Erutan nature

FANFIC!!!!!

Darkness spread across his vision, everything turning hazy with rain, but he had to move on. He couldn't, no, he wouldn't, stay in Konoha any longer. The council had branded him criminally insane, a danger to the village. That had happened weeks ago, and he just managed to escape. He needed to keep going… the gates were straight ahead…

'NO!' he cried in his mind as he slipped. 'I will not go back!!' He picked himself off the hard, wet ground and started forward again. He put every last ounce of strength into making it out of the gates. He then jumped onto a tree branch and ran until he fell.

Naruto Uzumaki has just become a missing Nin.

One startled Itachi Uchiha looked up from the rabbit he had just killed.

'Chakra. Familiar chakra at that.' He transformed, tied the rabbit to his belt, and set off in the direction of the chakra. (What?! Like hell he was just going to leave it here! He worked hard to kill that stupid thing!!) Itachi started to move quicker. He could smell the blood in the air, and the chakra signal, while staying stationary, had begun to weaken.

'Blood. And lots of it. Whoever's chakra that is must be dead or dying. But… why is it familiar?'

Itachi made a mental list of who it could possibly be.

'It can't be Sasuke's, so who else could it be? It's not Hidan's or Kakuzu's, nor is it Sasori's. Is it Deidara? No, not quite…explosive enough. Orochimaru and Paine are dead, so it couldn't possibly be them. Same with Tobi and Kisame. It's definitely not the Sabakuno kid's either. It's not creepy enough… so who could it be? '

During Itachi's (exceedingly long) inner monologue, he had reached the clearing in which the mysterious chakra was contained. (Somewhat morbid) Curiosity overcame caution, and after flicking a kunai and two shurikan into his hands, he entered the clearing.

Now, entering the clearing meant no protection against enemy ninja and the (now pouring) rain, so Itachi decided to make his little (unauthorized) rendezvous short. He hated getting wet. For goodness sakes, he should have been a freakin' werecat, not a werewolf.

Having shaken himself out of his thoughts (again..), Itachi edged around the, well, edge of the clearing and made his slow, edgy way to a lump of white and red cloth. Crouching down, he picked up a stick and poked it. The thing let out a soft cry of pain, and curled up into a ball. He poked it again. It curled up tighter. Damn. Whatever it was, it was still alive. And mumbling words in some strange dialect…

"Помощь… не позволяйте им получать меня! Это повреждает... НЕТ!!!!!!(1)"

Slightly alarmed, both at the words and the familiar-yet-strange chakra, Itachi took a step back. Then took a step forward. And another step forward. He knelt beside… whatever it was, gently grabbed it by the shoulders (maybe), and flipped it over. Golden hair fell in front of (rather exotic) features contorted in pain. Six black whisker scars were made to stand out even more by the now pale skin.

'Satisfied, Curiosity?'

Itachi's it was now a he. And his name was Naruto Uzumaki.

Itachi Uchiha, one of the most powerful ninja ever, was shocked speechless. Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki, was lying on the ground before him, beaten within an inch of his life. Naruto Uzumaki, the 15-year-old carrier of the Kyuubi. Naruto Uzumaki, who had kicked his ass for hurting emo-king-of-the-year Sasuke.

Damn.

Now, Itachi could have done three different things. He could have left Naruto, and forgot that this ever happened, he could have taken him back to Konoha, or he could have taken him back to Akatsuki lair.

Itachi spent all of three seconds deciding what he should do. And took another three seconds to do the opposite.

Itachi picked up the soggy, limp form and took off towards the Akatsuki lair.

For some reason, the state the boy was in… bothered him.

______________________AKATSUKI LAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_________________________________

"Sasori-dannaaaaaaa!! Where are youuuuuuuu!!!"

Sasori careened around the corner, jumped over the kitchen counter, took a few seconds to make hush sounds at the startled Kimimarou, and hid inside the kitchen cabinet.

