A/N: Curse me for having so many ideas at once. I can't update my old stories until the new ones stop begging me to post them. Seriously, there's like seven of them up there…Sorry. :(
I can't believe it. I promised myself I would type AND post this within a month of first starting to write it. That was the first of October. It is now ten to midnight on the second of November.
And yes, this IS a SasuNaru (Naruto) fic, even if it doesn't say at first. I think this one'll be two chappies, maybe three. Oh, and this is…never mind. Let's just say I an check off my list one of the fics every SasuNaru-infatuated author must do. ;)
"talking"
'thinking'
He jumped from yellow tree to red tree to orange tree for another hundred yards, then grabbed an overhanging branch and swung up and around to hide behind the main trunk. He listened hard, breathing deeply to conceal his exhausted panting. There was no sign of the predator who had been tracking him. Unceasing in the search for his quarry, the predator gave the man no rest.
He had been running for two days, not even having had the time to warn his boss he would be gone. His departure had been so sudden, the gate guards of the city had felt the wind as he streaked by. The hunted man shook himself out of his reminiscing. 'I need to stay on my toes,' he thought, for this predator was clever, when he wanted to be. And he had never wanted anything more.
He woke up from his wary nap leaning against the tree trunk. 'Why…?' There was only one reason he would awaken at this point of exhaustion.
His breath grew ragged. CRUNCH
His eyes flew wide. CRUNCH
The blood roared in his ears. CRUNCH
His heart beat faster, muscles tensing, ready to flee. CRUNCH
The man checked himself then, hating his fear. His eyes turned red with swirling black tomoes. He resolved to fight back; perhaps he could make it back to the city. His boss would protect him, and throw that maniac chasing him into an asylum. Oh wait…she loves him like a son. Damn.
He pushed his legs off the branch, pivoting his body to face the right, lying flat on his stomach on the limb. He waited as the crunching of the leaves became louder. He waited as a small brown doe and her delicate faun, the perpetrators against the peace of the environment, stepped into view. They had no idea the hunted man was there, or they would not have made such noise.
He let out the breath he had not realized he held. Figuring he was out far enough and had lost the predator, the man would start back to the city now, hopefully not meeting up with the monster. The young man shinned down the trunk, startling the deer. They bounded out of the clearing as the man crept over the berry bush the doe had been feeding upon. He snatched handfuls of the fruits and stuffed them in his pockets, stopping when the juice dripped out of the seams. He brought some to his mouth, then, once more leaping among the trees.
After a number of hours, his hunger sated and pockets empty, he stopped, drank from a stream, splashed his face, then looked about his surroundings. All around him was peaceful; the scene of the forest stream was perfectly serene. The man chose to rest again, this time under the concealing roots of a leaning willow tree. He sat among the web of roots, straining once more to sense any signs of the crazy fox pursuing him. When he heard only the sounds of the night (chirping crickets, croaking frogs in the stream, and tiny rustlings of nocturnal creatures) he settled down. The young man curled into a nest of soft mulch and moss. He peered sleepily at the moon through the hanging lichen curtains, wondering if he would arrive in the city safely.
The fugitive's final thoughts flickered back to his pursuer. Why? Why was the dobe doing this? His own teammate…Up until three days ago the man would have worshipped whatever gods there were for his teammate to act like this, but he had underestimated the predator. Whatever the usuratonkachi did, he did it at 150% with a smile on his face. The man should have realized that this situation was no exception. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, perfectly aware that, somewhere in the forest, there was a needy fox, searching single-mindedly for his raven.