Hello everybody!
Yes, Finally the second chapter or this little story (which in my rate of thinking maybe not become so little after all). I came out shorter than the last chapter (I think) but I hope you don't mind. Oh, and I can tell you that I will certainly continue with this story (duh, like you didn't aldready figure that out). Oh well. One with the story, and I hope you enjoy it!
...::: Someplace Safe :::...
Chapter 2 - When the blood is pouring
It hurt. It fucking hurt so much in his chest, in his heart. His hand were cramping the fabric and he pulled at it, making his nails rip through it, to scratch his skin underneath. His body jerked into the wall several times before he slide down to his knees, tears forming in his eyes. It hurt so much. The pain that went through him, from his stomach up to his heart. The crying sound of a broken demon inside him, making his ears burst inside, making his eyes burn with tears and howls escaping his mouth. It hurt. His heart. His demons heart. His head made contact with one of the four walls in the empty corridor with a horrible thud, over and over again. His hand scratching the wall, the other one making his chest bleed. He coughed, like he had for the last minutes, and there was a path of blood after him. He felt the taste of blood in his mouth, felt it when it poured out of his mouth, down on the floor with dripping splashes. It hurt. Head into the wall again, and he felt it crack open over his eyebrow, making more blood bleed away from his body. His legs lost their strength, and he sank down against the wall, head still hitting it. A path of blood followed his head, and he bit his lips to tear down the screams that were escaping his lips and sore throat. His nails grew, turning into claws, making them sink deeper into his chest and into the wooden floor. It hurt. It hurt.
Tears welled down from his eyes. He felt the metal taste of the blood together with the salty drops from his eyes. It made him cough even more. How dared he to cry? No one was too see him, but he saw himself from the outside. He was weak. Fucking weak and he didn't deserve a shit.
But it hurt.
A door creaked open and a big man peered outside. The man was big, with black hair and a black beard, and from his behind he could make out a women with a blanket draped around her.
"What the hell are you doing? Can't you make it quiet? My wife and I is trying to sleep!" Naruto couldn't see, the tears made his vision faded, like in a dream. The middle of the night. People slept. He had wakened them.
They saw him crying.
Naruto tried to raise himself, cramping his both hands into the wall. The bearded man's eyes went wide when he saw the bleeding, cracked claws, and closed his door a little more, but not tearing his gaze from the demon in front of him. He begun coughing again, and the almost black blood were all over him. A door behind him was opened, and he jerked away when he felt arms around his waist, and a person hugging him from behind. His breath came in sharp inhaling, and his eyes where wide, and his legs gave once more out. The arms around his waist caught him before he fell, and he slumped back into the body who hit the wall. A groan escaped from behind, and he gasped for air. It still hurt.
"Hush, hush, Naruto. It will be okay, everything will be alright. Trust me and come back into the room." The voice was warm, calming. Naruto. Yes, that was his name. Naruto. Not monster. Not demon. Not weakling. Naruto. The arms rocked him carefully from side to side, continue to whisper soft and calming words in his ear.
"You can go back to sleep now." It wasn't directed to him. The bearded man and his wife quickly disappeared into their room, and left alone Naruto and the other in the corridor.
"Come on, Naruto. We have to go back to sleep. Come with me. It will be fine." Naruto begun coughing again, and short after he felt the arms tighten around his stomach, leading him carefully back into the room. He was laid down on the bed, and when he finally opened his eyes, he was alone. His eyes met the ceiling, and when he tried to lift an arm, it went down to his side again. His shut his eyes.
The next time he opened his eyes was only some minutes later. The door opened and closed, and Naruto saw the young Uchiha come inside, carrying a towel and smoking water with him, along with a white tunic that hang on his arm together with the towel. Naruto tried to sit up, but was pushed down by a gentle hand on his chest. It hurt slightly, and as soon as he whimpered at the touch, it disappeared.
"Sorry."
He laid and watched everything with half-lidded eyes as Sasuke worked. First his sleeping-tunic was opened with a sharp knife. The metal-piece made Naruto tense, but was soon calmed down by a soft hand on his cheek and in his hair, stroking him. The tunic was as said cut off, and thrown in a corner of the room. Then the soiled pants were gone in the same direction Naruto assumed.
And then Sasuke begun cleaning him. First the wound in his head, the one from the hitting in the wall. The downwards to the scratches and the holes in his chest. It didn't hurt, not really. On the face Sasuke made, it looked like it should hurt. The little worried wrinkle between the dark eyebrows, and the tongue which came out, licking the dry lips once in a while. The small shakes Sasuke's hands made when Naruto moved a little, gentle strokes on his cheeks when Sasuke looked at the now red towel.
