Counting Crows
by Ember
Disclaimer: Sasuke owns your soul. Naruto owns Sasuke (and vice versa.) Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto. I keep Kishimoto tied to our guest bed in the basement. Therefore, I 0wn j00. Pwnz.
Naruto and all concepts, characters, ect, © Kishimoto.
Warnings: Yaoi/slash/homosexuality, lime, sexual content, profanity, violence, death (kill Hinata!) For the lemons that go with this story, or to read it a little less edited out, please visit my AFF account.
Pairings: SasuNaru. A little bit of one-sided SasuSaku. Maybe a little bit more, I dunno.
Dedication: To David. No stopping writing. Bad David. ;;
A/N: I couldn't help it! ;;... I tried not to, but the inspiration came to me, and wouldn't leave, and I was drawing it, and I was thinking it, and I was breathing it and... I had to write it! Now my other fics will be even MORE neglected as I add another to the pile... Now to drag myself away and shoot myself...
Review if you want me to finish this, will you? I mean, I love the plot idea (which shall, by the way, be released to you in time), mostly just because it's actually different, which is a huge thing to me! I just wish my plot ideas came to me at more convenient times!
Now, onto actual notes on the story. It may take Sasuke and Naruto a little while to become evil, but I really just want to play with that concept. 'Cause they both have the potential for so much darkness and destruction! Kukukuku... This story was almost entirely inspired by this picture: www . deviantart . com / deviation / 13704051 /. So much credit and admiration and drooling worship-love goes out to the artist. Everything else'll be explained in the story. Enjoy, all!
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Naruto wrinkled his nose, lifting his top lip a little bit to show the very tips of his white teeth. He hated the way hospitals smelled, too clean and too... scoured out, especially after a week out in the dirty, fresh, earthy world on a bloody but exciting mission. One would think that a chuunin such as himself, almost a jounin and already taking S-class missions- and especially a clumsy, determined chuunin, such as himself- would be used to the smell of the hospital and its alcohol-cleaned, bleached-white serenity, but he could never quite get over how fake it was. This place saw more blood on a daily basis than he would during a week on a mission, and just sat there, sparkling white, pretending it didn't know what death was.
"Good morning, Naruto." The nurse, the forehead protector over her hair proclaiming her a medic-nin in training, waved at him and smiled, a faint rose tint around her cheeks. It took Naruto a moment to realize that she was staring at his chest, which, aside from the open jacket lying lightly on his shoulders, was completely bare- well, he hadn't had any clean shirts. He blushed back and considered zipping up the jacket, but decided that would probably just make things worse and decided to let it slide. He still wasn't used to girls looking at him, especially in that way, the way that Sasuke assured him, a slight pout stretching his mouth cutely, they most certainly were looking at him in, and he forgot little things, like shirts, a lot.
"Good morning," he said brightly, searching for the girl's name, then, when she didn't seem to expect a personalized greeting, deciding it didn't matter. He had grown a lot since his days as a Genin, so now he was almost as tall as Sasuke- though, to his chagrin, the black-haired shinobi had remained constantly just a couple inches taller. His hair was now down to his shoulders, usually pulled back into a little ponytail to keep it from fanning out into his face, though now it was loose and hung lightly, framing his face and throat. His body had gotten a lot more tightly muscled, and that was what the girls of Konoha had been noticing, though Sakura remained dedicated to her obsession over Sasuke and Hinata almost seemed embarrassed that her long-term crush had become suddenly more than worthy of her attention.
"Sasuke's in his usual room," the nurse said with a smile, now staring steadily down at the visitor sign-in form, not looking up and blushing furiously, and filling it out for the blonde. She smiled, an ironic little grin that lifted a little of Naruto's worry, and said, "Tsunade has a room set aside for him, now, so there won't be a big fuss when he comes in here."
