Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure it goes without saying that I don't own Naruto and FFVIII, especially since they're both owned by different people, none of which are me.
Summary: After Naruto is revealed as Kyuubi's host, team 7 is sent on a reconnaissance mission to Balamb Garden, and a broken Naruto does his best to get by. AU/slash
AN: So, nearly a year ago, Tsubasa Kya, my dear friend, wench, and inspiration gave me an option. I could either write a Final Fantasy 8 Naruto crossover, or a Final Fantasy 8 Inuyasha crossover. I chose the FF8 Naruto. We spent the evening coming up with one ridiculous plot after another, until the story spiraled into such a monstrosity that it would be impossible to fit it all into a single story. Hence, with several different plots at hand, I promptly forgot it all for the next six months, at which point I worked on it sporadically for the next five. This is why this particular story bears little resemblance to the original ideas bandied about, with only one exception. Tsubasa Kya's one stipulation was that "Daddy Minato" remained alive, so he is. Oh yeah, and Sasuke didn't desert the village.
"The Living Host"
Chapter 1
It was with a great deal of apprehension that she stepped off the elevator. It had only been two months since her last summons, but that time had stretched on for what seemed like eternity. The pink haired girl had changed since the last time those doors slid open to reveal the polished office hidden within. Sakura liked to think she had matured in the time she'd spent away. The room reverberated with silence, and she could feel the pressure of invisible stares boring into her, restricting her breathing. The room was empty.
Plush carpets absorbed the impact of her heels; her adopted uncle, Kakashi, had gifted them to her when she and Naruto left for Balamb, telling her they would help her fit in. They didn't. She was quite possibly the only girl at the Garden wearing heels, and the instructors informed her that she would not be able to succeed in them. Her Physical Training instructor's exact words were, "Only a well-trained martial artist would have the coordination to pull off what you're attempting, and even they have more sense than to try. Leave the heels for the malls, girlie."
To be honest, she agreed with them and thought they were painful deathtraps, but if there is one thing you should absolutely never tell Sakura, it is that she won't be able to do something. It was something she had picked up after years of watching Naruto—her blonde, fun-loving teammate—continuously pick himself back up after being told over and over again that he was a complete failure. He never did, and she loved nothing more than watching the gentle smirk spread over his features when he presented the council with all of the successes that he, the dead last, was able to pull off. She always thought she would kill anyone who took that sense of self-worth away from him. Turns out when push came to shove, she couldn't.
She'd failed him once, and she had absolutely no intention of ever doing so again. When the two teens had stepped off the train bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived, it was all Sakura could do to cajole him into taking the next step, to convince him that things would get better. Whatever Sasuke had told him four months ago as they prepared to depart on the seven day train ride to Balamb had ruined him. She'd spent the entire trip begging him to eat and could not sleep for fear he would do something irreversibly stupid while her eyes were closed. When they were first approached with the mission, she wasn't terribly excited about the prospect of going on a long term mission.
Only weeks later an anonymous article ran in the paper proclaiming Naruto to be the Kyuubi's host—something considered to be an S-class secret. The blonde had confided in her only months earlier, torn about whether he should reveal it to his boyfriend. Some things were easier to tell a close friend. The Yondaime's quick reaction to permanently shut down the press and his furious demands to know the article's source only lent credibility to the author's claims and the news spread like wildfire. Sakura began to welcome the thought of a new school, a place to lie low in until the incident of the Kyuubi revelation blew over in Konoha. She'd wished Naruto had felt the severity of their current situation, but he had laughed off any concerns she might have had, talking instead of how he was looking forward to being able to show off his Sexy Jutsu at the new school. He didn't seem bothered that doing so would blow the cover on their mission.
By the time Sakura got off the train, she was ready to plant her shiny silver stiletto in the face of the first person who messed with her teammate. The narcissistic pig and his two goons they sent to pick them up provided the perfect opportunity. She only wished he'd had black hair; that would have made her retribution complete.
"Hey sugar lips, how about you let a real man show you how to have a good time?" The blonde leered at her. She'd taken in his white trench coat with a skeptical eye. She'd thought this place had uniforms—and standards. "A gorgeous piece of ass like you is wasting your time on this whiny, pathetic crybaby."
Sakura slapped him, not bothering to reign in her super strength, and his head snapped to the side. "First of all, jackass, what the hell makes you think you're so great? Secondly, Naruto is my cousin, so don't even go there! I'm only going to say this once, keep your hands to yourself, or I'll have them removed."
"That's what you say now, but the ladies always change their minds." He winked at her. "The car's this way."
She ignored the seductive techniques he attempted to employ as they made their way to the harbor. He'd flexed his muscles—she should introduce him to Gai-sensei, then he'd see what real muscles were—and winked enough that she had to wonder if he had eye problems. If he'd started blowing kisses she would have thrown up on his shoes.
"Sir!" Two uniformed students approached him. The girl, wearing what she later discovered to be the boys uniform, moved with deliberation, the boy ran, arms flailing as he skid to a halt. The pair quickly fell into step behind the blonde. Seifer has lackeys, she stored the information away for later use.
The moment he'd unlocked the car, she helped Naruto in and fastened his seat belt.
"You sure you don't want to ditch this loser?" Seifer asked, his breath hot on her neck as he leaned over her, one arm wrapping around her waist and the other propping himself up against the car. "Once you get your first ride with the Seifer, you'll be begging for seconds."
She slammed back with her elbow, catching him in the gut and sending him staggering backward, precariously close to the harbor wharf. "Not even if you were the last man on earth. If keeping the human race from entering extinction meant I had to bear spawn with your DNA, I'd let us die out."
Seifer lunged forward, grasping wildly for her. She easily evaded his arms; he was obviously not used to fighting unarmed in close quarters. She suspected he favored a weapon that gave him more range than his fists, perhaps a blade or a gun. "Nobody turns me down."
