papers.”
“What papers?”
“They were tests... they had to be corrected by the next day, but I was tired... - I thought I would just get some sleep...”
“And then what?”
“Then I... I walked home...”
“But you didn’t make it.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“I......” Naruto trailed off. Sasuke was interrogating him, pacing back and forth, nothing of their previous encounters reflecting in his hard and perfectly serious eyes as he threw question after question at Naruto, who tried in vain to answer them as fast as they were asked and often found himself feeling helpless and confused. It was the next day - he thought it was the next day - and, after they’d found him, next to the body - he wouldn’t let himself think about it but he could still picture her body, her face and it haunted his nightmares the few hours he’d managed to sleep - after they’d found him, arrested him, and booked him, he spent the night in jail and in the morning Sasuke had come. At first he’d been happy, expecting Sasuke to clear all this up because he knew he wasn’t the murderer, of course he wasn’t - but Sasuke had only started to interrogate him, to grill him until his head spun, showing none of the kindness and humor he had on the few times they’d gone out. Instead Naruto was reminded of the Sasuke he’d met that first time - when they were asking him questions, when the look in Sasuke’s eyes dominated his features, the look of determination, of the sense of duty that nothing came before his job.
Sasuke glanced sharply at Naruto when he didn’t continue. “Go on.”
Naruto took a deep breath. “I was walking home,” he said slowly. “I... I took the alleyway and... and I saw...” he trailed off again. Sasuke waited patiently. He took a deep breath - like collecting his frazzled nerves, Sasuke thought - and went on, though it was obviously difficult for him. “I saw a girl.”
When he didn’t elaborate, Sasuke pressed, “The dead girl.” Naruto nodded and Sasuke prodded, “Go on.” So he did.
“She was... dead. She... her... - her head, it was bent wrong and the blood...” his voice hitched on the last word, making it come out uncharacteristically squeaky and, had this been any other situation, Sasuke would’ve thought it was funny. As it was, it only served to make Naruto’s state rather more pitiful. But he forced himself to carry on his narrative. “I was frightened,” he said as though the very task of speaking was so painful it hurt just to do. His voice, though reflecting his normally quiet and shy nature, was almost nothing of what Sasuke was used to - his voice was quavering, breaking, as though unsure of himself, as though he knew the wrong word could incriminate him for the rest of his life. It was obvious the timid school teacher had witnessed something that had shattered what willpower he had, that he’d been through something - seen something - so traumatic he simply couldn’t face it without crumbling. Would this man, Sasuke thought in one of the few peaceful moments his mind gave him, free of questions, ever live a normal life again? Meanwhile Naruto was speaking, his voice shaking, rising and falling, as the memories of last night refreshed themselves in his mind.
“Her body,” he was saying in a near whisper, “Her body was twisted in an... abnormal manner. Almost as if giant hands tried to snap her in half by twisting her trunk...” Abruptly he was cut off by a sudden sob that caught Sasuke off-guard; he looked at Naruto and saw the younger man had finally completely broken down and was now crying like a baby into his hands. For a minute Sasuke stood there, at a loss for what to do, and then his instincts - no, his feelings for Naruto - kicked in and he knelt, putting an arm around Naruto’s body. Abruptly he realized, as he supported the shaking shoulders, how frail and small they looked. Not like a fully grown man’s at all, but more like a boy’s. He put his other arm around him and hugged Naruto tightly to him as Naruto cried into the crook of his neck. He could feel the tears soak into his shirt as he tried to absorb the convulsions, but he didn’t care. His arms clasped Naruto to him tightly. At one point he squeezed his eyes shut, burying his face into Naruto and the two were still for a long time - or was it? Sasuke was unaware of how much time passed, how long Naruto cried, how long they were hugging each other. Maybe five minutes, maybe five hours.
He finally forced himself to push Naruto away; he needed information. “Naruto,” he said gently to the shaking young man, “Naruto. I need to know something.” He paused but when Naruto said nothing pressed on. “I need to know... about your roommate-” he felt Naruto stiffen in his arms, “Your roommate... where is he? Who is he? What’s his name?”
Naruto didn’t say anything but Sasuke waited patiently, waited for him to speak, and he was rewarded a few minutes later when Naruto muttered: “Gaara.” Unsure, Sasuke remained silent, and as he’d hoped, Naruto continued. He had to strain to hear him, and he knew that this must’ve been so difficult for Naruto, and yet the younger man perservered. “Gaara is my brother. He... took care of me. Ever since I was young, when our mother died...” his voice trailed off and Sasuke tucked two fingers beneath his chin, lifting up his head so he could stare into the blond’s cerulean eyes, swimming with tears.
“Naruto,” Sasuke said gently. “Where is he.”
