Disclaimer: I do not own the anime Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Pairing: SasuNaru
Summary: With those, deadly coal black eyes of his, the stranger looked directly at him and despite his sharp and poison laden tongue, his husky and yet powerful voice boomed across the abandoned residence reverberating through his chest and forcing his heart to pound repeatedly under the new pattern, singing with feeling.
Warning: unbeta'ed, two-shot, rated M for the second chapter.
Kitsunetsuki
Part I
Dry and thirsty lips from the lack of dehydration savored the taste of fresh air filling up his lungs and the feeling of moist ground surrounding the inhabited area felt like cold clammy silk sheets wrapped around his sweating body.
The tan fingers wrapped around the bright colored helmet, hoisting it up to fly high up into the bottomless and cloudless sky as his arms automatically stretched out to catch the already falling object.
He grinned from ear to ear as he curiously glanced at the helmet reflecting sun's rays and creating an optical illusion that the object appeared so much smaller and brighter than it already was.
Naruto spins around a few times, with helmet securely clutched in his arms, and after carefully putting it back in its rightful place on a motorcycle; he heads to inspect his surroundings.
The ruins of once prosperous residence appeared in his vision that for centuries belonged to the descendants of royal family. The building itself still held the same aura of importance even after the last master left it to crumble into undeserved forgetfulness.
According to the legend, he had heard when he was still a kid, once a powerful but a kindhearted samurai governed these lands and defended the mountain fortress in Sakamoto village giving his all strength and intelligence to create a better and livable place for everyone despite their differences between their cultural and social welfare.
Once a word got out that when the young samurai mediated in his private garden The Divine light fell upon him. Rumors spread like a wildfire about young samurai accomplishments to tame the Divine by making him his own gold-machine. It was hard not to notice the sudden prosperity of the residence and the open paths that were once tightly sealed and unreachable to them.
During the Edo Period, the samurai family got the title of village group chiefs (ojoya) and granted to rule over the Tokugawa Shogunate's territory in the area. The samurai residence thus doubled as a magistrate's office.
The sixth head of the family started the Copper Mine together with the other prosperous family, which also lived in Sakamoto village. They succeeded in coagulating roha, the raw material for producing bengara: a red ocher color paint with preservative and moth prevention effect for the lattice doors or walls of traditional wooden townhouses (machiya) in Kyoto and for china-ware, lacquer-ware, etc., and became extremely wealthy as a result.
However, the samurai moral code did not sway under all the pressure he was going through, even though his servants thought otherwise. It did not take long for the long long-awaited fall of the samurai that proprietors anticipated by forcing his closest person to do the backstabbing deed for them. That person did what he had to do, quite literally.
The Divine was not happy to hear that. Soon, various diseases started to plague the lands were the samurai had put all of his heart to rebuild it from the shambles. Desperate cries reverberated through the lands pleading for atonement but it was too late. The Divine had already turned its back to the people, which young samurai so soundly spoke about, while hate consumed its entirely being without any mercy left to spare.
Naruto recalled how his bright grandfather had a pleasure in torturing him after he did something wrong by reminding him of the consequences of facing The Divine. An involuntary shiver ran through his body by remembering all of his sleepless nights and fears of meeting what he thought was another way of saying 'ghost' in his vocabulary and a good reason to shut him up for good.
Sill, more out of curiosity or to face his traumatic childhood (as he liked to call it) Naruto found himself stepping on the ground which was shrouded in legend.
The place did not look as creepy as he thought it would look, despite the bone chilling weather he had to endure.
Blame it on the late spring for not awakening the land sooner and let it bask in the new life it would create.
White plaster walls and red roof tiles gave this magnificent mansion, which covers about 10,000 square meters, its distinctive appearance. Said to date from the mid-Edo Period, it still today retains the ambiance of that era. Even though the samurai family was high-ranking, village officials (ojoya), few residences in Japan can boast an entrance gate of such grandeur. This tower gate comprises two stories, with a wood-floored room on the upper story.
The main entrance was exclusively for welcoming high-status visitors (lords), and ordinarily kept closed. Its impressive roof resembles that of a Buddhist temple. Just past the gate is a courtyard spread with white gravel, which served as a tribunal for judging petty crimes such as brawling and gambling. The decorative ogre roof tiles (onigawara) patterned with swallowtail butterflies.
Naruto clutched his jacket closer to his body to keep his body warm, while his fingers began to surrender to the numbness. Short puffs of hot air came out from his quivering lips leaving a faint trail of so needed warmth as he fought the urge to moist them by savoring that tingling feeling a little bit more.
He cursed aloud blaming his lazy side for not bothering to pack or even wear some warmer clothes.
Who could thought that when the rest of the world is enjoying the wonders of spring he would freeze his ass off in here like in some damn Alaska? It seemed as if the time had stopped here preventing any trespassers from coming any closer.
