Disclaimer- I do own Naruto! Yay me! Kishimoto walks in "What are you doing in my studio?! I own Naruto, not you!" runs away yelling 'sorry!'. Okay... so I guess I don't own Naruto. Darn.
Warning- Slight mentions of yaoi. May be some words/subjects people find offensive. Don't like, don't read. Also, depression/possible suicide. Also, some weirdness and other crap.
A/N- This will be a slightly depressing, possibly sappy/sweet piece. It will take place after Sasuke left and the three years have passed. Therefore, the characters are around 15 years of age. The plot will take slightly after the series plot with some twists and hopefully it'll be somewhat suspenseful. Anyway, there may be full-on yaoi later in the story. I'm not sure yet, so message me and tell me if you want the yaoi or not. Until then, it'll mostly talk about Naruto and Sasuke's friendship. R&R! I'll take all comments. Flames are tolerated, but please be kind. What I really want is your opinion- am I doing good or bad? And give suggestions for later chappies if you want. Enjoy! -
Ch. I- Found You Normal POVThe extensive hallways were dark, only lit dimly with torches every few feet. The two teens were separated- they had decided to split up earlier to cover more ground- and both were running briskly and desperately, searching for him. He was the reason they were there in the first place. He was the reason for this whole search. It was all for him. They are... were... his friends right? I mean you can't blame him completely. First his psychotic brother apparently had to kill his whole clan just to figure out how strong he was, then that stupid snake bastard had to come and make things worse by telling Sasuke that he was weak and that he would give him power.
Oh yeah, I can see how that would influence poor Sasuke to go to the 'dark side'. Either way, Sakura and Naruto were now in what they assumed to be the endless halls of Orochimaru's lair looking for said 'friend'. Oh yeah, this other guy, Sai, was there too. Albeit he had already gone ahead when they earlier decided to split.
Actually, when Kakashi had introduced them to Sai, they had found it quite astonishing how alike he and Sasuke looked. That aside, three years had changed a lot of things. One of which being they were all exceptionally strong shinobi now. Tsunade had declared the team of chuunin equal to Kakashi after they took the bell test for the second time. That was also when poor Kakashi and Naruto learned not to mess with Sakura. To say that she has grown exceptional skill while training under Tsunade was an understatement. Sakura now had monstrous strength. Add that to her freakishly twisted yet astoundingly clever brain, you get one hell of a ninja.
All in all, they were a rather cooperative team.
Naruto's POVHe took another sharp turn only to come to a dead end and quickly returned to the previous hallway. Danggit! This place is like a freaking maze! Where the heck is Sasuke? The blond opened yet another door, which, he also found empty. Ugh! I swear I'm gonna kill that snake retard! Suddenly the boy heard a familiar voice. "Naruto! I see light! It's probably an exit!" Sakura. He quickened his pace and ran toward where he thought the voice came from.
The kitsune suddenly couldn't think straight as memories of Sasuke flooded his already cramped and now hurting brain. Sasuke... are you out there...? His feet pounded harshly on the pavement and he now noticed that he had seen and passed Sakura. Anxious much?
Finally Naruto found himself running through what seemed to be an exit to the dark, cave-like den and into bright, yet longed for, sunlight. Sakura was far behind- he couldn't even see her when he glanced over his shoulder to make sure the kunoichi was still behind him. The blond was reassured when he heard a disheveled grunt and a few pants for breath.
Then it caught his attention- he could feel a small amount of chakra in the area. It was faint- obviously well hidden- but the kitsune was sure he recognized the chakra.
The blonde's thoughts were confirmed when he heard his voice. His cold, tragic, yet adequately pained voice.
"Hmph. Is he", Sasuke gestures towards Sai, who has somehow appeared beside him, along with Sakura, without Naruto's noticing, "with you?" The kitsune slowly looks to his left, at a disgruntled Sai, and then slowly turns his gaze right, to a dazedly startled Sakura. She doesn't even blink. So the boy warily turns back to the now rather impatient looking Sasuke and nods.
"Took you long enough, idiot."
