Chapter 2: Hide 'n Seek Thank you all who reivewed my first chapter! As you can tell, I'm a girl, and although the pairings will get a little intimatelater on, I think that boys might like this a little because of the action, even if the plot line is a little over-abused. Every story is unique, and I only plan to use the whole 'leaving-Konoha' thing as a buffer for the real ride. ; I'll try to update asap, but here's what I have so far for you!
Warnings/Disclaimers: light GaaNaru in the friendship stages. They're about 9 years old.
I'm moving a little fast because we have to get through some things coughchuuninexamscough
There's some KakaIta if you really wanna see it that way, but I like to think of it as the kind of friendship that Naruto and Sauske share.
I don't own Naruto.
I wish I owned the computer I'm updating on.
"Tag, you're it!"
A figure shot over the leaves and hid itself in the foilage. /He's on your left/-- The figure shot to its right as a second person jumped on the branch where he'd been. Growling, the second figure leapt after the first, a sparkle in its eyes.
"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" The second figure glared and shot after the boy, hot on his tail.
'He's cheating.'
"So'm I."
'I don't count.' The second figure's eye twitched. "Yes, you do count." He returned his attention to the fleeing form and shouted at it.
"I can too catch you, Naruto!"
The blonde grinned and stuck his tongue out at the other boy. "I bettcha can't, Gaara!"
There was a loud bang as both boys rocketed over trees and used a burst of speed to fly forwards, each trying to see the other and at the same time trying to hide. Naruto flung himself into the air again and caught a tree branch, his finger sliding around it and vaulting away without shaking the tree. Gaara raced after him in a similarly smooth fashion, his movements making no noise save the electric glare that he was giving Naruto. The blonde grinned and shot into the tree tops, enjoying the sea of green as he leapt over the tree canopy. The forest was vast and he knew every leaf like the back of his hand. Gaara was catching up, and he swallowed, having spent too much time looking at the trees, he'd forgotten to find a place to land. He let out a laugh of relief as Gaara swung himself up and gave Naruto an extra push towards the nearest branch, and their chase continued as it was before.
After a few hours, they reached the biggest clearing and stopped. They were back at the heart of the forest. Naruto shut his eyes and Gaara did the same. Both moved their hands to form seals once, twice, four times, and there was a puff of smoke as the lake disappeared.
"Home sweet home," said Naruto as they gazed at the biggest complex of buildings in the world. One hundred feet of metal, a thousand pounds of wood, and a smart-alec with red hair who'd almost refused to help him, the giant building stood in the center of the forest protected by the highest level genjutsu they knew.
/You mean, that I know./ Naruto nodded. "Right. You're the best, 'kaa-san." There was something like a rumble of approvement as both boys disappeared into the huge looming building.
Somewhere on the top floor, Naruto dove into the huge bath. Gaara made a face and took off his own clothes and put his gourd aside. "You owe me, I caught you." Naruto giggled and rolled over in the water. "Naw, I don't! You didn't catch me!"
Gaara sighed and tried Naruto's tactic: whining. "Naaaruto, pleeeease?" Naruto took a look at Gaara's calm, pasive face and tried to place the wine and frowned. "Uh, Gaara? No, please don't ever do that again."
Gaara nodded. "Right." Water splashed over Naruto in a wave, and he submerged himself as Gaara swam over to sit next to him. They looked at each other and then ducked under the water, swimming like fish. There was no one to tell them to get out of the huge bath, and there was no one to make them take an actual bath with soap. There were no grown-ups. 'Eh-hem?' There were no HUMAN grown-ups. /Better./ There was no one but Naruto and Gaara.
"Stop!" Scratch that.
Gaara and Naruto got up, walking over to a window with mild interest at the sudden shout. Bellow was a group of people in masks and a familiar boy with dark black eyes. Gaara threw a towel over himself and Naruto and they dried, dressing and shaking the water from their hair. Both boys looked at eachother, stepped up to the window sil, and leapt off it.