Another loud curse escaped past his thinned lips as he marched closer to the main residence.
Marvelous architectural designs decorating the residence greeted him while harsh wind whistled through the spacious mansion because of the absence of screens and beautifully ornamented paper-covered sliding doors (shoji).
These doors allowed light to come through and give more privacy, but did not offer much by way of soundproofing a room. A nice attribute of these doors, for those who liked the open areas, is that there is an option to remove them to open up the space.
Naruto sat down on the Japanese veranda (engawa), which is essentially a transitional space for going in or out of the house. The doors, windows and alcoves situated for the most advantageous viewing of the gardens or artwork, in a seated position. He did not bother to remove his shoes, even though it is customary to do so, in fear to lose his toes in the chilling air.
Naruto imagined that he was the young samurai staring at the garden that nourished his spirit to unimaginative levels.
He always wondered, or was curious to be exact, how the young samurai felt to be significant figure in others life. He dreamed that one day, in the near future, he would be also trustworthy person others could look up to with admiration. That would be his dreams come true.
A sight of irritation escaped past his lips, as his body constantly shuddered at the loss of the heat. He rubbed his palms together to create some friction and to catch some warmth on his fingertips and get rid of that annoyingly tingling feeling of numbness seeping into his body.
Naruto eyes narrowed as he heard the faint sound of flute's tone hover around the godforsaken garden. Stumbling slightly he stood up and took a few involuntary steps back without sparing any glance where he was going. His heartbeat increased tenfold, beating so loudly in his skull and making him dizzy in the process.
Moreover, his whole body trembled at the though of facing the sacred ghost of-
A loud screech of floor forced him to jump so high in the air and let out a high-pitched unmanly shriek – an indirect blow to his proud nature. His hand shot up to steady his fast-paced heart rate as he fought to catch his breath.
What were the chances to meet the-
Another rustle of leaves left him gasping for air, color already drained from his freezing face while his twitching fingers blindly searched for something secure to hold onto.
Naruto's foot slipped off its hold, caught in the small crack on the floor, and he caught himself with his arms, spread as if wings. His legs flailed beneath him, forcing him to go backwards, until his shoulders painfully collided with the display shelves, which shook from the sudden impact-
Something metallic flew past his head, within an inch left to spare above his head, and stuck in one of the display shelves with an audible click.
Naruto felt his whole life flash before his eyes as his rigid body lost the balance making him fall on his ass in the pile of limbs. His heart hammered against his ribcage while his body refused to function properly remaining in its self-inducted state of shock.
"You're trespassing" a voice laced with ice greeted him. "This is a private area. Leave"
Naruto shook his head, not able to comprehend what is happening around him, eyes darting from one corner to another in attempt to identify the speaker. His brows furrowed in contemplation, lips thinned in concentration as he swallowed the lump forming in his hoarse throat.
"You'll please to take yourself off." Another sharp object flew past him barely missing his left ear.
Naruto stilled for a second before he felt rage build up inside of him. That person, presumably a young male, was definitely a human being with a precise aim to boot.
"Listen to me you jerk," Naruto shouted aloud, his boisterous voice echoing through the deathly silent room. "I can do whatever I want. This land doesn't belong to anyone except the dead samurai family and from what I can say you're far from dead!"
"Move off from here. Trespassers are not allowed to set foot on this land"
"What are you some kind of robotic device to repeat the same thing over and over again?" Naruto asked absentmindedly scratching his neck in confusion. "And would you cut that out!" he screeched pointing at another sharp object stuck in the wall, an inch from his neck. "You could seriously hurt somebody with that!"
"That's the whole point of that," the voice drawled out offhandedly accompanied by a playful chuckle in reply.
"Well that's obviously not working" the blond-haired person challenged him by glaring at the distance.
Naruto let out a displeased sound from the back of his throat "Only scaredy-cats choose to drive somebody out of their property without showing their face to the other" he taunted, wishing to have a mere glimpse of his assailants features.
"Are you calling me a coward?"
It was not hard to miss how playfulness abruptly changed into venom making that voice appear older and much deeper. For a moment, Naruto regretted the words that came out of his mouth when the rain of sharp objects went flying his way leaving no time to dwell on the past few minutes. However, soon he was livid.
"It's not only cowardly," Naruto steadied himself by leaning against the wall to catch his breath "but also immature" he finished shutting his tired eyes. He will need to thank his uncle for teaching him some tricks of self-defense, because he was sure as hell that he would not come out of this house without any injuries if that bastard decided to demonstrate how good his aim was.
"So…what are you doing here? Oh, can I call you a bastard?" a cat-like grin appeared on his face, complimenting his whisker-marks.
"I told you to leave. Or are you too stupid to comprehend that?"
