Ahaha~... I slept in. -_-
Sorry I'm a liiittle later than I meant to be but hey, it's still kind early? (midday...fml)
Here's the first part!
Warnings: light language, blood and violence, horror and SasuNaru shounen-ai, some Sakura-bashing
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto characters. The 'Legend' I used in this story is all false. (In otherwords, I completely bullshitted my way through this. XD)
The Curse of Pumpkin Skin
Suspicious Arrival
The air was heavy with a thick scent that clouded over the oxygen, snuffing it out and replacing it with a heady smell that would make the toughest man lightheaded. The morning sunlight was snuffed out by the thick blue curtains drawn over the windows, and all sounds were muffled by the closed glass panes and door.
On the large double bed was a mess of black and orange sheets, tangled around a tanned body that rolled over, an arm hanging over the edge of the bed.
A loud snore echoed through the room, sounding loud in the otherwise noiseless environment.
The alarm sitting on the bedside table began to blink before a trill ripped through the air. It went on for five seconds before going silent. Then, ten seconds later, it started again.
A heavy groan of frustration came from the tangled sheets before the limp arm began to swat at the bedside table, trying to locate the source of annoyance. It found the alarm and thick, uncoordinated fingers tried to press the tiny button that would turn it off.
After five failures, the person sat up, blond hair wild and messy from sleep and glazed blue eyes flaming angrily. The young man grabbed the alarm, holding it close to his face as he tried to determine where the elusive 'off' button was. Not able to locate it with his sleepy eyes, he growled and began to smack the alarm against his bed in an effort to shut it up.
After ten smacks it fell suspiciously silent. He pulled it back up to his face, frowning at it with a cautious glare. He didn't trust it. But after a minute, nothing had happened. Deciding that he'd managed to silence the infernal contraption, he placed it back onto the side table and lay down, curling under the sheets with a content sigh.
Ten seconds later, the alarm trilled again. A stream of angry curses began to pour from his mouth as he struggled across his bed, bouncing on his back as he edged towards the table. With violent movements he grabbed the alarm and shoved it on the bed. He then grabbed a pillow and began to beat the metallic object.
"Die! Die! Die!" he repeated with each frustrated hit. Eventually, he picked the alarm up, glaring at its surface.
It trilled in his face.
He roared and stomped over to his window, pulling the curtains aside and hissing dramatically at the sunlight. Yanking the window open, he tossed the alarm up and caught it, a smirk on his face. He stepped back, winding up his arm like he was on a baseball field and cleanly threw the alarm out the window, watching it smash against the road with a satisfied smile.
It was only after he closed the curtains that he realized he was now wide awake.
He cursed the alarm that lay shattered on the road, its screen blinking with the time as if it were triumphant in its victory before it finally faded away.
With a yawn, the blond stepped out of his room, immediately noticing the difference in air quality, and made a mental note to open his window later. He walked down the hall, trailing a hand along the wall as the other scratched at his stomach and then at his crotch.
He reached a door at the end with a large sign nailed onto it that stated 'Shag Pad'. Knocking once, he turned the knob and pushed open the door.
"Oi Kiba," he called, yawning again. If possible, this room was even darker and the air even thicker than his own. He sniffed and coughed, waving his hand. "Jesus man, how much did you smoke last night?" he asked, trudging over to the window. He almost tripped over the body on the floor, and carefully stepped over the sleeping male.
Reaching the window he pulled the curtains aside and shoved the window open.
There was a girlish cry of protest and he turned, crossing his arms over his broad chest. His shirt was clinging to him from sweating all night, but sleeping with the door and window closed after his smoking a joint the night before tended to do that.
"Nooo! Sunlight burns!" the boy on the floor moaned, trying to cover his shaggy brunet head with a run-away pillow.
The blond snorted, walking over and kicking at the brunet. "C'mon you lazy git, it's time to get up," he mumbled.
A narrow black eye peered over the edge of the pillow. "What day'sit?" the sleepy voice asked. He sighed.
"Saturday."
The pillow was thrown at his face.
"Shut up!" the brunet whined. "Dammit Naruto! Why are you waking me up so early on Saturday? Have you no decency?" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the blond.
