Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
This is a preview to a fic I'm going to start working on soon called "Amaterasu". As you all probably know from my story "Sinner"... I like samurai stories XD This fic should be up sometime during the summer. But I'll only write it if it's liked, so leave your reviews and tell me your thoughts! And OMG, Sakura's likable in this fic! No F------ way! And she's even pretty kick ass XD Read and see!
This is a more serious and drama-filled fic, just so you all know. The samurai times were not uber happy.
This is also a sort of... alternate samurai era. It's a bit different.
Sasuke clenched and unclenched his pale hands, watching in interest at how the skin moved, how the blue veins curved around his joints, and how his nails dug into his soft palms. Beside him, a blond priest sat, a small bowl of rice in his grasp. The blue-eyed man's hands were shaking from working in the foreign village's fields all day, causing his grip on the chopsticks to faulter. He cursed and tossed the eating utensils away, opting for just using his fingers.
Across from them was a pink-haired woman with emerald eyes, her longing gaze on the stars. She tapped the heels of her zori sandals against the log she was set upon, chipping little bits of the wood into the grass. Stretching her right arm out toward the sky, she closed her open hand, as if hoping to capture one of the stars. As she retracted her limb, she opened her clenched hand and stared, nothing in her grasp, only a mark that had been carved into her palm years ago.
The priest, a blond man with blue eyes as clear as the sky (despite having seen the horrors of war around him), shifted and reached behind him to unhook the leather straps that kept his many guns around his waist. Accomplishing the task, he tugged forward and lifted the thick belt up, dropping it onto the ground with a sigh. He leaned back against the thick tree behind him and stared into the burning campfire.
"Is there anymore rice?" he asked, three empty bowls lying on the ground beside him.
Sasuke yanked his attention away from his hands and frowned at his comrade. If it weren't for the idiot's skills with guns and ability to subdue demons and spirits, then the raven would've abandoned him days ago. The same went for his other companion, Sakura. She was a nice girl, but her attitude got pretty bad at times. The only reason Sasuke kept her with him was because of her inhuman strength, intelligence, and keen eye for detecting the presence of a Bijuu.
"No, Naruto, you ate everything we had," Sasuke mumbled while leaning forward to stand up. "You'll just have to wait until we settle down in another village tomorrow."
With a groan, Naruto closed his eyes, sighing. When he'd been with his fellow priests back home, he'd been given hot meals every morning and evening. But with Sasuke, all he got was the occasional luke-warm dinner and bowl of rice; maybe a dumpling or two when he received money for preforming an exorcism.
Sakura stood and walked to her sleeping mat just a few feet away, rubbing her right arm as she made her way there. Her flesh from the shoulder to wrist was covered in burns and cuts, the wounds ending right where the carved symbol in her palm started. She sat down on her bedding and tossed Naruto a smile.
"We're headed to a village known for its food," she said dreamily, already imagining a table covered with various plates of gourmet meals. Even though they were lacking in the money department, she always had different plans shoved up her sleeves for desperate times. If they didn't get enough money for a filling dinner, then she'd just have to threaten a restaurant owner (or two); it always worked.
Naruto huffed and kicked a bunch of dirt into the fire, the flame instantly going out. Sakura shrieked at the sudden lack of light and they could both hear Sasuke's annoyed grumbles, his shuffling feet in the moist grass, and the sound of his body hitting scratchy bedding. There was the sound of someone going through a bag, then a small orb was thrown onto the burnt logs, setting them aflame once again.
Sakura closed her small bag and glared at the blond, falling back and covering herself with a thin blanket. "You're lucky I bought a pack of gasoline pellets, Naruto, or we all would've froze to death in our sleep! Now go to bed, we have a lot of traveling to do in the morning."
The blond slowly opened his eyes and glanced around at his two friends, not the least bit tired. In his mind, the sound of a cage being rattled was heard, along with a gutteral growl that would usually send tremors of fear up anyone's spine. Naruto was used to it, though, since he'd lived with the beast inside of him all of his life.