And so came the wrapping up. Sasuke took bandage out from his embrace, bandage Naruto hadn't seen. It was from a black clothing, and Naruto realized that his cloak was even smaller than before. Not that he minded, he actually smiled. Still he saw the black wrapping underneath Sasuke's white tunic he slept in, and he chuckled a little when he realized that Sasuke had used the same as Naruto had. Naruto saw a small smile on the Uchiha's lips, and he closed his eyes, letting himself be taken care off.
This was new feeling to him. never he had felt the roaming hands from another being over his body. And he knew that this was not something he was used to. No, he hadn't regain his lost memories, but this felt new. When he first had talked, he had known that he had talked before, when he saved Sasuke from bleeding to death and taking him with him, yes, that had been another feeling. A new, like that was not something he would do usual. And when he swallowed his sword, he didn't gag or something, and the memories had came as soon as he did it. The shadows of his friends.
But why was this feeling new? Being taken care off? If he had all those friends, wouldn't it be natural for them to take care of him, and he to take care off them? Wasn't that something that would fall natural? Or was he wrong. The gentle tough of Sasuke's hands, the soft whispering, the worried face, and the smiling that told him that everything would be fine, that it would be fine tomorrow and every day after. That Sasuke would take care of him.
Why? Why hadn't he been through this before? His bodies was used to these attacks. He jerked up in the bed, sat up, holding his heart and panting feverishly, sweat forming on his back like a cold arrow.
"Naruto, lay down. You have to lay still. You will open the wounds."
Open the wounds? Naruto looked down, eyeing his wrapped up wounds. He teared away a black bandage and looked at the scratch. It was almost gone. He could see the skin turning back to normal in a unnatural speed, see how it closed up, leaving only a white, thin, almost invisible scar behind in the tan skin that covered his body. The bleeding had stopped on most of the places.
"I'm healing," he breathed, almost a whisper. It didn't hurt. The pain from before did not leave anything, and he understood why it hadn't hurt when Sasuke cleaned the wounds. It was already healing, and probably his body shot away the pain from the healing.
"Well, that's good. Then we don't have to worry that you will bleed to death you know." He trembled. His both bodies. His attacks.
"Stay away from me."
"Naruto..?"
"Stay away from me!" He repeated, loud, harsh, sad. Sasuke could not be with him. He was dangerous. He didn't know how, but he was dangerous.
"No." He looked up in the black eyes of Sasuke.
"I will not leave you," the boy continued.
"You have to."
"No."
"I'm dangerous."
"I know." Naruto stopped. He knew? Then why did he want to stay? Why didn't he want to leave? Naruto was dangerous. In one why or another. What if his attacks became worse? What if the attacks went to far? What if he hurt Sasuke? Like he would care. The boy was a filthy human without a rank. He looked thin, nothing strong there. Naruto could break him in two pieces if he wanted anytime now. He should just leave him. Why should he care about what the boy said? He could just stick out the boys eyes and leave him here. Naruto shut his eyes. What was it with him? It wasn't him, he knew it. He hadn't known Sasuke for long, but he knew he cared for the dark-haired boy. Naruto didn't know why. It was the way the boy was looking at him. He wasn't afraid. But he had been scared the first day. But that was gone now. had he something in his mind? Could he trust Sasuke? Could he risk it? Was that his heart?
"Why?"
"Because I won't. I know you're dangerous, but I'm not scared." The determination was heard in his voice. He would not go back on his words.
The silence filled the air.
"You know who I am." Naruto stared right into Sasuke's eyes, staring in until he saw the black inside the black. And all the reflections. First there was surprise. Then the eyebrows wrinkled again, making Sasuke look troubled. Naruto felt his blood boil inside of him, making the healing wounds beat. He felt the hair in his neck stand up, and how his body tensed. He felt movements on his cheeks, and he felt something moving on his fingertips.
And then it came. The fear. The fear in Sasuke's eyes. The fear in his eyes, and the fear allover his face, his body, out in his fingertips. He was scared. And Naruto know the fear. The fear for him. He was feared, and he was feared by Sasuke. Sasuke. The one who said he wasn't scared.
Naruto stood up. The candles light flared at his aura, some of them darkened, leaving a small line of smoke heading up to the ceiling. The floor creaking when he walked over it, the big thud when the door went shut behind him.
Naruto left the room. Out in the night. Away.
