Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Warnings for this chapter: Mild language.
Important: This isn't a vampire/zombie fic. It involves Cotard's syndrome and things along those lines.
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Naruto sat in the middle of the living room, absentmindedly chewing on the end of a red marker as he flipped through the Sunday newspaper. It was the beginning of summer and for the first time in his life; he wouldn't be spending it among friends. His mother, Kushina, decided it was time for him to start working during summer break in order to gain some sense of responsibility. He, of course, argued with her saying that he had enough responsibility during school, what with doing homework and keeping up with project assignments. Kushina quickly rebutted, reminding him that he never did his homework or turned in projects on the correct date. That ended that argument.

So here he was, skimming through the job ads, trying to find something acceptable to circle. So far, he was getting nowhere fast. Maybe if he just acted like he was sincerely looking for a job, he could keep pushing it off, and milk it till the break was over. Then his mom couldn't argue with him about it, because for all she knew, he'd tried.

The blond's mood changed dramatically at the thought of his plan following through, as he sprawled out onto his stomach.

Not having anything better to do, he soon began doodling random patterns on the edges of the paper. There wasn't a point in pretending to look for a job while there was no one around to witness it. Seeing as he no longer planned on getting one.

"Anything yet?" Kushina walked into the room and smiled down at her son, hoping for a hint of good news.

"Eh no, not really. Sorry mom. It's not looking good so far." Putting on his best look of disappointment, he turned towards her. He was a damn good actor, if he did say so himself.

"Oh, well that's okay. You can always look online. And if that doesn't work, you can drive to all the local shops and apply anyway. I'll even go with you. It'll all work out, Honey."

Naruto laid his head back onto the white carpet, resisting the urge to groan. Instead he mumbled a quick "Of course it will."

"What was that?"

"I said that's okay. I can go by myself." He smiled as she agreed and left the room. He'd completely forgotten about all the other alternatives to finding a job. Oh well, he would simply have to work even harder at faking it.

Most people would come to the realization that going through all that trouble would be just as hard, if not harder, than actually getting a job and going to work. Naruto wasn't like most people. He was stubborn. Once his mind was set on something, there was no changing it.

As he continued doodling, he heard the front door opening then closing and the familiar sounds of his father greeting his mother.

The blond wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying until he heard his name. He quickly perked up and tried to hear the rest of their conversation as to determine why he was involved in it. Not a minute later, he was greeted by the presence of his father, Minato.

Sitting up, he analyzed the man's face; he seemed pleased with himself. This meant either really good news or really bad news, for Naruto. He guessed the latter of the two.

Just as he was about to question his parents earlier conversation, Minato spoke up. "As you know, I was taking interviews today for a new assistant. Well, I found one. A man half my age, named Itachi, with credentials exceeding most of my current employees. Well, we got to talking and it turns out that he has a younger brother that needs taking care of while he's at work. I suggested a few local daycare centers but he quickly turned them down, saying that his brother wouldn't be accepted in such a place. He didn't go in depth about it."

Naruto continued to stare blankly at his father, wondering why on earth he was telling him all of this. He certainly didn't expect him to babysit, did he?

"Since you need a job, I offered to have you watch him." Well, that answered that. "If you get the job then you'll stay at his home every week day, until he gets home from work. He's expecting you after dinner, for an interview. So hurry up go take a quick shower."

Minato handed him a slip of paper with an address on it. "And don't even think about trying to make a bad impression in order to get out of this. I already warned him that you might try something like that." Giving his son a sympathetic look, he added "I know you want to go hang out with your friends, but your mother's already made up her mind. And this will probably be a lot easier than any other job you could possibly get around here."

Naruto just looked at the small piece of paper and sighed. Not bothering to try and come up with an argument to get out of it. His father had a point; once his mom had made up her mind about something; there was no stopping her or finding a way around it.

If only Minato and Kushina knew what they'd just gotten their son into.

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Naruto read over the address for the sixteenth time before looking back up and squinting at all the road signs. He couldn't, for the life of him, find any of the roads he was looking for. He was already fifteen minutes late and had circled the entire town at least three times. Granted, it was a very small neighborhood, but still. That should just make the place easier to find, not harder. As soon as he received his first paycheck, he was going to invest in a GPS system, for sure.