"Thanks," Naruto said, waving as he disappeared into the hallway. The nurse smiled and waved, and her unintentional stage-whisper sigh made Naruto snicker deep in his throat. There were twelve rooms on the ground floor, and Sasuke always stayed in the seventh, staring yearningly out the window where he would be training, or talking with friends, or... living his life, like he was supposed to, before everything got screwed up...
Naruto opened the door slowly, not wanting to wake up his teammate if the other was asleep, but he found Sasuke awake and sitting up, glaring at the ceiling. "Hey, Naruto."
"Hey." Smiling with relief, Naruto sauntered in and collapsed on the familiar plastic chair that was put beside the bed every time Sasuke came into this room, especially for Naruto and his frequent visits. "Let me see it, Sasuke."
The dark-haired shinobi rolled his eyes and shot Naruto an annoyed glare, his arms crossing over his chest. "You sound like Tsunade." But after a second, he yielded with a sigh and slid the shoulder of his hospital robe off, revealing the white curve of his left shoulder. The curse seal was considerably lighter than when it had first been put on him, but a few marks strayed down his arm and back, as if he was half-way into the first-stage form the seal would have turned him into so many years ago.
Naruto bit his lip and reached out to run the tips of his fingers over the gray-black markings on the white skin. Sasuke drew in a tiny gasp and pulled back, his eyes fluttering shut then opening again, red around the edges of his irises.
"Does it hurt?"
The darker shinobi's eyes darkened again and he looked away, staring at his own hand on the cotton sheets. "Naruto..."
"Just answer the question." Naruto's blue eyes were suddenly hard and the tension in his shoulders betrayed his worry.
"Yes." The black eyes flitted up to meet Naruto's. "But not so much."
"Tell Tsunade when she comes back. She'll give you something for the pain."
"I don't need to be drugged," Sasuke replied, his tone cold and final, and he stared at a meaningless spot two feet from his right foot. Sasuke had grown, too, taller and thinner than Naruto, and had, as he left childhood, grown less pretty and more attractive. Most of his fangirls- including Sakura- had stayed on his tail, though some where alternatively casting glances over their shoulders at Naruto, standing a couple feet away. His hair now dangled down to his waist- he'd grown tired of the spike he'd kept it in since childhood. He'd kept it in a ponytail until someone dropped the innocent comment on how much he looked like his brother, which was when he'd started to braid it. Now, though, it was loose and lay in a cascade down his back. Naruto reached out and ran his fingers through it, loving the way his felt in his hands and needing the physical contact after an hour and a half of worrying. Sasuke frowned, not wanting to lose his resolve, but then Naruto pulled himself a little closer and, getting out of his chair and plopping down on the side of the hospital bed, kissed Sasuke full on the lips.
"You know," the Uchiha murmured into his mouth, "this doesn't make every argument go away."
"Sure it does," the blonde replied, parting his lips and drawing his teammate's tongue into his mouth playfully.
"Someone's going to see us."
"Of course. It's all part of my plan."
"Exhibitionist."
"Damn straight."
Sasuke's hands clenched in the cloth of his best friend's shirt, then pushed him onto his back on the bed, pinning him down to the cloth sheets. He positioned himself on top then started to lean down to resume their kiss, stopping in mid-motion as the skin over his shoulders stretched and wincing painfully before he could lean far enough down. Warm hands reached up to hold his shoulders and Naruto, sliding out from under him, helped to lie him back down, the pain coursing down his shoulders.
"Guess I'm not getting any tonight," the kitsune said quietly, biting his lip with worry- and not over the lack of excitement for the rest of the evening. The curse had moved down to Sasuke's elbow, over across his throat, down his chest and back.
"Sorry," the Uchiha managed ironically.
"That's alright," Naruto said, false cheerfulness hiding his agitation as he got up and managed not to grab and mess with anything with his hands, which were clenching and unclenching with worry. "I guess I'll just find some other guy to do it for me..."
"You wouldn't dare," the quiet response came.