Naruto snorted, easily tossing the pillow back with equal ferocity. "Because, dickhead, I'm awake!" he replied easily, smirking when Kiba let out a low moan of disapproval. "Come on man, you need to feed your mutt," he told him, stepping over the other and back into the hall.
"He's not a mutt! He's an important part of our family!" Kiba yelled after him, but Naruto just shook his head and laughed.
The blond walked through the house and went into the kitchen. He yanked open the fridge door, peering inside and reached for the milk. As he pulled it out he frowned, shaking the carton and hearing the loud slosh of liquid at the bottom.
"Kiba, we're almost out of milk!" he yelled.
"So go buy some!" Kiba yelled back.
Naruto grumbled under his breath, putting the near empty carton on the counter. Bending down to peer at the bottom he yawned, reaching a hand back to scratch at an itch on his ass. The sounds of nails on tile met his ears and he peered over the edge of the fridge door to see the large white beast that shared their house with them.
"Good morning Akamaru," Naruto greeted blandly. The large dog gave a soft bark in return. Naruto nodded and turned back to the fridge.
He started when he felt a tug on his pants, and looked down to see a fat orange tabby pawing at his pant leg. Grinning, he swept down and scooped the fuzzy cat up, nuzzling its head.
"And good morning my precious little bundle of fuzz! Did you kill lots of pesky mice last night Kyuubi? Hmm?" he cooed, petting the cat as he kneaded his shirt with his claws. "You're such a good kitty-cat!" the blond added, pressing his face against Kyuubi's and mashing their cheeks together. The cat hissed, flicking its head irritably.
"That cat is evil," Kiba stated as he walked into the kitchen. As soon as he was in sight, Akamaru started to yip excitedly and dance around. Kiba opened his mouth in a wide grin as he crouched down, approaching the ecstatic canine with wide arms. "There's my big boy! There's my good doggy! Who's a good doggy? You are!"
Naruto rolled his eyes as Kiba started to hug and cuddle Akamaru, cooing at him in baby talk and making the dog's tail wag so wildly the blond was surprised it didn't fall right off his ass.
"My cat is not evil! He's intelligent and cool, unlike your flea-factory."
Kiba glared at him through Akamaru's thick white fur. "As I recall, it was your cat that we had to pay a fortune to get de-flea-ed last week!" he reminded and Naruto scowled down at him.
"Still, my cat is awesome. Your dog is stupid," he retorted.
Kiba growled but let it go when there were heavy footsteps indicating someone else was coming to the kitchen. Naruto's face fell into an unpleasant frown as he watched the newcomer walk in.
Kiba waved good morning. "Morning Sasuke!"
Sasuke grunted in reply, his long black bangs tangled around his face and the spikes at the back drooping downwards. He scratched at his chin, feeling the stubble running across it, and met Naruto's eyes with an almost forlorn expression.
Naruto turned away grumpily.
Sasuke continued to look at him. "Morning Naruto," he greeted.
"Morning bastard," Naruto greeted back stiffly before turning to head back down the hall. "I'm going to buy milk Kiba. Feed Kyuubi for me," he asked as he stepped out. Kiba sighed, nodding as his half-brother disappeared down the hall. He turned to look at Sasuke, watching the raven slump into a chair and bury his face in his arms. "I take it you guys are still fighting?" he asked sympathetically.
Sasuke groaned. "He still doesn't believe me."
"You can't really blame him, I mean," Kiba scratched at his hair, pulling out a bit of dirt. "You've been partnered up with a girl who's been flirting with you since preschool for a science project, and you have to spend hours alone with her to work on it. And of course she's started to spread rumours around the school about you guys," he finished, scratching Akamaru's fur and smiling at the dog when he rolled onto his back, begging for a tummy rub.
Sasuke growled into his arm. "Bitch."
Kiba nodded, but was stopped from saying anything else by Naruto striding out the hall. All he'd done was shove some jeans on and grab a jacket.
"Nice outfit," Kiba called teasingly and got the finger in reply.
Naruto didn't even spare Sasuke a glance as he stepped out of the house, and the raven sighed sadly.
Kiba stood and rubbed his hand over Sasuke's back sympathetically. "Don't worry, your boyfriend will come around eventually," he reassured. Sasuke mumbled a soft 'I hope so' before his nose scrunched as an odour hit it. He reeled back.