He stared into the strong fire, almost seeing the flames dance and take on the shape of the Kyuubi, its long claws scraping at the burning wood, hissing and roaring to be let out of its container. Slowly blinking, he unconsciously touched the scars on his cheeks. Three whisker marks on each side, to show that he was not completely human. Luckily for him, most people thought nothing of them and didn't bother the blond at all.
"I feel bad for not telling him..." he whispered to himself, the Kyuubi's growling and screeching still echoing throughout the tunnels of his mind. Glancing at the sleeping Sasuke, he grinned inwardly. "But then again, if I did, he'd try to kill me."
The rest of the night, Naruto remained fully awake, not able to close his eyes for even a second without seeing the fox demon inside of him clawing and biting at the bars of its cage.
xXxXx
The cold morning was nothing new to the gang of three, especially Sasuke. He was Amaterasu, the Sun God, after all. But since he was banished from his home on the Heavenly Bridge, the sun had gone too, leaving the sky a dim blue without the brightness of its molten star.
Sakura trudged through the mud that covered the earth, a white haori over her shoulders to keep the freezing air from touching her sensitive skin. Her sandals were tied around her waist by a thin wire, her bare feet filthy with mud and grime as she stepped across the field of sludge.
She looked up, emerald eyes searching. "We're approaching Nakabaramachi," she suddenly smiled in delight and began running, the thick mud not slowing her down at all. Behind her, Sasuke and Naruto weren't having an easy time, the bottom of their cloaks covered in slimey dirt as they struggled to get through the terrain.
The blond could slay demons, hit a mark from thirty yards away, and load his guns with fresh bullets in less than a second, but he couldn't even muster the strength to keep up with a woman. He groaned in frustration and flailed his arms around.
"Dammit, Teme, melt the mud with your sun powers or something!" he ordered.
The raven glared at him, not amused in the least. "How many times do I have to remind you, Dobe? My powers as a god are gone. And melting mud wouldn't be a part of them, anyway," he sneered. His anger was easy to trigger.
Naruto sighed and they continued for another ten minutes, bickering and squabbling like two old ladies, while Sakura was already safely on the cobblestone path that led to the entrance of the village. A huge arc stood over the pink-haired girl and she ran her eyes over the various words that read, "the hymn of a thousand autumns". She turned when she heard Naruto panting behind her, exhausted from the long, rough walk.
"We better make some money here, because I'm starving!" the blue-eyed priest complained loudly, clutching his stomach through the crimson cloak he wore. Clouds were forming in the sky and thunder could be heard in the distance, rolling through the mountains. He looked up at the sky and furrowed his golden brows.
Sasuke stepped beside him, smacking his heels against the pavement to get rid of the caked mud on his sandals. As he did so, he also looked up at the darkening clouds with suspicion gleaming in his obsidian eyes. He shifted his look to Sakura, who only smiled and turned to continue her way up the cobblestone path, a few old, abandoned shops on the side of the grassy hill.
"It's not the Raijuu, just a typical thunderstorm," she exclaimed as she pulled her black and white umbrella out from behind her, undoing the tie that kept it around her waist. She opened it up, spun it around, then with a simple twist of her wrist, swung it up so it rested against her shoulder and covered her head.
"A-ah, travelers..." a small voice spoke up from behind one of the old shops. It was an elderly man with sagging skin and one blind eye. He rubbed his palms together, creating a sound of shifting sandpaper as he approached them. On his back was a little pack, full of food. "You should go back, around the forest," he nodded, looking a bit frightened about something. "There's nothing to see in this town."
Sasuke cocked a brow. "Nothing to see? Is this not the village known for it's food?"
"H-Hai, it is... but most of the shops are closed down. Our prince fell ill and all of the villagers are too busy tending to him to cook meals..." he trailed off. "They say that it's an evil spirit that plagues him, feasting on his health. I wouldn't enter our village, for you might become ill, too."
