Enjoy! I originally came up with idea as a Dojinshi (comic…) but I am not such a good drawer or comic book artist. So I give you Sixteen Days. It's a bit strange and I'd like continue it. The reason I'm explaining that I originally intended it to be a dojinshi is because I did go overboard in descriptions. It's a flaw of mine.
Sixteen Days
Prologue - Holy Thursday
" Man was born free, and he is everywhere is in chains. Those who think themselves masters of others are indeed greater slaves then they."
Rousseau, The Social Contract.
16D
The varying echoes of those words rocketed around the dreary classroom and a boy who had been propping his head up against his hand in a vain attempt to stay awake, slipped, eyelids closed and landing noiselessly against his pencil case, which he discovered worked perfectly well as a makeshift pillow, if one just ignored the pencil… or ruler… or pen that was sticking into his scalp through the thick surface. The boy didn't care though… he was so tired from the long hours he'd forced his body to cope with the night, and the rest of the term before. He hadn't had decent rest since the school year began at the end of January. It was obvious to anyone that despite the massive personality differences and maturity between the boy and his classmates he was still looking forward to the Easter break with the passion of a schoolboy… even though it only lasted for ten days, the smallest set of holidays in the year.
For Sasuke Easter would be an opportunity to rest and train without having to deal with the boring, mundane necessities that were forced upon him during the majority of his day. Otherwise known to him as school which he usually paid his utmost attention to however it was the last period of a long day and there were few other History Students that were half-aware of their surroundings, most having nodded off during the video about the Old Regime of Europe.
Most other teachers would've known this and simply given up however the trainee that had been sent to handle Year 11 history had not had enough experience to know how absolutely stuffed rebellious students could be after an abnormally long first term. Her voice was getting flustered and frustrated… he couldn't actually discern many of her words but he could tell from her pitch and tone. He decided to pay attention in case it was important.
"Discuss what you think this means with the people in your row." Sighing heavily Sasuke lifted his head off the desk to gaze unfocused down his row. As luck would have it only Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno were in his row and although at times they seemed rather eccentric and friendly and had a weird fetish for turning up in the same places as he did they were alright… which was unlike the rest of the girls in the year group (he refused to acknowledge Hinata Hyuuga as a girl) they were distinctly intelligent when they wished to be and they both could hold their own in a fight without having to depend on the chivalrous and gentlemanly notions of males.
Sakura at that point in time had her pink hair tied up in her red ribbon and was currently trying to hold up the thick mass with her pens and pencils, a set of perfect notes sat in front of her also covered with various doodles and manga sketches however he knew that if he asked for her notes she'd copy another set without the pictures in a flurry, she was shy that way.
Ino often snorted and said it was Sakura's inner Sakura speaking out and sometimes (on very boring days when the sun made everything appear grey) he was tempted to steal them just to see what Sakura was really like.
She had an eyebrow raised and it appeared she'd missed what the teacher had said as a particularly difficult piece continued to fall down from it's pen-pin.
Ino's foot was tangled in the legs of the desk and her chair's front legs didn't touch the ground. The blonde's eyes were closed and her rather large bust faced the roof, her mouth was open and the boy behind her had taken out a blue highlighter and was slowly inking her long blonde hair. It was clear Ino was asleep.
For to Ino hair was sacred.
Sasuke snorted and turned back to face the teacher, or rather pre-teacher trainee.
Shizune Hayashi usually helped in the classroom, her majors being in the sciences, both in chemistry, physics and in general high school multi-strand science. She usually observed the teaching methods of others but she'd hatd the misfortune of being the aide to Hatake Kakashi, a man who was notorious for leaving lesson plans and not showing up to classes letting subs and aides take over.
Her dark eyes met his own dark eyes and she didn't blink as she walked over to the television, never dropping her gaze and ejected the tape that had been paused from the television.
"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" At the moment the tape was ejected white noise filled the room and Ino's long legs shot back and she lost her balance forcefully slamming through the cheap plastic desk behind her sending the boy straight backwards as the highlighter streaked down her face.
She scowled and grabbed the pen, snapping it effortlessly, the feral smile on her face growing to resemble something similar to a horror movie.
"Kiba!" She shrieked. "I'm going to ki-" She began when Shizune coughed loudly as she turned the television completely off.