The blue-eyed boy stared dumbfounded at his ex-team mate having taken up his old 'nickname'.
The raven was unfazed by the stares- and one glare- that he was now receiving. More like ignored, because he continued.
"He deliberately came into my room and rudely awakened me... to talk about 'bonds'."
Sasuke sounded pretty pissed for some reason. Was it really because Sai woke him up?
Naruto blinked when he noticed a thin figure appear next to the raven.
"Sasuke gets rather cranky when woken from his sleep." There was a small, evil chuckle. I know that voice...
"Kabuto." Another chuckle, then, "Nice to see you again, Naruto."
Sakura is now out of her trance state of mind, and is back to earth. So, she speaks up. "Stay out of the way, bastard! We've come to bring Sasuke back!" The bubble-gum haired kunoichi had dropped the '-kun' a while after Sasuke left.
The silver haired man grinned evilly. "Oh, don't worry, I won't be joining you in this dispute. Albeit, Sasuke won't be needing my help anyway."
The cocky accent to his voice made Naruto shiver. This sure as hell won't be easy... Naruto mentally slapped himself in the head. Well duh.
The blond felt a sudden breeze, and before he could blink a pale arm wrapped around his shoulders in a way that would make anyone else watching think the two were hugging.
"If you had time to be chasing after me... you should've been training. Isn't that right, Naruto?"
Sky-blue eyes scrunched in concentration; facial features contorted at the sound of the other boy saying his name after so long.
The raven slowly began pulling a katana from its sheath as he opened his mouth again.
"I thought you're dream was to become Hokage, am I correct?"
Naruto snarled. "And I thought I made it clear that I had given up that dream when I came after you. I distinctly remember telling you that I would bring you back, even if I had to break all your limbs." The blade is now mere inches from the azure-eyed blond and Sasuke mumbles something incoherent.
But before there is any bloodshed, a strong pulsating is felt between the two ninja; suddenly they are staring at the fierce eyes of none other than Kyuubi himself.
Kyuubi, stay out of this! I don't need your help.
So, this is the Kyuubi...
Apparently you do boy. Were you planning on letting this ikeike just run you through with his sword?
Of course not you stupid fox bastard!
Sasuke growled audibly. What the hell did that bastard just call me?
You heard me, ikeike.
Kyuubi shut up and stop provoking him! Are you trying to get us killed?!
So are you saying that you actually think this ikeike is stronger than us?
The mangekyou sharingan flashed vengefully through the raven's eyes.
Then Kyuubi was gone. The two boys stood where they had previously been before the encounter. Sakura blinked suspiciously but said nothing. Sasuke only glared at the blond with vigor as he tried to calm down, sharingan now dissipating slowly but surely.
They stepped away from each other precautiously and Naruto gave an inward sigh of relief. Ok, so Sasuke means business. Got it. But then a thought crossed Naruto's mind.
"Sasuke, why... Why didn't you kill me... back then... at that time...? You said... said you would sever the bonds. So why? Wasn't that how you planned on doing it?"
There was a short pause before, "It's not that I couldn't; I am fully capable of that. But I wasn't going to give him what he wanted..."
Who? Itachi?
Naruto suddenly felt a pang of anger rush over him like a wave. "Is that right? Kill me then! Kill me right now if it's that easy!" He could feel his chest compress and tighten before the sadness came too. A salty liquid burred his vision so he squinted tightly and continued on his rampage. "Weren't you the one who said I was your best friend?!"
Sasuke flinched visibly as tears began creeping down the blonde's face.
Sasuke's POV
The words hit Sasuke like a rock, but he kept his expression as stoic as possible. Then, he saw tears stream down the kitsune's face. Hard as he tried, the raven felt himself flinch.
Damn it, Naruto, don't do this to me. Please... don't cry.
Sasuke had come to the realization some time ago that the boy had probably cried on numerous occasions because of him. But, guilty as he felt, it was easier to take when he couldn't actually see the boy cry.
His obsidian eyes drifted to the ground as guilt and sorrow overwhelmed him. His raven hair covered his now pained expression and he could feel the other boy's eyes burn into his skull as he waited for some sort of response.