Outside the night had overtook the village. The stars greeted him as he looked up at them, twinkling and laughing at him and his appearance. It was cold, but not cold enough to make him go back into the Inn. Not now. Not yet. A little while longer.
He had seen the fear in Sasuke's eyes before. He knew it. The fear and hatred for him, and he had a feeling, that he hadn't always known what they feared. It hurt. It hurt more in his heart now than it had hurt before when his inner sides where screaming in pain, and his claws digging deep into his body, his lungs pouring blood on the floor. It hurt more than to remember his friends. He feared the fear. It's dark shadows sneaked around him, hugging him close, making him look it in the eyes of the truth, strangling him. He hated it. He despised it. And it hurt.
He wobbled when he walked on the dusty road. Some people where out, drinking, laughing, running away from life. They seemed happy.
A girl swung closer to him, taking steps from side to side, her balance out of order. She wore a light, pink dress with lacing in an darker pink around her waist. She was very pretty, even though her hair didn't lay all right, and the dark blush she had from the alcoholic drinks she had. Dark, brown hair framed her face, and when she was all the way in front of him, she put a hand on his chest.
"My, my," she said. "Hello beautiful..." She stepped closer, pressing her whole body against his own. he felt the warm limbs of her comforting him, her breath that smelled like alcohol surround him, with a promise of a wonderful night. He smiled at her, bent down and coaxed the bottle out of her hand. He put it at his mouth, and let the fluid pour his throat. The girl giggled, and now he noticed how beautiful she was. She winked with her eyelashes at him, and blushing even harder when he pulled her even closer, with one hand on her lower back, almost shameless. He mouth drew closer, and he felt the warm air from her mouth blow against his cheek. She almost touched him with her lips, when she suddenly withdrew, and took his hand in hers. He smiled, and let her take him where she wanted.
He was placed on a stool inside a bar, full of all the kinds of people. Everybody was cheering and laughing, and he found himself joining them, standing up, singing, with beer in his hand and the girl in his other. He felt surrounded, and no one here was afraid of him. Here, he could escape.
His mind turned foggy almost immediately, but he didn't worry. He was still awake enough to join the players, and it felt, even if he didn't, like he won over and over again. He didn't care about how much he lost of how much he won. His girl of the night cheered at him, kissing the small dices good-luck, and kissing him until his lips turned swollen. He felt her soft hand underneath his shirt, and he greeted her with more kisses and more touches around her waist. He laughed among the men, and played.
"Come on, now. Let's dance!"
He followed her up to the dance floor, grabbed her waist and swung her around. All he could think of was her waist between his hands and her smile that told him that the two of them would have a long and very wonderful night indeed. She laughed, and when they switched partners in the dance with so many people, they still held their gaze between each other. Until it became too much for her, and she grabbed his wrist and showed him the way to the stairs, where's end would reveal rooms to use a splendid night like this.
He was enchanted by her perfume, by her smile, and by the underskirt swaying up and down as she hurried him up the stairs.
"Did you hear about the White City?"
"Yes. I can't believe a city so near ours where under such a horrible attack. The whole city is in ruins!"
Naruto stopped in the middle of the stairs, looking down on the two men, apparently not as drunk as the rest of them, talking. His girl pulled at him, but he stood still, listening carefully.
"What will we do if they come here?" the first man said. He was old, somewhere in his sixty's, and his companion was a younger man, maybe thirty or a little more. "We don't have enough people to defend us with. We will be slaughtered!" The younger man agreed by nodding his head slowly.
"I heard the army is searching for the prince. Apparently, he is the attacker, and he has been missing since the attack. Some think he is dead, but a monster like that wouldn't go under easy." Now it was the old man's turn to nod. "But to make a whole city turn to ruins! That's insane!" the younger continued. "He could be on his way here already, and even though he would not have an army, he would be able to kill us with one flick of his tails!"
"If only they would have their war where no one got hurt," said the old man. His girl sighed a high, inpatient sigh, before she stepped closer to him and started to run his shoulders and chest. He waved her off, irritated.
"The whole castle went under. All the servants gone, all the guards killed, and nowhere seen was the Uchiha." He flinched at the name. Uchiha? That sneaky bastard! Every word that came out from that one's mouth was apparently lies. He felt a warm hand pinch his nipple and he shot her a glare that made her squeal and run up the stairs alone.
