Disclaimer: I would've liked to get the rights to Naruto for Christmas, but I got a really nice Naruto calendar instead. Oh well.
A/N: This story takes place about one week after the Uchiha massacre. It might contain some spoilers for episodes up until the Valley of the End (because all of the best flashbacks happen then).
Warning: This fic will be shonen-ai eventually (NaruSasu). There will be some blood and death, as there is in the series. There might be some OOC, though I will do my best to fight against too much of it. There may be some stupid humor in this.
Chapter One
Naruto hated him. He hated him for all his skills, his looks, his absolute perfection. Naruto hated him, because he hated perfection. And Sasuke was perfection.
He was beautiful- anyone with eyes could see that, even at his young age. He was more skilled with shuriken than anyone else Naruto had ever met. He was rich to a point where his family's wealth could've surpassed that of the village's (in Naruto's mind, at least). He was loved.
Sasuke was everything that Naruto was not.
He was perfection.
And Naruto hated him.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Again! Naruto thought in aggravation. That bastard was out again! Why does he have to get special treatment? He's been out all this week and Kurenai-sensei hasn't said a thing about it! If it'd been anybody else, she woulda--!
Naruto's thoughts were cut short when he heard his own name being called. Turning around, he found himself face to face with Kiba, another prankster in his class who, although he wasn't exactly friendly to him, was one of the few who would acknowledge him without hatred (normally Kiba would settle for annoyance and amusement at Naruto's apparent stupidity) in his eyes. So Naruto liked him—a little bit.
"Eh? What is it?"
"I heard," Kiba said with a grin, "that Uchiha was in the hospital all this week." Kiba paused a moment, gauging Naruto's reacting (an aghast look that consisted of a dropped jaw, wide eyes, and eyebrows shot up into his hairline) before continuing. "And I heard that, after he woke up from his coma-" snot dribbled from Naruto's nose "- he ran off, and nobody's found him yet!"
Taking a moment to recover his dignity (it was a long moment), Naruto asked him, "So, really, nobody's found him?"
Kiba's grin widened, "Nope! And he's already been missing a couple hours! I mean, how pathetic is it that a bunch of trained shinobi can't even find a little academy kid? You know, I heard that some people are panicking so much that a couple ANBU were sent after him!"
Naruto blinked, half in confusion to the reference of "Ahn-BOO" and the other in astonishment that nobody had found Sasuke. Despite Sasuke being the best in their class, he knew that there was no way a bunch of real ninja wouldn't have been able to find him if they were really looking.
"So, you're saying that tons of really good shinobi are after Sasuke, right?" Kiba nodded at Naruto's question. "And that nobody's been able to find him?" Another nod.
"So… that means that, if I find him I'm a better ninja that all of them! Oh yeah! I'm gonna go find Sasuke-bastard, and then people will respect me a whole bunch, and maybe I'll get to be Hokage real soon!" Naruto shouted excitedly, pumping his fists in the air.
"You know, Naruto, I really--" before Kiba could even finish his sentence, Naruto had already run off, shouting out thanks to the Inuzuka behind him.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Ugh… I can't believe I haven't found the bastard yet… after two hours!" Naruto ran a hand through his hair in frustration, his complaints unheard on the empty street. Sighing in defeat, Naruto's hand dropped back to his side. "I guess I'll just go home… maybe if I ask nice enough, I can get Iruka-sensei to buy me ramen!"
Iruka had taken a liking to Naruto after being given the task of punishing him for one of his more severe pranks (Iruka had been given the duty despite Naruto not being in his class at the Academy, as Iruka had been the only person available at the time) and every once in a while would treat the boy at the Ichiraku.
A slight hop in his step at the thought of receiving free ramen, Naruto made his way down the street humming a cheerful, tuneless song. Through his own joy, Naruto hadn't the attention span to notice the (rather large and blatantly there) pothole in the road, so causing his tripping and falling down a large, grassy hill on the side of the road.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow…
Naruto's tumble was finally halted when he finally ran out of hill to slide down. This, unfortunately, led to him shooting off of its side and into the lake next to it, which was decidedly not preferable, as Naruto lacked the ability to swim.
