Warnings: More language and violence. Shorter chapter this time, sorry about that XD;
Chapter Two – Safety at the Ichiraku;
Well, there was only one way to check. Mustering up his courage Sasuke reached out with his fist, and knocked on the door...
There was an ominous booming that had Sasuke raising an eyebrow and backing away slightly, watching the door warily as the door handle began to move slowly downwards.
There was a pause and then it was pulled back sharply by two boys who stood in the doorway staring at him curiously. Sasuke looked back at them, not speaking and watching as their expressions took on a slightly hostile edge. He could feel the waves of danger coming off them but he stayed quiet, waiting to see what they would do.
"And who would you be?" A voice finally asked, the hard edge slightly masked by the other man's way of talking. He sounded so nonchalant, like he didn't care who the hell Sasuke was and just wanted him to go away.
"We don't like strangers here," the other told him, giving him an assessing gaze before resting his eyes on Sasuke's face. "And you don't seem to belong."
And how would a blind person know that? Sasuke bit his tongue, catching himself before he voiced his thought aloud, instead watching as those milky eyes turned to the guy's companion.
"He's just a normal boy," he reported before turning back to Sasuke again, "And he still hasn't said what he wants with us," the last was said sharply, and with the promise of future hurt if Sasuke didn't answer correctly.
"I was told to come here," he explained. "Some guy called Naruto-"
"Naruto? You know where he is?" The nonchalant guy asked him, his gaze intent upon Sasuke's face. "And don't lie to us—we'll know if you are."
"I met him at the hospital; he was in the bed next to me. Don't know where the hell he is now though, so don't ask."
There was silence and the blind boy leaned closer to him, Sasuke just barely held himself in place; letting the other boy take him in before he leaned back again. He just barely held back the sigh of relief, tensing up again when the blind boy finally spoke.
"He's not lying," he said decisively, turning to his friend with his brow furrowed. "But what would Naruto be doing in a hospital? It makes no sense for him to go there..."
The other guy nodded, "What's he up to now?"
The blind guy shrugged, causing his companion to sigh before making a humming noise and pinning Sasuke with his stare again. "And how did you get Naruto to tell you about us?"
"I didn't get him to tell me anything," Sasuke denied, eyeing the two freaks in front of him warily. Maybe it had been a bad idea to just follow the idiot's advice; he'd had his trust betrayed once before after all. This had been a huge waste of time; he could have been at Konoha General Hospital by now, instead of being interrogated by these two weirdoes.
"Look," he said, trying to keep his tone even. "I didn't get him to tell me anything, he just gave me the directions, I didn't ask for anything."
The blind boy looked him over again before shaking his head slightly. "He's not lying but he's not telling the complete truth either. He did ask Naruto for something."
"I didn't ask that idiot for anything!" Sasuke replied, his controlled voice cracking slightly under the weight of their eyes. He was really starting to regret having trusted the blond boy.
He regretted it even more when a hand went out and grabbed him, fingers curling around his jacket and tugging slightly. His body moved forward without his permission, stumbling slightly over the doorstep and the heavy door slammed shut behind him.
Sasuke kept moving forward, his head spinning as he tried to figure out exactly what the hell was going on. His feet moved without any conscious decision on his part, his eyes anxiously looking around in all directions as they carried him further into the theatre.
The whole place showed signs of age, parts of the plaster had fallen from the walls, the brick showing beneath. Spider webs clung to the walls and the whole thing looked like it'd crumple down at any given minute. And the darkness...there were no lights, just beams of light showing through the cracks in the ceiling.
"What is this place?" He asked, surprised when the words actually came out. Focusing slightly he realised he could still move his fingers a little, a fact that brought him a little relief, even as his legs finally came to a stop.
"This is the Ichiraku," a soft voice said before him. "A place for people with nowhere else to go." A figure came out of the shadows, standing in the light and looking at him curiously. "What's going on Neji?"
The blind boy – Neji – walked forward and took the girl's arm. "It's alright Hinata, just go and tell everyone that they need to come to the stage We'll tell everyone what's happening then."
"Did you find him?" She asked, looking – if possible – even more nervous when Neji shook his head.
"Not now Hinata, just go and tell everyone what I said."
Hinata looked at the blind boy for a moment before nodding her dark head and scampering off back into the shadows.
Sasuke watched the exchange quietly, raising an eyebrow when Neji turned around to face him. "The Ichiraku is not just a place where anyone can go, Hinata is naive enough to think that everyone can get along—that is why we need to protect her, and everyone else, from outsiders like you. Shikamaru, bring him over to the stage and I'll go see where Lee and Kiba have got to."
