The Doll Maker's House
He wasn't exactly crazy. Oh, he knew what the neighbor kids whispered about him - cutting up little dogs and stray cats to put in his freezer, eating lean cuisine for dinner every night, wearing women's high heels - but that was merely speculation. Certainly not fact.
Even though there was something to be said about the mood of a rumor, which, on occasion, built from a grain of truth.
Naruto just didn't like to be away from his dolls and delicate puppets he created. They were family. One didn't just abandon family if one could help it. The sea of happy, sad or even expressionless faces would stare at him, imploring him with their painted eyes not to just up and leave, but to continue on in their numbers. Everyone else had left him, but his little guys, his precious masterpieces, they would remain - and it was that thought which gave him the peace to rest easy at night, and begin work again in the morning.
Sometimes - yes, Naruto would admit it - he yearned for the happy voices and faces he would often see outside his window, but the feeling would only last a moment before fading away, and he returned to his tiny brushes. Bright, excitable paint.
It wasn't so bad. The lovingly carved dolls would speak to him in his lonelier hours and encourage him not to take a scraper knife to his wrists. They were family, after all.
Tongue peeking from the corner of his mouth, Naruto finished the last detail of a puppet he'd been working on. He grinned with satisfaction. "I think I'll call you Tsunade."
000
"Dude, hey, you sure you wanna do this? I mean, I was only kiddin' with the dare shit..."
Sasuke deftly flicked his ashes onto the sidewalk, ignoring his nervous friend and careful to avoid the tips of his brand new trainers. He'd worked like a mad man that summer to have a couple bucks in his pocket for the fall, and he wasn't about to waste it now - especially not over a bad habit he was trying hard to drop. Really hard.
He turned his head, and regarded Kiba with a decidedly bored expression. "Come on man, stop being such a fucking pussy."
The boy flashed his white teeth in a nasty snarl, red tribal tattoos huffing and puffing on his flushed cheeks. It was obvious he was quite upset, but then again, Kiba tended to get grumpy over something as stupid as the end of his favorite T.V. show. "Yeah, fuck you J-rock wannabe."
Oh, now that was fucking low. Sasuke had his hand wrapped around the collar of his friend's t-shirt in an instant, and was about to knock his block off, when the calm voice of reason decided to butt in. A very high-pitched and girly voice of reason. "Oh, quit it you two shit-heads! Sasuke, you gonna do this or not?"
Ino really was an annoying pig head. Snapping her hideously multi-colored gum and tapping a chunky black boot, she glared at them from her spot next to Neji. As for Neji, he only smirked and draped a friendly arm around the bitch, apparently trying to loosen her up. He casually shook away a longish strand of dark hair dangling in front of his eyes.
Sasuke just snorted at them. Neji was an idiot and so was Ino. Blowing a puff of smoke into Kiba's face, Sasuke released him and - leaning down - snubbed out his cigarette on the sidewalk.
"Yes, bitch, quit your screaming. Christ, I pity the man who's forced to marry you. Probably hafta be blind. Totally deaf as well."
Kiba's muffled snorts and Ino's enraged shrieks, followed Sasuke as he trailed across the dead grass towards the home of their neighborhood's resident crazy. It was burnt out in places and pieces were falling from the walls - no doubt little animals and insects making their homes under the floor boards - but somehow, it retained a sort of graceful nostalgia that reminded him of his childhood. The old Umino place was the stuff of haunted house legend.
Avoiding the roll and smash of one of the roof's more traditional barrel tiles, Sasuke dashed up the crumbling steps and paused at the entrance way. The doors had rotted off long ago.
Rolling his eyes at the stupidity of what he was doing, but facing boredom if he didn't, Sasuke turned and called out to his friends waiting on the darkened sidewalk. "Hey, if I'm not out in fifteen minutes, send Neji in so he can die too! Then call the cops!"
Two of them waved and laughed, but one of them - definitely Neji - yelled out across the lawn. "Hey, fuck you, Uchiha!"
Sasuke just gave him the finger before disappearing inside.