"Akamaru farted!"
"Oh, good boy Akamaru!"
"Don't encourage it Kiba!"
Naruto yawned widely as he stepped into the small convenience store a few blocks away from his house. The cashier was a girl from his school named Tenten. She was the tomboy of their class and Naruto got on pretty well with her.
"So how's it going Naruto?" she asked as she scanned his few items; some milk, some cereal, some bread and a shitload of beer and sweets. "Got anything planned for Halloween?"
Naruto jumped. "It's Halloween?" he asked in surprise and Tenten laughed.
"Yeah dude, it's today! Tonight the streets are going to be filled with trick-or-treating kids!" she informed him, laughing when Naruto gaped in surprise. "I thought you knew, and that's why you were buying all the sweets," she said, motioning the delectable treasures. Naruto looked down at them, frowning in thought.
"Okay, wait here!" he said, ducking back down an aisle. Tenten snickered as she heard him grabbing various bags and packets before he came back with even more sweets. "Here! Now we have enough for the kids and us!" he said cheerfully.
Tenten smiled, swiping the items through. As lazy and silly as Naruto could be, and despite the fact that he was, practically, an irresponsible guy, he always made time for the kids. The neighbourhood children adored him even though the parents were less than impressed by his lifestyle.
She slid the last few items in a bag, and told him the total. He was just pulling out his wallet when someone sidled up to him.
"Hey Naruto!"
Tenten immediately saw the way Naruto looked ready to tear something in half. She raised her eyebrows as she observed the girl now chattering away next to Naruto. She had bright pink hair that was tied back, and was wearing a vivid pink top with a ruffled pink skirt. Tenten rubbed her eyes, trying to rid them of the pink tinge they attained from the, in her opinion, hideous display.
"Hello Sakura," Naruto greeted. It sounded like it hurt to drag the words from his throat.
"You should have, like, been there last night, when Sasuke and I were working on our project! He was like, so funny! He kept looking at the wrong page in the book, and like, I had to point out the right page every time! And then he would like, smile and say thank you! It was like, so cute the way he said it! I can't wait until he asks me to the Halloween dance! Could you like, egg him on for me? You guys share a house right? Could you like, tell him to call me when you get home? I like, want to talk to him!" Sakura babbled away and Tenten shared a look of sympathy with the obviously irritated blond. She could easily see his dislike for the pink girl, but the cheerleader was oblivious.
Deciding to help the poor sucker out, Tenten cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Sakura?" she said, gaining the attention of the girl. Sakura looked at her with contempt, curling a few strands of pink hair with her fingers.
"Like, what?" she asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Tenten decided then and there that the girl was a little bitch who was never going to find love.
"If you're like, not going to buy something, you can, like, get the fuck out!" Tenten said, imitating her annoying voice and smiling sweetly as she used the other girls over-used 'like'.
Naruto barely concealed his snort, as Sakura gaped indignantly, her gum almost falling out her mouth.
"Like, excuse me?" Sakura asked, sneering at Tenten who just quirked her eyebrows in challenge. "Ugh, whatever you lesbian," Sakura snapped. She turned to Naruto. "So like, can I walk home with you? I like, want to see where Sasuke lives!"
"Sorry Sakura," Naruto deadpanned, not sounding sorry at all. "But I have really important things to do...like watching my cat hurl up hairballs and my brother's dog shit bricks in the yard," he grabbed his bags, walking past the pink girl.
"That's like, so gross!" Sakura whined. Tenten rolled her eyes.
"Hey, Pinky? Are you buying something or not?" she snapped. Sakura just huffed, turning on her heel and striding out of the store. Tenten sneered after her, shaking her head and pulling out her magazine.
Naruto walked through the streets, silently fuming as he thought about Sasuke and Sakura sitting all alone in a library, laughing together and smiling and accidentally brushing hands after dropping a pencil.
"Tch, stupid jackass! Why'd he agree to be her partner anyway?" he grumbled to himself. He heard a tearing sound and cursed, watching as the bags of sweets fell out of the broken bags and crumpled to the ground. The cans of beer also rolled out and he saw one spring a leak. With a yell he grabbed it, trying not to waste any beer and put his mouth over the puncture. He sucked the liquid out, some of it dribbling out the corners of his mouth as he tried to gather his fallen items before they could roll away.
