Chapter Text
The first time Sasuke literally saves him is the summer when he's seven and he falls from the tree he and Kiba are climbing.
Naruto slips, missing the next branch his hand is supposed to reach and goes tumbling down the tree, a wide eyed and frightened expression on his face. He screams as the speed makes hitting the small, yielding branches so much more painful. He's still reaching for Kiba who yells his name when he lands, ramming into something soft before he tumbles to the ground. His eyes are squeezed shut and it takes a few moments before he realizes that he's alive, then he's sitting up, staring wide eyed down at the raven haired boy beneath him.
Said raven swears and shoves him off, making him tumble head over heels down onto the grass again.
"Fuck, watch it, dobe! Next time, make sure you can climb before going that high!" the raven haired boy grits out as he sits up, a little bit away, and Naruto knows he's about to cry when the boy glares angrily at him. As tears spring to his eyes, the dark glare softens before it grows annoyed. A fist lands on his head rather gently as the raven mutters, "Don't cry, dammit."
Naruto sniffles and bites his lower lip stubbornly as the boy looks him over with a frown.
"You're not hurt, are you?" he then asks and the small blond shakes his head vigorously. The raven sighs quietly in what seems to be relief before he murmurs, "Ah, good."
Then the older boy rises with a grunt and offers him a hand. Naruto takes it and is pulled to his feet, crying out when his ankle immediately gives out underneath him. Unable to hold the tears back now, he sobs against the boy's chest, his hands clenched tightly in his dark shirt.
"Naruto! Shit, are you alright?" Kiba shouts as he comes running over to them and the blond shakes his head with a whine.
"Hold him up," the raven haired boy says to Kiba who does, rubbing the back of his friend's head soothingly as the older boy drops to his knees and looks at Naruto's ankle. Naruto wails in pain when he touches it and the raven grimaces.
"Is it broken?" Kiba asks anxiously and the raven glares at him when Naruto's sobs grow in intensity then he rises.
"Hn. Get on, dobe. I'll take you to the ER," the boy says as he bends his knees, standing with his back to Naruto and looking expectantly at him. Kiba helps Naruto up and the blond wraps his arms tightly around the raven's neck, making him groan.
"You're choking me," the raven says and Naruto lets go a little as the boy's hands under his knees support him better. The boy jumps a little to heft him higher up and Naruto grimaces in pain as he sobs against the boy's neck.
"I wanna go home.. I wanna 'Ruka-chwan.." the blond sobs and the older boy frowns then looks down at Kiba who is trotting beside him to keep up.
"Who is Ruka?" he asks briskly and Kiba jumps a little then looks up at him with big eyes.
"Iruka-sensei's Naruto's parent or something like that. Iruka-sensei's not his dad, though," Kiba says and the raven's frown deepens into a scowl.
"You mean his guardian?"
Kiba nods eagerly and the older boy faces forward as he asks,
"What's your name? Have you got a phone?"
"Nuh-uh. Momma says I'm to small. And me name's Inuzuka Kiba!" Kiba replies and the raven grimaces.
"Do you know Iruka's number then?" he asks and receives another shake of head from the brunette. "Great."
"But Naruto always wears this funny bracelet around his arm, it looks like Akamaru's collar!" Kiba then said brightly and the older boy frowned.
"Who's Akamaru?"
"My dog, of course!" Kiba replies, giving him a look as if he was stupid and the raven lifts an eyebrow then nods and stops.
"Hn. I have my phone in my pocket. Take it then press all the numbers on one of the rows on the bracelet then show me the phone," he says, nodding to his left jeans pocket and Kiba puts his hand in the pocket and pulls out a small, black cellphone. The older boy crouches down as Kiba tip-toes to read the numbers and punches them in, the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he frowns in concentration. When he's done, he holds the phone up with a proud grin and the older boy nods and says, "Now press the button with green on it."
"Okay!" Kiba says and the older boy straightens as he looks to see if the signals are coming through, hearing the dial tone faintly.
"Push the button above the red one then be quiet," the raven then commands and Kiba does, almost dropping the device when loud Beep!s comes from the phone. The older boy begins walking again as he listens to the signals and Kiba trots beside him, holding the phone up. Naruto cries softly against his back and the raven can feel a large wet patch of the back of his shirt which make shim grimace.
"Umino Iruka here," a kind voice then answers and the boy lifts an eyebrow in surprise before he says,
"Umino-sensei, it's Uchiha Sasuke."
"Ah, Sasuke! Why are you calling me a Saturday?" Iruka asks, his voice surprised and Sasuke frowns.
"I have two boys here, one Inuzuka Kiba and one 'Naruto'-"
"Ne, ne! Iruka-sensei! Naruto hurt his leg when he fell down from the tree!" Kiba interrupts and Sasuke grimaces.
"WHAT! Hurt his leg? How bad is it!" Iruka asks urgently and the raven frowns when Naruto's sobs pick up again.
"Quite bad. I don't think it's broken though but he's in shock from falling a good twenty meters. I'm on my way to the ER, can you get there? I think Naruto would be happy if you came," Sasuke says and Iruka agrees then hangs up and Sasuke instructs Kiba to shut the device off but doesn't stop to take it back.
"My leg hurts... I wanna go home!" Naruto sobs and Sasuke frowns again, now in worry.
"You'll be fine," he says then feels that the child is shivering and realizes that it's the after effects of the shock. "Hey, dobe. We're at ER soon and Iruka-sensei will meet you there, okay?"