"Row. Discuss Rousseau's opening sentences featured in the Social Contract." Ino's clear blue eyes (which Sasuke noticed matched the highlighter streak that divided her face straight in half) flashed and she opened her mouth to complain about Kiba Inuzaka.
"Now, Officially I am allowed to detain all of you for an hour after the bell rings. I suggest you bring complaints back to me when you've done the required work."
" But Miss look what dog-face-"
"Buta snap-"
Both students complained loudly and met Shizune's furious gaze and shrunk, effortlessly tamed. Sasuke smiled inwardly wondering what kind of teacher Shizune Hayashi would make, obviously one that could make students do tasks without even opening her mouth.
Sakura's dragged her chair nosily over to his desk and sat firmly down he glared at her as she turned to page of her notebook to a fresh sheet.
"What do you think means Sasuke?" she asked perkily and he raised his head from his pencil-case.
"Oi! Sakura what do you think that mush means?" Sakura glowered as Ino sat down in the shorter girls lap.
"Get off me Buta!" She said trying to push her friend off but maliciously Ino, being the much taller, curvier and stronger-willed of the two held tight to her newly acquired position, her body thrusting itself out as Sakura squirmed trying to either get free or push the girl off. Sasuke sighed and turned away from the girls to gaze outside the window.
The grass outside was dry and a lot of dirt was visible from where it had died from the waster-restrictions and drought that Konoha was facing, and had been facing since the year he'd been born.
He didn't exactly see why it was called a drought as it still rained every spring and winter but not as much as it had used to sixteen years ago. A lot of citizens had moved to better cities which made the restrictions more lax than they could've been but the grass still suffered for it. The trees looked dead too, their bark black and their long thin leaves hanging downwards. He saw a flash of colour and blinked as a fox appeared with a bloodied rabbit in its mouth and disappeared between the roots. Obviously it had a den there or nearby but Sasuke didn't know whether he should be disgusted or not by the death of what everybody assumed to be an innocent animal.
It didn't belong there and it obviously didn't fit in with there environment, taking over the homes and burrows of the other like-sized animals. He turned his attention back to the arguing girls.
"It means that everyone is a servant or slave in one way or another." He said slowly and quietly and Ino looked at him bemused and Sakura flushed.
"Huh?" Ino exclaimed and Sasuke sighed heavily.
"Like that Fox over there - " Sakura sat straighter.
"It hunts other animals and so they fear him and you could consider him the other 'animals' master however he has the responsibility to not to take more than he needs to survive. That way they have a 'social contract' if you will." Ino nodded but Sakura's hand shot up as did her entire body sending Ino to land awkwardly on the floor and blink bemusedly. Sakura shouldn't have been that strong.
"Ms. Hayashi-" She said yelping, " Can I be excused?" Shizune nodded and Sakura grabbed her books from her desk and darted towards the door leaving in a flurry and completely and uncharacteristically missing her notebook on Sasuke's desk. Ino dismissed her with a flick of her hand and a sly smile as she claimed the abandoned chair.
"Don't worry about her Sasuke. She'd been funny since Tsunade, her grandmother, you know, disappeared." He considered nodded and was about to return to his pencil case pillow when Ino put her hand on his leg.
"Are you doing anything for Easter-break?" She asked as she squeezed his thigh and he gave her a sour look and put his head back down on the table.
"Training." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world and in a way for anybody who knew him it was. He was the one of the key players on the soccer and basketball teams in winter and played cricket and swimming in the summer, so to keep up with it all most thought he trained all year round. Few students knew the truth, so few that it was possible to count all those who knew using a persons fingers. Ino was lucky enough to be in that number.
And he could hear the pout present in her voice.
"Well, if you feel like some different training why don't you come down to my families' gym? I could show you how to use the equipment. I mean to add some variety into your routine." He gave her a blank stare.
"I've got the exact same equipment in the gym downstairs and if I need some variety I can go swimming." Ino sighed and dropped the innuendo knowing that the boy was simply clueless or ignoring it completely.
"You know, most boys ask what equipment, maybe something kinky and I finish with a punchline. Thanks Sasuke." He turned to face the window. Sakura was near the tree and not looking impressed. The bloodt carcass had been dropped at her feet and the fox was… wagging its tails. Se shook her head and turned on her heel and the fox stumbled and picked up the rabbit and followed her.
Sasuke closed his eyes and reopened them but she was gone in that instant it took to blink. He turned his attention to Ino to ask if she'd noticed but the girl was already off in her own world.
