Untwine the Chain by Kinoo Kyuu

Pairing: Sasuke x Naruto, Seme x Uke.

Warning: Future yaoi, swearing, etc.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it; rightfully belongs to Kishimoto -sniffs-

Hey guys~

Start of a new year! Gosh, I'm really, really, really excited!

… Okay, maybe not that excited…

Anyways, since I would be finishing Konoha Gakuen: Baka Teme in several chapters, here is a new story to start off the year ; ) !

1. Registrate this darkness.

Naruto woke up with sweat soaking his body. Pain rang up his spine and he couldn't help but wonder why his head was lurching in agony. Naruto was feeling unusually warm and deceptively weak. However, today was the day the Hokage was going to make the important announcements. He really wanted to go back and lay himself in bed. His legs was so close to giving up and collapsing, but he forced it to stand and wobbled with all his might to his bathroom.

'Kit, don't push yourself too hard,' the fox suddenly spoke. Naruto smiled at the worry laced in the words, it felt nice to have someone take care of him. He started shedding his pajamas which wasn't much, only baggy shirt and a boxer. 'Nahh, it's fine. I just have a slight cold, that's all.'

'You're not fully healed you know,' Kyuubi warned. 'Take a day off. You haven't been able to have a proper rest ever since that brat of an Uchiha came back.'

Naruto grinned hesitantly. He grabbed his toothbrush, pasting it, and started brushing his teeth. Thinking a little, he then finally answered. '… Sasuke has nothing to do with this. It's probably just you worrying too much! After all, you know how much today means to me… I really want to be a jounin!'

'Yeah, yeah. But you do know that-,' Kyuubi's reply was cut off. 'Thank you for caring, but I really want to go.' Kyuubi sighed. 'Stubborn kit.'

'The one and only,' Naruto chirped, getting into the shower, turning on the hot water. He quickly rinsed his hair and grabbed the shampoo near the edge of the wall. His headache was still lingering. 'Kyuubi, you wouldn't know how to cure this… right?'

'... I was starting to wonder myself too,' came Kyuubi's reply, a little bit too short for Naruto's liking. Nonetheless, Naruto ignored it and went ahead with his shower. After he finished, he hung the towel on his waist and went to his closet, pulling out an orange boxer, dark shirt and equally dark pants. After getting dressed, he walked towards the kitchen to find his ramen, only to get a growl from Kyuubi. 'Oh no, please don't tell me you're eating that trash again!'

'Hey! Gotta stay true with my stomach. Besides it's not that bad,' Naruto defended, but Kyuubi won't stop growling so he finally gave up. 'Fine, I'll eat something else.' He pouted when he heard Kyuubi laughed evilly, but quickly putting on his apron, grabbing some eggs and butter from the fridge and started heating up the stove. Naruto was excellent at cooking. Funny how he never used the talent. Instead, he drowned himself in mountains of ramen. Not too long after, someone knocked on his door. He turned the stove knob to low, and hurried himself to the door. "Coming!"

Opening the door, Temari burst in and hugged him tightly. "Naru-chan! How I've missed you sooo…"

Naruto chuckled at her antics and patted her back awkwardly. "I've missed you too Temari-chan," Naruto said. It was then that he realized there were two other people standing gawkily outside. "Gaara, Kankurou! You two can come in too, you know." Gaara let out a small nod while Kankurou grinned.

They sat at the counter taking in a rare view of Naruto who was wearing an apron, cooking something that's not ramen. Now that's got to be something. "Would you like to join me for breakfast?" He invited, taking out the plates from a cabinet. Temari nodded eagerly. "You look so cute in an apron! Right, guys?"

"Uhmm… Thanks? I guess," Naruto smiled sheepishly, his headache was starting to attack again. Gaara seemed to be fixated on Naruto too answer while Kankurou nodded ever so slightly, not as eager as his sister. "Anyways, are you guys here for Tsunade-baachan's announcement or…?" Naruto asked, busying himself cracking eggs while searching for spices in one of the drawers.

"… Yes," Gaara answered. "The Godaime requested our presence."

"I see," Naruto said weakly, smiling warmly while serving the food on each plate. "Really important, I guess. I wonder why though. It wasn't as big as it was before." They ate in silence. Well, at least one of them. Naruto, Temari, and Kankurou started talking with themselves about the ceremony. When they finished, Naruto put away the dishes and walked together with the siblings to the monument. Quietly, Naruto hooked his arm to Gaara's, who raised an invisible eyebrow. "Heheh… you should talk more, Gaara!"

"Naruto," the Kazekage started, ignoring his comment, "you're not feeling very well, are you?" Naruto stopped, but masked it with a grin. The fox chuckled quietly. 'Heh, looks like the raccoon figured you out.'

'Do you have to give a comment on every single thing?' Naruto asked, annoyed. 'Yes,' Kyuubi's chuckle went louder when Naruto tried hiding a pout. But he continued grinning outwardly. "No! Whatever gave you the idea?"