"Don't forget Choji," the other boy replied, "He's probably in the kitchen."
Neji nodded before he too disappeared into the shadows. Sasuke didn't understand it; they just seemed to melt into them, vanishing from his sight. His head hurt the more he tried to think about it and he shook it roughly, trying to concentrate as his feet began to move once more, taking him forward.
They were soon in what seemed to be the centre of the old theatre. A large, majestic-looking stage stood on the other side of the room, rows of seats spread out in front of it. Sasuke's feet guided him down the side of the room, past the seats and finally up some side stairs.
Shikamaru moved ahead of him, and Sasuke found he could move by himself again. Preparing himself to run as far away from these freaks as he could Sasuke found large hands grabbing his arms, lifting him bodily from the ground.
"What the hell!" The exclamation fell from his lips as he kicked out his legs, wriggling about in an attempt to get free.
"Put him on here," Shikamaru said, coming back and placing a chair down in front of him.
Sasuke was dropped unceremoniously, landing ungainly on the chair and glaring up at the people gathered around him. He went to move and found himself locked in place again.
Breathing in deeply he attempted to calm himself—trying to stop his anger from gaining control. When he felt he'd calmed down enough he finally turned to the Shikamaru guy next to him.
"What's going on? How are you doing this?"
"That's Shikamaru's Shadow ability," a voice spoke up from next to him. A large guy appeared, one with long brown shaggy hair. Sasuke just barely stopped himself from recoiling.
"Don't tell him anything Chouji," the blind guy said, walking forward and joining the crowd around him. Sasuke kept silent as more people joined their little gathering.
"Who is he?" A blonde haired girl inquired, "He's cute."
"Hey, I saw him first!" Another girl interjected; this one with pink-coloured hair.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Can we focus please? I want this over with as soon as possible."
Neji stepped forward, lowering his sightless-eyes down to Sasuke's level. "What's your name?"
"Uchiha Sasuke," he could've have bit his tongue when the words fell out of his mouth. What was he doing telling them that? They could call the police and hand him over without a second thought!
"The one on the TV?" A quiet voice asked curiously. It was the same girl he had seen earlier, the naive one Neji had called Hinata. Looking at her closely Sasuke noticed she had the same, milky white eyes as the other boy and they shared the same dark hair and colouring—maybe they were siblings?
Sasuke nodded reluctantly.
"And why did you come here?"
"Because Naruto told me to," he said, his tone taking on a slightly hostile edge. "And if I ever see him again I'm going to kill the bastard!"
"Truth," Neji said, "Although the last part is a half-lie. He wants to do it but he never would."
Sasuke glared at him, "Just try me asshole."
"Hey, hey," Shikamaru interrupted. "Calm down a bit."
"Why should I? You've got me stuck to this chair somehow and you haven't said who you are, you just keep asking me stupid questions! My names Uchiha Sasuke, yes, and I came here because some dumbass blond said you would help me!"
"Help you?" A guy replied.
Sasuke's eyes became shuttered and he resolutely kept him mouth closed. He wasn't going to tell these idiots anything.
Shikamaru sighed before waving his hand slightly. Sasuke found he could move again but he kept still, waiting to see what the others would do.
Shikamaru pointed to himself, "My name's Nara Shikamaru, I'm the one who kept you there with my Shadow ability. I wouldn't have done it because it seemed like a waste of time but Neji seemed to think we needed to."
The blind boy shot a glare at Shikamaru before sighing. "Hyuuga Neji, I have the truth ability and I'm the one who's going to find out what you're really up to." He turned his glare to Sasuke before he finished talking but Sasuke just ignored him, turning to the nervous-looking girl clinging to Neji's arm.
"I...I'm Hyuuga Hinata. I can see the future. I...I'm Neji's cousin." She blushed, looking away when Sasuke tried to look her in the eye.
Sasuke was beginning to believe that maybe they could actually see and their eyes were just a strange by-product of whatever weird thing was happening here. She could see the future? Such a thing could never happen!
Choji seemed to be next, grinning down at Sasuke. "I'm Choji and I can grow." Sasuke raised an eyebrow and the other boy suddenly seemed to expand outwards, growing to three times his normal size before shrinking back to normal and giving him a sheepish look. "Uhr...that's it I guess."
The blonde-haired girl stepped forward then, coming closer to Sasuke and smiling at him. "I'm Yamanaka Ino and I can read your mind. At the moment you're thinking about why such a sexy girl like myself is here with these freaks right? Well—"
Ino was cut off abruptly as she was shoved aside by the pink-haired girl. "Haruno Sakura!" She piped up, "I have super strength which is a whole lot more useful than being ale to read minds."