Her hand was still on his thigh.
"Ino." She blinked.
"Remove your hand."
12D
After that class and school in general finished quickly and Sasuke caught the bus home even though he knew he should be jogging home, however three hours jog did not look as appealing to a tired mind as a half-hour on the bus. Absently he looked around for his pink haired classmate and found her absence somewhat disheartening… maybe she was going to do the three hour jog, usually she did but he had a feeling because of how much she lagged behind she only did it to accompany him, even if he didn't want any accompaniment. However the strength to shove Ino off herself had been somewhat unexpected so maybe she did see the benefits of jogging.
The bus stopped outside the pub and he could see a somewhat elderly woman raise a glass to him from the veranda. He stopped and stared.
Tsunade Haruno… in proud daylight. She winked at and he turned abruptly away getting his mobile and sending a text to Sakura incase she didn't know. Unlike most of the students at Konoha Academy Sakura was an orphan. Her father had died before she was born in a car-accident and after she'd been born her mother had simply lost the will to live. She'd been brought up by her grandmother Tsunade and the permanent border who was one of Tsunade's childhood friends.
Jiraiya, Sakura said, was a perverted old geizer and he was only willing to teach girls martial arts.
Tsunade however had habits of going out and not returning for days at a time… however she'd exceeded the time limit of her usual stays away which had left Sakura distraught and Sasuke wondering how the hell she'd ended up so normal.
'At least she'd get the text.' He thought to himself, as he trotted the fifteen minutes walk back to the unit, swiping his card through the security gates and walking up the flights of stairs to the fourth floor and later digging out his keys to open the door. Before the drought this had been the richer area of Konoha and security had been tight but now it just seemed somewhat needless.
The first thing he noticed upon entering the apartment was the large pile of money on the table and the note written on the table. He glowered at the fact that it was still written mostly in kanji and not common like what was taught everywhere else.
His parents were like that anyway, always holding onto family superiority and other such ideals. That's why they still used the traditions of the past at home, and didn't let go of Konoha even though it was annoying and when he'd been younger it had stunted his learning.
"We'll be away for a month, please use the money on the table for food. Also ring Itachi to see if he is coming home during the holidays and if so use our cards to pay for other necessities." Sasuke scowled at the note and counted the money. He'd have to ring them later and tell them it wasn't enough to get by for week let alone a month, as usual.
The phone rang out and Sasuke ignored it in favor of checking the fridge and cupboards to find nothing edible.
"Hello, little brother? Working hard? I hope so. You should be jogging home about now… Mother and Father told me ring you to tell you that I'm staying in the capital for the holidays… lots of… assignments to catch up on."
He glowered and grabbed an empty jam jar sliding the cash into it and sticking the jar underneath the sink for safe-keeping, thinking for a moment he grabbed out a twenty dollar note and put it under the phone for when he left later.
These circumstances were not extraordinary, or strange to him, in fact it more seemed like he lived in the unit by himself and his parents visited every once and a while on holiday. Itachi had been out of school for four years already and so Sasuke knew how to live by himself.
A pile of laundry that had began to be expelled from the baskets told him he desperately needed to wash, because he'd taken to spending all his time either sleeping, training or doing his homework and ignoring the other more homely chores and jobs. He wished for the entire basket to burn and when it didn't even look like it was smoldering he turned away in search of clothing other than his school uniform and found a pair of jeans, a short sleeved navy hoodie and his soccer shorts… which were strangely clean.
That meant he definitely had to do the washing tomorrow…
He finished changing when the buzzer near his phone rang. Somebody who knew him wanted in and didn't have a card, unconsciously he went through the list of names of who it could possible be and gave up and simply picked up the phone, ignoring the message from Itachi and lent against the handle.
"Uchiha Residence."
"Sa..sas-uke?" A girl's voice whimpered into the phone and he eyed the appliance suspiciously. It was Sakura. He hadn't sent her the text of where exactly Tsunade was too long ago, definitely if she was walking and she could've texted back however her voice seemed distressed.
"Sakura?" He knew that with the pause that she'd nodded.
"Can I come in?" He thought for a moment and sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Sure." It took a few minutes before Sakura got up the stairs and knocked on the unit door. He opened it and gaped.