Sakura waited until he rushed her again and side-stepped, planting a heel on his butt and sending him flying into the bay. "Better get used to it, because as long as I'm around, it's going to happen a lot."
"You'll pay for that!" The male lackey yelled charging at her at the same time the female shouted, "RAGE." Sakura rolled her eyes and ducked out of the way at the last moment, allowing the two to crash into each other. Goons taken care of, she turned back to the car; she'd learned how to drive before leaving Konoha, but she didn't want to sit anywhere near where Seifer's ass had been. Not without sterilizing it first. "Naruto, we're walking."
That cued her first visit to the headmaster out of a long chain that spanned her first two months at the Garden. In the beginning, she had spent nearly every hour of her free time in his office, waiting across from a sullen brown-haired teen to speak with the headmaster. She'd tried engaging him in conversation, but found he was even less prone to opening up than either of her teammates. She remembered wishing wistfully back when she first graduated the academy and achieved genin status that her blonde haired teammate would shut up for five minutes, now she wished she could take it back. If Naruto ever regained his bright and sunny disposition, she planned to lock him in a room with this guy. If anyone could bring him out of his shell, it would be her blonde.
What bothered her the most about this particular summons, was that she could not recall kicking anybody's ass, or doing anything else that would require her to be sent to the headmaster's office—surely it was too early for him to expect them to have any results. In fact Naruto was beginning to take her place pacing outside on the thick red carpet. She was just glad that he was finally on the road to recovery, even if it meant that he was getting into trouble.
The lift leading up to the glass office descended and she watched as her petite blonde-haired instructor stepped off. The woman spared her a brief glance, sniffing daintily before tossing her head and walking past her with no further acknowledgement. Sakura's hands clenched at her sides and she stalked onto the platform, she longed for nothing more than to give that woman a piece of her mind. She slammed a manicured finger against the up button. Classes at the Garden were a joke, and she utilized most of her spare time by perfecting her appearance. She would just love to let Temari at the pampered, blonde, sorry excuse for an instructor—the sand nin would chew her up and spit her back out. But not until after she'd given Sakura an earful about how kunoichi should not waste time on useless frippery. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. Spending all of her free time at the training center actually training would blow her cover, and having a roommate made it impossible to sneak any exercises in that way. She'd gone soft in the time spent here. Temari was so going to kick her ass.
The platform ground to a halt and she walked around the controls to stand in front of the desk. "You called for me, sir?" She asked, smoothing the skirt of her navy uniform to hide shaking hands. There were only two things that she actually hated in the world, injustice and uncertainty, and she purposefully kept both categories broad enough to shelter any number of critical flaws she might feel like attributing to them. Not knowing what was going on she placed firmly in the latter.
"Sakura," The headmaster smiled at her, his eyes crinkling at the corners, and waved his hand at a chair, "have a seat, dear."
"I have to admit, I'm at a bit of a loss as to why you called me here." Sakura eased herself down onto the cushioned seat, trying to hide the relief she felt at taking the pressure off the balls of her feet. Rule number sixty-seven, shinobi don't complain, no matter how uncomfortable the shoes are. "As far as I'm aware, I haven't caused any trouble—not lately anyway—and I haven't been here long enough to be assigned any missions, nor have I been assigned SEED status, another pre-req." She stared him down across the wooden surface.
The peppered brunet rested his arms on the desk and leaned in, matching her gaze with a gentle smile. "Tell me, how are you settling in? I know you had a bit of a rocky start."
"I don't plan on smashing any more desks in half or throwing any more students through walls, if that's what you mean." She met his understanding smile with a faint smirk. "Not unless they deserve it, of course."
"Of course." He studied her intently. "And by now I'm sure you know your way around." He sighed at the indignant expression that flickered across her features. "Don't bother answering, that was a foolish question. I expect it was the first thing you did upon arriving."
Before arriving, actually. But he didn't need to know how much Intel Konoha actually had on him. "Does this actually have a point, or can I go find something useful to do with my time, headmaster?"
"I thought we were past using titles, Sakura."
"Well, in that case, Cid, I will take my leave." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and rose to her feet. "No need to ask permission, right? Seeing as we're such great friends and all. Just for the record—does this mean I no longer have to respond to your summons?"
"That wouldn't be very good for our arrangement, would it? These little meetings provide such a great cover."
"Except that anybody could be listing in, this is hardly the most secure of locations." Sakura stepped onto the lift.
"I have a favor to ask of you."
"Hardly a favor if you're paying me, now is it?" Her hand hovered over the down arrow. "Go on, I'm listening."
"There is a new student arriving at the train station this afternoon. I was hoping I could count on you to pick him up and show him around."
"I have class this afternoon, I'd hate to miss out," she drawled. It was an ongoing joke among the instructors that she would use any excuse possible to get out of her GF Theory class, and not simply because it was her last course on Friday—that reason belonged to Naruto, as well as most of the rest of her class. Her elementary magic course, same petite, blonde instructor, received much the same privilege.
"I also have it on very good authority that of all your classmates, you are the only one who would not suffer to miss a session."
That, she thought, would be because she was apparently the only one of her classmates who knew how to read. "Tell me, did she actually give me praise, or did Quistis—my bad, Instructor Trepe—merely say that to get me out of her hair for a whole day?" She pressed the button. "Either way, bribe accepted. I'll go pick up your mystery student."
* * *
Sakura locked the doors to her hot pink Jeep, pocketed the keys, and walked into town. It had been waiting for her at the rental when she first arrived in Balamb. The vehicle had drawn her eye when she walked past, and she'd just leaned over to tell Naruto that she pitied the poor sod that got stuck driving it (unless it happened to be Seifer, the arrogant jackass, at which point she would laugh) when the salesman chased her down. Apparently, he'd been given a very detailed description of the person it was to be delivered to, and enough of an incentive to make sure he followed through.
