Title: Alchemical Pursuits
Author: Kaeru
Pairings: NaruxSasu (main; others will be debated and decided in future!)
Rating: PG-13 for cussing and sexual innuendos. Err… I'll rate each chapter by content, but the overall fic should be M/MA, just so ya know. I'm writing yaoi, what do you expect?
Warnings: Yaoi (meaning boyxboy, meaning if you're not gay, or straight-but-with-weird-fetishes, or very open-minded and tolerable, this is NOT for you), yuri (girlxgirl; see above), cussing, sexual innuendos.
Summary: FMA-verse. Sasuke is a legendary State Alchemist who lost his love in a recent accident. Now, homunculi appear and Sasuke has to face the possibilities that Naruto might still be alive. NaruSasu.
Disclaimer: No own; no sue. It all goes to Masashi Kishimoto. Not the suing part, mind you. Just the owning.
Kaeru: Heya, peeps! Glad you're here! It must mean that my muses have cast Imperio on you and forced you to read this! XD Hah! Anyway, this is a Naruto fanfic, and although it's FMA-verse (meaning it takes place in the wonderful alchemical world of FullMetal Alchemist!), this is not a crossover! I repeat, THIS IS NOT A CROSSOVER! There will be no appearances by chibi-Edo, or the perverted Colonel. If this disappoints you, then I'm sorry. But I just thought up this idea while high on coke! And coke as in the soda, not the drug, kays? I don't do drugs! DRUGS ARE BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH AND LIFE!!!
Err… (shifts in seat sheepishly) Right, anyway, cheesy advertisements on health and living aside, I just have to say that I'm not very familiar with the characters of FMA. I know most of them, and are perhaps a tad bit obsessive of the main characters' personalities and lives, but the minor characters and some of the bad guys are not very well-acquainted with me. So, please bear with me if I get anything about them wrong, kay? Oh, and by the way, most of the Naruto characters will probably be OOC (out of character), too, since I have to make them to fit the FMA people! But anyways, that's all! You can go read now! And please don't forget to review!
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Glossary:
Baka- stupid, idiot. It's a noun, not a verb.
Baa-baa- literally means old woman, also used for auntie, and normally used to address old ladies. When Naruto uses it, though, he means Tsunade's an old hag! XD. Other variations of it are baachan, baasan. Sometimes an o- is added at the front to seem more polite.
Teme- bastard. No literal meaning. Usually placed at the end of a name. Naruto calls Sasuke this. (spoken under breath) To show his love for him. XD.
-chan- an honorific added to the name of a person if they are a close friend. Usually used for girls, and when used for boys, it will seem girly, not because it IS for girls, but because it shows a lot more affection than boys are used to showing/receiving.
Otouto- little brother. Can add a –san (respectful) or a –chan (affectionate) to the end.
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Chapter I: Prologue, Maybe?
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"Sasuke--"
"No."
"But Sasuke--"
"I said no."
"You don't even--"
"I do. And I said no."
"…"
Sasuke looked up from the Alex Shearer book he'd been trying (and failing) to read and raised a brow at the sight of his room mate, Chouji, pouting and eyes brimming with soon-to-be-shed tears. Normally, Sasuke wouldn't give a second thought about it. But normally, Chouji didn't have a very scary and very annoying and very persistent crazy blonde woman, also known as Ino, to chew out Sasuke's butt if he ever upset the other boy in any way.
Internally sighing, Sasuke half wished that the blonde girl was still obsessed with him to a point where it was severely disturbing; it was much more easy dealing with her when it came to turning down invitations to going out than when it came to making her sort-of brother cry.
"But Sasuke…," whined Chouji, and Sasuke laid down his book on his bed before standing up and sighing out loud.
"Fine," he relented, holding out one hand. "Give it here."
Chouji's chubby face lit up brightly with a smile and he placed a small black mangled plastic object in the palm of the ebonette's hand.
Sasuke peered down at it indifferently and closed his fingers around it. Without much effort, he transmuted it into what it was once before. Chouji let out a happy yelp and grabbed the mini puppy toy from his hand, shouting a thank you.
Sasuke winced at the loudness. "Hn."
With that, he sat back onto his bed and continued with his book while Chouji bounded out the door and down the hallway loudly and happily. Sasuke shook his head and went on reading. Unfortunately for him, today was not his day and TEBUA (a.k.a The Evil Being Up Above) liked watching him suffer, or, in this case, preventing him from finishing his book, which was due back at the library in Central in less than a week (and he'd barely gotten to the climax of the story!).
And so, according to Sasuke's logic and the logic of the universe, that was why a maniacal, pink-haired, wrench-wielding girl came storming into his room not seconds after Chouji had left and started bashing his head in with the afore-mentioned wrench.
"YOU –bang- STUPID –hit- LAZY –smash- LITTLE –thud- PRETTY –boink- BOY!!" screamed Sakura shrilly, breaking her own record of loudness and giving Sasuke (who had somehow found himself on the floor, with several LARGE bruises on SEVERAL parts of his body) one last hit on his head before stepping back.
Sasuke twitched on the floor before standing up and glaring at a red-faced Sakura.
"Sakura!" he yelled. "What'd you do that for?!"
Sakura glared right back. "You were supposed to help with dinner, baka!"
Sasuke scowled and glanced at the clock on the opposite wall, next to the door.
"Dinner's in three hours!" he spluttered, gesturing at the clock.
Sakura hit his hand with her wrench ("Ow! Stop that!") and placed her hands on her hips. "That clock has been dead for three weeks, Sasuke! It's already seven-fifty!"
Sasuke, rubbing his injured hand, looked surprised. "What? That's impossible! I changed the batteries just two days ago!"
Sakura rolled her emerald eyes. "Yes, well, Chouji took them out for his radio."
Sasuke's eye twitched at that. "… Is Ino in town?"
"Yes. She just got back yesterday."
"… Think she'll notice if Chouji's gone missing?"
"He's kinda hard to miss," Sakura pointed out.
Sasuke sighed in defeat. "True," he agreed grudgingly.
Sakura shook her head and turned to leave the room. "Come on, then. Dinner's ready."
Sasuke nodded absently and picked up his book from the floor. Placing it neatly at the corner of his desk, he turned to follow after the pink-haired mechanic. That is, before something Sakura said made him pause and go red with both anger and embarrassment.
"AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING PRETTY!"
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At the dinner table, Sasuke tried to ignore the idle, excited chatter of Ino (who was animatedly telling the others what she'd seen and do in East City), Sakura, Chouji and Tsunade. It wasn't hard, since they pretty much didn't notice him, anyway, and Sasuke mentally sighed as he poked at the mashed potato on his plate.
That is, until a large wrench flew at his head out of nowhere and successfully tilted his head backwards at an impossible angle.
Upon recovering from the uncalled for attack, the ebonette found that it was Tsunade instead who had hit him instead of Sakura and he glared an Uchiha glare.
"What, baa-baa?" he growled venomously.
The pale blond-haired woman glared back at him, though not with as much intensity as an Uchiha.
"You've been spacing out more than usual, kid," she said. "Is everything okay?"
Sasuke was mildly surprised at her concern, as well as the fact that she'd notice that something was bothering him. But he kept that well hidden and instead pushed his chair back and stood up.
"I'm fine," he said tersely. "May I be excused?" Without waiting for a reply, he swiftly left the dining room and stormed out the front door, leaving silence to reign over the table.
Sakura stood and made to follow after him, but Tsunade held her back.
"Don't," she said softly. "Leave him alone. He'll come round."
Sakura looked doubtful, but stayed. Tsunade must knew what she was talking about.
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Sasuke didn't look where he was going and let his feet carry him on instinct. His hands were fisted in his pockets and as a cold breeze blew by, he regretted leaving the house without his black coat. Shivering, he pulled out his hands to rub up and down his bare arms, cursing the day she'd allowed Sakura to convince him to buy the god-awful sleeveless black muscle shirt he wore now.
Sighing (he'd been doing that a lot that day, mentally and out loud), he trudged on as he let himself get lost in his thoughts.
For the past two weeks, ever since he'd returned from Central, the boy had been restless. He slept much less than usual (which was about three hours a day, considering he barely slept at all, even before), his eating habits (which consisted usually of bread, juice /he would never subject himself to drinking milk/ and an egg or two) were declining unhealthily and he was constantly plagued by the feeling of being watched.
He wasn't so much scared by the fact that his health was quickly going downhill than the fact that the symptoms of which he was facing were the same as when he died.
Sasuke shivered again, this time for a totally different reason. Without him knowing, a single tear streamed down his pale cheek as he thought of him
It was barely three years ago since his death and Sasuke still couldn't forget that fateful night.
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"Sasuke… Let go of my hand."
"No! I won't let you go!"
"You have to."
Hoarseness in his voice, laced with pain and tears.
"You have to live."
Sobs. More tears. More pain.
"Not without you!"
Too much pain. Too much blood. Too much.
"Sasuke…"
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The sound of something crunching beneath his foot snapped Sasuke out of his reverie and the ebonette raised his head to see the dark silhouette of a grotesque statue, hunched over with what seemed to be wings folded on its back.
Sasuke wasn't surprised and continued past the gargoyle, nimbly stepping over the fallen, black iron fence. Before proceeding, however, the ebonette felt pity for said fence and touched it with one palm. Dark blue light flashed beneath his touch and soon a new fence stood in the old one's place, strong and proud.
Satisfied, the onyx-eyed teen turned and once more continued with his walk. Familiar unmarked stones rose all over the hill he stood on and were he any other person, Sasuke would've had trouble looking for one single stone. Since he wasn't, he barely wavered in his steps towards the peak of the hill, where one particular grave marker stood alone, an orange sash tied around it, its ends dancing in the evening wind.