"Is that why you're leaving?" Sakura asked, interested in the story.
The old man nodded and walked past them, a limp in his step. "You three should listen to me. Don't enter or the demon will suck the life right out of you!" he shook his wrinkled hand, then went on his way, grumbling some sort of prayer.
Naruto grinned and folded his arms behind his head. "An evil spirit, huh? This looks like a good chance to earn some money."
xXxXx
Rain fell in thick sheets over the spacious village, pounding into the red dirt along the walkways and in the fields. Our heroines were currently underneath a large tree, its thick branches and many leaves blocking the rain from getting to them. Sakura insisted on going ahead to the prince's castle by herself since she was the only one with an umbrella, but the other two males forbade it, still not accepting the fact that Sakura was stronger than the both of them together and could handle things herself.
"Fine, you two can come along and get your clothes soaked," she lifted her umbrella and stepped out onto the soaked earth, immediately taking off through the empty street. Naruto took off his outer haori and lifted it up over both him and Sasuke with a grin, then they followed after their companion.
They found her standing outside of a lush green yard, a gorgeous traditional castle in front of them. Candles were lit along the wooden porches and lilypads were floating atop if a koi-filled pond under a red bridge. There were people sitting just through the paper screen doors, holding lanterns and talking quietly amongst themselves.
"We enter quietly. There would be no need to startle them," Sasuke told them both, walking over the curved bridge with an unmatched beauty. Sakura ushered for Naruto and he moved in close, wanting to hear what she had to say.
"Go with Sasuke-kun," she whispered. "There's a strange aura nearby and I'm going to stay outside, to make sure there isn't any trouble."
Naruto nodded and wished his friend good luck, quickly following after Sasuke and meeting his strides. They walked onto the long porch that went around the entire castle and with swift ease, the blond opened the screen door and pulled a gun out(1), aiming it at the group of samurai. They looked up in surprise and horror.
Sasuke glared at the priest and his lip curled up into a snarl. "Did I not just tell you to enter quietly?"
"But I did, quiet like a samurai should be," Naruto grinned foxily, turning back to the group of men surrounding a sickly looking man. He must've been the ill lord. "We're not here to harm you, we're just traveling... exorcists," his grin widened, stretching from ear to ear. "And we've recently heard about your prince."
One of the younger samurai, a boy with brown hair in a loose ponytail, gave both Naruto and Sasuke a look of hope, his hazel eyes practically sparkling. He bowed, his bound hair spilling over his boney shoulders, and breathlessly told them his appreciation. Judging by his happiness, one could only guess that he was the prince's most favored guard. Or maybe...
"A lover?" Sasuke interrupted.
The boy's cheeks flushed a pretty pink and he lifted his head to look at the ex-god. "P-Pardon me?"
"Are you the prince's lover?" the raven asked again, more firmly. Homosexual relationships were no less common than dumpling shops in Japan.
The young male nodded slowly and gave him a small smile. "I love my lord very much... and I hope that you can save him. He has been ill for weeks and is getting worse by the day..." he brushed a calloused hand over the sick man's pale face, wiping away the sweat from his brow. "We have not been able to leave his side, for if we do, the demon will drain even more of his strength."
"Are you sure it's a demon?" Naruto asked, putting his gun away. "Have you seen it?"
No one nodded, but one of the other samurai spoke up.
"What else could it be? This is no normal sickness, sir, for when we try to stay up during the night to see if he will awaken, a spell is cast over us and we fall asleep. It can only be an evil spirit's work."
Sasuke looked around the room, seeing nothing that could be a container for an angry spirit, then frowned. What could be causing this? "Naruto, where is Sakura?"
"She said she was going to wait outside. She sensed an irregular aura, so she was going to keep watch," the blond answered and folded his arms within his shirt, ignoring the dampness from the rain. He glanced around and blinked at the lit candles outside on the porch. It was raining and yet they still stayed lit?