The only note it contained had been placed on the driver's seat. It read: "Only the best for my baby girl, mommy misses you already." Sakura guessed that the Yondaime had one of his secretaries fax it over along with the payment, while well off, she knew her birth parents didn't have that kind of money, and her grandfather, who did, wouldn't spend it on such frivolities. She was grateful for the driving lessons that were included as part of learning the culture. The jeep, however, handled much more smoothly than the junker they'd managed to find and import to Konoha. Quite frankly she was surprised they'd even been able to drive it all of the way home without it breaking down.
Her first stop was the train station where she checked the schedule. The next train was not due to arrive for another hour, and there was no guarantee that her new charge would even be on that train—she hadn't hung around long enough to hear all the details—at least there was only the one train to worry about. She'd planned to arrive early in any case, as it gave her time to run a few errands. The town did not offer the wide variety of luxury items that she was accustomed to finding in Konoha, which was a shame, because she now had the council's money to fund her shopping excursions, and didn't have to worry about trying to explain the bill away to her parents. They always managed to find fault with her purchases, even when she only spent the money she'd earned. However, in previous forays to the town, she'd found that even the small family run shops held gems. Typically, her time was extremely limited due to strict curfews and a spread out class schedule. Previous trips only let her get the gist of what the town had to offer. She fully intended to take her time today browsing, and examine more closely the filmy scarves she'd passed on her last visit. They'd make wonderful gifts for some of the girls back home—providing a nice front for her cover, and she suspected her friends would find them fascinating.
Shopping had only killed half an hour, even with being torn between getting Temari the practical hand painted fan or the gauzy red scarf that matched the obi on her battle kimono. In the end, she decided to get both, money, after all, was not currently an issue. For Yondaime's secretary, aka the most probable candidate for fake "mom" should a phone call or appearance ever prove necessary, she picked out a small hand-woven doily. She planned to include a brief note, "Just a little something to remind you of me when auntie's over for tea." Speaking of mothers, she'd been meaning to drop in on Zell's for a while. Sakura had the sinking suspicion that the two blondes had more in common than unusual facial markings and an uncanny love of food. It would be good to know what best to bribe her teammate's roommate with should she ever need after-hours access to their room when Naruto was unable (or unwilling) to let her in, and while Konoha's Intel of the place was good, it was not quite extensive enough yet to know all the likes and dislikes of the Garden students.
Sakura knocked on the Dincht's door. The woman who greeted her would be impossible to mistake for anyone other than Zell's mother. It wasn't the similarity of their features, as he was adopted and therefore that was quite absent, but it was instead the feeling that they both gave off. It also helped that she'd memorized the faces of all of her classmates and their immediate family on the train ride over, seven days was a long time after all. The woman folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. If she hadn't trained under Tsunade, she would have been intimidated by this woman. Nothing is more frightening than trying to wake the legendary medic up at the crack of dawn after she'd spent the night drinking and gambling. Shizune had been all too thrilled to hand the task over to the new apprentice.
"Hi!" Sakura smiled brightly in her most non-threatening manner. "You must be Zell's mother—I've heard so much about you!" The benefit of completing training in Konoha before venturing to a military academy is that she arrived well versed in espionage. Zell had hardly said more than a couple of words to her in the past four months—but as long as this formidable woman didn't know that… "My name's Sakura. I'm new." As if that wasn't completely obvious, Sakura suppressed a groan. The woman's disapproving frown hadn't lessened any. She wondered if it was her hair or the shoes that were working against her. Probably both, but what was becoming obvious was that she was going to have to do some pretty fast talking to get this woman where she wanted her, maybe even rethink her strategy a bit. At least the door hadn't been slammed in her face yet. "To be honest, my cousin is your son's new roommate, and that means I'm spending a lot of time over there." Sakura bit her lip and dropped her gaze, doing her best to mimic how Hinata looked whenever she spoke to anybody—nervous, flustered, and extremely awkward. "I'm a bit worried that I said something to offend him, because, well… he never says anything to me when I'm over there. And…" Sakura flushed, briefly meeting the woman's gaze and looking away. "I was hoping you could tell me a bit more about him."
"You're that girl who dumped Seifer in the bay when you arrived, ain't you?" Her tone and expression did little to convey any feeling.
Not very comforting first words out of the woman. "Well, it was a bit of a misunderstanding, you see…" She trailed off, not exactly sure if revealing her contempt for the arrogant blonde would help or hinder her with this woman.
"I expect my boy's a bit worried about having a girl hangin' 'round who can take him on. That Seifer's always pickin' on my sweet lad, and you just up and dumped him like it was no big deal." Ma Dincht smiled and patted Sakura on the back. "You just give my boy some time and I'm sure he'll open right up. You're quite the pretty girl—pink hair and all—I'm sure he'll notice you soon."
Sakura lifted a hand unconsciously to her head. "I'm afraid I'm cursed with this. The only dye that would take was black and that just isn't my color. Then again, it looked much better than the buzz cut I sported for a couple of months when I couldn't get it to dye back." Her parents would have disowned her if she had dyed her hair or even thought about shaving her head. They had grounded her for months after the chuunin exam, and cutting her hair then had saved her life. Naruto had come through for her when he snuck into her room and henge'd a shadow clone to look like her. Then, while Kakashi was distracting her parents in the parlor, he'd smuggled her out. By the time either of her parents had noticed that it wasn't actually her locked away in her room she had been accepted as Tsunade's apprentice and they couldn't have been prouder—unless she had decided to forgo the shinobi lifestyle and marry a wealthy, influential man. Someone like that Gaara boy, because while he was a bit further away from home—and therefore their control—than they would have liked, they could tell he was destined for great things.
She glanced at her watch, the band was a vine pattern made out of wrought silver, and crystal encrusted leaves grew out from the timepiece. She had liked the design and picked it up on clearance a couple years earlier, but she'd never had occasion to wear it as it was not well suited to the active shinobi lifestyle. "I've got to run—errand for the headmaster. Would you mind not mentioning this to your son?" She blushed. "It would be awfully embarrassing."