"How disgusting!" a voice said nearby, and Naruto mentally yelled in frustration as he looked around to see one of the neighbourhood elders standing there. She was with her husband, an even older man with a cane who was simply watching blankly. He had a bandage wrapped around one half of his face, and his other arm was hidden in his coat. The rumours among the younger groups was that he had been kidnapped when he was younger by a weird voodoo clan and when he came back he had severe injuries and disfigurements. But Naruto decided that that rumour stemmed from the fact that the guy just acted like he was ready to cast a curse at anyone who pissed him off.
Of course Naruto didn't believe any of that.
Narrowing his eyes, he took another gulp of beer, pulling the can away and holding it horizontally to keep the brew inside. With his free hand he gathered the rest of his purchases, trying to balance them all in his arm.
"Gee, thanks for helping grandma! Whatever happened to common courtesy?" he asked snappily. Seriously, he wasn't in the mood for anyone's bullshit after his little encounter with Sakura at the store.
The old lady sniffed, turning her bulbous nose up at him. "You're just a little delinquent—"
"And you're an ugly old whore-bag," Naruto countered calmly as he strode past. He ignored her shocked and indignant gasp. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got shit to do."
"Such a rude little brat! You'd better watch yourself, boy, or you'll be cursed to your death! You and your little delinquent housemates!" the old lady threatened but Naruto only sucked on the beer can and gave her the finger once his hand was free.
He made it home, already putting the crazy old bat's warning from his mind as he struggled to open the door. His teeth were digging into the beer can still attached to his mouth, even though it was almost empty now. He fumbled with the door handle, mentally cursing when it refused to give way.
Just as he finally got a grip on it, it turned in his hand and he was yanked forwards as the door open.
"Na-Oh shit!" Sasuke stepped back in time to avoid the great mass tumbling towards him. He was about to laugh in victory when he realized that it was none other than his blond lying in pain on the floor, and he winced. This was not going to boost his brownie points to get out of the guest room.
"Naruto? Are you okay?" he asked, crouching down and gingerly offering some assistance to the bruised blond. Naruto snorted, slapping his hand away as he got to his knees.
"Just peachy!" he spat out, gathering the goods into his arms. "Oh, I ran into your girlfriend at the store! She says she can't wait for you to ask her to the dance, and she said she enjoyed your study session in the library, 'where you like, smiled at her and were like, so funny!'" he mocked Sakura's high pitched voice with great disgust.
Sasuke groaned, pressing his hand to his eyes. "Naruto, I'm not interested in Sakura! How many times do I have to tell you?" he said miserably, scrambling to his feet as Naruto just stomped past. Kyuubi came slinking out of the kitchen, watching the two humans come forward with a cat-like smirk in his reddish eyes.
"Wow, you could've fooled me bastard," Naruto sneered, dropping his purchases on the counter. "Seems like you guys are getting awfully chummy! And hey, she is the head cheerleader and most popular girl in the school, so why wouldn't you be attracted to her? Don't let a little delinquent like me hold you back from getting some cheer-ass," he finished venomously, the old lady's words coming back and further throwing his mood southwards.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes in anger. "Don't call yourself that!"
"I'll call myself whatever the hell I want!" Naruto snapped back. There came a whine and both heads looked down to see Akamaru staring up at them with wide, innocent eyes. He whined again, obviously unsettled by their arguing and his ears drooped sadly. Sasuke sighed and Naruto looked slightly guilty but he didn't apologize. Instead he just turned away, putting away the last of the things.
"Don't eat these sweets. They're for the trick-or-treaters that are stopping by tonight," he instructed blankly, putting the extra sweets in a cupboard.
"Trick-or-treaters? It's Halloween already?" Sasuke asked and received a nod in response. He brightened. "Want to go out then? We can dress up and roam the neighbourhood scaring off bullies like we usually do," he said with no small amount of hope in his voice.