This time, there was a very long pause before it finally cracked him. "I... can't."
The blond blinked, somewhat dismayed. "What?"
Sasuke gulped, trying to keep the crack hidden from his voice. "I can't."
"Can't?" The blond repeated. "Can't... what?"
"Kill you. I couldn't then, and... I can't now..." He replied in a barely audible voice. Sasuke slowly redirected his gaze onto the blond kitsune. "I'm... sorry." Naruto blinked slowly, amazed. "For... what...?"
Why does he have to make this so hard...?
"For leaving you. For saying I hated you. For trying to kill you. For hurting you."
Naruto only stared in awe at wary onyx eyes. The raven began inching forward as if in pain. "Please forgive me Naruto... he said he would give me power. But... he threatened to kill me if I didn't oblige. Naruto, please. Help me now... this prison is a torturous hell. Please..."
Sasuke was now only a few feet from the blond, sobbing. The others (sakura and sai) could only stand frozen in amazement. Naruto, on the other hand, reached out an arm to grab the boy. Before the blond could grab hold of him, Sasuke lurched forward and fell to his knees, grabbing the back of his neck and screaming in pain.
"What did you do Naruto?!" Came Sakura's apprehensive screech. "I didn't do anything!" Then it struck them as they heard a slithery voice. "Trying to betray me now, Sasuke-kun?"
There was a bone-chilling scream coming from none other than the raven himself as he doubled-over in agony. Sakura and Sai tried frantically to locate the voice, but to no avail.
"What are you doing to him you bastard?!"
There was an evil chuckle before the sennin's response. "Well, if Sasuke-kun wants to leave, there's no stopping him. So I thought I'd leave him with a little... parting gift." The voice echoed before it evaporated completely. Sakura rushed to Sasuke's side while Sai strode skeptically over to Naruto. "Come on, let's hurry and get him to Tsunade-baa-chan. She'll know what to do." Naruto glanced nervously at the raven's now unconscious form and sighed. Sai whispered discretely to the blond. "Are you sure we can trust him?"
Naruto felt somewhat offended by the question, but let it slide. There was only a moment's hesitation before came his soft reply. "Yeah..."
Naruto's POV
"Yeah..." I'm almost positive. The look he had in his eyes seemed so pained. And... he begged me. He pleaded and apologized and... cried.
Sai nodded in content and turned back to Sakura. "But I doubt Tsunade will go as easy on him." Sakura sighed. "It doesn't matter right now, we need to get him to the hospital ASAP." Then she added, "But how're we gonna get him there?"
The blond gazed at Sasuke, then back to Sai and nodded. "I'll carry him." "Right."
The azure-eyed boy heaved the surprisingly light form onto his back and they set off, back to Konoha.
:::Back in Konoha::A few hours later:::
Normal POV
Sai, Sakura, and Naruto waited not-so-patiently in the waiting room for Tsunade to come back with Sasuke's results. They had reached Konoha only a few hours ago, but Naruto was pacing like a madman. So much that, in fact, Sakura had slapped him upside the back of the head and told him he was going to run a hole in the hospital floor.
"Well I can't help it! Sasuke has been in there for hours and Tsunade still isn't back..." (Aww, he's worried!) The bubble-gum haired teen sat back down and anxiously twittled her thumbs. "I guess... If you put it like that..." Sai sighed exasperatedly. "Look, will you two chill out? Sasuke's going to be fine."
Sakura sighed. I sure hope so...
As if on cue, Tsunade came through the doors and the three chuunin stood up eagerly. Tsunade stared them down for a minute before getting to it, and sighed. (Sheesh, what's with all the sighing?)
"I have some good news, some not-so-great news, and some bad news. Which do you want to here first?"
A/N- So? Did you like it? Please review, tell me if you want the yaoi or not, and give some suggestions. - I'll give you a cookie! BTW, ummm, ikeike means... bitch. So yeah... you can see why Sasuke would be offended...
Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! And remember, please review; 'cause when you don't we writers get sad. -