"I'll let you tell him when you're ready. Now run along, I wouldn't want you to be late. Next time you come by, we'll have tea and I'll tell you some stories of my boy from when he was little."
"I'd like that, ma'am."
"None of that ma'am nonsense; call me Ma. Now off you go."
Sakura climbed the steps to the train station about five minutes before it was due to arrive. She leaned against the rusted hand-railing, wriggling her toes in an attempt to bring back some feeling. Four months of wearing the deathtraps, and still her feet screamed against the abuse. How she longed to sink her feet into the soft, cushiony soles of her open toed, padded ninboots. The piercing shriek of a steam whistle dragged her attention away from her abused feet and alerted her to the train's approach. Only moments later it chugged to halt, drowning her in choking smoke.
Three hand signs in quick succession called up a gentle breeze that cleared the worst of the smoke from the room. It was risky to use jutsus, as she was undercover, but the station was sufficiently empty and the smoke provided cover. Any bystander would assume by her uniform that she had merely used a drawn and stored air element. She pushed away from the railing, standing straight with hands clasped behind her back, looking every inch the militant student prepared to welcome a new recruit into the ranks.
Any expression of warm welcome faded the moment she laid eyes on the spiky dark haired youth stepping off the train. She should have asked more questions. She should have known that the only student the headmaster would ask her to show around would be her final teammate. But she hadn't asked, and had she hadn't thought. The timing was right; it had been long enough that his arrival would not arouse suspicion. Nonetheless, it had caught her off guard and the silver-haired pervert who followed behind him did little to improve her mood. She'd like to see him walk a mile in her shoes.
"Good thing I never said anything about punching people," she muttered, striding toward the pair. "I'm surprised you had the balls to show your face, Sasuke." Sakura snapped, and then her attention flipped to the man behind him. "And you!" She snatched the orange covered book out of his hands. "Honestly, uncle Kakashi, reading this is not going to get you back in my good graces."
"Sakura, you look… pissed." Sasuke sighed, running a hand through his hair and shrugging nonchalantly. "Good to see you're still the same as ever."
Kakashi made an unsuccessful grab for his book. "Sakura, sweetheart, what would your mother say if she knew you had access to that sort of thing?" He slung a conspiratorial arm around her shoulder, drawing the pink haired girl close and keeping her fists out of range of Sasuke. "But I tell you what, you keep my book, and I'll hang onto the present I got for you. I'm pretty sure I kept the receipt, so returning it won't be a problem, and I can always use that money to buy another copy when I get home."
Sakura growled and thrust the book into Kakashi's chest. "It had better be something good." She shook his arm off and stalked forward, her uncle's grasping fingers missing her arm by a hair as he scrabbled to hold her back. "Of course I'm pissed, asshole." She stared Sasuke in the eyes. The four inch heels brought her to an impressive 5'7" which put her at eye level with the youngest Uchiha.
"I don't have to explain myself to you." Sasuke snapped, roughly pushing her. Sakura stumbled back, a heel catching on the uneven stone floor, and would have fallen had Kakashi not been there to catch her.
"Sasuke!" Kakashi snapped, "Don't you ever…!" He stopped mid-sentence pulling a brightly wrapped box out of his small duffel bag and passing it to his niece. The bright colors reminded her of Naruto, or the cover of an Icha Icha volume. "Here." His voice took on a steely quality, "Don't ever let me catch you doing that again. Not to Sakura or any woman. Do I make myself clear?"
Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "Crystal. It's the same as always, she acts up and you reward her for it. I so much as breathe on her and…"
"We're through talking about this."
Sakura pulled the last of the paper off the box, flipping the lid over. "Kakashi, you shouldn't have." Her uncle had gotten her another pair of heels, this time in a royal blue, with hot pink rhinestones forming hearts across the strappy bands that wrapped around the foot and ankle. He wasn't really her uncle, not by blood at any rate. After his father, Konoha's White Fang, committed suicide when he was seven and long before she had even been born, her grandparents adopted him. He'd often mentioned the culture shock of suddenly going from a ninja family to a civilian one, and he'd entered numerous scuffles with his new siblings over careless comments. He'd been the one who ultimately convinced her, and helped her convince her parents, to attend the academy, and she couldn't have been happier when her eccentric, but much loved, uncle became her jounin sensei. That was, until he gave her the book he'd commissioned from Jiraiya entitled, "How her crush got her killed." It had even been illustrated, complete with inappropriate drawings of half naked girls running after half naked men. But, then, he was forever giving her tasteless gifts, the book—and now the shoes—was nothing out of the ordinary; it was just how he was. She'd learned early on to accept them for what they were, his misguided attempt at affection.
Sakura carefully wrapped the shoes back in the protective tissue paper and shut the box. "Let's go." She walked out of the train station without bothering to make sure they were following. As they approached the outskirts of town, a tiny smile bubbled to her lips. She was beginning to see the upside of driving the garishly colored vehicle. The car beeped loudly as she unlocked it, and she turned just in time to catch the color draining from Sasuke's face.
"I'm not getting in that," Sasuke muttered, "and I sure as hell am not going to let you drive me around, not after you attacked me back at the train station."
"As I recall, asshole, you were the one who couldn't keep your hands off of me. You're in the front. I don't trust you sitting behind me." His protests fell on deaf ears and she swung herself into the driver's seat, quickly checking the alignment of the mirrors as they fastened themselves in. She sent the car into reverse, peeling out of the narrow parking garage beneath the rental. On what seemed to be a whim, Sakura turned the car off of the narrow dirt road, pulling up to a drop-off, her wheels coming to a full stop only a couple of feet away from sending them all plummeting over the edge.
"What the hell are you thinking?" Sasuke yelled, trying to wrestle her away from the steering wheel. The car rolled forward a couple inches, bringing them closer to the perilous brink.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." One foot firmly pressing the brake pedal to the floor and hand resting lightly on the steering wheel, she examined the nails on her other hand. "Any reason in particular you decided to wait until he was leaving to break his heart?" A couple were chipped—she'd have to see if she could convince her roommate to touch them up for her.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" He snapped, crossing his arms, and staring pointedly in the opposite direction.