Naruto paused from packing things away, his head hanging slightly as he bit his lip. In truth he would love nothing more than for him, Sasuke and Kiba to dress up in their usual monster garb and go around frightening old ladies and scaring off the meaner kids. But he was still fighting with the bastard, and things between them were crumbling quickly. He knew he was at fault for not letting it go, but he couldn't stand the thought of Sasuke and Sakura being alone together anywhere. He knew how much of a persistent girl Sakura could be, and he didn't trust that Sasuke could hold her off when there was no one around. His guard wouldn't be as high because there would be no chance to get caught doing something wrong.
Call him jealous and suspicious, but Naruto wouldn't deny the claims. He knew he was and he wasn't sorry. He had his reason to be suspicious over Sasuke, and knowing Sakura the way he did, he sure as shit wasn't about to relax while they worked alone on a project. Why couldn't Sasuke just ask for a different partner? He doubted their teacher would say no.
"You and Kiba can go if you want. I'm going to stay in tonight and hand out treats," he said eventually, his voice tired and empty. He almost felt the rush of air as Sasuke deflated with disappointment, but ignored it. He put away the last bag and brushed his hands off, noticing some scrapes along his palms from crawling around on the floor. He rubbed at the little scratches, feeling granules of sand move around.
He winced, moving to rinse them. Before he could do more than approach the sink, arms were moving around his body and grabbing his hands from behind. He froze, feeling Sasuke standing against him. The raven sighed minutely as he turned the tap on, and guided Naruto's hands to the cool water. He tenderly rubbed his fingers over the scratches, resting his chin on Naruto's shoulder and letting their cheeks touch.
"I promise I'm not doing anything behind your back Naru," he murmured. Naruto didn't say a word, just stared ahead. "Sakura's just being a bitch and spreading rumours. She's an idiot who misinterprets everything I do and say. Yesterday I was so busy thinking about how I could make things right with you I wasn't even focusing on the work. I must have read the same thing over and over again. Sakura kept nagging me about it so I just smiled to shut her up. I'm not interested in her at all and I never will be," he said sincerely.
For a brief moment, Naruto seemed to press back into his hold and Sasuke wanted to sing with relief. He hated it when he and Naruto fought, especially when he couldn't actually fight back because that wouldn't make things better. He had already taken the defensive anger road in this situation, and it had only driven Naruto further away from him and gotten his ass in the guest room. Now all he wanted was Naruto to believe him because he was telling the truth! He knew Naruto didn't have complete trust in him, and he couldn't blame the blond considering his less-than-clean track record when it came to relationships. But he'd known Naruto since he was a little kid, and they'd been close friends before they ever started dating. He just wanted his beloved boyfriend to look at him again.
But now Naruto was pushing back a bit too hard, and Sasuke realized he was trying to push Sasuke back away from the sink so he could leave. He internally cried, wanting nothing more than to press Naruto back against the sink and squeeze him until things were alright again. But sadly, he knew it didn't work like that.
With a forlorn sigh, he stepped away from the blond and Naruto walked away.
"I want to believe you bastard. But it's not easy," Naruto said over his shoulder before he vanished.
Sasuke groaned, rubbing a hand over his eyes. He glanced at the clock, noting it was heading towards midday. Deciding he had nothing better to do, he got out the jack-o-lantern that Kiba and Naruto had made earlier that week and placed it out front to let the kids know that candy could be found at their residence. He wasn't looking forward to the hordes of little monsters-literally-but Naruto loved giving them sweets, so he wouldn't complain.
The day faded by with little activity. The three of them were currently sitting on the couch, with Kiba in the middle and Sasuke and Naruto on either side of him. The brunet felt extremely uncomfortable between the two when Sasuke kept sending mushy-forlorn looks towards Naruto, who would blatantly ignore them by eating more popcorn or taking a sip of beer. Akamaru was laying on the floor at Kiba's feet, occasionally licking at his master's toes in consolation.
Kyuubi was sleeping soundly on the armrest, his tail curling in his dreams.
"What time is it?" Naruto asked. Sasuke checked his watch.
"It's four thirty," he supplied. Naruto didn't reply and Kiba sighed.
"It's four thirty," he repeated.
"Thanks Kiba," Naruto replied and Kiba sent a helpless look at Sasuke as the raven grumpily leant against the opposite armrest, a frown on his face.
Suddenly a knock came from the front door, and the three boys looked up at each other.
"Who's that?" they all asked at once before swivelling their heads around.
"Are you expecting someone?" Sasuke asked Kiba who shook his head and turned to Naruto.