"'Ruka-chwan? Papa will come and get me?" Naruto says and Sasuke nods.
"Hn."
Looking ahead, he notices that he barely has two hundred meters left. After he's crossed the street they'll be practically in the building. Quickening his pace, he jogs slowly to not jostle the child on his back as he hurries to Konoha Central Hospital. It's a surprise that it was built, since people almost never get sick or hurt in the dull city. Kiba's still holding the phone as he runs beside him to keep up, a small, worried frown on his face.
"Ne, he will be fine, right? Right, Uchiwa-san?" Kiba asks and Sasuke's eye twitches.
"Uchiha, got it? And yes, he'll be fine," the raven mutters as he looks to right and left twice before he hurries across the street. Slowing down and stopping before the door, he rises his knee and pushes the large button that opens it.
Kiba takes a hold of his pant's leg when they go inside, looking around with big eyes. Sasuke gives him an annoyed glare before he ignores the little boy and walks over to the front desk in the empty room. The nurse that has black hair and glasses looks up and asks,
"What can I help you with?"
Sasuke shifts and glares at her for a moment, thinking.
"Naruto here-" he nods to the child on his back that's still sniffling rather pathetically, "-sprained or broke his ankle. His guardian should be here any minute now. Umino Iruka is his name and I'm Uchiha Sasuke. The boy's Inuzuka Kiba, he was playing with Naruto when he fell down from a tree."
"Alright, good," she murmurs as she rises and goes around the desk, peering at Naruto. Her name tag reads Shizune, Sasuke notes before she leans forward to talk to the blond on his back. "Hi, there," she smiles at Naruto who sniffles and looks at her with wide eyes. She then asks kindly, "Would you like to come down so I can look at your ankle?"
Naruto thinks for a moment before he shakes his head vigorously.
"But if you don't come down, I can't help you, Naruto-chan," Shizune says and Naruto tightens his hold on Sasuke who grunts. The raven frowns when he realizes that the blond is still shivering uncontrollably.
"Ie. Don't wanna," Naruto mumbles and Kiba pokes his leg, wanting to ask him about a thing, but unfortunately he's too close to the child's ankle. The blond wails and Kiba jumps, pulling his hand back as if he'd been burned as Sasuke cringes.
"Gomen, gomen, Naruto! Didn't mean to hurt!" Kiba says frantically and Naruto sniffles then mutters,
"'S okay."
"Dobe, let go," Sasuke then orders and Naruto whines softly but does when the raven crouches down, landing on his good foot. But before he knows what he's supposed to do next, Sasuke has caught him again and is holding him in his arms, wrapping him up in the shirt he was wearing. Naruto curls together, still trembling as he leans against the raven's chest, his hand curling in the black tank-top the older boy is wearing.
"Ne, Uchiwa-san?" Kiba then asks and Sasuke twitches and glares at the boy. Kiba lifts a hand and rubs his neck with a nervous grin. "Um.. Is Naruto freezing?"
"Hn," Sasuke grunts then looks at Shizune who's carefully removing the blond's sandals and rolling up his pants' legs. Looking at the swollen, purple area around Naruto's ankle she frowns slightly and Sasuke get a hunch that it's bad after all. She glances at him and nods then straightens and says,
"Naruto-chan? If we don't do anything, and Uchiha-san stays, would you like to lie down in a bed?"
"Hai," Naruto mumbles and Shizune nods with a smile.
"Follow me, Uchiha-san," she says and Sasuke sighs and does. She leads them to a empty examination room and murmurs to Sasuke before she leaves, "I'll be calling Tsunade-sama down as fast as his guardian is here. It's fine if he falls asleep."
Sasuke nods and she leaves after he's put Naruto down on the bed. He's forced to sit down too when Naruto refuses to let go of him and the blond curls up against his side like a kitten as Kiba goes about to touch everything in the whole room.
It's barely been four minutes before Shizune's back with a busty blond in a Doctor's coat and Iruka who immediately sits down on the bed.
"Naruto? Are you alright?" he asks worriedly as he strokes the blond's hair and Naruto uncurls to move over to his papa.
"My leg hurts, papa," he whines and Shizune holds out a paper with smiling and sad faces on them.
"Naruto-chan? Point at the one that you feel like, okay?" she says and Naruto points at the most crying face. "Tsunade-sama?"
"Hai. Iruka-sensei, we've met before but I think Naruto's too small to remember that," the busty blond says with a slight frown and the blond looks up at her with confusion.
"I know you, baa-chan?" he asks and Tsunade lifts a fist menacing.
"Don't start with me, brat. Now, you've broken your ankle but we'll just take some pictures up in the X-ray and put on a cast and then you can go home, alright?" she says and Naruto nods, a little bit frightened, then he hides in the folds of Iruka's shirt. As Naruto is given pain medication, Sasuke gets up to leave only to notice that Naruto's still holding onto him.
"Dobe, you're papa's here now, let me go," he says, a little bit annoyed, and Naruto does reluctantly when Iruka urges him too. Sasuke looks at the blond who clearly is about to start crying again for a moment then huffs and sits back down. "Alright, alright. But only until you're not hurting anymore."
"Thank you, Sasuke-san," Iruka says thankfully and Sasuke nods glumly as the blond grabs his hand again.
Naruto's teary smile is still bright enough to light up the room. Later, Shizune discovers that Sasuke has broken a rib that Sasuke has been deliberately ignoring the pain from and she basically manhandles him into a bed and calls his older brother.