"Don't play stupid." Sakura pulled a compact mirror out of her pocket and studied her appearance. Was it just the lighting, or… "If you don't tell me what I want to know, I'll take my foot off the brake. If you're lucky, the car will roll backwards." No, her eye shadow was definitely smudged. "If I were you, I wouldn't want to risk my life on that chance."
"I'm not stupid. You value your life more than that." He finally looked over at her, his smirk plainly telling her he thought he'd won the argument.
Sakura glanced into the rearview mirror in time to catch her uncle's wink when he glanced away from his novel. He must have caught her initiating the genjutsu, they had yet to even leave the parking garage. "It appears we are at a standstill. This is where the game begins; now we just have to wait and see who caves in first. Will you confess and tell me why you waited to break up with Naruto until the last possible moment, thereby breaking his heart and making him a liability on this mission, or will I hit the brakes and stop the car?"
Sasuke's jaw dropped open, and he gaped at her flabbergasted for a moment. "He told you I broke up with him? That's what this has all been about?" He gestured wildly, his arms flailing in the air.
She eased up off the brake pedal, the car lurched forward. "This isn't a joke, Sasuke!"
"Alright!" He yelped, his knuckles whitening from where they clung to the edges of his seat. "I'll talk, just don't…" He took a deep breath. "If you kill me, I won't get a chance to apologize." Sakura slammed her foot down.
"You want to apologize?" She shrieked. The horizon flickered as she lost control of her chakra, but quickly stabilized again. "You think an apology is going to cut it? You tore out his heart and trampled over it, actually, that would have been less painful than what you did. And you want to apologize?"
He hung his head, breathing deeply. "I was stupid, and I see that now. I want to try and make things right, make things like they used to be." He reached out tentatively, flinching back when she snarled at him, and then pressing forward, his movements jerky—not at all the fluid motions she remembered from when they trained together—and took her hand. "I'm sorry, Sakura, I didn't only hurt Naruto, but I betrayed your trust as well." His eyes bore into hers, searching for any hint of forgiveness. "You have every right to want to kill me."
She snatched her hand away from him. "You're right Sasuke. You were stupid. And it's going to take a lot more than an apology to get me to forgive you." She smirked, "You know, I never was going to kill you." She let the genjutsu fall and put the car into reverse, for real this time. "I'll let Naruto decide what to do with you."
* * *
Naruto groaned, pulling the covers over his eyes and groping blindly for his alarm. It was a game he played every morning, could he get his alarm to shut up before it alerted his overly hyper-active roommate, and thereby, hopefully, sleep through his morning classes. He grunted as he rolled off the bed and landed on top of a pile of textbooks, the blankets doing nothing to shield his tender ribs. Luck, it appeared, was not with him today.
"You're going to miss breakfast!" Zell shouted from the bathroom, where Naruto knew from prior experience that the tattooed teen was styling his hair. He flung the covers off, revealing orange boxers and black nightcap complete with white pompom and face.
The whiskered teen grabbed his uniform's pants off the floor, raising them to his nose and sniffing. He flung them away, gagging, and they landed on the lamp-shade, the force knocking it over. Ignoring the crash, he turned to his dresser and jerked the top drawer open. He appraised the empty drawer, groaning louder. Further investigation produced similar results.
"You're pathetic."
"Shut it, Kyuu," he muttered. For once, the fox listened. Today really wasn't his day. Returning to the discarded pants, he shrugged them on, vowing to do laundry that afternoon. He was just fastening them when Sakura burst in.
"Still not ready yet?" She asked, ignoring his half dressed state and walking over to the blinds, twisting them open; it hardly bothered him anymore when she waltzed in unannounced—it was nothing she hadn't seen before when she was a medic. Zell had squawked the first time and made a dive for his bed, wrapping the blanket around him and turning beet red. Now he just made sure he was up and dressed before she got here. "You're going to make me late."
"Then go on without me," he muttered, pulling on his last clean undershirt, and shrugging on an only slightly dirty uniform shirt. He didn't bother with the jacket, there were still bug guts splattered across the lapels from his last foray into the training center. "Nobody died and made you my mother."
"You're right." She snapped, and Naruto flinched back at the severity of her tone. "But until you get over that creep, I will continue to mother you. Now put your shoes on and grab your books. If you move quickly you might get to eat before class."
The blonde glanced up as Zell exited the bathroom, uniform crisply pressed and hanging open. He'd gone home that weekend and had his mother do his laundry, the week before the two blondes' rooms had mirrored each other, as they had each forgone their individual dressers for a communal one—the floor. He was surprised his roommate had even bothered to put away his clothes. Naruto's clothes usually sat there until Sakura came around the next morning and put them away for him. He still hadn't quite figured out how to use the washers and dryers in the building, Konoha had nothing like it, and frequently his shirts had white residue crusted on them from where the soap didn't rinse completely out. A couple of months after arriving, Sakura had dragged him down to the facilities with her and showed him how to operate them. He wanted to know why she couldn't just keep doing it like she had been—she'd hit him when he asked.
He would have been content to reek, but Sakura's nagging was worse than the smell. Naruto dutifully followed the pink haired girl out of his room, wincing at the leers sent his way by students loitering in the halls. His days of crushing on his teammates were long gone. He'd always heard that the person who stole your first kiss inevitably ended up breaking your heart as well. Or was it that first relationships weren't meant to last? Either way, he was doing his best to put Sasuke firmly out of his mind. His stomach growled, maybe his pleas to the cafeteria staff for them to include ramen on the menu would finally be realized.
"This place is going to shit," Seifer drawled to the two cadets, Seifer's lackeys Sakura had informed him in a conspiratorial whisper long ago, marching behind him as he approached Sakura and Naruto. "First they let in that chicken wuss, and now we've got a timid little pussy that can't fight for himself."