"Did you order anything?" he asked and Naruto shook his head, hair fluttering about. He looked over at Sasuke and narrowed his eyes.
"Did you arrange a meeting with Sakura," he said the name with obvious distaste. Sasuke prickled.
"No, and I never would invite her over here! I refuse to tell her where I live!" he said, looking horrified at the mere idea of the pink girl knowing his residence.
Naruto just turned away, already knowing that Sakura didn't know where they lived but trying to find some sort of slip from Sasuke. He honestly wanted to believe that nothing was going on behind his back, but damn it was hard when he heard rumours everyday about what 'Sasuke and Sakura did during their last, intimate study session'. God, it grated his nerves even when he heard the obvious lies.
"Well, someone knocked at the door," Kiba pointed out, peering over the back of the couch curiously. "Maybe they're trick-or-treating early this year?" he wondered.
Naruto perked up, moving off the couch. "Well, I guess I'll go see who it is," he mumbled, walking out the lounge and towards the front door by the stairs. He pulled the door open, blinking when no one was standing there. He leant out the door, bracing his hands on the wooden frame and looking from side to side. He could see the bushes that lined their porch and then the street a few feet away. Kiba's beat up Ford was resting on the sidewalk in front of their property, but not a sign of human life was visible.
Frowning, Naruto took a step out to see if someone was hiding. He bit back a yelp when his foot stood on something that wasn't wood or welcome mat. Looking down, he was surprised to find a wrapped package sitting at the foot of the door. Bending down, he picked the lumpy item up. Whatever was inside of it seemed rather soft, but firm and he pondered what it could be.
Looking around for a sign of who could've left it there, he titled his head towards the bushes. "Hello? Is anyone out here?"
There was no reply, but a bird cawed overhead. Naruto looked up, stepping forward to see past the porch roof. Sitting on a phone wire was a crow, its beady eyes trained on him. The blond frowned, confused by the strange behaviour. He jumped in surprise when the crow squawked loudly, and with a huff he stepped back inside, closing the door.
"Who was it?" Sasuke asked as he stepped in, and his black eyes fell onto the package. "A delivery?"
"I don't know. Someone left it by the door," Naruto said, shifting the big package in his hands. He took a seat, placing it on the table before them and leant over it.
"Is there a card or something?" Sasuke asked, prodding at the item and lifting the folds of wrapper up to search for some kind of indication as to who it was for. Naruto shook his head, also peering at the item. Kiba looked between them before staring at the package in determination.
"Well, let's not prod it like a bunch of stupid scientists!" he exclaimed and dived in, tearing away the wrapping paper with zest while the other two backed off, raising their arms to stop shreds of paper from fluttering in their faces.
"Jesus, you crazy animal!" Naruto cried, hearing Kiba laughing like a loon as he tore through the paper.
"Calm down Kiba!" Sasuke added, ducking when Kiba's arm flung backwards a bit too enthusiastically. He growled, grabbing the guy's arm and yanking it back, glaring into Kiba's eyes. "I said. Calm. The hell. Down."
Kiba chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head in a sheepish gesture as Naruto gingerly picked away the pieces of torn paper. His blue eyes bulged as he saw what was hidden beneath the foiled paper.
"Holy shit, what the hell is that thing?" he asked, pushing himself back in horror. Kiba and Sasuke blinked, bending over to pick up the contents together. Kiba held the thing up since Sasuke let it go the moment he saw it, also disgusted.
"...It looks like a voodoo doll!" Kiba said, turning the raggedly looking thing over. Indeed it did. It seemed to be sewn with a strange material, a muddy orange in colour that resembled the skin of a pumpkin, and had filling that felt a bit loose, like sand or something. Its mouth was simply a sewn line of small X's that stayed straight and expressionless. Two glass eyes were sown on, pupil-less with only a large green dot to serve as an iris. It was wearing a small black cape and had straggles of material acting as hair.
It was quite the ugly thing.
"Whoa, look at its hands!" Naruto said, pointing to the dangling limbs on the doll. Kiba picked an arm up, his eyes widening as he took in the claws imbedded into the doll.
"Geez, whoever made this went all out!" he mumbled.