"Who lit those candles?"
"I-I did," the lord's lover raised his hand.
"What's your name, kid?"
"O Toyo."
Naruto nodded and turned to Sasuke. "I think we should patrol the castle grounds. Demons that feed off of human strength are usually forest dwellers. Wild cats, birds, snakes, etc," they began walking out of the room and he gave the samurai one last glance. "If you see anything abnormal, come fetch us."
Everyone nodded and O Toyo stood, saying something about making them all hot tea to tide them over. He walked down the creaking porch and entered another paper screen door, looking back at the retreating figures of Sasuke and Naruto with violet eyes.
xXxXx
Sakura looked up into the tall trees surrounding her, watching for anything suspicious. The aura was still present, but very faded. Sitting her umbrella on the ground, she let her eyes roam around the small forest, knowing that something was there and very well hidden. Her emerald green eyes snapped wide open and she spun around sharply when there was a huge spike in the dark energy, the nearby trees lurching and groaning loudly as if there was a strong force pressing against them.
"So it is a forest dweller," she whispered to herself, getting into stance and drawing out a dagger from her back pouch. The shadows a few yards in front of her took shape, forming a large black cat with piercing yellow eyes. Its claws dug into the earth and it ran forward with the speed only a cat could possess.
Unlike most girls, Haruno Sakura didn't run away from anything. Not even huge beasts that could snap her in half with their powerful jaws.
Drawing her fist back once the ferocious beast leaped into the air, she concentrated and punched, but the black animal disappeared in mid-air, appearing behind her, it's fangs bared, hot saliva dripping to the ground and practically melting the dirt. She felt the heat of its breath on the back of her neck and clutched the dagger in her hand tighter, swinging around. Lunging her weapon downward, she managed to graze its front leg before it once again vanished.
It can teleport...! she jumped back when he lunged at her from the canopy above, its heavy paws slamming into the ground, thick tail swishing behind it.
Coming to a halt by her umbrella, she lifted it up closed it, quickly leaping to the side when the animal attacked. She lurched the item forward and smirked when it hit the cat hard enough to shatter its right shoulder blade. It hissed in agony and dissolved into the ground.
Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow. "Now that it's injured, it shouldn't be too hard to kill it when it appears again--" the ground beneath her shook and collapsed on itself, the head of the feline coming out from between broken stones, it's mouth wide open. It clamped its teeth around her leg, digging two long fangs into her flesh, the saliva creating burns and melting away the skin.
Wincing in pain, she punched the creature in the jaw and it released its hold immediately, retreating back into the ground and leaving the girl to fall back on her behind with a bleeding, severely burnt leg. Crawling back away from the crumbled rocks and dirt, she ran her hands over her lower leg and the flesh began to mend itself and she shifted her scarred arm in discomfort, the apendage burning.
"Sakura-chan!"
The pink-haired girl finished the job on herself and looked through the trees to see Naruto and Sasuke coming towards her. Standing up, she shifted her foot around to make sure the nerves were still intact, then began walking to her friends with a triumphant smile.
Sasuke took a look at her roughed up clothes and let a smirk slip across his lips. "I suppose you met the creature we were looking for?"
"It's a Vampire Cat; black with golden eyes, the usual," she explained and pushed them back toward the castle so they could tell the samurai. "I managed to injure it, so it'll be easy to dispose of once we see it again."
A Vampire Cat? Naruto followed his comrades, barely listening to Sakura talk about how the lord would owe them all a week's worth of food. Don't they usually take over a human's body right after they're born? You hardly see them in their original forms...
He didn't get to share his thoughts with anyone, though, because the sight of a bloody body on the wooden bridge stopped them all in their tracks. It was O Toyo, blood seeping from his mouth, dark bruises all along his jaw and upper neck. His trembling hand was holding onto a bleeding shoulder, his eyes slowly blinking, violet eyes meeting Naruto's blue ones.