"Blah, blah" Naruto waved his wrist dismissively "I still don't see why you aren't a cowardly jerk. And don't you dare to throw anything remotely sharp at me or I'll kick your ass to face the dead samurai"
He could imagine the other male sizing him up with a smirk on his lips "I'd like to see you try"
Naruto pulled out a few sharp objects from the interior pillar as he stealthily moved forward. His legs wobbled a little, still tired from jumping around. However, his fighting stance never wavered as he moved ahead searching for the source of voice. So far, everything was going according to his plan.
Stealthily he moved forward, occasionally looking around for some kind of possible danger lurking in the shadows. He vowed to himself to catch the bastard before he became a dummy to show off the others abilities.
Naruto felt his palms profusely sweating when he felt frosty lips teasing the shell of his ear "Well aren't you cute?"
Naruto's grip on the sharp object tightened, ready to attack whoever had dared to sneaked upon him. In a blink of an eye, he spun around ready to pounce on the assailant, but he was already gone.
He furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief, puzzled as to how the other seemingly disappeared into the thin air. "It wasn't possible, right?" he murmured more to himself in a hushed tone.
Unless, he was-
Now that he was paying more attention to his surroundings (thanks to his subsided anger), he could easily catch a light scent of sandalwood lingering in the air. He sniffed the air around the room searching for any clues about the stranger's whereabouts, ignoring the fact that this gesture might make his best friend, Kiba, so damn proud of him.
The newfound trail of scent led him outside, to the garden. There, under the old and not blossomed sakura tree, lay the bastard who though that he had the right to mock him by sharpening one of those sharp knifes right in front of his eyes.
Naruto let out an animalistic growl before lunging himself forward to snap that perfectly displayed pale neck. He was about to circle his hands around his prey, when, suddenly, he was thrown backwards with such a force that he though he heard some bones cracking in his body.
"What the-"
Naruto found himself lying on the ground, his left shoulder throbbing painfully from the collision with the solid rock and his eyes still a disordered mess of black and whiteness.
"Such untamed animal should know its proper place," the other sneered, throwing the sharpened object to the blond-haired person's direction with such enviable grace. The metallic object stuck in the ground near its target's feet, demonstrating what the gap between the two was.
Naruto's trembling arm shot up to cover a small gash on his shoulder when he attempted to stand up. His body jerked up from the undeniable pain that shot through his whole body at the sudden unpleasant friction.
"Who are you calling an animal?" Naruto spat out through his gritted teeth, his eyes narrowed into slits.
Sure, he did not know anything about high-class manners or any fancy words to begin with, but that did not give the right to treat him as if he was beneath an animal. That person was seriously pissing him off.
The stranger let out an amused chuckle, brushing his sleek black hair with the back of his hand "But its truth right? You are just an animal. "
Another heartless chuckle escaped past his lips "Or at least you're harboring one inside of you"
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked in confusion. From what he knew, everyone harbored some kind of evil inside, but not everyone submitted to his or her darkest desires. Honestly, he was not that good with this philosophical stuff like his old man had been.
The stranger tilted his head slightly to the side, letting out all knowing "Ah" past his lips. Moreover, as if reading his mind, that bastard decided to mock him because of his ignorance on the subject.
Naruto sensed more than saw the tiny twitch of a knowing smirk "You really don't know, do you?"
Naruto shook his head, his hand still firmly covering the throbbing area as he steadied himself to stand still without losing his footing.
The other turned his head to face him, analyzing as if prying into his thoughts. "It doesn't matter," he conceded.
"Although" he finished wearing a self-satisfied smirk "it changes something."
"Stop speaking in riddles" Naruto demanded puffing out his cheeks.
"Stop wasting my time and get out of here" mimicked the other with a slight curve of his lips, leaving all the puffing and huffing to the blond-haired person to do.
"Just for that" Naruto pointed at him, ignoring his straining shoulder "I'll come here everyday just to piss you off, jerk"
"Do that" the tip of the sharp blade glistened before his eyes "and there won't be a next time".
With those, deadly coal black eyes of his, the stranger looked directly at him and despite his sharp and poison laden tongue, his husky and yet powerful voice boomed across the abandoned residence reverberating through his chest and forcing his heart to pound repeatedly under the new pattern, singing with feeling.
1 – Kitsunetsuki - literally means the state of being possessed by a fox. In some cases, the victims' facial expressions are said to change in such a way that they resemble those of a fox. (I know that Kyuubi did not possess Naruto in the original story and was in fact sealed within Naruto. However, this case suits better for the sake of the story so bear with me).
2 - I left all the original terms of Japanese words in the brackets, intentionally, because I think it goes rather well with the whole setting.
3 – Some info regarding samurai and the appearance of the residence was taken from: www(dot)nishie-residence(dot)com