"I don't know..." He reached the doorway and turned around to grin and wink at his teammate, who turned towards him and smiled weakly. Naruto smiled back, then, more seriously, said, "Hey..."
There was no response.
"Sasuke, you know... that this isn't your fault, don't you?"
There was no response. Sasuke wouldn't look at him. Naruto took a breath to continue, then, finding he didn't have anything to say, he turned around, opened the door, and closed it quietly behind him, ignoring the way the nurse watched him as he walked past.
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The doors to the Hokage's office opened with a little fanfare, bouncing off the walls without so much as a single knock. Unsurprisingly, the intruder was tall, blonde, and tan, and grinned cheekily when he saw his unrespected elder working hurriedly on some report or another, a stack of Chuunin exam entrance forms lying unchecked in the corner of her desk.
"Tsunade-baba!" Naruto cried out happily. "You're up! I thought people of your age were all fast asleep by eight PM!"
Sometimes, it was amazing to think that Naruto was twenty-one years old, a successful shinobi, and one of the three heartthrobs of Konoha- those being Sasuke, Neji and the kitsune himself. He'd grown up a lot since he was a twelve-year-old Genin, though there were still moments when Tsunade marveled that he'd managed to live this long.
Of course, there were also moments when she marveled over what this life had done to a kid who, had he been given the chance, could have driven away the kyuubi just by talking to it.
She sighed and shook her had, pushing her current work out of her way so Naruto could sit down and still see her face above the papers. "What's this about, Naruto? Or wait, I can guess- is it Sasuke again?"
At the mention of the name, the cheerful brightness left Naruto's face and he sat down heavily, bracing his elbows on his knees and resting his chin in his hands. Sometimes he looked so much like a kid again that she forgot the past nine years had even happened. "Tsunade-baba, how sure are we that Orochimaru is dead?"
The medic ninja frowned; this wasn't the first time Naruto had asked this, and she was getting tired of explaining it to him. "Almost entirely, Naruto. Listen- curse seals don't always disappear when the person who made the seal dies." And, to illustrate her point, she gestured with one hand at the blonde's exposed navel, where the Third's seal still circled around his abdomen. "Because the seals themselves have so much power, each one is self-sufficient."
Naruto sighed and glared at Tsunade's desk. He'd heard this all before but it wasn't enough; it still didn't explain why Sasuke would still be hurt by it, or what Naruto could do to stop it. "If Orochimaru isn't still alive, then why does the curse seal still hurt Sasuke?"
Tsunade shook her head. "Because," she said, repeating the same thing she always told him, "the curse seal still 'wants' Sasuke to accept Orochimaru, and even when its creator died, it didn't stop trying to compel its victim. Sasuke's fits are caused when he uses enough chakra to stimulate the power of the seal."
"So why don't you take it off him?" Naruto knew that if she could, Tsunade would have already, but it still ticked him off that the best the Hokage could do were these cut-and-dried answers that didn't have any substance to them.
"Naruto, you have to understand, the seal has a lot of power inside of it, and a lot of... a lot of Orochimaru, to put it in the best way I can. The only way to break it would-" She stopped suddenly, breaking off in mid-sentence.
"Would... what?"
In a strained, quiet voice, Tsunade said briskly, "The only way to break it would destroy Sasuke, Naruto. It would... it would absolutely destroy him."
Naruto stared at her in disbelief. She wouldn't meet his eyes. Without saying anything, Naruto got up and left her office, not bothering to close the doors behind himself.
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E/N: Dundundun! So, what do you think? Too confusing? Not enough stuff explained in-depth? Too short? Too fast? Absolute crap I shouldn't have had the gall to publish? Well, but I wrote it really fast; the past, like, six ideas I've had someone else has done right as I thought them up, and I wanted to get this DONE, at least the first chapter, before it became plagiarism from someone else. XP Also, I wanted to start out kind of slow... Any OOCness I chalk up to this being when they're all adults, which I hope you will all ignore while criticising. Well, review and tell me what you think!