"O Toyo-san!" one of the other samurai came running up, having seen him and the others from the porch, and carefully pulled the injured boy against him. "Wh-what happened?"
"Th-them..." O Toyo lifted a shaking arm and pointed at the group of three. "They attacked me...!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "We did no such thing."
"They lie..." blood dribbled down the boy's chin. "The girl, she took all of the money I had on me..."
Sakura snarled. "I did not! You can even search me!" she began patting herself down. "See? There's no--" a small sack of coins fell from the open pouch behind her, where her dagger was. Her eyes widened and she bent down to pick it up. "How did this..?"
"Men! Apprehend these travelers!" the older samurai yelled and lifted O Toyo up into his arms as he stood, snatching the money from Sakura's hand. As the other warriors arrived, Sasuke said:
"Do not resist. We have no reason to run, we did nothing wrong. They will realize this sooner or later," his arms were pulled back behind him and bound together with rope. Naruto and Sakura were given the same treatment, then they were all yanked toward the castle to be put in the basement.
As they passed O Toyo, Sakura sent him a menacing glare, full of the hatred she had locked away inside of her for years. "So you're that beast," she growled and was yanked down, shoved forward by a muscled fellow. Before she could be moved any further, she dug the heels of her sandals into the wet earth.
The rain had stopped when the cat had disappeared.
She lifted her head, even when the bulky man's hand was trying to press it back down. Her usually bright eyes were clouded with an unimaginable darkness, her pupils seemingly large, leaving only a sliver of the green left.
"I destroy things like you for a living. Don't think you'll get away so easily," her voice was laced with venom. Naruto and Sasuke both knew that, at the moment, that wasn't Sakura talking. The female lightened the weight on her feet and let the man take her to her temporary prison, O Toyo watching her leave with an impassive expression.
xXxXx
"What was that back there, Sakura-chan?" the blond asked as he tried to shift into a comfortable position. It was fairly hard, though, since he was sitting in a pitch black, concrete room that smelled like mold and oil. Since it was dark in the room and neither of his companions would be able to see him, he let his blue eyes bleed to red so he could see in the darkness. Sasuke and Sakura knew nothing about the Kyuubi and he was going to keep it that way.
Sakura pushed away from the wall she was leaning on, her hands still tied behind her back. She was sick of pretending like she couldn't easily break them. "It's a part of our plan", Sasuke had said. Psh, the girl could take down the entire castle by herself if she wasn't so keen on staying as the raven's traveling buddy.
"My other self got the better of me," she answered with a long sigh, her stomach growling loudly, causing a chain reaction. She let out a tiny laugh. "The lord better prepare us a full-course meal as soon as he get rid of that pesky cat. It's the least he could do."
Sasuke sat in the corner of the room, his eyes closed as he tried to ease his frustration and annoyance. His time was being wasted on a stupid side mission. His one and only true goal was to capture all of the Bijuu, and to find his brother so they could both return to the heavens as Gods. He didn't like being dragged around and having to deal with other peoples' problems. Of course, he guessed that was what would happen when traveling with a priest and a female that had lived in a village full of caring old people.
"We break out of here in ten minutes. It should be completely dark by then," he stated. "The samurai said that a spell is cast over them during the night, correct? Then we head to the lord's chambers at night, which should be in ten minutes. Sakura, you know how to dispel magic, don't you?"
Sakura turned toward the raven's voice and smiled in the darkness. "I sure do, Sasuke-kun!"
"Good. Within the next few minutes, I'll discuss my plan with you," he leaned forward and brushed his sweaty bangs back behind his ears. "Sakura, when I tell you, you will knock down the back wall in here. They say this is a basement, but the back wall faces the lake by the woods. We'll go around the side of the castle and sneak into the lord's chambers. The samurai will most likely have been put under the spell by then. Naruto, make sure you have a gun at the ready. O Toyo might already be expecting us, he probably knows not to take us lightly."