"I said, stop!"
Itachi looked at the six hunter nin behind him. 'Damn,' he thought as they surrounded him, 'I wasn't planning on having to fight this many. I'll have to kill them all.' He had started running a long time ago. Sasuke was at the house, screaming, and his parents were dead. There had been a few words exchanged with Sasuke and the jounins and ANBU were immeditally dispersed after him. Itachi glared around the circle of masks and waited.
"Uchiha Itachi," started the man with a dog mask, "You're guilty of massacering your entire clan except your younger brother. You will come with us, and you will recieve the selected punishment from Hokage-sama."
Itachi looked around. "What the hell makes you think that I did it? Why would I kill my own parents?" A man in a cat-mask shrugged.
"We don't ask questions--we have a witness, and we are prepared to subdue you if you try to resist." Itachi shook with barely suppressed anger as the men began to draw various weapons, kunai, shuriken, a few scrolls and some dagger-like swords. He looked around and made a face.
"Ten on one is a bit unfair," he said softly, looking in the trees at the hidden four ANBU members. Kakashi winced from the trees. "... this isn't right," he muttered to himself, "ambushing him, more than five to one ..." The man in the dog mask shrugged.
"That is irreguardless. We are to bring you in, no matter what the costs, and we're prepared to send for more if you're more trouble than we can handle." Itachi let out a soft breath and shut his eyes. Kakashi knew immeditally what he was up to, making frantic hand signals to the rest of the ANBU. The message didn't get around quick enough for some as Itachi opened his eyes, and three men fell to the floor, gasping and twitching. The rest of the ANBU jumped away, and Itachi disappeared with a puff of smoke.
Kakashi cursed and shot into the fray, telling all he could not to look into Itachi's eyes. There was a harsh cry and the man in the dog mask fell to the ground, blood trickling from his slit throat. Itachi ducked, dodging the volley of shuriken aimed at his head, and sidestepped the volley aimed for his feet. He felt heat behind him and ducked the flaming kunai that whizzed past him and stuck to a tree. Itachi caught sight of the explosive tag just as it activated and an explosion rocked the entire place.
Itachi emerged unharmed, though, and he let four shuriken fly, pinning one man to the ground. He ducked under shuriken and disappeared before a second explosive tag could catch him off guard. There was a quick sweeping motion over him and he jerked as someone dropped in front of him and began a head-on assault with hand to hand combat. He ducked under the first sweeping kick and shifted around the wild punches, bumping against a tree. A fist shot out and slammed into the wood he'd replaced himself with and the ANBU was blown back by an explosion from within the wood. Itachi reappeared and Kakashi cursed.
"He hid an explosive tag in the wood," he grunted, tugging on his chest pouch and pulling out a scroll. He bit his finger and ran it along the scroll, the redness filling the air with a scent that called to the forces of the night; the scent of blood that drenched the air became thick as Kakashi summoned his tracking dogs. Itachi recgonized the rumbling in the dark earth and jumped from the ground, shooting shuriken and a shadow windmill shuriken at the silver-haired man. A dog leapt out of the earth, catching the three shuriken in its mouth, but was struck dead by the one hidden in the shadows of the others. Kakashi leapt from his hiding place and did several hand seals with lightning speed. Itachi's eyes widened in recgonition and he jumped away from his friend as Kakashi summoned the lightning blade to his palm, the electricity cutting through the air. Itachi stood still a few yards away from Kakashi, the five ANBU left signaling for backup, and frowned.
"I never thought ... I'd have to face you like this, Kakashi," he muttered, pushing back his bangs and taking out a scroll of his own. He nipped his thumb and painted it with his blood before summoning a palmful of his own crackling electricity.
"You know how this'll end," said Itachi softly.