The sixteen year old looked awful. Her face was dirty, rubbed brown with mud and marred with cuts that had bled into the mud. Her bright green eyes looked worn, and she sagged like she was about to collapse. Tear tracks ran down her face and in her arms she cradled the fox from earlier… no. He noticed it now the multiple tails. Not a fox, a kitsune maybe not a kyuubi but still a demon for fairy tales. That would've been the reason for its strange behavior and Sakura's reaction to his sighting it.
It's head hung at an unusual angle but he was sure it was the fox from that afternoon but although he didn't know much about demons, or the legends behind them but he had a feeling that that wasn't natural and that kitsune couldn't imitate a deathlike sentence so well.
None of that really was what shocked him, although they contributed to the shock.
Sakura's hair which she'd taken so much pride in, which she'd filled with pens that afternoon, had been cut off jaggedly by a knife ripping her hair from her head.
"Sakura. Who did this to you?" He asked furiously and she swallowed tears and held the dead kitsune closer to her stomach.
"Sakura!" He grabbed her and pushed her against the wall and she winced and he noticed that her shoulders were also particularly tender, like she was bruised.
She bit her lip.
"I'll tell you later. Can we go inside." He let go of her and nodded, letting her inside the apartment. She didn't look around and simply sat down on the couch as he shut the door and went over to pour her a glass of water. It was obvious she wasn't entirely there so he was surprised when she began to speak halting words that he didn't really understand about.
"I've got to go away for a while." And although he felt compelled to ask why she was telling him of all people this he let her continue speaking and walked back to the couch and put the cup of water in front of her. She stared as it and spoke to it absently as she clutched the fox's dead body.
"Tsunade says it should only be for sixteen days but I've got to give you something before I go." She fumbled for a moment, removing one arm from the fox and digging inside the pocket of her bloodstained dark-blue school blazer and pulling out a tennis ball shaped ball and held it out, waiting for him to take it. He decided to humor her and took hold of the ball.
He emended his description. It was more like an orange fruit than a tennis ball. It wasn't completely spherical and its edges were slightly rough and dabbled and had a slightly strange smell, like a mixture of ramen and oranges. A combination he'd learnt not to trust and smelt somewhat foul and he glared at the orange thing, and noticed it glowed faintly.
"Can you look after this till I get back? It's important. Tsunade says to guard it with your life and you must never let it out of your sight. She says that Itachi and his friends want it so badly that they will kill for it and the one who did this will as well. His name is Orochimaru." She looked so desperate so he nodded, knowing full well it was going in the fridge or on the glass bowl on the counter as soon as she regained her composure. He did not like dealing with emotional females.
Then her skin began to glow a soft red strawberry colour like the clothing her cursed wardrobe produced and she grinned somewhat ferally and fondly the fox's fur.
"Yeah, I know Kitsune. Sasuke, don't get tempted by him. Don't listen. He's bad news. He devours souls. Look after it." The glow extended to her body and he could no longer see her body clearly.
"Konoha depends on it. So look after it. Remember Sixteen Days. If you need to call it something call it Naruto Uzumaki." And she disappeared in a flash of red light.
Sasuke sat up with a jolt. He'd fallen asleep in his bedroom and he cursed himself for the weird dreams and falling asleep without noticing it. Two hours had passed and the sun was already making the sky orange and for a moment he wondered why so many other students hated the colour.
It made the sunset radiant.
He smirked and grabbed the twenty-dollar note and trundled down the stairs and back out of the building, his door locking by itself. He was completely aware of everything and was thankful that the rest maybe had some good consequences after all.
The girl at the local supermarket grinned when she saw his choice of food and as she scanned the items he ignored her small talk.
"You know, Neji wants me to teach him how to use papa's forge on the holidays." Sasuke jumped and his eyes shot to her and she looked at him amused.
"Tenten!" She grinned and he studied her, she looked massively different with her hair out.
"Yo. As I was saying if your interested I thinking of teaching him on Tuesday, so come around. I know your not into hand-to-hand weapons like Neji but we've got some other skills, like swords and katana, they take awhile but it's always more interesting to train with stuff you've made." He shrugged.
"Maybe. See you later Tenten." Tenten grinned and Sasuke sighed, unaware of the throbbing orange-thing in his pocket that was aligning itself to his body temperature and unconsciousness.
The Nine tailed fox and spirit of Konoha Naruto Uzumaki was going to wake up, again, after so long.
+fin chapter+
Comments would be good. I tend not continue without comments.