Just as he was about to call it quits and go back home, he noticed a small dirt road leading into the woods. If he wasn't already going at a snail's pace, he would have never seen it. The road lacked a sign, but it was the only one Naruto hadn't already been down. Figuring it was his last and only chance at ever finding his destination, he took it.

After driving down it for at least ten minutes, the blond contemplated on whether or not to turn around. He hadn't spotted a sign or another road branching off yet and it seemed to be never ending. If it were dark out, it would have looked like a scene from a horror movie. The trees on either side of the road arched towards each other, almost connecting. Moss seemed to cover everything, rather than grass. It was all rather… gloomy.

The blond sighed in relief when a large house came in to view, straight ahead. So the road wasn't a road after all; instead, it was a freakishly long drive way.

After parking his car near a large oak tree, he walked up the front entrance, taking in the large home for the first time. He thought his home was big, but this house was huge. It had to contain at least twenty bedrooms. Why would two people need such a big house anyway?

The house was two stories high and almost completely covered in moss and vines of some sort. It was obviously very old, but still looked strangely elegant. Ringing the doorbell, he waited… and waited. Well, it would take him an hour or two to get from one side of that house to the other also, so he didn't complain. As the door opened, a tall man with slicked back grey hair came into view.

"I'm, uh, here for the interview."

The man gave him a weird look before realization seemed to hit him full on, causing him to laugh like a maniac. "Oh, you're looking for Itachi. I'm Hidan. He's in the den." Hidan continued to cackle as he pointed towards the den.

The blond stared in pure horror at the man's sudden fit of laughter. He hoped more than anything that this Itachi guy wasn't as insane as the man before him seemed to be."Alright, thanks." He began walking aimlessly towards the direction Hidan pointed to; passing room after room, hoping someone would eventually stop him at the right one. If not, he could easily get lost forever in the endless hallways. As if reading his mind, Itachi called out from the room he just passed.

Backtracking, Naruto entered the den and sat down on the couch, opposite Itachi. The man before him seemed entranced by the book he was currently reading. He didn't even look up when Naruto sat down. Seeing as it didn't look like Itachi was going to make an effort to greet him anytime soon, Naruto spoke up, "I'm here for the interview."

"I know very well what you're here for."

The blond just stared, wondering if he should just go ahead and leave now. He'd only met two people so far and he already couldn't stand it. One was completely insane and the other seemed to be a rude know-it-all.

"So, Naruto, is it? How old are you?" Itachi finally turned towards the blue eyed boy, setting his book down on the coffee table.

"Seventeen… Where's the kid?"

"We'll get to that later. I'm asking all the questions now." Itachi leaned over, resting his elbows on his legs in order to get closer to Naruto. His bangs fell to the side of his face, almost caressing his cheeks. "If you don't mind."

Naruto just nodded. The brunette gave off a very intimidating aura causing the air around him to become thicker by the second. Naruto held his breath as if all the oxygen would escape the room any minute.

"Very well. Do you have a criminal record?"

"No."

"Good. Parking tickets? Detentions in school?"

"No and yes." Why the hell was this guy asking him such nonsense? What did parking tickets have to do with babysitting, anyway?

"Hm, I see. Well, before we go any further, I'd like to clear a few things up. First, anything that goes on here doesn't leave this house. No matter what it is. If something were to happen, some sort of emergency, what would you do?"

The blond tried his hardest to stay composed as the conversation seemed to become more bizarre by the second. "Call 911."

"Wrong." Itachi stared into the blonds eyes as if challenging him. "Did I not just say, nothing leaves this house? If something goes wrong, you call me and no one else."

'So I have the job?' Naruto dared not express his thoughts aloud. The man before him barely showed any emotion in his face, but expressed all seriousness in his voice. "Okay. Nothing leaves the house, nothing at all." He added with emphasis.

"If you want to stay employed here, you'll need to learn to listen. Your father spoke well of you, I expect you to live up to his word. Anyway, like I said, nothing that goes on here is to be spoken of outside of this household. If a door is closed, then you're not meant to enter. I expect you not to snoop around. And finally, you don't leave this house until I get here, no matter the circumstances. Got it?"