Naruto’s face crumpled and he whimpered. “No,” he whispered. “Gaara’s not the murderer.” He shook his head vehemenetly and repeated, “Not the murderer...” Then he looked up at Sasuke and the detective saw in his eyes the first glimmer of Naruto’s old self he’d seen since arresting him. “Gaara disappeared,” Naruto said in a tired voice. “It was the night the woman detective... Sakura... the night she was killed. He came home. He’d been injured... on his arm. Like a long, deep scratch and there was blood everywhere...” He was silent for a minute. “He wanted to know... about you. About if I’d ever told you about him.... I told him no. Soon after, he disappeared. Through - through all this, the whole investigation, I thought he was the killer, that he did kill those girls, but I didn’t want to be right.” He licked his lips and took a deep breath. “I was walking home from school and I... saw him. His eyes... they looked like they wanted to kill something, and I... I ran.” Sasuke was puzzled at this sudden show of strength in Naruto; his voice was clear, his tears had stopped, but there was an unsettling apathy in his eyes that Sasuke didn’t like. He didn’t want to see it there. He wanted the old Naruto, the laughing, shy, timid school teacher. Naruto continued to speak. “I ran down an alley and he was following me. Somehow, he was silent, I couldn’t see him and I couldn’t hear him, but I - I knew he was there. I just knew.” He drew his arms tighter around himself. “I saw the body and I stopped. Gaara was gone. I was just... there, and the body was there, and I didn’t know what to do...” his breath hitched in his throat, “And then you were there....”
Sasuke waited but Naruto stopped. A silence reigned over the little room, and then Sasuke said: “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“I love my brother,” Naruto answered. “No matter what he did to me, or to those girls... no matter what he told me.... even when he said he loved me.....”
Confused, Sasuke glanced at the teacher but said nothing. Naruto, a slight tremor in his voice, continued as though Sasuke wasn’t there, as though he was trying to reassure himself even though he didn’t even believe himself. “Not even when he told me it was right.” His voice had trailed off to a whisper, and Sasuke didn’t know what he meant. Naruto’s grip around the detective tightened as he whispered: “Not even as he loved me.”
With a jolt Sasuke realized what Naruto was talking about; disengaging Naruto’s grip slightly so he could look into the teacher’s face, he said softly: “He molested you, didn’t he?” And at Naruto’s downcast, guilty face and averted eyes Sasuke knew he was right; Naruto had been molested by Gaara, he’d been raped by him most likely, and the sick bastard had told him it was all okay.... He clenched his jaw. So. The true nature of Naruto’s mysterious roommate comes to light. No wonder why Naruto had been so reluctant to speak of him to me, Sasuke thought; he was probably dominated by his brother, using fear as a tool of control. Using Naruto’s mind, his pysche, twisting it until he had Naruto wrapped tightly around his little pinky. Growing angry Sasuke’s grip tightened instinctively around the teacher, and Naruto whispered, his voice sounding a little confused: “Sasuke?”
“I’m sorry, Naruto,” Sasuke said tightly. “I’m sorry. You should’ve told me.”
Naruto smiled slightly. “It’s all right, Sasuke, I forgive him. He’s my brother. I love him. It’s all right.” Even as he spoke, he remembered that night... not so long ago, when Gaara had been hurt, when Gaara made love to him, and wondered if he really believed himself.
“No!” It came out more forcefully than Sasuke intended and he took a deep breath. “No,” he repeated, more calmly. “It’s not all right, Naruto; what he did to you was wrong. Incest is wrong. What he did was wrong.” He stopped, not knowing what else to say; but Naruto seemed to have gotten it.
“I know,” he muttered. “I know that, but... he’s still my brother.” We are brothers, what better bond is that? We are blood, you and I...
“I need to know where he is,” Sasuke murmured. “I need to know, Naruto. I can take him away from you, I can get you away from him, for a very long time. You’ll never have to see him again.” Even as he spoke he wondered if Naruto was strong enough; if Naruto could break away from the grip his brother had over him.
“Never... again...?” It came out as a mere whisper. Naruto shook his head. “But I wouldn’t want that. No matter what he did to me. He took care of me, ever since we were little. I couldn’t just... do that to him.... it’s not right, Sasuke.” Nothing was. Nothing was right and everything was right, all at once; what Gaara did was right and it was wrong, but whatever it was, whichever he decided it was, he knew that, always, no matter where he went, Gaara would burn deeply and fiercely within him, and he would never, ever, forget what his brother had done to him - what he’d commited to his little brother -
“He murdered all those girls,” Sasuke told him firmly, even though there was absolutely no proof he did; in fact, Sasuke didn’t even know if Gaara existed or not. “He was responsible for Sakura’s death.” His voice was hard, harsh. Unforgiving. Someone was going to have to pay for this, and he hoped to Kami it wouldn’t be Naruto.
A/N: So, how did you like it...? Invincible is... coming along, if only this damn computer wasn't so slow. >.< Please review, your encouragement spurs me on!!! ^^ Enjoy, SBP
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Chapter notes: Aww, this chapter's so sweet... Naruto's secret is discovered ^^ Enjoy, and please review! SBP