As the air rushed out of his lungs, Naruto fought not to let the water in. Kicking his arms and legs around wildly, Naruto could only despair as he felt himself being pulled down further. As the corners of his visions, he fought to stay conscious, knowing that if he did, there was no chance for him.
Naruto gave himself about five more seconds before he A) lost consciousness, B) breathed in water, and C) died. Goodbye, Iruka-sensei…
Four… goodbye, Kiba…
Three… goodbye, Sakura-chan…
Two… goodbye, Hokage-self…
One… goodbye, ramen…
And he saw black.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
He felt warm. That, to him, was the first sign that something was wrong. Not the warmth- no, for it was far too nice- but to feel. He was supposed to be dead- that's kind of what's supposed to happen when you drown. You die. And when you die, you don't feel anything anymore. So, seeing as he felt more, he must've been alive.
He was pretty sure that there wasn't any divine intervention, which would imply that A) he had dreamed the whole drowning thing, B) he had hallucinated the whole drowning thing, or C) someone had saved him.
And C was incredibly unlikely, which was why he was worried. B was quite probable, and insanity wasn't a pleasant thing, he'd heard.
For a moment, he was cold again, and he suspected that maybe he'd just gotten lucky and it was taking him a really long time finally kick the bucket, but soon the pleasant warmness return, and he was positive he was alive.
His proof of this was the odd fact that he was breathing again, which you weren't supposed to do if you were under water and drowning.
Eyes fluttering open, he came upon a very odd sight. A close up of Uchiha Sasuke's slightly red (was he blushing?) face about one inch from his. That was, in his book, classified as "odd."
Actually, it was more like "monumentally strange," but close enough.
It only took another half a second to register that the older boy was soaking wet, and was kneeling virtually on top of Naruto.
The other half a second was used to prepare his voice for a loud (and rather girly) screech, and launch his fist into Sasuke's shoulder in an effort to get the other boy away from him.
This, of course, backfired on Naruto when Sasuke ended up losing his balance, and collapsed on Naruto.
It further backfired on Naruto when Sasuke's lips crashed into his with the force on the boy's fall.
The two laid like that, frozen for a moment, before Sasuke leapt away, a scowl on his face. He simply stood their briefly, glaring at Naruto with a force that could cause a rhinoceros to wet itself, before silently stalking away.
Naruto found himself unable to move. His thoughts raced, and he couldn't help but be massively confused. Why hadn't Sasuke hit back? Why had he been there in the first place? Why hadn't he even reacted when Naruto saw him when he should've known perfectly well that everyone was looking for him? Why had he been wet? Why had he been so close to Naruto?
He reached a hand up tentatively to his lips, and froze, eyes widening.
Had Sasuke… saved him?
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Naruto felt lost. Scratch that- he was lost.
Sighing to himself, he wondered why he had ever thought he would be able to find his way to the Uchiha district all by himself. He couldn't even get back to his own apartment half of the time, why would he have been able to find his way to a place he had only ever seen in passing?
"Why does that bastard have to be so hard to find?" Naruto asked himself. "That's it, if I can't find the place by dinner time, I'm giving up!"
Of course, it was only with the irony of fate that he came upon it within the next two minutes.
He blinked, looking at the entrance way. This can't really be it, can it? He thought. At the door there were scattered police markers, warning any passersby to stay away. The sign that must've so proudly displayed to Uchiha crest was now slightly cracked, and the name itself almost completely warn away, but Naruto could still recognize the odd fan-shape symbol.
Swallowing with sudden nervousness, Naruto cautiously walked forward, thinking that he had probably stumbled upon an old entrance, and once he was inside he would be faced with all of the overwhelming splendors that the Uchiha were well-noted for.