What did he expect to happen? Naruto started to expect that maybe this guy was running some kind of cult down in the basement. Or some insane shit like that. No normal person asked these sorts of things to a babysitter; something had to be up. "Yeah, I understand."

"Very well. One more thing, though, before you leave. My otouto. He's about your age-"

"What? Why the hell am I here to babysit some teenage freak? I thought I was here to watch some little kid like a normal babysitter!"

Itachi glared at the boy's sudden outburst causing Naruto to quickly regret opening his mouth. "I wasn't finished. This is the last time I'm going to warn you about listening, Naruto. He's about your age, but he requires someone to watch over him at all times. A year ago, he developed a mental illness that I'm sure you have heard of plenty times before; schizophrenia. Residual schizophrenia to be exact." He gave a deep sigh before continuing. "Back in Japan, we're a pretty well known family. Well, we were anyway. Until Sasuke started showing obvious symptoms. He hallucinated for the first time during family dinner, causing a lot of complications. We were lucky enough to not have any guest over that night. Our father knew that if people found out his son was mentally ill; our good name would easily be thrown out the window. Tarnished. Everything our families worked for would amount to nothing. So, he did what any other man in his position would do, he found an alternative. Hidan, our cook of three years; he studied medicine for awhile before coming to us, so we asked him to evaluate Sasuke to the best of his abilities… I care about my otouto very much, so I took it upon myself to get him the help he needed. With our fathers blessing, I took him away. The medicine he needs is wired to me, under a different name of course. The meds keep him stable, but he still needs someone to watch him. And when I say watch him, I mean just that. Don't try to interfere and tell people about him. Or us. Not even your father."

Naruto just sat there, waiting for him to continue. This story was just too… for lack of a better word; complicated. There was no way any of it was true. What parent would do away with his son when he needed him the most, just to protect his public image? Minato would certainly never do such a thing. The blond just couldn't fathom all the new information. "Okay." He couldn't seem to come up with any other words.

"Very well then. Show up tomorrow morning; 9:00 am." Itachi stood up, gesturing Naruto to do the same. "I'll walk you out."

As they walked towards the door, Naruto tried to comprehend everything Itachi had told him. He stepped just outside the door before turning around and facing him once again. "Shouldn't I meet him?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to. Oh, Naruto?"

What did he mean he didn't want to? He asked, therefore, he must want to meet the guy. "Yeah?"

"Sasuke. There's more to him than what I told you. I was going to let you find out for yourself, but I guess that would do neither of you any good."

The blond looked into the others eyes, trying to read him. Hoping to get a hint of what exactly was going on in his mind. He wasn't sure if he could handle any more information; he certainly didn't want to. He failed to notice Itachi slowly backing away as he spoke. "What do you mean?"

The raven smirked causing Naruto's stomach to suddenly drop. The man had barely shown any emotion up until now. "He's convinced he's dead." The raven paused for added emphasis. "Don't talk to him about it. Better yet, don't talk to him at all. Not unless he tries to communicate with you. My otouto is very special to me, if anything were to happen to him, well… Let's just say, you'd deeply regret it."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but Itachi quickly closed the door in his face. This couldn't be happening. There was no way this was real. It all seemed like some strange Stephen King novel. 9

He stood there, waiting. Any second now Itachi would open the door, laughing like crazy, along with the weird cook from earlier. This was all some elaborate prank; it had to be. His dad was probably in on it too. Maybe even his mom. Hell, his friends probably helped set it all up too.

But Itachi never opened the door.
Hidan never came back in a fit of laughter.
And his friends and parents didn't come out of hiding with some sort of video camera in hand.

What had he gotten himself into?

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Authors Note: Yes, this is a real mental illness. I know I shouldn't be starting a new story, but I just couldn't help myself. Besides, I'm thinking about putting My Guardian Angel on hold for a while; no longer than a month. I'm just having so much trouble with it lately. But don't worry, I'm still working excessively on Don't you remember how you got those scars? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter to my new story! You'll learn more about Sasuke's condition in chapter 2.