"You seemed down and you look like you're about to disintegrate at any second," Naruto fazed away from his conversation with Kyuubi and laughed at the overly-precautious tone stuck in the statement. Gaara relaxed, seeing the tad bit of happiness drawn on Naruto's face, though he was still watching vigilantly. Naruto never told anyone when he was not feeling his best, or even when he was really sick. Naruto was like a mirror to him, though both handled them in different ways. "Thanks, but I'm just a little tired is all." 'Yeah. Right. More like close to fainting,' Kyuubi scoffed. Naruto snapped back warningly. 'Shut up or I'll seriously stuff my face with ramen.'

'I hate your sadistic side,' Naruto smirked inwardly. 'Just for that I'm ignoring you.'

'Meanie,' he teased, but Kyuubi only replied with a growl and went back to sleeping. Naruto smiled, holding in the pain throughout his body and continued with the small conversation with the red head. Temari pestered her brother and him about how cute they were as a couple until Shikamaru stumbled upon them. Gaara let out a very, very small sinister smirk towards her – because she was blushing madly as she took Shikamaru's hand, before saying goodbye to Naruto. Gaara was obliged to meet Tsunade on the stage to prepare for the special event. Kankurou heaved a sigh before also parting with Naruto and following his brother.

Naruto only needed to walk a little bit until reaching the said location, his friends calling over him. He recognized Sasuke standing behind all of them, ignoring his arrival. Sasuke was colder and much distant than they were in the past, but Naruto had made no comment on it. After all, Itachi had just been killed and Sasuke just found out that his brother had purposely created hatred towards himself. It truly must have been a blow for the stoic raven, and Naruto gave a silent commiseration towards him.

When Sasuke came back, however, he was not alone but in fact, along with his subordinates. Naruto hadn't really minded them; it wasn't like they had made any mischief around the town. Let's rephrase that… Even if they did want too, they couldn't. The group had all undergone countless interrogations and court conferences. They were let off fast because Naruto had meddled and took a stand for them all. As Naruto started reminiscing old memories, he wordlessly sat next to the raven. They were inquired to sit alphabetically by their last names. Naruto, meanwhile, was putting on a happy front towards his other next seat neighbour, Sai. He wasn't in a very chit-chatty mood because he was completely trite and hackneyed. Naruto felt like he should really be getting some award for being able to prolong his wake till now. It deserved a standing ovation.

Naruto started feeling a death glare burning holes onto his back, though he didn't quite know who. Sure, on the outside, people might have thought of it as something normal as Naruto was known as the densest ninja, but it only seemed as if he was. Keyword; 'seemed'. Naruto was a force to be reckoned with, but he found no reason for showcasing it. Honestly, he didn't need to be labelled as a 'sly fox', or 'blood-thirsty monster'. Why add reasons for more shunning? Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and resume to his one-sided conversation with Sai. He began massaging the bridge of his nose in attempt to make all the hurt go away.

"Oi," Sasuke started, but Naruto didn't respond. "Oi, dobe." Naruto finally turned around and sighed, "Yeah, teme, what is it? I have a name you know."

"Hn," Sasuke scoffed, he stood up while he was at it. "Stop talking to your boyfriend and let's get going because, in case you're deaf, the hokage just screamed at us. Meeting at the tower."

"He's not my boyfriend and I am not deaf," Naruto rolled his eyes. Sasuke merely let out a grunt at the less-than-usual-enthusiastic-reply and walked away from the scene while Naruto waved goodbye towards Sai who was smirking and was about to speak. Naruto put a nimble finger up his lips to silent the other's retort, then trailing behind the impassive teen. Naruto tried very hard to stop wincing from time to time, but the pain had travelled everywhere and it was affecting his entire body. He involuntarily halted and dropped to the ground, onto his knees.

"… You okay?" Sasuke asked emotionlessly, face straight, void of any emotion. Well… almost. A brief look of worry crossed his face. Naruto, however, was too giddy to notice. He could feel his consciousness leaving him. The ache and throbbing had doubled and tortured his body, weakening it. Not able to answer, Naruto nodded whilst tying to stand but his strength betrayed him, making him slithered to the ground once again. The next thing he knew, strong arms latched itself to his back and legs.

They carried on with their awfully quiet journey. Naruto found out that it took everything he had to keep from falling out cold. Nevertheless, all the effort was gone when they've finally reached the office; it was a completely different story.

"Naruto… Naruto…"

He could feel the others hovered above him, making his body tingled agonizingly from even the slightest friction. The voices surrounding him became more and more obscure. Darkness started swigging the little light existing in his sight.

And he closed his eyes.

Thank you for reading guys! Down here is just a little New Year message for you guys!

( Please review! It will be taken to heart~ )

皆様、明けましておめでとうございますよね～｡　お世話になりました。出羽、この私に失礼します。

お大事にしてください。

キノオキュウ。

Translation:

Everyone, Happy New Years~. Thank you very much for everything you've done. Well then, please excuse me for ending this.

Please do take good care of yourself.

Kinoo Kyuu.