000
Someone was in his home! Someone had defiled the precious sanctity of their little world! Naruto felt frightened for a moment, clutching anxiously at one of his pretty dolls, before a sudden anger swelled inside him. Nobody was supposed to be here, nobody liked it - he knew the place smelled old and was falling apart, and then there was the fact that he was supposed to be a crazy cannibal - so why was somebody here!?
Swallowing over his dread, Naruto clambered across his rows of puppets, and quickly, but gently, placed a few aside to unearth his old baseball bat. Father had given it to him when he was young, so they could practice hitting and catching together. He really missed his father - especially on the colder nights when the ground felt frozen to the touch.
The sudden creaks and groans of the floor boards had Naruto hurriedly reaching out to grab the taped up handle. He then stepped quietly towards his door, sliding the paper partition aside so he could peak out into the darkness. The dust made his nose itch.
He frowned at the blacker shadow wondering across his living room - about twenty feet down the hall from his special place. It chuckled and kicked rudely at one of the many rotting tatami mats. Bastard. Naruto could only glare at it, feeling angry and completely violated at what was going on his home. Someone else came to play a mean joke on him! The last one had left a decapitated cat on his door step! He'd been so disturbed by the poor dead thing, he'd had to wait a day before attempting to box and bury it.
Damn bastard. He'd just have to make sure this one was so scared it would keep away the others for a very long time.
Slipping through his door way, Naruto stood center in the hall and slowly pinged the tip of his bat against the floor. The little shadow jumped and cursed. Good. He pealed back his lips and snarled like a wild animal - he was defending his dear family - before charging forward, swinging away like a mad man.
The shadow stood still, cursing even more violently, before rolling under the viscous upswing of Naruto's bat.
000
Sasuke had almost swallowed his tongue when he heard the crazy's animal noises, the incessant mantra of 'oh shit, oh shit' running laps through his head. It'd been stupid of him to come here - what the hell did he know of a nut ball's eating habits? The neighbor kids could've been right!
Ducking underneath another furious bat swing - the only reason he'd missed Mr. Skull cruncher in the first place was because the metal had reflected for a split-second before impact - Sasuke scrambled backwards on his hands and feet. He reacted blindly to the next swipe, kicking the crazy man in the gut before dashing to his feet so he could run for it.
The nut job only howled and tackled him, as Sasuke heard the bat drop after his kick. They rolled around the room for a while, bashing into a couple paper screens and slamming into walls, before Sasuke finally managed to get the upper hand. Landing in a pool of moonlight, he slammed the surprisingly smaller body against the floor, caging its hips between his legs and tightly gripping its shoulders. He panted long and hard trying to get his breath back, eyes squeezed shut during the process.
After a long moment he hesitantly opened them, expecting to see a dirty old man with blood encrusted teeth and nails.
He didn't.
"Damn," Sasuke said with some definite shock, "You can't be much older than me!"
Blurry and enraged blue eyes stared up at him, before the kid turned his head to try and take a bite out of Sasuke's wrist. Quickly moving his hands so they gripped the other's forearms, Sasuke blinked down curiously - well, as curious as he could get with such a naturally bored expression.
The little crazy opened his mouth to hiss at him. "No shit, you jerk! So why are you bothering me in my house! Huh? Gonna tell me?"
Sasuke had the decency to feel somewhat remorseful, but unfortunately, also the pride not to show it. "It was just a dare. I wanted something to do."
He felt like an asshole - tribute to the kid's unholy power - when a pair of wet blue eyes locked on his own. Then the little shit-head spoke. "So the fuck what! You didn't hafta barge into my place, kicking crap around! Do I go into your place? No! And get the fuck off me!" Jerking his hips and tugging at his arms to accentuate his point, Sasuke cursed when the dumb kid managed to rub against a particularly sensitive spot. He couldn't damn well help it - at fifteen even the wind managed to give him a stiff one. It was only just lately he'd been able to control himself.
Caught up in the embaressment of his thoughts, Sasuke failed to notice when the crazy suddenly stopped moving. Stopped breathing in fact. "Err, maybe you should get off me. That really doesn't feel right."
Sasuke silently agreed, but if only to be contrary smirked at him. "Gimme a break. Not like you've never had one."
The kid glared, but the effect was sort of ruined by his red tinted cheeks. He sputtered for a moment "As a matter of fact, I haven't. So if you'll just get the hell off of me-" Cutting in, Sasuke lifted a sardonic eyebrow.
"Well if that's true, do ya want one?"
000
Naruto growled at the stranger, most definitely proud to be the cause of the dork's hisses of pain and irritable rubbing of cheek. Maybe he'd loosened a tooth or two with that punch. Bastard. Curling up against the opposite wall, Naruto hugged his knees and idly widened a few of the holes in his pants before glaring at the other guy again. Wasn't the jerk going to leave?
"Aren't you going to leave?" Naruto unconsciously echoed his thoughts, hand clutching his jacket a little tighter.
"Sasuke."
"What?"
"It's my name." The guy bit out, Naruto feeling a little disoriented by the direction of their conversation. He rolled the name around in his head and decided it was okay - nice even. Sasuke, as it appeared, was still angrily nursing his cheek, legs sprawled out as he leaned against the opposite wall. Naruto wasn't sorry, in fact, he thought perhaps his puppets Tsunade and Nara would enjoy hearing the story. They would all have a laugh about it later.
"Guess I should give you mine," he muttered, indecision dripping from his voice, "It's Naruto."
Sasuke laughed - another pleasant sound, Naruto hadn't heard real laughter in a long time - mumbling something as he rubbed his eyes. "It suits you."
Naruto frowned. What did Mr. Breaking-and-Entering know about it?
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, boredom inflecting the tone.
Naruto looked up and tilted his head to the side as he watched the boy play with the laces in his shoes. He glanced down at his own feet, feeling a moment's sadness envelop him as he regarded the dirty and holed up socks. Shoes were also something he hadn't enjoyed for a long time.
Sighing, Naruto answered his question. "I live here, with my family."
Sasuke lifted an eyebrow at him. "You know, I might be crazy, but I don't see anyone else here. And there haven't been rumors of anyone else here either."
Naruto felt annoyed and angry again. Stupid bastard. "Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they aren't here! Who gave you the right to say that? Go away stupid, leave me alone!"
He watched as the stranger rolled his eyes, equally irritated huff escaping his lips. "Fine. Sorry for bothering you crazy kid. I'm out."
Pulling his very tall body from the floor - Naruto wondered jealously if he'd already hit six feet - the boy stretched out his lanky arms and then shoved them into his pockets. Sasuke finally scowled at him.
"Don't got much though, do you?"
000
Sasuke didn't like the feel of pity rolling around in his stomach, in fact, he hated feeling of any kind in his stomach. He figured the stomach was where all the really pathetic emotions wound up, and he'd dealt with quite his share today. The kid didn't even have sneakers. For fuck's sake, the little crazy's jacket could hardly be more than a windbreaker, and it was freezing tonight in Kyoto!
Damn it, he hated being considerate. Dropping back down to the floor - the indignant squeals of a certain psycho reaching his ears - Sasuke tugged off his brand new, hundred dollar sneakers. He looked at them morosely for a second, before hurriedly tossing them at the shocked boy lest he change his mind. Shit, Sasuke had to be the real crazy one here.
Standing again, he stomped for the exit way, wanting very much to be gone from the objects he'd obsessed over for almost a year and a half. That was a damn long time in teen years.
"What are these? W-why...?" Angrily Sasuke whirled around and stared at the kid like he was soft in the head - well the kid was apparently, but this was the first time Sasuke had actually looked at him thus - and gestured rudely. It pained him to say what he said next. "I've got...another pair at home! Just take them, because you obviously need them more than I do."
He watched as Naruto brushed at a few over grown strands of blonde hair - not even bottle blonde like Ino-bitch - and clutch at the white trainers. They'd be filthy in a couple days. Sighing, Sasuke found oddly sweet blue eyes starring into his - across moonlight and shadow - before curving in what he thought had to be the most beautiful smile he'd ever received. He blinked stupidly for a moment.
"Come back, will you? Sometime? You can meet my family."
It'd been a really weird night and Sasuke was sure his fifteen minutes were up. He slowly nodded before picking carefully across the dust and broken wood - he seriously didn't need a two-inch splinter in his heel - before disappearing again, this time back out into the night.
"Thank you."
Sasuke couldn't help smiling a little.
000
Delightedly tugging on the sneakers, Naruto was glad to find they weren't more than half a size bigger than his own. He wet his thumb and rubbed away a smear of dirt, before jumping to his feet and hurrying back to his family of puppets and dolls. He would have to tell them the entire story - beginning to end.
And if the feeling of loneliness leached back into his chest - he knew they'd never really answer - Naruto chose to ignore it. He could only hope Sasuke came back to visit.
The guy had such a nice laugh, he'd definitely need to hear it again.
000
"Jeeze dude, you were in there for like ever!"
"It was more like twenty minutes. We'd figured either a falling beam had killed you, or the psycho did."
"Sasuke! What the hell happened to your awesome trainers!"
Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Sasuke continued past them and down the darkened sidewalk - illuminated every now and then by a passing car. Kiba and Ino hurried to catch up, while Neji just shook his head and took his customary spot at Sasuke's left. It had always been just so since kindergarten.
"Met the nut job." He muttered nonchalantly, whacking Neji's arm for a cigarette. The two on his right gaped at him, shooting anxious questions about what went on.
"Did he beat you up?"
"Is that where your trainers went?"
"Does he eat animals?"
"Does he eat people?"
Sasuke couldn't help snorting at the last two questions. The kid he met looked like he'd freak at the prospect of dead animals or dead people, with those wide and watery blue eyes. In fact, he'd probably faint on the spot. Taking a deep breath, Sasuke attempted to answer all their questions at once. "No, yes, no, no."
Ino and Kiba shot each other skeptical looks.
"So did he steal your sneakers?" Ino questioned baldly, wrapping the tip of her bleach-blonde ponytail around a finger.
Sasuke sucked in a breath of smoke, irritably lifting a shoulder while he was at it. He really needed to quit. "No."
"Well then what the hell happened in there!" This time it was Kiba huffing and puffing at him, sharp black eyes boring holes into the side of his head. He couldn't help smirking on an exhale.
"It seems our crazy's just a little homeless kid try'na avoid people. He didn't have any sneakers, so I gave him mine." Ino gaped at him a moment before breaking out into that well-known - and horrifyingly - infatuated smile.
"Oh, your such a sweetie Sasuke! Sakura will totally love this! I'm so calling her!"
Sasuke only grunted - he wasn't in the mood for Sakura's harping - and flicked some ashes away from his crew. He then turned his attention on Kiba, boredly awaiting his response to the story. Dog-breath studied him a moment before opening his mouth. "A kid huh? Maybe we should go back and beat him up or something. Obviously a dork if he's living in that place."
Sasuke slowed his steps to a stop, glaring angrily at his friend. "Shut the hell up Kiba! He can't be more than fucking thirteen! You'd have fun beating some scrawny kid, who possibly hasn't eaten in days? What the hell's wrong with you?"
Kiba looked back at him, a reddish hue quickly filling in his cheeks. Good. Stupid ass should be sorry.
"Oh, I didn't know man. Just thought he was one a those greasy squatter types. M'really sorry."
Sasuke just shook his head and continued walking. Neji was the final one to pipe up with his question. "So what did he look like?"
"Blonde hair, blue eyes. Nothing special."
Neji looked surprised for a second. "American? European, maybe?"
Sasuke thought back to his encounter with Naruto, rehashing the scenes and bringing the kid's face to mind. He'd had a graceful slant to his eyes and a smoothness of face that just screamed Asian. "No, he was Japanese, but I'm thinking he got the short end of the gene stick. One of his parents must've been Euro or something."
"Well, we must return for a visit." Neji smirked at him.
Sasuke flung his cigarette butt out into the street, where it was sure to get flattened and not start some kind of fire. Pity. He felt a twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah."
A/N - this is yet another - about two or three chapter - file I found while deleting a shit load of stuff on my computer. I've learned my lesson from last time, and will try to control my trigger happy behavior by putting up each chapter after a successive couple days. If anyone liked this one, my encouragements to go visit Fast Asleep in my story listing. Hopefully you'll like that one too. Oh! And could anyone tell me if the weather does get cold in Kyoto? REVIEW OR I'LL EAT YOU! NYAH, JUST KIDDING!