Probably because he smells Kyuubi's scent all over me, Naruto mumbled inwardly. If that stupid feline would spill his secret, he'd slit its throat.
"I just have to punch down a wall?" Sakura laughed. "That's all too simple, Sasuke-kun."
"Yes, well, you'll also be back-up. If Naruto and I can't take it down first, then you attack. Understand?"
Naruto tapped his fingers against his knee impatiently, his stomach continuing to growl and gurgle. He scratched behind his left ear and scrunched his nose up at the smell of sweat and grime in the room. He just wanted to get this over with and swim in the lord's hospitality. He desperately needed a warm bath and a filling dinner. Standing up, he readied himself for the upcoming confrontation.
A single Vampire Cat was easy enough.
Sasuke stepped back, his hand feeling around for Naruto's shoulder. The blond gripped his upper arm, seeing him in the darkness with his red eyes. He let them go back to their brilliant cerulean and waited for Sakura to do her thing.
"Go ahead, Sakura," Sasuke said smoothly.
Stepping back with one foot, Sakura bent down at the kness only slightly and drew back her gloved fist, wiggling her fingers quickly before moving them back into place. She smirked in the black room and let her fist fly, knuckles hitting solid stone. The rock went flying into the lake, causing a wading heron to flap its wings and squawk loudly before flying away.
Brushing her hands together, Sakura turned and grinned to both Naruto and Sasuke. "Too easy. Ask me to bring down all of Honshu. Now that would be a challenge."
"Yeah, yeah, we know you're freakishly strong," Naruto teased and followed after Sasuke who had begun his journey around the side of the large castle. His sandals were quiet atop of the grass and gravel, his footsteps as smooth as a Mountain Lion's strides.
The blond pulled out his recently made gun, running his thumb over the barrel as they approached the lord's sleeping quarters. Lanterns inside were flickering from the soft nighttime breeze, shadows of various figures being cast out onto the damp ground outside. He pulled out a small hand-made bomb and as soon as Sasuke lurched forward and leaped onto the porch, he ran around to the other side and bent down on one knee, aiming his gun at the moving figure inside of the room.
"I knew that tiny room would not be able to hold that monster of a woman," O Toyo said with amusement as he stood inside of the room, looking down at the pale prince. "But you three have come too late. He is close to death, and soon, I will flee from here with my stomach full of a delicious human soul."
Naruto's grip around the gun tightened. "I knew something was wrong. If you had just been sapping him of his strength, he'd still be able to talk. But he's in a catatonic state..."
O Toyo morphed into his cat form and jumped through the screen, swiping at Naruto, but the blond shot a bullet, grazing its paw. God, how he hated moving targets, especially animals. Across from him, Sasuke pulled a match from inside of his kimono, the small stick lighting by itself. As the monster landed on the ground, he threw it and as it fell to the ground, its flame was reflected in the animal's bright eyes.
Sasuke smirked.
The match touched the ground and exploded, engulfing the entire area in flames. Sakura watched with her mouth open, having only seen Sasuke use his pyro techniques on very rare occasions. Naruto had almost the same expression on his face as he looked down at the small bomb in his hand. He then frowned, realizing he didn't really need it, and tucked it away.
O Toyo leaped from the blaze, fire burning on his fur. He shook and the flames disappeared, his mouth opening as saliva dribbled onto the ground. He snarled at them and put his attention on Sakura, wanting revenge on the woman. He took a step forward, then appeared behind Sakura, but the girl was faster; turning sharply and leaping back, yanking the dagger from her back pocket and throwing it forward.
It sank into the cat's chest and his yellow eyes seemed to begin to fade instantly.
Sakura frowned. That was... too easy.
O Toyo made a gurgling sound, then he started melting, turning into sludge. The fire around them also disappeared. Then before she knew it, there was a groan of pain behind her and she turned, seeing the beast's mouth snug around Naruto's waist, clenching down, ripping through flesh. Sakura knew by the smell of decaying flesh that the saliva was burning away the blond's skin and organs.