Sasuke ran his finger over one of the claws, pulling it back and staring at the red line. "Those things are razor sharp!" he hissed, licking at the small cut. "I wasn't even pressing!"
"This thing is dangerous!" Naruto said, snatching the doll and standing up. "I'm going to put it in the attic."
He took a step forwards but froze when there was a vicious yowl. He turned, crying out when Kyuubi launched himself towards the blond, landing on the doll and hissing venomously. The tabby sunk his claws into the fabric, tearing at the doll.
"Whoa! Kyuubi!" Naruto yelled, trying to shake the cat off. He heard a pained screech from his pet and Kyuubi jumped away, landing on the couch and licking at his bleeding paw. "Huh? How'd that happen!" Naruto yelled.
"He must've hit the claws accidentally!" Sasuke said, scooping the mewling cat up and carefully looking at his paw. "Oh, he's got a deep scratch," he said worriedly.
"What?" Naruto tossed the doll to the floor, the raggedy thing bouncing once and the metal claws clunking heavily on the floor. The blond rushed over to Sasuke, standing close to peer at his precious cat's paw. "No! We need to take him to the vet!" he said frantically.
"Relax Naruto," Sasuke said soothingly, placing a comforting hand on the blond's shoulder. Unlike the last few days, it wasn't thrown off. Sasuke took a chance and wrapped his arm around Naruto's shoulder. "Here, let's go to the vet now. They'll be able to stitch him up and give him some medicine to take away the pain or something," he reassured, cradling Kyuubi close to his chest while Naruto stroked the tabby's head affectionately.
"Okay," Naruto said, breaking away. "Kiba, give me your keys. We'll take your car," he said, snatching the keys when Kiba tossed them to him. He spotted the doll and glared. "And put that stupid thing somewhere it can gather dust and spider-webs!" he snapped.
Kiba saluted him, his other arm slung over the back of the couch as he watched them leave. When the front door slammed shut, he turned his narrow eyes to the doll on the floor, his lips turning into a frown. "What a weird thing to get," he mumbled, slipping off the couch and crouching over it.
Carefully, he picked it up and held it at arm's length, watching as the head lolled to one side and the blank glass eyes just stared ahead, unseeing. Then again, he would've probably shit himself if they looked as if they could see him.
Sighing and shaking his head, he started to walk towards the stairs. The upstairs part of their house was much less used, since there were bedrooms downstairs. They had turned the upstairs into more of a storage area and guest rooms.
Sasuke was currently sleeping in one of said rooms.
Kiba stood on the landing and looked up, seeing the latch that led to the attic. They hardly ever went in there, and Naruto did say he must put the doll somewhere that it would rot. The attic was perfect.
"Alright Mr. Mcvoodoo! Time for you to see your new residence!" Kiba said jovially as he reached up and pulled the latch down. The ladder slid down slowly and Kiba grabbed the end to pull it down the rest of the way and set it to the floor. He climbed the rungs and stuck his head into the musty area above, fiddling around before finding the small chain that would turn on the light.
Spiders crawled away from him as the light came on and Kiba squeaked before ducking back down and shuddering. "God, I hate spiders!" he mumbled. He cautiously peeked inside again, looking around for any sneaky wall-crawlers. Luckily they had fled from him and he used the time of freedom to haul the doll up.
As it was passing his face, he let out a yelp as he felt a claw slice against his cheek, just under his eye. He dropped the doll and it landed heavily on the wooden floor of the attic, the blank eyes in his direction.
Kiba raised his fingers to the cut, pulling them away to see small droplets of blood. He turned to look at the doll, wondering how the claw had nicked him.
"I guess I wasn't very careful," he mumbled, and his eyebrow rose as he looked at the doll's face. He stared at it, trying to see clearly. Finally he shrugged and started to descend, glancing up again to double check what he'd seen. It was still there. He stepped off the ladder and lifted it up, closing the latch again.
"Weird," he mumbled, walking to the bathroom to get a band aid to put over his cut. "I could've sworn it wasn't smiling before," he said softly, thinking back to the way the stitched mouth had been curved into a wide grin when he'd put the doll down in the attic. "Ah, it was probably just me being blind."
To be continued~
(Very soon too)
^_^ Reviews would be appreciated! See you next chapter at around... four or five (my time). :D