Believe it or not, this story was actually inspired by a documentary on Edinsburg that was showing on the History channel. Yes, I actually enjoy that channel. But what is Edinsburg you ask? The city where the horror of Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde was modeled in. I was intrigued by the idea of dark, wet alleyways with sinister fogs rippling over cobblestone streets. Who knows what sort of people wait in the shadows of such places? Well, Edinsburg sure does, with its history of mass murderers and grave robbers and shady anatomical scientists and—shudder—medical schools. But, yeah, just thought I'd tell you where I got the idea. Erm, on to the story!

Melting the Ice

Chapter One
An Orange Fox and a Dark Prince

As I look out over the ghost town that was once the great city of Konoha, I see the leaves from my orchard and the debris from the now decaying buildings being blown through the narrow streets. Each alley is lit with lamps that have never been extinguished, set up with enough oil to burn for years.

The irony of lit streets for a town with a populace made up of bones does not escape me.

Sasuke shut the blinds with disgust, shrouding the world—his room—in darkness once more.

I am still amazed that I have not yet gone insane.

xXxXx

"What do you mean you're leaving?!" A pink-haired girl in a red dress watched as a spiky-haired blonde packed his orange backpack with food cubes, water canteens, clothes, and a first aid kit. They were in his room, which used to be the history classroom before their group of people had transformed the school into a shelter to live their lives in. It was dark out, and they were most likely the only ones awake.

"I mean I'm going Sakura; I can't stand this place. I'm done hiding with all the immunes that are still terrified about going outdoors because they think they'll catch the virus." The boy shook his head as he put in a set of daggers and an odd blue bottle into the bag.

"Naruto!"

"Yes, Sakura, I know; you and the others are not hiding. But you are staying with your parents, and they are hiding. Its all the same." Naruto added soap and shampoo to the bag, along with a blue towel.

"But Naruto…where will you go?" Sakura's face was wrinkled with worry and Naruto gave a soft sigh.

"I don't know. Somewhere no one will want to follow…Konoha, maybe?"

"You're going over the mountains?!"

"They say that the whole place is dead, that there are no survivors; but if no one survived, how do they know? There must be at least one person alive at that place, and I intend to meet them." Naruto stuffed a tent box into his bag with renewed determination and Sakura felt the hope of him staying begin to disappear.

"But…why?"

"I don't really know." Naruto paused and put his right hand over his heart. "I feel as if someone is calling me, asking me for help. I have to follow this feeling." The zip on the backpack made a resolute sound as it was closed, and Sakura made one last attempt to protest.

"But Naru—"

"Sakura." Sakura paused at the serious tone to Naruto's voice, and looked into his eyes. Under the dying fluorescent lights, his bright blue eyes looked dark as the night sky. "When have I ever been wrong?"

Sakura smiled humorlessly and whispered, "Never."

Naruto nodded and hefted his backpack up onto his back. "Don't tell Bushybrows where I'm going, alright? He'll just chase after me, and, knowing Gaara, he'll come along to hurt whoever took me away from the school." The blonde laughed suddenly. "Don't tell Kiba, either; he'll get lost trying to find me, and Hinata needs him."

"Naruto…" Sakura's eyes were swimming with unshed tears and she could feel a sob building at the back of her throat.

"Goodbye, Sakura."

And then he was gone. Damn him and those stupid ninja scrolls he learned those damn tricks from!

xXxXx

After a week of crossing the mountain ridge and two days of endless valley he came to a wall. The wall undoubtedly circled the ghost town of Konoha, and Naruto had to get past it. Unfortunately, judging by the rusted locks on the doors, the only way was to climb it.

Fortunately, all Naruto had to do was concentrate, and he could walk up it easily.

Thank you, mysterious ninja scrolls!

xXxXx

You see, when Naruto was twelve, he found a collection of scrolls hidden beneath his bedroom floor—the history classroom floor. The scrolls were all instruction manuals on how to be a ninja. Naruto absorbed all the information, and tried everything. Everything that had even the slightest amount of result, he practiced and perfected. Everything that didn't, he let go, as the scrolls explained that some techniques are only possible for certain people.

If he was not one of the qualified people, he was not about to risk his life on trying to change that.

Eventually, he shared his find with the rest of the group. Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Kankuro, and Choji were not interested. Temari, Neji, Shikamaru, Gaara, Kiba, and Rock, were.

Much to Naruto's annoyance, they each were able to use one of the skills he could not.

Neji gained this weird vision thing where he could see everything around him. It bleached his eyes white. He must have taught it to Hinata later, because her eyes soon turned white as well.

Shikamaru became a master of shadows—everyone but Temari avoided him for a while after that, since he could control your actions by touching your shadow. But Temari now yielded a giant fan, so it could have been that people were actually avoiding her.

Kiba learned this creepy synchronizing move with his dog, Akamaru; it was really hard to explain, but Akamaru never left his side now, and Kiba's animalistic traits shone through a little more.

Poor Rock Lee couldn't use any of the cool magic-type-moves; instead, he worked really hard on the purely physical ones to make up for it, until he was so amazing at them that it was scary.

Gaara, on the other hand, refused to learn the athletic moves, and instead immediately mastered complete control over an undefeatable sand technique that only he could do.

Naruto remembered that technique as being particularly complicated and shady, but most definitely powerful.

No one ever messed with Gaara. Not when he always carried a gourd of sand that would kill anyone that tried. Even before he learned the technique, the only one brave enough to even really talk to him was Rock and Naruto. The sand never did anything to Rock, most likely because Rock had never had any form of ill will towards Gaara. The sand only responded to threats, and to it, Rock Lee never was one. Naruto sometimes lost his temper with the boy, though, which made the sand automatically tuned to protect Gaara from him.

The only thing the others couldn't do was make clones. Sure, they could make smoky copies, but real, live, breathing flesh and bones? No.

Only Naruto could do that.

xXxXx

"Wow, this place is dreary."

On the other side of the wall was a dreary picture of tall, decaying buildings that made Naruto think of stone skyscrapers. The cobblestone road he stood on was wet and dirty, with trash everywhere. There was a dusty sort of decaying scent on the breeze, and Naruto could hear windows and doors slamming in time to the gusts of strong wind.

As he walked through the middle of the main street, past the many dark alleys lit with lamps and swathed in cobwebs, he began to see the skeletons through the windows. Most were on beds or chairs, covered in tattered remains of blankets, some holding children. Others were alone and on the ground, having died where they had fallen, and never given a proper burial.

All of these people had been killed by the virus.

But sometimes, the people who were not immune, but smart, hid themselves away before they could be contaminated…

"If I was not immune, where would I hide?" Naruto's eyes traveled down the road and up a steep hill to a high stone wall surrounded by a wide moat. "Bingo."

With a poofing sound and a puff of white smoke, Naruto was gone from the cobblestone street and instead was on the other side of the wall.

He landed in a garden, well kept and filled with fruits, vegetables, and flowers. To his right was an orchard of fruit trees, and to his left was a small bee farm. The grass beneath his feet was green, and the flowers were all in bloom.

How on earth had he gone from Hell to the Garden of Eden?

Straight in front of him was a stone castle with stained glass windows and an enormous mahogany door.

Without really thinking of what any occupants of the building would think of him walking into their house, Naruto walked right up to the door, pushed it open, and walked into the mansion. The door swung shut behind him, plunging poor Naruto into instant and complete darkness.

"AHH!!"

"What are you doing?" The voice behind him was deep and cold, and it scared Naruto even more.

"AHHHH!!" The blonde whirled around and tried to make out the person the voice belonged to. All he could see was a slightly darker blob directly in front of him.

"Shut UP, Dobe." That got Naruto to stop, alright.

"Teme!! What did you say?!"

"What are you doing in my house?" And that reminded Naruto that he was, in fact, trespassing.

"I…I didn't know anybody lived here."

"Hn." Naruto's eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness and he began to see that they were in a large bedroom, of sorts. The large bed took up most of the room, and the walls were lined with bookshelves. There were four doors in the room, and one of them looked like it hadn't been opened in ages.

"So," Naruto cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the silence. "Uhm, were you part of a family that hid from the virus here, or are you a traveler that decided to make this your new home?"

"The first one."

Naruto grinned, delighted that this stranger he could almost make out was responding. "Where are your parents?"

"They died."

Naruto blanched, kicking himself for such a stupid mistake. "O-oh…the virus?"

"My brother killed them."

Naruto's eyes widened before his face scrunched up in sympathy. "I'm sorry."

The stranger didn't answer, only stared at him in silence, and Naruto could now vaguely make out what he looked like. He was either wearing a funny hat or had a really odd hairstyle, since he could tell that long, dark bangs framed his pale face, but he also had what looked like spikes at the back of his hair. It could just be the lighting, but it looked like his eyes were pitch black. Even with the poor lighting, Naruto could tell that this person was extremely handsome.

"So…how long have you been…alone, then?"

The boy said nothing, looking off to the side, and Naruto began to think that he had worn out his welcome with just the beginning of the conversation. After a stretch of silence, Naruto cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He gave a lopsided grin and held out a hand for the other boy to shake.

The boy looked at Naruto, then at his hand. With a start, Naruto realized that he could see the boy clearly now, and that he was not just handsome as he had originally thought, but downright gorgeous, his features delicate and almost feminine. Finally, the boy looked back up at Naruto's face.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke turned towards one of the bookshelves, blatantly dismissing his presence.

"Well, Sasuke, you are very, very pretty." Naruto wasn't really flirting, honest; he just wanted to let Sasuke know.

But Sasuke's face darkened at his words in a way that had nothing to do with the light.

"Get out."

"What?" Naruto's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "But there's no where else to go! Can't I stay with you, just for the night?"

"No. Sleep with the corpses for all I care. Just get out."

Cobalt eyes narrowed, the tanned boy taking a step towards the paler one. "All this over me calling you pretty?" He took another step forward.

And Sasuke stepped back.

Naruto's face split into a predatorial grin and he stepped forward again. He could tell by the conflict that flashed through onyx eyes that Sasuke was forcing himself not to step away.

"Can't I just use an extra room? You live in a mansion…" Naruto turned towards the door that looked most untouched and Sasuke was there in an instant, standing in between the blonde and the door.

"You may not go through this door."

Naruto smiled and stalked slowly towards the raven, who began to back away. But then Sasuke's back banged against the door and Naruto's hands came to rest on either side of the pale boy's head.

"If I can't stay in another room, then can't I just stay in here with you?"

Onyx eyes widened as cobalt eyes came closer.

"There's plenty of room in that giant bed for the both of us…"

Sasuke shivered as he felt warm breath ghost over his cheek. Naruto leaned in even closer to whisper in his ear.

"I won't even try anything…I promise."

His hands were shaking. Sasuke could feel his hands shaking, and he didn't like it one bit. Scowling, Sasuke roughly shoved the annoying, arousing blonde off and away from him.

"Fine," He growled, adjusting his silk robes. "You can stay, but you better stay on your half of the bed."