Sasuke watched in horror, quickly pulling the sword from his sheath and running forward. Naruto's agonizing scream and the sound of bones popping, of him coughing up blood, reached the raven's ears and he sank his sword into the animal's back, but the creature refused budge. He only seemed to bite harder, breaking even more bones and puncturing major organs.
Naruto spit up blood, the substance oozing out in the bucketfulls. He slowly reached up and grabbed the blue necklace from around his neck, tearing it off and grasping it in his palm. Mumbling something in between coughing up crimson blood, he lifted his gun and aimed it at O Toyo's head.
"The Kotoamatsukami (distinguishing heavenly kami) forgive you for murdering the person your host body belongs to," he whispered. "May you have your own human body in the afterlife," another spurt of blood came from his mouth and stained the fur of the cat. He strained to breathe.
Sasuke suddenly pulled his sword from O Toyo's flesh and ran to Sakura, telling her to move back so Naruto could destroy the demon.
"But he's dying!" she yelled, worried.
"That dobe will be fine," the raven reassured her.
Naruto winced. "There's one thing you should've known beforehand, O Toyo. Never come too close to a priest. Especially one with a gun," then he fired, hitting the evil spirit right between the eyes. His mouth went slack and he slowly fell to the ground, his shape changing back to a human. Blood seeped from the wound on his forehead and Naruto pulled out a set of beads from his robe, lying it atop of the body. He put his gun away and stumbled, still managing to put his hands up in prayer.
Sakura left Sasuke's side and approached Naruto, putting her hands right over the huge openings in his sides. She focused on her palms and began the healing process. "You're lucky I can heal your organs, too. If it were any other healer, you'd be dead on the ground by now."
"You don't know how thankful I am..." Naruto sighed in relief when he was no longer spitting up the aweful tasting blood. He looked at his torn robes and sighed sadly. "Maa, I don't have the money to pay for new ones!"
"Don't worry," Sasuke started as he walked over to them. "Once the lord wakes up, he will hopefully gives us enough money and food to last us a month."
"I hope so," Naruto whined.
xXxXx
Lord Hizen helped his guests with their packing, having let them stay in his castle the past few days. As expected, he was extremely thankful for their services in ridding his home of the Vampire cat. But as much as he was happy, he was sad that his lover had been murdered by the foul beast.
"His soul is with the Gods now," Naruto told him with a reassuring smile. The Heavenly Bridge is better than Earth, trust me... he is happy. Isn't that right, Sasuke?"
The raven frowned, but nodded. "It is. He will truly be in peace there."
"Ah, that's good..." Lord Hizen sighed, but smiled and handed them each the remaining containers of their meals the night before. "I thank you all for what you did and you're welcome back in my castle anytime you like."
"Thank you," Sakura was almost in tears, not because she was moved, but because she had a sure place to stay at if something ever went wrong and she was dying of hunger or fatigue.
"Well, we should head out. We'll see you again sometime, Hizen-sama," Naruto waved to him as they all started across the bridcge, passing by the beautiful grave the lord had built for his love. There was a huge stone and many flowers surrounding the dug up land.
"We didn't find a Bijuu, but this side trip was worth it," Sakura said with a smile as they walked through the now busy streets. Many people bowed to them, knowing of what they accomplished a few days ago.
"Yeah, we got a lot of food and well-deserved rest," the blond had his arms crossed behind his head, grinning and waving to a bunch of children who were greeting him from the fields. "And I had my first experience of vomiting blood."
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
But he did have to admit...
Doing those stupid side missions with his companions was quite fun.
(1) Yeah, no one else in that era really has guns. He created them himself and plans to keep it that way XD
If you like what you read and want me to start the fic in the summer, then leave a good, long review... Well, just leave a positive, slightly lengthy one :Sweatdrop: Same thing, yeah, I know. :Grumble: