Chapter 2: Memories
"Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose." –Kevin Arnold
-O-
Thinking back, Sasuke's first thought was when he'd left Konoha three years ago. He had left everyone and everything behind without a second thought. Naruto had tried so hard to stop him at Final Valley, but had failed. He remembered when at the beginning of their battle he had immediately come to the conclusion to kill Naruto, so that he could obtain even more power to destroy his brother.
And yet, he couldn't.
At the end, as he looked down on Naruto's unconscious body, he found he couldn't kill his best friend. It was impossible. That day, he made the vow to obtain power differently from his brother.
Even when he met Naruto again at Orochimaru's Hideout and told him he'd spared him on a whim and was going to finish him then, he was lying. Even if Orochimaru hadn't stopped him, it would not have been a fatal blow.
Now he'd been saved by the blonde and he had to hand it to him, he sure was determined when it came to returning him to Konoha.
At first he had thought sparing Naruto was a weakness, now he wasn't so sure.
-O-
The next morning, Naruto woke up to the sound of movement in the trees outside of the small campsite. Sasuke was still asleep, recovering from his wounds.
"Who's there?" asked Naruto grabbing hold of a kunai knife. He stood up but in the next instant a barrage of senbon came hurtling out of the trees. Naruto was able to dodge most of the onslaught but a couple of the senbon lodged itself into his arm.
"Kage no Bunshin! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, making a dozen clones to jump into the trees. In seconds Naruto found the culprit. A man dressed all in black, who had come out of the shadows.
"Who are you?" asked Naruto as his clones surrounded the man.
"Well since your going to die anyways, I suppose I can tell you. I'm an assassin sent by my master to kill off the last Uchiha… and anyone else who dares to get in my way."
"Are you the one who caused Sasuke's earlier injuries as well?" Naruto asked, his anger rising.
"No, that was one of my dear colleagues who was unfortunately killed by the boy. But his sacrifice won't be in vain. I will soon finish the job myself," said the assassin bringing out more senbon.
Naruto found himself remembering when he was in a similar situation a few years back when Team Seven had gone on their first big mission.
Their mission had been to give the bridge builder, Tazuna an escort to the country of Waves. While there, Sasuke and Naruto had gotten into a serious battle against a Kekkai Genkai user, Haku. The combination of his Ice Mirror Jutsu and senbon was almost too much for them. In the end Naruto had passed out, forcing Sasuke to fend for himself.
And when Haku sent senbon Naruto's way, Sasuke had taken the hits for him, even though it could of killed him.
This assassin was nothing compared to what Sasuke and him had dealt with in the past. And he was definitely not letting this guy anywhere near Sasuke.
The assassin, without hesitating, threw another round of senbon at him, hoping to catch him off guard and find the original Naruto amongst the clones. All of them hit their marks but none of the destroyed clones were the original.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," the assassin taunted glancing around for any sight of movement. A twig snapped behind him and he whirled around seeing a flash of orange.
"There you are!" he yelled hurtling more senbon into the trees.
"Think again!" Naruto shouted, as he and his clone came out of the shadows.
"Rasengan!" he yelled as the blue energy in his hand came into contact with the assassin. The assassin, who wasn't expecting such power, was thrown back into the trees and was rendered unconscious.
Jumping back down, Naruto shook Sasuke awake and told him what happened.
"We need to leave now!" Sasuke exclaimed trying to stand after Naruto finished his story.
"Why?" asked Naruto helping the black-haired shinobi stand.
"They never travel alone. We have to move before backup comes," Sasuke explains simply. With that they both start packing up the campsite. Naruto suddenly didn't feel so well and something kept bothering him about the assassin he'd faced.
'Something's not right. Senbon aren't that dangerous to begin with. How did that assassin expect to finish Sasuke off so easily? Unless…" Naruto thought as his vision started to blur.
"Poison…" Naruto whispers, falling unconscious.
-O-
Sasuke watched as Naruto fell to the ground, succumbed by the poison of the senbon. In an instant he analyzed the situation. Naruto had three senbon stuck in his arm, all three letting off a small portion of poison. What kind of poison, he wasn't sure, but definitely fast working.
In his condition he couldn't possibly move Naruto away from the site fast enough to avoid the assassins… but he wasn't about to leave Naruto there unconscious.
'The only possible way to get out of here in time would be to use a transportation jutsu. It's the only thing I can handle right now but… I'll have to leave a lot of stuff behind.' He thought, grabbing his pack and Naruto's.
With that Sasuke made the familiar hand signs and he and Naruto were transported away. Hopefully to somewhere where it'd be safe.
-O-
That was the first time in a long time that Naruto had been poisoned. That was also the first time it had affected him so bad. He was in a cold sweat and couldn't move. It felt as if a pressure was on his chest so that he couldn't breathe.
"I-I refuse to die like this!" He thought as he tried to get a grip on consciousness.
He remembered another time when he was poisoned, it was when Team Seven was attacked by two Chunnin on their way to the Wave country with Tazuna. When they attacked the team Naruto had been paralyzed with fear and Sasuke had to protect him.
Naruto still got a cut on his left hand that was infected by poison. Kakashi had told him that they would probably have to return to the village to get it looked at but Naruto refused, driving a kunai knife into his hand to release the poison and making a promise to protect the bridge builder no matter what.
'How foolish I was. I could of died from blood loss if Kakashi hadn't stopped the bleeding' Naruto laughed to himself.
"You moron, you can't even dodge a couple senbon," muttered Sasuke somewhere above him.
"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered, finally opening his eyes.
"You know how hard it is to use a transportation jutsu while injured? Your lucky I didn't just leave you back there to get killed by those assassins."
"But you didn't." Naruto said with the same goofy smile on his face from before.
"Hn. Just get some rest, we're both going to need it if we want to get out of this forest."
"Alright," Naruto replied sleepily, easily falling back into unconsciousness.
-O-
Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at the contents he found in Naruto's travel bag.
The dobe had his nightcap, an almost dead candle with no matches, an empty water bottle, blankets, an extra set of clothes, a note, packages of instant ramen, the first aid kit a few extra weapons and a picture. But a few things did catch his interest.
One was a note from Hinata Hyuga that seemed to have been read over and over again. It said:
Dear Naruto, I know that I've always been shy around you and I'm not good at words but, I really like you Naruto and I just hope that you'll be careful in all your missions. I have no doubt that one day you will be Hokage. I believe in you Naruto, good luck. -Hinata
"Hm, always new she liked him,' He thought packing the note back into the bag.
The second item that caught his interest didn't surprise him but it still tugged at his memories. It was the picture of team seven. The one where he and Naruto were placed on either side of Sakura while Kakashi had stood behind the three, placing his hands on top of his and Naruto's heads, smiling behind the mask.
He remembered that he and Naruto had been arguing yet again the moment it was taken. Sakura, who was past the point of playing referee, was smiling sweetly into the camera while Naruto was giving him the death glare. He himself had been glaring off into the distance, ignoring the dobe.
After placing the picture back Sasuke grabbed his pack and laid it onto his lap looking at the contents of his own bag. His pack consisted of his own first aid kit, a change of clothes, weapons of every kind, two full bottles of water, a small wooden flute and the same picture he had found in Naruto's pack.
When he had left, he had not meant to take it with him but somehow it had slipped into his pack. And he doubted he'd be the same if he hadn't of had it with him when he had gone to train with Orochimaru.
The reason wasn't one he was going to admit to lightly.
The first night he had slept at the hideout he was troubled by horrid nightmares and vomited countless times. The nightmares consisted of his family's murder and the only thing keeping him at the edge of sanity was the picture of his teammates. He didn't know how but the picture calmed him and as soon as he had the image in his head, he could sleep peacefully at night. The image was also the reason that he made the mental promise never to kill innocents.
Orochimaru had said that showing mercy to opponents was a weakness but he had never agreed to his logic.
'If they are not the enemies I intend on destroying, their lives are not mine to take.' He had said to Orochimaru whenever the subject had come up.
The other sentimental thing he kept was the small wooden flute he had made after a particularly difficult training session one day at the hideout. It was nothing special, just a simple pipe made out of a tree branch, but it had taken him a good hour to complete it with a kunai knife.
He had spent countless hours of free time playing the small flute in his room, and it never failed to calm him after an argument or an especially terrifying nightmare. It may have been simple but it gave off a beautiful sound.
Now, Sasuke took out the small flute again and examined its simplicity. He remembered when Suigetsu had found it while snooping in his pack once and had teased him about it endlessly for the entire day. Saying things like:
'What's with the girly instrument, Sasuke? You can't actually play it can you? Are you sure your as strong as you think?'
He remembered how he'd finally just stalked off to a nearby cave considering throwing the little flute away. In the end he just put it up to his lips and played it once again. He didn't even stop when Suigetsu came into the cave with him.
At the end of the tune neither teammate said anything but afterwards Suigetsu didn't bother Sasuke about it again, saying it made too pretty of a sound to be mocked.
So Sasuke decided it wouldn't hurt to play it now. He started with just soft scales but continued into the lullaby his mother had sung to him often when he was a small child. He didn't even notice when Naruto woke up and began listening to the melody intently.
As the last note rang out into the silence, Sasuke opened his eyes seeing that Naruto was staring at him. Getting ready for the dobe to say something about it, he readied himself with good comebacks but Naruto surprised him.
"That song is familiar. What is it?" he asked quietly.
"It's a lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was little," Sasuke replied slowly.
"That's why it sounds familiar. I-I don't remember my parents that much but I think my parents might've sang it to me when I was little too. Will you… play it again?"
So with that, Sasuke began playing the song again, the sweet melody breaking the silence of the forest around them. This time when the tune ended, neither spoke, and both eventually fell asleep untroubled by nightmares.
Sasuke knew Naruto would most likely bring up the subject of returning to the village tomorrow, but right now he wasn't going to worry.
-O-
Meanwhile, five assassins were watching the two wounded ninja, contemplating just how the two should meet their untimely deaths.
-O-
"If I die a violent death, as some fear and a few are plotting, I know that the violence will be in the thought and the action of the assassins, not in my dying." –Indira Gandhi
End of Chapter
Hey! it's midnight'ssong22 here! I really want whoever reads this to Please review. I really want to know if you guys like or hate this so, please review. Thanks! (Also, I still do not own Naruto.)