Sasuke stopped directly in front of it, hands in his pockets once more as his dark eyes glazed over.
Beloved Friend and Lover
Uzumaki Naruto
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Pain. Lights. Screams.
"Sasuke? Sasuke!"
Crying. Tears. Who was it?
"Sasuke, run!"
More pain. Hurts. Too much.
"Sasuke!"
Can't move. Hurts. What's happening?
"Sasuke… I love you, Sasuke."
Fading. No more pain. No more lights. Disappearing.
"I… I love you, too…"
Gone.
"Naruto?"
Nowhere to be seen.
"Naruto!"
Just… Gone.
"Naruto, don't go!"
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"Tch. Never thought the great teme would still be depressed after three years."
The cocky, arrogant voice behind him made his eyes widen and Sasuke whirled around to face the owner of said voice.
A tall, taller than Sasuke by three inches, man (or boy? Sasuke didn't know) stood three feet away from him, hidden beneath a hooded black cloak with tattered edges. Nothing was visible of the other, and the darkening evening sky did not help.
"Who are you?" demanded Sasuke, voice cold and laced with venom.
The hooded head rose a little and Sasuke caught a glimpse of sharp white fangs poking out of the corners of plump pink lips and smooth, tanned skin.
"What? Forgotten me already?" said the figure in mock hurt. "My, my, Sasu-chan, how cold of you."
Sasuke felt his blood boil at the familiar way the man addressed him and he touched one arm with the other, transmuting his automail arm into his usual dagger swiftly.
This seemed to further amuse his unwanted companion, who chuckled darkly, and Sasuke charged at him without a word.
Surprisingly, the boy/man didn't turn or run or even dodge to the side, and instead held out one tanned and muscled arm from under his cloak. Before Sasuke could react, the other grabbed his approaching blade and raised it, bringing Sasuke up with it.
Sasuke's onyx eyes widened and he jerked his arm down to get out of the boy's/man's grip. When that didn't work and only made the boy/man laugh even more, Sasuke, whose leg was now conveniently level with a certain part of the human male anatomy, kicked. And hard.
Oh, yes, very hard indeed, judging by the shrill scream that suddenly pierced the air. Sasuke jumped back and away from him immediately after being released and watched warily as the boy/man bent over and clutched at his injured privates.
"Fuck, teme," hissed the boy/man angrily and Sasuke couldn't help the smirk that made its way to his pale face.
His smirk disappeared, though, when arms encircled him from behind and transmuted a long piece of metal into shackles and swiftly cuffed his hands in front of him before he could react.
A hard body pressed against his back from behind and Sasuke gasped when the arms around him tightened and a pair of wet lips whispered into his ear.
"Never let your guard down… otouto."
Fear, anger and apprehension fought inside him before rage pushed all other emotion aside and overwhelmed him, making Sasuke growl lowly.
"Itachi," he hissed, jerking his head forward and craning his neck to look behind him.
Crimson eyes locked with his own onyx orbs and Sasuke suddenly found himself drowning in blood, pain and dormant memories of murders taking place right before his eyes.
Sasuke fell forward onto his knees, gasping and clutching at his heart with his shackled hands, the blade on his automail arm long gone. His head ached as more memories flooded his mind and he tried to focus his glazed eyes when a hand roughly grabbed at his hair and tilted his head harshly upward.
Sasuke couldn't see the boy's/man's face (not that he could see anything clearly, at the moment), but he could faintly make out dark red eyes, red like Itachi's, with vertical slits of black pupils staring down at him condescendingly.
"Tch. Look what you did, Itachi," growled the boy/man accusingly, though Sasuke barely understood a word he was saying. "Now he's going to stay like that for hours and we won't be able to have any fun!"
A soft snort sounded from behind the ebonette as Itachi replied uncaringly, "Hn. Be quiet. We're here to do a job, not play with my otouto. We can do that later."
"Aww, you're just as much a bastard as him, Itachi," whined the boy/man, and Sasuke just about managed to catch himself from falling face first into the grassy ground when the boy/man released his hold on the ebonette's hair.
Sasuke blearily stared as his blurred vision made out Itachi and the boy/man doing something at Naruto's grave.
Frowning, Sasuke blinked and for a moment, his sight returned and he saw that Itachi was handing a shovel to the boy/man and said boy/man begun to dig at the ground.
"S-stop," stammered Sasuke, trying to sound threatening upon realizing that they were going to dig out Naruto's grave.
Itachi glanced at him before looking back to survey his partner's work and totally ignoring the ebonette. Sasuke growled and stood, about to move towards them when another bout of dizziness attacked him and he fell forward on his knees again.
This time, he couldn't even stop himself from falling over and as he laid there on his side, watching the bane of his life and an unknown person defiling the resting place of the one person Sasuke had ever learned to love, he passed out.
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Tbc…
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Kaeru: KYA!! So? How was it? Should I continue, or leave it to rot? Please review and let me know what you think!