Sakura balled her fists, cracking her knuckles as she tensed, muscles poised to launch at the teen the moment he was in range. "Saku-chan, wait," Naruto murmured into her ear, "he's not worth it." He kept his hand resting on her shoulder until the trio had passed.
She whirled around, slamming her still clenched fist into the wall, cracks shot through the stones, and when she withdrew her hand, chunks crumbled away. "He pisses me off."
"It's not the worst thing anybody's said to me." He'd dealt with worse from the villagers; he sighed loudly and stared off into space. He jumped when his arm was grasped, and he looked down into Sakura's sad smile.
"C'mon, let's get back to your room. I should do something about my knuckles." Her constant companionship, both in public and behind closed doors, was the high point of the majority of Garden's gossip. Their blood relationship added an illicit appeal to the situation, one the girls found irresistible—ero-sennin would have a field day up here. There was little that could be done for the rumors, as it was only behind closed doors that she could use jutsus, and she had no desire to chance the success of their missions on being discovered—or worse a failed draw.
"But… breakfast…" Naruto whined, following her, his stomach rumbling.
"Can wait!" She snapped, running her free hand over her knuckles, chakra crackling between the two. They would have healed on their own, but she didn't want to deal with the scabs that would stick around for a week or two. Besides, it was Naruto's fault, if he'd let her punch Seifer, she wouldn't have bloody knuckles—she knew that from experience. "All done." This time, Sakura followed Naruto as he raced through the halls, making a bee-line for the cafeteria. "The cafeteria isn't going anywhere…"
When Sakura caught up to him, he was already seated at a table by himself. He grinned, waving her over before she had a chance to go through the lines. He pushed over a tray when she sat down on the bench across from him. "I got you the last cherry tart."
"Thanks, Naru." He had casually loaded the tray on his way through the line, years of eating breakfast together had taught him her likes and dislikes, and so he felt confident that she would enjoy the fruit bowl and milk as sides to the tart—her all time favorite. He glanced down the table, at the far end his roommate sat, surrounded by students all talking animatedly. The next table over, icy blue eyes met and held his gaze. His spoon, laden with sugary cereal, never completed the journey to his mouth. Sakura leaned in, "You okay?" She turned slightly, her eyes following the line of Naruto's gaze. "Finally taking my advice, are you?"
Naruto jerked his head away, "It's not like that."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "And there's nothing wrong if there is. We've been here for four months, and we haven't even started. At the rate we're muddling through this we won't make it home for at least half a year." She fixed Naruto with a steady gaze, "Like I told you before, the only way you're going to get over him is to move on." She wrinkled her nose, "But before you set up any hot dates, do us all a favor and do your laundry."
Naruto slammed his spoon down into the bowl. "Between you and Kyuu all I hear is nag, nag, nag. I'm stuck with Kyuu, but not with you. I've got PT, later." He surged to his feet, his lips curling into a feral snarl, aimed at anyone who glanced in his direction. He avoided meeting Sakura's emerald gaze. It would only make him feel guilty, as it had every time in the past that he exploded on her.
"Classy."
"I don't want to deal with it."
"She's right, you know."
"What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone?" He shouted, his voice echoing down the empty halls.
"You could always set me free."
"And let you wipe out the entire human race, I'm not stupid."
"I would make him suffer for you."
"Yes, and while you're at it, you'd kill off my dad, me, Sakura—"
"Not Sakura."
"What do you mean, not Sakura?" Silence greeted him. "Damn it, Kyuu, answer me!" He sneered at the junior cadet who was staring at him in wide-eyed silence, sending the boy scurrying away. Great, now everyone would think he was crazy on top of everything else.
* * *
Naruto was worried. Well, not exactly worried, saying he was worried was a bit over the top. Naruto was concerned; Sakura had not shown up for their GF Theory class, and she never skipped class. He remembered one time back at the academy when she showed up with a really bad fever—going to class that day had almost killed her. After meeting her parents, he began to understand where she was coming from, but regardless of the reason, it wasn't like her to miss a lesson.
He knocked on Sakura's door and shoved his hands into his pockets which kept him from nervously wringing them behind his back. The door swung open, and Sakura's blonde haired roommate opened the door, scowling. "Ashe, is Sakura in?"
"No." The door slammed shut in his face; he was unable to get his hands out fast enough to stop it. What was her problem? He considered knocking again and asking if she knew when Sakura would be back, but decided against it. Sakura would be fine, she had seemed alright earlier during their Fiendology lecture, if still a bit miffed from the way he blew her off that morning, but maybe she came down with a cold. He knew that if he kept pestering the prickly blonde girl, he was going to be the one who had to visit the infirmary. Maybe that's where she was, Naruto made his way down to Dr. Kadowaki's office. She hadn't seen his teammate either, not since she'd volunteered that weekend. Well, so much for his plan to borrow one of Sakura's uniforms to do his laundry in.
Grateful that it was a Friday afternoon, he loaded all of his clothes into the two rickety washers that made up the dormitory's laundry facility. The students who had earned the privilege would already be well on their way to town, and the others were likely enjoying the warm weather out on the quad. Whatever the reason, on Friday afternoons the dorms were deserted until curfew, and Naruto planned to take advantage of that. He kicked his shoes off, and yanked his socks off, tossing them into the soapy mixture. His shirt and undershirt quickly followed, and as soon as he'd freed his belt and emptied his pockets, his pants joined them. This left him standing barefoot in the empty room clad only in fluorescent orange boxers and his light patch of chest hair. He leaned against the washer, flipping open his heavy text on guardian forces—the full-color illustrations in the book would hopefully hold his attention until his laundry finished.