"But maybe that is for the best. The rumors say that Orochimaru-sama - may he live forever - was going to kill him. Say anything about that Uchiha, but he isn't evil. No, I rather see him as the first lord. But now both army's are after both him and the prince. Man, I don't want to be there when they find them. That will become one heck of a blood bath. Worst it, the blue army is heading this way"
That was all Naruto needed to hear. He didn't know why, but he had a strange urge to protect Sasuke, liar or not. Maybe he was sent for it, to keep him away from the army's, maybe not, but he still had to protect him. He ran down the stairs, out of the door. He took a deep breath as the cold night air hit his face, filling his lungs, driving the alcohol away from his veins. He ran to the first house where the lights where still lit, pounded the door until a man opened it, and told his errand.
The dark-haired boy had gone to bed when he walked inside the door, but he saw from the breaths of the other that he wasn't asleep.
"Oy, Sasuke. Get up. We have to leave. Now." He quickly made a bag of the things they had, and the food they already bought. He wrapped everything in his own cloak, and wrinkled his nose at it's bad shape. When he was finished, he found Sasuke still laying in bed, staring at him with his black eyes. His hair hung in front of them, but Naruto could still make out the frown on his appearance.
"Get. Up."
"You're drunk."
"Not anymore. Up."
"No."
"Now."
"Make me." He didn't know why Sasuke was so stubborn - and he didn't know where he got his powers from - but the next thing he knew, he had the Uchiha thrown over his shoulder, running down the stairs. The Uchiha screamed and his back, but he couldn't care less.
"Let me down!" Sasuke yelled at him, anger covering his voice.
"No."
"Let me down now you freaking son of a bi..." he stopped and smelled highly in the air. "...Naruto, are you wearing ladies perfume?"
"Shut. It." Sasuke continued the sniffing.
"No, really dobe, I think you do." He growled before he swung Sasuke up onto a brown horse, putting his feet into the hoops with quick moves. Thereafter he laid the cloak over the others shoulders, fastening it as good as he was able too, as the boy was far up high on the horse.
"Do you know how to ride?" he asked, really not caring for the answer. The Uchiha had to ride weather he could or not, and he certainly hadn't the time to deal with anything else. Sasuke crooked and eyebrow as he seemed to think about it.
"I had a pony when I was sev - - -," he said before Naruto cut the words.
"Works for me." With a jump he was settled on the horse, digging his heels into it's sides. One the same time he took the hand on the neck of the other horse, making it get the deal. "Push your heels in," he said. The next thing he heard was the terrifying screaming that came from the Uchiha's throat, as the both horses begun to run at a gallop, but frankly - he couldn't have cared less.
He felt the heated glare dig into his back as he cut the cheese and bread. The water he picked up from a small stream, filling their bottles. The morning light shone between the thick branches, making the otherwise cold morning slightly more bearable. Now, when he thought about it, he assumed the best wold have been to buy a new cloak for him to. The other one - that now served him as a bag - was to now use when the dew fell down from the trees. Another chill, but now from the water, but from the murderous man behind him. He still couldn't look at the other, that would only get him into a more deeper shit that he already was in.
"Naruto," came the growling sound. He tilted his head, trying to answer as meaningless as possible.
"Yes?" He was met with nothing other than a long silence, and he bit his lip to control himself. Damn, this was hard. As slowly as he possible could manage, he turned around and faced the Uchiha. His muscles tugged around his cheeks.
The otherwise so beautiful hair of Sasuke stood out at every direction, quite ruffled from the nights tour. Inside it there was twigs and leaves that apparently had stuck when the Uchiha hadn't had the time to duck under them, as the horses not only did once belong to a good farmer, but they also had been used in the yearly horse race that the town nearby the town they came from held once a year, during the early autumn. The pale skin was even more paler than usual, and his cheeks were deadly hollow as it wasn't long before the Uchiha had to throw up - all the expensive food Naruto had bought him yesterday at the inn - and he was highly exhausted. He sat in a weird position, careful to not touch his butt to the ground, as this was very sensitive at the moment. The only thing that still was truly alive and awake on the dark haired boy, was his eyes - as he tried to use them to kill Naruto only with his stare. Naruto couldn't stop the smirk that appeared on his lips.
"I thought you had a pony, Sasuke? Or were you lying?" Sasuke's eyes darkened even more if possible.
"I said a had a pony," he snarled back. "I never said I used it." Naruto's smile grew into a wide fox grin as he had made Sasuke walk into the obvious trap.
"Isn't that weird? Never heard of a servant with a pony - let alone a pony which he didn't even want to use. That's new to me, sure is. Want to fill me in, Lord Uchiha?"
With a smile of triumph he saw the sneer turn into a wide open gap. And before he broke into a hell of a good laugh, he hear two words being breathed out.
"Damn it."
End of chapter two - When the blood is pouring
To be Continued