Kakashi nodded grimly. "I know. Itachi ..." He loked across the dank field to his friend. His commrade. His throat got tight and he tried to reason with the protesting voice in the back of his mind. "Why ..."
The black-haired boy shook his head. "I didn't do it." Kakashi made an exasperated motion with his hands. "Then come back with me! Come prove them wrong, Itachi! Please! If you run now, they'll put a price on your head!" Itachi looked away. "I know. You know they wouldn't believe me even if I went." Kakashi flinched. "You could try." Itachi shook his head. "Sasuke will never forgive me."
"But you're innocent!" Itachi's eyes widened as he turned his Shiringan onto Kakashi's left eye.
"Innocence never lasts."
Kakashi stared at the black-haired Uchiha across from him, struck almost speechless at the growl. "Itachi ..."
"Now ..." Itachi whispered, and the silver-haired boy hid a look of regret as he pushed chakara into his arm and drew it back, pumping extra chakara into his hand and feet as he readied himself for a burst of speed had the slight chance of killing his best friend. Itachi shut his eyes, electricity dancing on his fingertips. "... come."
They became blurs and all of a sudden there was a muffled cry of surprise as something covered both men, smothering them and they disappeared. The ANBU nearby jumped out of their hiding places, exchanging hand signals.
(Where is the target?)
(check: 3, 6, 9, 12)
They turned to scan the forest, but not a sign of the two boys was left. The only clue they had was the pile of sand that lay where they'd stood.
The five remaining ANBU had three seconds to feel surprised as the sand leapt onto them and squeezed, blood splattering everywhere. There was a soft chuckle from the lake as Naruto and Gaara emerged, looking over the latter's handywork.
"You sure shut them up," said Naruto with a giggle, pushing Gaara to the side lightly. The red head shoved Naruto back and the two looked at the bloody mass with similar smiles of calmness. Then, they turned around and a wave of red deflected the shuriken flung from nowhere. Naruto looked at the shrubbery and pointed. "You're hiding behind that bush," he said, "I can see ya. Come on out and play with us!" Slowly, Kakashi came out of his hiding place and looked at both boys with surprise.
"It--I've seen you two before!" Naruto blinked and rubbed his head. /I know you've seen him before, kit,/ whispered a voice in Naruto's head.
Gaara narrowed his eyes. "I don't remember you ..." The sand swirrled and grabbed Kakashi's legs and to his horror he found he couldn't even move his toes. Frantically, out of chakara and time slowly slipping, he tried to make the nine-year-old remember him.
"Please, wait! You do know me! I've seen you before! You were at Konoha with Iruka! You saw me!" His voice was rising steadily and he felt fear before this child with eyes of cold jade, no more than nine. Gaara's eyes narrowed again and the sand began to creep up Kakashi's calfs towards his waist. Kakashi felt the crushing pressure of the sand and cried out as it crept higher towards his arms and chest. There was a flash of black and something grasped his chest and gave a huge heave, and the sand released him, Gaara's eyes blinking in surprise at the new figure. Kakashi looked up at the other boy with a weak gaze of fear. "I-Itachi ... I--"
The last of Kakashi's strength failed him and the silver-haired boy collpased into Itachi's strong arms as he held his friend up. Itachi gently knelt down and pulled Kakashi's mask down over his face. Then, the black-haired teen stood up and glared at the two small boys, the blonde snickering at his antics and the red head glaring back. Recginition flashed on Itachi's face for the shortest time and this time, both Gaara and Naruto saw it and returned it. "So, here we meet again," he muttered to himself as he drew away from Kakashi's softly breathing body.
"Hello," called Naruto cheerfully, "wanna play with us?"
"So you're saying that you've really been alone in the wild all this time?" Naruto nodded, slurping a mouthfull of ramen up and splattering himself with soup and spoke.
