Title: The Holding Game
Genre: Angst/Suspense
Rating: T
Synopsis: While training in the forest one day, Sasuke and Naruto's pathological need to compete with one another causes them to commit a horrid act; after which their guilt and fear prompts them both to hold the biggest secret of their young lives.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
The Holding Game
by Yamichik
(:Chapter 1:) The rules were made to be broken?
The sweat on his shirt turned cold quickly as he ran through the forest. He had to win this time. The fact that training was forbidden in this particular portion of the forest since it was so close to a walking trail nearby, was completely ignored for now. After all, this area had the flattest ground and seemed to be an ideal spot for training. Plus they had been there twice already and nothing had happened.
"This is it Sasuke!" yelled Naruto from the center of the area. "Today, I will beat you and prove that I'm a way better ninja than you!"
"Hmph." sneered Sasuke, "Do your best." He said mockingly. Naruto fumed at his comment; too many times he had fallen short of Sasuke. He was sick of it, and today, he was sure he would be triumphant.
"Okay then, to the top of those two trees and back. Whoever's mark is the highest wins!" said Naruto.
"Fine!" said Sasuke as he turned his eyes to look at the tall trees before him. "Let this be the determining factor for who is truly the superior ninja!"
"That means permanent bragging rights!" said Naruto pointing in Sasuke's face rudely.
"Hmph. Whatever..." he replied.
"Let's get ready to do this then." said Naruto as he turned to position himself to run up the trees in front of him. 'I won't lose to Sasuke this time!' he thought. He looked over to see Sasuke preparing to sprint up the tree also.
'I won't let him win.' thought Sasuke.
The two boys readied themselves; and when the moment was right, and the forest was silent, Naruto yelled,
"Go!"
The two of them took off at top speed, their feet landing heavily on the trees' trunks as they scaled the sides without even using their hands. As they reached the top, each looking over at the other boy's progress, they ran neck and neck as they each whipped from the bags on their hips a kunai and carved a gash into their trees, marking their achievement. They then returned to the ground and glared at each other with narrow eyes. Panting heavily, they craned their necks to look up.
"Looks like the marks are even." said Sasuke.
"Looks like that means we go again." said Naruto.
And go again they did. Over and over, only to have each contest come out even.
"This isn't working!" yelled Sasuke, "We'll both be completely out of chakra soon at this rate!"
"Well, then let's try something else!" said Naruto.
"What then?" said Sasuke as he tried to catch his breath. Naruto panted as he squinted up at the sky for a minute before answering. Sunset would be soon and it would get dark.
"Sparring." He said. "Let's spar and see who gets hit first."
"Naruto, not only is that a bad idea, but it's way too dangerous to do that here. Did you completely forget that we're not even supposed to be training here at all?" he lifted his head a little and slowed his breaths. "I mean, running up and down trees is one thing, but sparring and throwing a bunch kunais around is another."
"What's wrong Sasuke? I mean, the rules were made to be broken right?" Naruto sneered at Sasuke again. "Or maybe you're nervous about fighting me with such a small amount of chakra left because you know you'll lose?" Sasuke's blood boiled at Naruto's insulting presumptions, but not quite enough yet to take his common sense out.
"We're already pushing it!" he yelled.
"Fine then." said Naruto as he stood up straight. "We'll just go if you're that big of a sissy." He said as he smirked and turned to walk away.
Sasuke was usually more cool headed than Naruto, but knowing that he just couldn't beat him for some reason bothered him to no end. In that moment, Sasuke cast away his rationale and yelled back at Naruto.
"I'm no sissy! You want to fight me, then come on! Right here, right now!" Naruto slowed his pace and turned his head.
"Oh, so you changed your mind." He took his fighting stance, "Not like it'll matter anyway, you're gonna lose to me today Sasuke!"
"A few rules first, loser." Said Sasuke, "Keep track of every kunai you throw. We don't need to get caught out here. And watch where you aim them, don't hit things unnecessarily, we shouldn't leave a bunch of gashes and marks everywhere. Aim for me, loser."
"No problem!" said Naruto as he jumped from his location and lunged at Sasuke, who promptly dodged him and threw two kunais at his back. Naruto quickly flung around a tree near him and blocked both kunais with the branches of the tree.
Their sparring match went on for what felt like forever for both of them. They were losing chakra and getting very exhausted. Naruto could barely see where he was throwing his weapons anymore, it was starting to get dusky and his arms were weak, as well as his aim. Sasuke wasn't much better off. He was panting hard and holding his chest from exhaustion.
They continued a few more minutes, sparring and blocking every weapon that came their way, until they were down to their last. Naruto reaching into his hip bag and realized he had only one kunai left. Sasuke noticing that he had only two left. Determined to make the last move count, Naruto gathered the last of his chakra and sprinted up a tall tree. He took aim at Sasuke who was on the ground scouting the trees and with the last ounce of his strength, threw a single kunai through the dusky air, not even knowing where it went before he nearly collapsed in the tree from sheer exhaustion. Sasuke saw the kunai flying in the air at a dangerous speed, but he only watched in horror as he realized it wasn't flying towards him.
Sasuke stood in shock for a second as he saw the sharp object flying past him, and directly in the path of an older man walking in the forest alone. Naruto, whose vision was blurred from overexertion, looked on and saw only Sasuke's struggle to move on the ground.
"No!" yelled Sasuke as he moved as quickly as he could to throw one of his own weapons to intercept Naruto's speeding kunai. He could only watch in shock and disbelief when his kunai, collided with Naruto's not to stop it, but only to seem to defy the laws of physics and join its fatal trajectory, directly into an innocent victim's chest and stomach.
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Ch.2 is going up soon! I hope it seems interesting and you really enjoy this story, it's designed to keep you on the edge of your seat! Please read it and review, tell this new author how she's doing!!
Stay up y'all,
-Sabs