"Is not!" Ino replied, elbowing Sakura in the side. The pink-haired girl narrowed her eyes and reached out a hand to punch the blonde when they were all interrupted by a barking noise coming from the other side of theatre.
A large dog came bounding down the line of chairs, jumping up onto the stage and standing there with its tongue handing out, panting hard. A figure jumped off its back, landing in a crouch before standing up again.
"I found him!" The figure exclaimed proudly. "He's just coming back now."
Neji turned to the figure with a look of distaste. "Why did you bring him in here Kiba?"
Kiba wrapped an arm around the neck of his dog defensively, "Akamaru goes everywhere with me!" He said, covering the dog's ears with his hands. "Don't say such things where he can hear you."
"Kiba, it's an animal," Neji pointed out. Kiba only growled at him in warning.
Sasuke watched the whole thing in silent disbelief. That...thing wasn't a dog. It was simply too big to be a dog, at least as tall as this Kiba guy and large enough for a person to actually ride on the back of it. Sasuke even thought the thing was bigger than a horse but he couldn't tell from his current position. The whole thing was like a really bad, weird dream. Unfortunately he couldn't remember falling asleep—at least the whole thing could not get any worse in his opinion.
"Hey everyone, I'm back!" A voice called out.
Sasuke amended his last thought. It definitely could get worse—a hell of a lot worse.
He watched as the group gathered around him left abruptly, running over to the blond who stood rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as they all crowded around him demanding why he'd been gone for so long, and what he'd been up to and why hadn't he contacted them?
Sasuke rolled his eyes, settling back on the chair and waiting fro the idiot to realise he was there.
It didn't take long, there was din in the noise and blue eyes rose up to meet his dark ones. A large smile broke out on the idiots face and he ran down between the chairs. Jumping up onto the stage—a jump that should have impossible but Sasuke was beginning to accept the impossible with this lot—Naruto soon stood in front of him.
"You made it!" He said, sounding stupidly happy about that fact.
Sasuke nodded before glaring at the blond as he finally stood up. "Yeah, and now I'm leaving." He made to go down the side steps when Naruto grabbed his arm, pulling him up short.
"Wait, don't go yet, I haven't explained anything to you!"
"I know, you just left me to be interrogated by these freaks!" A chorus of denials rose up at the last word and Naruto scowled at him briefly before shaking his head.
"I know, I was a bit late but I'm here now! I got here as fast as I could."
Sasuke folded his arms across his chest. "Well? Explain then."
Naruto laughed a little nervously before bowing his head. "I can't." He admitted. Sasuke snorted.
"I didn't think you would. None of you seem very forthcoming with information." He glanced over at Neji but the other guy looked away, dismissing him. Sasuke sneered at his back.
Jerking his head up Naruto shook his head vigorously. "You don't need to go! I, we, can help you." His voice sounded so eager that it almost hurt Sasuke to hear it.
Kiba came around beside Naruto then, his big dog following quietly, before stopping and levelling Sasuke with a stare. "If Naruto wants us to we'll help."
Shikamaru came up on Naruto's other side, nodding his head along with Kiba's statement. "If Naruto wants us to," he said.
Staring at them all Sasuke had the thought that maybe—with their help—he could do it. Get revenge on his brother; take him down like he'd taken down Sasuke's family. They could do it, with their weird powers. He'd seen them with his own eyes, he'd felt them. They were strong, the lot of them. And Sasuke needed them if he wanted to succeed, he could use them. Maybe...but first—
"Why would you do this for me?" Sasuke asked Naruto who shrugged at him.
"You just...when you were in the hospital you were so lost. Well, we are too. And if we can help you find what you're forgotten, well, maybe that will help us find it too."
Giving the blond a disbelieving look Sasuke had to ask, "Is that it? The only reason?"
Naruto nodded before grinning at him, "Well, that and I think you're kind of cute."
Sasuke spluttered and Naruto laughed at him, joined by the people gathered around him. Sasuke glared at them for a moment before giving a small smile.
He could do this. He could get revenge for his family. With their help...
He held out his hand, waiting until Naruto nervously took it before he shook the other's briskly. "Let's do it then," he said calmly. "Let's find out what Itachi was hiding from me."
Naruto gave him a slightly worried look before he covered it with a large smile, "Yeah!" He said simply.
Sasuke looked at him curiously but dismissed the nagging worry that crept slowly into his mind. He didn't have time to focus on anything else – his brother came first and then...then everything else could follow.
Even if he was curious about what secrets Naruto seemed to keeping from him...
Tbc.
a/n: Ah, the mystery is finally starting! r&r please and thank you!