"Yeah. I remember everything that happened, or really, kaa-san does." Itachi stopped him. "Who's that?" Naruto slurped down another noodle and pointed to his stomach as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Duh--who do you think?" Itachi fell silent, not sure whether to feel sorry for Naruto or to be jealous of his innocence. Naruto didn't catch his look and continued. "Like I said, kaa-san remembers everything! She knew who ya were in a minute. She remembered you from a long time ago, when we were real small."
/Yer still small, kiddo,/ whispered the voice in his head.
/Hey,/ the blonde shot back, /I'm tellin' a story here./
"After Gaara an' me went to go play, we sorta lost track of time. Before we knew it, it was real dark and we got lost, so we decided to stay outside and sleep under the stars. It was real cool and bright outside, and I almost didn't sleep! Gaara stayed awake to make sure that the bad guys wouldn't come back." Itachi interrupted him again.
"Bad guys? Who do you mean?" Naruto shrugged. "Just some weird guy in a real big cape. Said he wanted us to join a club--kami-suki ... no, s'not it ... uh, maka-suki, amasuki--"
"The Akatsuki," said Gaara shortly, "that's what it was." Itachi's eyes widened. "What did he do? Who was he? What did he look like? Where is he now?" Naruto jumped at all the questions that were aimed at him at once and stumbled over the answers.
"Uh, he was tall an' real pale and had a funny sword thingy--He didn't say his name--uh, he tried to, uh, ah ..." The order of the questions had confused Naruto and Gaara filled in what he'd missed.
"... he tried to get us to follow him but we didn't and then he tried to hurt us and Naruto turned him into fox food." Both boys grinned at each other. "It was cool," they said in unison, and Itachi shuddered at the image of blood-covered nine year old demons smirking up at him.
"I kicked him and then somethin' red came outta my hands and sorta--"
"I broke his sword," pipped up Gaara, "with the sand."
Itachi nodded, fascinated as Gaara waved his hand and the sand jumped up, swirrling around it like a living thing. It made eyes at Itachi and then sept back into the form of a gourd on his back. The two boys shot back and forth between sentences about their encounter with who Itachi was sure had been Kisame.
"And then I kicked him in the back--"
"... took the sand and wrapped it on his arms--"
"pow! Right in the face! He never saw it com--"
"... and his neck, and then Naruto did the thing--"
"--with these real cool claws and it was real red and--"
"--and then he ran away," said Gaara with something like disappointment, "and we let him go cauz' he looked tired."
Itachi marvled at the two boys in front of him. Clearly, Kisame had been ordered to persuade the demon boys onto their side, and had failed miserably. Itachi knew that the Akatsuki rewarded its members well and they could help him gain the kind of power that he needed to achieve, and a good first step would be getting Naruto and Gaara to join. He wondered what approach he would use--they seemed still mentally five and six, and Naruto seemed to be able to communicate with the demon sealed inside of him, refering to it as his 'mother.' Itachi took a breath and pushed his bangs back, looking at the two boys. Gaara's eyes were bored and cold, Naruto's bright blue and full with the brightness of the skies. Itachi wondered how his own eyes looked.
"... are you two still interested in playing a game with me?" Naruto blinked and nodded, shouting happily. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, a game!" Gaara looked over at Itachi. "How do we play?" Itachi thought about it.
"... I'm not sure. We'll have to go and ask my friends for the rules. Do you want to come and visit them with me? It'll only take a second." He knew he was taking a risk here. Naruto and Gaara could come with him and refuse to join or struggle and cause more damage than they were worth, and he might upset the members of the Akatsuki. Itachi weighed his chances carefully, knowing that his life might depend on it. For a moment, the two boys sat and thought, looking back and forth between each other, a private conversation going on in each boy's mind.
/Don't go./
/Why not?/
/... it's not the kind of game you'd like./
/But how will you know if I never try? You don't always know what I like.../
/Don't go. For me. I don't want to play this game, Naruto. It's not the kind of game I want you playing./
'Don't go.'
'... why?'
'There's something about this boy. You will not go.'
'... what if Naruto goes? Then I gotta go.'
'He won't go. Kyuubi isn't dumb--Naruto won't go. You won't go either. Tell the boy.'
"I don't wanna."
Itachi looked at the two boys who'd spoken simotaniously. "Why not?" Naruto looked at the ground.
"I just wanna stay here and play by myself and Gaara. Everyone else'll think I'm weird and ... weak," he murmured, looking at his feet. Gaara looked up to Itachi. "We'll play with you later. We want to stay here for some more time." Itachi frowned.
"Don't you ever get lonley?" Naruto looked at Gaara.
"Why would I be lonley? I have everyone who loves me right here--Kyuu-chan and Gaara-chan." Gaara blinked and nodded dumbly at the blunt statement, acknowledging it as a fact. Itachi wondered at the small boys.
"How do you eat?"
"Easy--kaa-san can tell what kinda foods are good for us." Itachi tried to think of another question.
"Where do you sleep?"
"In the trees and the grasss," said Gaara softly.
"Doesn't anyone find you?"
"We use illusions to hide," said Naruto proudly, "and we blend in natural. See?"
Itachi blinked and jumped as Naruto and Gaara suddenly became very hard to find simply standing in front of the forrestry. Like chameleons, both boys had backed up against the foilage and some kind of weird chakara crept over them, concealing most of their presence. Itachi had to admit to himself--it was a sweet technique. "Come back out; I can't see you," called Itachi and the two boys stepped back into view, pleased in their own ways that Itachi was fooled by their disguises.
"Are you gonna leave, Itachi-nii?" Itachi looked back at the younger boy. "I can't really stay here," he said, standing up and putting his chopsticks down, "I have to go and find some of my friends. I told them I'd meet up with them, and some people from Konoha are going to come and try to find me. Don't worry," he said at Naruto's sudden look of disapproval, "I won't let them catch me like that again."
He turned to cast a final look at the still form of the silver-haired man before turning away from him and the boys both.
"Good bye," he said, disappearing in a swirl of leaves and smoke.
There was a moment when Kakashi knew that he was being picked up and he fought to regain consciousness, his eyes snapping open and he jerked out of the person's grasp. The stunned jounin let him drop but caught him again as he fell limply to the ground.
"You used your chidori, didn't you," observed Gai as he hefted the silver-haired man onto his back. Kakashi nodded weakly and groaned, shuddering and letting Gai fully support his weight. "I told you not to over use that technique! It is dangerous and horribly lacking in tact!"
Kakashi snorted. "Who're you to be lecturing me on tact, Gai?" he cracked as the jounin carried him through Konoha's forest back to the village gates.
"Hey," protested Gai as he carried his friend through the woods and towards the direction he'd come from, "who's carrying who now? If it weren't for me, you'd be riding on Asuma's shoulders."
Kakashi made a face. "No I wouldn't --I'd be on the ground, dead from inhaling all his second hand smoke. He's gonna die before he gets a dangerous mission," said the silver-haired teen weakly as Gai slowed down, the gates becoming visible at the distance they came from and Gai made a face.
"Usually, I would defend Asuma-kun against your outrageous remarks, but I must agree with you on one thing, my rival--he should cut back smoking! It is horrible for his youth!" Kakashi wondered why he ever talked to this weird guy in the first place, and was all too thankful as Iruka rushed out from the village to meet them with medical nins. Gai let them gather the silver-haired jounin onto a stretcher and Kakashi shot Iruka a 'thank-you-sooooo-much' look as Gai struck a pose and waved fare-well enthuastically to his rival as the medical nins dragged him off to the hospital. Iruka watched him go and walked back towards the village with Gai.
"Hey," whispered Iruka once they were inside the gates, "is ... is he ok?" Gai blinked and then nodded. "Of course--he is my rival, and a man of many skills! He will recover and will live to challenge me again!" Iruka sweatdropped and waited until he calmed down and had walked a bit further to ask another question.