"Danna- Oh! Hi Kimimarou-chan!! Have you seen Sasori-danna? "

Sasori held his breath and hoped the newest addition to Akatsuki decided to be nice today.

"A-anou, sumimasen, Deidara-san. I- I have not s-seen him today.."

Well, lucky him….

"Awww, too bad. I wanted to play today."

"Su-sumimasen.."

"Ekk! Calm down! S'not your fault he ran off!"

"Aahn."

"See ya later!!"

And with that, Deidara launched himself towards the door with another deafening cry of "Sasori-dannaaaaaaaa!!!!!"

Sasori exited the cramped cupboard slowly, incase Deidara decided to traumatize poor Kimimarou some more.

"Thanks, Kimi. I don't think I can deal with him right now…"

"I-If you do not mind me asking, w-why are you hiding from him?"

"….."

"O-oh…"

"No duh."

Sasori slowly moved his way towards the entrance, hoping to make it out alive. One step.. then another… and another… and-

"There you are!"

Damn.

"Hidan said he was lookin' for ya! Why did ya' hide from me?"

Deidara had the cutest expression on his face… just like a puppy.

"…."

Sasori just stared.

"Party pooper. He was lookin' a little… well, I'd hurry if I were you…"

"Do you know what he requires of me?"

"Nope!"

He looked incredibly pleased with that statement, as if he had just come up with the concept of gravity. He was such an idiot. But he was a cute idiot. And really, he wasn't that much of an idiot, he just… hid himself. A lot.

"Looked like some sort'a training incident, though…"

Ah.

Sasori nodded.

"Alright. I'll leave now. Thank you."

"Welcome Sasori-danna!"

As Sasori walked through the halls, he thought. He thought about what sort of stupid accident Hidan had gotten himself into, what the answer of life was, and what he might have for dinner, but mostly, he thought about Deidara.

He thought about the way he talked, with that ridiculous accent of his, and the way he moved, the perfect sway of his hips, the way he laughed, like music to his ears, the colour of his hair, that perfect golden shade, everything.

He thought of life with Deidara, and smiled. He thought of life without him, and could barely breathe. But most often, he found himself thinking,

"Should I tell him? Should I entrust Deidara with the most important secret in my life?"

He thought again about what would happen if he were to lose him, and shuddered.

"No. I will keep it, if only for a while longer"

A little while longer. Every time he walked this little loop in his head, he said to himself ,"A little while longer." Exactly how much longer? How much longer could he continue hiding? He didn't think he had felt so much… emotion in his entire life! He'd better stop this train of thought before he became too depressed to walk. And he was already at Hidan's door anyways. Ah, well. He could always depress himself some more later, right?

He knocked on the door.

"Hidan? Deidara said you had some sort of training accident. I'm here to sew back on any limbs that have been-"

The door opened. Hidan stood halfway behind it, face turned to one side.

"Come in."

Sasori stepped inside, and Hidan shut the door behind him. Face still tilted to one side, he asked, "He was correct."

"I can't heal it if I can't see it. Come on, it can't be that bad, can it?"

Sasori grabbed Hidan's face in his hands and turned it towards him, taking note of the slight flinch and filing it away for later.

He paused.

"That didn't come from a training accident."

"Of course it did, where else would it come from, I mean, it's not as if I go around paying random people to hit me, it was a training-"

"Did Kakuzu hit you again?"

Sasori said, abruptly cutting off Hidan's half-hearted rambling.

"N-no! Of course not! Why would Kazu do something like that?"

"I'm no idiot, Hidan. Sometimes, you limp. Sometimes, you have bruises on your face, neck, wrists… "

"…"

"Kimimarou told me. He sees everything, you know that. He was worried about you."

"He sees…"

"Obviously. Now come here and let me heal that. We never know when Deidara might come bursting through the-"

"Sasori!"

"Told you."

Deidara launched himself through the doorway, eyes wide.

"It's Itachi!!"

"Did he get injured on the hunt?"

"No, but he's got Naruto Uzumaki with him, and he's badly injured! He asked, well, demanded both of you!"