So far he'd only ever used the book to do research on a particular GF for class. So far they had covered Shiva, Quezacotl, and Ifrit, the three guardian forces they were most likely to run into as a cadet. The first section of the volume covered the GFs used by the Gardens, and listed them alphabetically. He was just about to start reading the last entry in the section, on the Tonberry King, when the washers dinged, signaling that it was time to switch everything to the dryers. Without bothering to check whether everything had come clean in the wash, he tossed his clothing into the dryers, pushing the buttons to start everything back up. In an hour he'd finally be able to dress himself again, he was fully looking forward to taking a hot shower and slipping into clean dry pants.
He flipped the page, not taking the time to read the section title. His breath hitched when he stared down at the first image, one whose form he recalled all too well. "Shukaku," he whispered, "what the hell is he doing in here?" He turned back to the section header, Guardian Forces Indigenous to the Hidden Villages. Fuck. He quickly thumbed through the book. What the hell was he going to do?
"Kyuubi!" He called out, softly. Maybe the situation wasn't as dire as he was making it out to be.
"Going to let me out for some fun?"
"Are you a GF?" He got the distinct impression that the fox was laughing at him. "Well, are you? Is this—" he gestured at the excerpt, "—true?"
"What's it matter to you, kit?"
"If anybody finds out, our cover will be completely blown!" Naruto raged, his fingers whitening on the edge from where he clenched it. "So tell me, are you a GF?"
"Talk to me after you read it, I wouldn't want to give anything away. Besides, I was enjoying my nap."
"Stupid fox." Naruto scowled and turned his attention back to the book. He read in silence for a moment before exclaiming, "What the hell does it mean, a living host? C'mon, I know you're there, answer me, damn it!"
"When the Guardian Forces from the Hidden Villages bond with someone, that person is known as a living host." Naruto dropped the book, looking up to see the icy eyed brunet he'd locked gazes with at breakfast leaning shirtless against the wall, a laundry basket balanced on his hip. "You done with the washers?"
"How long have you been there?" the blonde shouted, wondering how he could have missed his entrance. "Long enough." Kyuubi's voice whispered in his mind. The brunet didn't seem inclined to answer. Naruto leapt to his feet, his body a blonde and orange blur as he surged forward, slamming into the teen. His precarious grip on the basket upturned, and clothes fell haphazardly to the floor. One hand threatened to crush his wind pipe, and Naruto's blood-shot eyes bore into calm icy blue. "How much did you hear?" Each hissed word was punctuated with a rough shake.
The brunet shoved the blonde off of him, sending him staggering back several steps. "What does it matter?" He rubbed his throat. "You got something to hide?" This time when the blonde launched at him, he was prepared, and he leapt forward at the same time, meeting him halfway and ramming the smaller teen into the washing machine. Naruto tried to push him off, and slipped on the large puddle of water that had leaked from the washing machine in the corner; instinctively he reached out and pulled the brunet down with him. The two rolled around on the floor, each trying to dominate the other but finding little purchase against the slick flesh of their opponent.
Gasping for breath, the larger teen lay sprawled on top of the younger, pinning him in place with his weight. "You're a host, aren't you?"
Naruto squirmed, trying to wriggle out from under the brunet. The brunet's slippery bare chest sliding against his own elicited a moan from the blonde, and suddenly escaping was the last thing on his mind. For good measure he wiggled again, enjoying the tingles that shot down his spine. "Dunno."
The brunet pushed himself up, keeping the lower half of his weight, keeping him pinned in place, his hands on either side of the younger teen's head. Naruto moaned, trying to follow the tingling muscular chest, only to be pushed back down. "Explain."
"I can't." Naruto muttered.
"Just a—never mind, this is faster." In a fluid motion, hands reached up and jerked the brunet down, warm, wet lips pressing against the strange brunet's chapped ones. Naruto couldn't believe what the fox had started, but part of him wasn't complaining, and the part that was he ignored. Bright blue eyes locked with icy, and the younger boy cringed at the confusion and anger sparking within. Ever since first exchanging longing gazes with the svelte teen, his daydreams were filled with images of what they were now doing, but with roles reversed. What he'd told Sakura in their first month only held half-truths now. He was willing to move on, but only if he was not required to take the initiative.
He felt the fox reach out with his arm and pinch the brunet's thigh, the elicited gasp allowed him to deepen the kiss, and the blonde moaned as one tongue massaged the other. The last of Naruto's misgivings dissolving as the fingers tangled in his hair, tugging him closer. He would deal with Kyuubi later, for now he was just going to sit back and enjoy the ride. The blonde's hands traveled down the teen's back, exploring well-toned muscles that rippled under his touch. They continued downward, dancing teasingly against pliant sides, skimming over the hip bone and finally lingering on a well-rounded, but delightfully firm ass. His mewling intensified when he felt a hand slide up the outside of his thigh, returning the favor, whilst the other still gave sharp, playful tugs to his hair.
"It's about time!" The words jarred him, and he dug his fingertips into the pliant flesh already taught within his grip. Unable to turn his head to identify the newcomer, Kyuubi still claiming firm hold on his physical responses, he was forced to rely on vocal recognition alone. He would recognize the sound of Sakura's voice anywhere, anytime. It wasn't that it was distinct, so much as that he'd spent the last four years of his life hearing it daily, and the previous six almost as often. He still had difficulty discerning whether the years he spent crushing on the pink haired girl made him bi, or if it didn't count since it was prior to his acceptance of his sexuality.
"What is?" For the past three years he had lived for that sultry baritone, and if the owner ever decided his life wasn't enough, he had been prepared to lay it down in sacrifice. Naruto silently cried out to Kyuubi to break things off with the icy-eyed unknown cadet and allow him to fling himself into the arms of his old lover, while wishing at the same time to be hidden away from the heartbreak the teen brought with him. Still the fox deepened his kiss, and when he pulled the blonde away, it was on his own terms, leaving the brunet panting for more. Slowly his body glanced up, meeting the smoldering gaze of his ex, his tongue running over swollen lips. Mockingly, his eyes still locked with Sasuke's, Kyuubi leaned over and softly pressed his lips in a lingering kiss against the brown haired teen's.