"Wha ... what was wrong with him? What kind of mission did he go off on so suddenly, Gai-kun?" Gai looked at Iruka sharply and stopped walking. "I suppose you have a right to know, Iruka-chan, but first we must move to a less open location." Iruka blanched at the name and flushed, agreeing reluctantly and let Gai lead him to the hospital. They found Kakashi's room and snuck past the guards, sitting in the chairs across from his bed. Iruka looked over Kakashi quickly. His hiatae was still pulled over his left eye and his face mask was still in place. Iruka sighed in relief and thought to himself, 'same old Kakashi-san ...'
"All right," whispered Iruka, "now tell me. What kind of mission did he go on? Why is he hurt?" Gai frowned and shut his eyes in concentration.
"I know only what I'll tell you, Iruka-chan. Kakashi recieved a call from Hokage-sama a few hours ago because the Uchiha clan, save one boy, had been murdered." Iruka gasped and put a hand over his mouth. Gai nodded gravely. "For that, Kakashi was called and ordered to stop the murderer. He persued the target, and from there, I cannot tell you what passed." Gai nodded to himself and looked at the sky, and Iruka sweatdropped as from no where, the wind blew behind him and made his hair move.
'He is ... sooooo weird,' Iruka thought as Gai sat back down, nodding as if he was congradulating himself. "Yes, that is all I know. I did, however, manage to get the name of the murder. It was Itachi." Iruka gasped again. "No!" Gai looked at him.
"You were friends with Itachi, weren't you?"
Iruka looked at the ground. "Well, I know Kakashi-san was really good friends with him ... and he sort of introduced me. I don't--Itachi doesn't seem like the kind of person to do that! Not at all!" He looked at Kakashi, and whispered quietly, "t-they didn't fight, right? H-he's--he is-is going to ... is he gonna be ..." Gai blinked in surprise at Iruka's tone of voice and tried to cheer the depressed gennin.
"Of course he will be all right! Iruka-chan, my fairest, you have nothing to fear! He will recover and that will be proof that he is worthy of being my rival!"
Iruka blinked as Gai struck his 'good-guy' pose and he snickered, covering his mouth. Gai grinned at him.
"See? You're fine. Don't work yourself up over this guy--I'm a much more worthy man!" He posed again, and Iruka giggled more. Gai felt silly, but Iruka was laughing and it made him feel much better.
"Oi! Stop hittin' on 'ruka," muttered a weak voice from the bed. Iruka jumped, coloring in surprise and rushing to the bed. Kakashi blinked a lazy eye open and Iruka laughed. "Y-you're ok!"
Kakashi rolled his visible eye. "You doubted me?"
Iruka colored and frowned. "N-No, I was just ... I-I, uh, well, I'm just really glad you're better!" Kakashi shook his head, lifting his spiky hair out of his face, and looked up at the gennin. Iruka blinked down at his intense stare.
"Iruka ..."
The gennin blushed and Kakashi motioned to the table beside his bed.
"... there's 5.65 ¥ in there. The next volume of IchaIcha Paradise is coming out today. Could you--"
SLAP.
Gai sweatdropped as the flushing gennin stormed out of the room, a hand print on Kakashi's face and a wallet in his hands. Kakashi gave Gai a silly look and fainted again.
Gai made some innane comment about seagulls and left Kakashi to be fainted alone.
Sorry about ending on that note, but we'll see more of Itachi in the next chapter and of course, more of Naruto and Gaara. Sasuke and Konoha will come back somewhere around chapter four but hang on 'till then. :) In the meantime, I'm very happy with my reviews. I want to get all my reviewers gifts but i have no idea who you are so the best thing I can offer is my udying gratitude and thanky-full-ness! author cheers for self and raises cup of eggnog
Eggnog by the gallon, eggnog by the cup, tasts the same going down as it does coming up. End quote.