It was unsettling for the boy to see that the inside was just as bad off as the entranceway itself. Shops and homes were boarded up, and the police station he had never even known was closed down, with broken windows and a cracked Uchiha crest on the faded star gracing its sign.
As he walked down the (deserted, he noted) street, he kept his head bowed, intimidated by the fearful-looking place. There was only one place in the entire range of his vision that wasn't completely closed off: a large house that was placed dead center in the compound.
Making his way towards the house- mansion, really- Naruto suddenly wondered if coming all this way just to talk to Sasuke was a bad idea.
No, Naruto thought resolutely. If he really saved my life- which I'm pretty sure he did- I want to thank him. And I wanna know why. Mustering up his courage, Naruto walked quickly towards the sliding door entrance and slipped inside.
Relief washed over him when Naruto saw that the inside of the house was completely normal, and he smiled a little. Now, he just needed to find Sasuke. Then he could go to the Ichiraku and get some miso ramen…
Of course, wandering through the halls aimlessly in search of another boy who could've possibly been moving around as well in search of finding said boy actually took a lot longer than Naruto had thought.
A lot longer.
Where am I? Naruto wondered, not recognizing the hall he was in now. Maybe he's been here the whole time, and that's why I couldn't find him! Naruto thought excitedly, hoping he'd finally be able to leave soon.
Running towards the end of the hallway, he saw that the only thing in this particular hallway was large, wooden double-doors. Coming to them quickly, he tugged on the handles. Nothing happened. Frowning, he wondered if the doors were locked. Pulling harder, he finally felt the doors start to budge, and he was finally able to fling them open. Losing his balance because of their sudden response, he found himself face-first on the wooden floor of the room.
"Ow…"
Pushing himself up with one hand, he used the other to feel if he had broken his nose. Nope. It just hurt like hell. Removing his hand from his face, he got his first look of the room.
It was dark. He could barely see anything, but from what he could tell there wasn't much to see; the room looked completely bare. He was rather disappointed to see that Sasuke wasn't in the room.
Sighing, he turned around and started to walk out of the room, only to fall back on his behind when he ran (once again face-first) into the double doors. "Crap… why'd they have to close on me…?"
Once again clutching his nose, he started to feel around the room. Come one, light switch! C'mere, boy! Here, light switch!
Finally feeling something beneath his fingers, he flicked what he hoped was a light switch, and smiled when he suddenly saw the wall before him. Turning away, he started to head back towards the double doors, when he paused, eyes drawn towards the center of the room.
There was a neat chalk outline drawn onto the floor, drawn into an odd shape. It took a moment for Naruto to register that it was outlining two things, one most likely draped over the other. Two people, most likely a woman and a man, judging by the size of the figures (though the observation came distantly to Naruto, a solo piece of relatively unimportant information swimming past his eyes).
And there was blood.
All around the outside of the figures, and pooled inside of them, was dried blood. Its normal red color had faded to copper, but there was no mistaking it.
… This room was a grave.
And he screamed. He didn't know how long or how loudly, but he screamed. He supposed it was those screams that attracted Sasuke to the room, for soon he was there, yelling for Naruto to leave, an order which Naruto was all too happy to obey. He had to run- run run run runrurnrun….
Because anyone who stays in a grave for too long will surely end up dead.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
To be continued…
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A/N: Should I say sorry for writing this? Not only because I have two other stories I'm ignoring right now, but because that was so weird? I mean, at first it seemed like it was going to be kind of funny, but then I go and through in that really weird part! I'm such a bad writer.
Oh well, I hope that someone found this interesting. I hope that I'll be able to update soon (I figure that if I can get myself to update on a regular basis I'll have no choice but to finally finish a fic) for anyone who really likes this. And, if you do, please review! Reviews make me know that writing this story is worth it.
Oh yeah, and happy holiday to all of you out there celebrating over vacation!