"Hello gorgeous, Sasuke." He nodded to Sakura and then Sasuke in turn. "Don't mind us." Kyuubi was smirking through Naruto's lips as he watched the silent struggle between the teammates. His host's ex futilely struggled against the firm grip she had on his elbow, the only obstacle to the dark haired teens efforts to lunge at the pair. The girl, with her perfectly proportioned body, held more power within a single finger than the average ninja held in their entire body. Thinking of the ways she could crush him made the fox go weak in the knees with desire and caused the blonde to blanch in horror. It would be his body that took the punishment she would inflict on the fox should she ever discover the planned perversions lingering in his demon's mind.
"It doesn't have to be that way," Kyuubi rumbled in their conjoined mind. Naruto flailed against the confines of his mind, demanding to have control returned to him. "I'll step down once this situation is taken care of."
When the brunet unwound his fingers from Naruto's hair, and ran his hand down his leg as he slid out of his embrace, Kyuubi allowed him to pull away without complaint. He kept an appreciative eye trained on the sleek muscles and defined lines of his torso as he bent over, collecting his laundry. Kyuubi leaned back, propped up on his elbows and looking his teammates in the face, as nonchalant as if he were fully clothed on a divan, instead of half naked on the floor. "Can I help you with something?"
"You could start by telling me what the fuck you were doing with him." Sasuke snapped, and with one last failed attempt at pulling free of Sakura's hold, slumped against the door.
Kyuubi chuckled, the mocking laughter rolling off his lips in a sultry baritone. "You need me to spell it out for you? And they called you a genius? Oh how the mighty have fallen." The laughter died, and his eyes grew steely as his gaze pierced him with its intensity. "Besides, what makes you think you have the right?"
Sasuke gaped at him, clenching his fist by his side. "Excuse me?"
"You made it abundantly clear when I left that you wanted nothing more to do with me." He flicked his hand dismissively, "So why don't you run along like a good little Uchiha, and I'll have a word with the headmaster so he can arrange it that we're not in any of the same classes."
"I don't want that," Sasuke muttered, starting studiously at the floor, "I didn't…"
"That's rich." Kyuubi snapped, his eyes blazing with fury. Even Naruto could not begin to distinguish where the fox left off and he began, so similar were they in their fury. "You ruin my life and then expect me to let you come waltzing in whenever you feel like it?" The blonde tossed his head. "Not a chance."
"I'm sorry, okay?" Sasuke yelled, wrenching his arm free from a stunned Sakura and striding forward. He dropped to his knees in front of the teen, bowing his head. "I'm so sorry."
"You think an apology is going to make it all better? It won't take back what you said."
"I was stupid."
"You were."
"Forgive me?"
"Not a chance. Get out."
"I'm really, really sorry."
"So you've said. You know what, though?" Kyuubi leaned forward and ran a finger down the side of Sasuke's jaw. "I should thank you. After all, if you hadn't gone and spilled all of my secrets to the village, I would never have realized what a pathetic loser you were, and would still be wasting my time on you." He shoved the dark-eyed boy away from him. "Sakura, could you get this cretin out of my presence? I've got a few things to discuss with this blue-eyed, half-dressed specialist."
The lid to the washer clanged shut. "I have a name, you know."
"That was actually at the top of the list." Kyuubi glanced over at Sakura who was crackling with excess chakra as she stood rooted to the spot, eyes blazing. "Sakura?"
"It was him all along?" She asked, sparks leaping off of her as she stormed forward.
"Yeah."
"And you never thought to tell me."
Sasuke scrambled forward, inching away from Sakura, but when brought face to face with an angry blonde whose eyes flashed crimson he stumbled backward—trapped between two nightmares. "You're not—" His eyes flickered over to Squall. "I want to speak with Naruto. Alone."
"Naruto doesn't have anything to say to you." She grasped Sasuke by the hair, dragging him from the room. At the door, she paused, glancing over her shoulder as she watched Naruto's eyes fade back to blue and sorrow filled them once again. "We'll talk later, cuz."
The door clicked shut behind her, leaving the two half-dressed boys alone in the echoing silence, punctuated with the whirring and thumping of the washers and dryers.
"So… umm…" Naruto chewed on his lip nervously, at a loss as to what Kyuubi thought the two should be discussing. It was just like the fox to royally muck things up and then leave him to sort out the mess. "I'm Naruto."
"Squall." The brunet walked forward and offered a hand to the blonde, pulling him to his feet. "Just who exactly are you?"
The blonde scratched his head, ruffling his hair in confusion. "I just told you, my name's Naruto."
"Wrong question then, Naruto. What are you?" He crossed his arms over his chest, staring Naruto in the eye.
"What am I?" Naruto snapped. "You want to know what I am? I am confused. I am hurt. I am completely fucked up. The only person I ever loved suddenly up and starts treating me like shit and then decides that I am suddenly worth his time again and comes waltzing back into my life, acting like nothing ever happened, and then some jerk I barely even know starts prying into my personal life. Want to know what Sasuke taught me, Squall? Trust nobody." Naruto spun around, pulling his clothes from the dryer, only half dry and shrugged them on, throwing the rest into his bag. He stormed out of the room in the echoing silence that followed, leaving his GF book forgotten on the floor.
"Way to go, kit."
Squall picked up the book, opened to the page on Kyuubi, and a faint smile twitched across his lips. He had his suspicions about the blonde; it was apparent he was dealing with two different beings, trapped inside the boy's body. It would explain the personality switch. Now the question was, what was he going to do with this information? He closed the book and placed it at the bottom of his laundry basket. He'd get his answers when the boy sought him out. After all, he seemed fairly intelligent; it wouldn't take him long to draw up the conclusions of what happened to it. And Squall planned to play dumb should anyone other than Naruto come ask him for it. He was well aware that the boy sent his cousin to do most of his dirty work. The year promised to be interesting.