Warnings - AU fic, some OOC-ness
Moonstruck Nightmare
Chapter Two - "We should leave"
Written By - Treina (angelcrack)
II
/There, his dream once again began, once again did he begin to cry and thrash around. There, his mind was filled to the brim with terror and no way to escape from it./
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It was dark, the kind of dark that you would only see in caves, but after spending endless hours in that place, his eyes had seemed to adjust somewhat. But why did he feel so nostalgic? He could swear that he had been here before but it felt like it could have been years ago, the water on the floor confirmed it, he had been in this exact place before, but why did it hit him only now? He had been wandering these never ending hallways for hours, and they all looked alike.
As Naruto stopped to take a quick break he could hear, far off, the dripping that never seemed to stop or change pace. He walked for what seemed like hours upon hours and the sound did not fade, or grow louder, it just kept its steady, mesmerizing pace.
"This sound alone, it itself is enough to make a sane person crazy," Naruto said, trying to drown out or alter the noise that soon began to flood his ears.
But he couldn't hear the words that came out of his mouth, or remember if he heard them. He could try again, but somehow his mind forbid it and the blond left it at that, he really didn't want to know anyway.
'What am I looking for?' He reminded himself, closing his eyes in attempt to clear his head.
"You wont find it," he heard a smooth almost luring voice say.
Naruto shot his eyes open and snapped his head toward the voice in fright, not expecting any sound but the faint, ongoing drips.
"You will search forever, forever and you will never find it."
Because of the darkness he could only see an outline of a person. But he could tell that this person was tall, and the red eyes, they could stare right through your soul and conjure out your worst fears and most terrifying nightmares. At that moment, an overwhelming fear over swept Naruto's mind and the blond could do nothing, could not breathe or think, just stand in terror.
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It was three o clock in the morning and at any other normal night, Shikamaru would be sleeping peacefully, but this night he woke up from a nightmare, which was not common for Shikamaru who was used to very nice peaceful sleep and not harsh nightmares that made you feel like shit when you would awake.
As his eyes quickly adjusted to the dark room, he noticed that Naruto was also thrashing around in bed, although looking ten times worse then he himself felt. Deciding it best to wake the blond, Shikamaru quietly walked up to Naruto's bed and began to call his name, although a bit to quietly and Naruto continued in his nightmare.
"Naruto..." he tried again, this time placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.
As soon as Shikamaru gave him a little shake, Naruto's eyes shot open and in one instant, Naruto was out of the bed and standing against the wall, terror still heavily embedded in his eyes. As soon as Naruto noticed Shikamaru and his surroundings the fright dulled and it soon was gone. Naruto gulped and almost collapsed back onto his bed. His throughout was dry and the sweat that wouldn't stop kept dripping onto his already drenched sheets.
For a while there was silence and Shikamaru didn't move, knowing that whatever just happened was not your normal good morning.
"Are you okay?" He finally asked Naruto, who was staring at the ceiling.
Naruto sat up and smiled, "yeah, of coarse ...did I wake you"
"Yeah"
"Sorry..." Naruto mummered, looking down, he knew how much Shikamaru liked his sleep.
"Don't
worry about that...are you sure your okay? You still look a little
shook up, what did you see in your dream?" Shikamaru asked, finding it
easier to ask the smiling Naruto than he thought it would be.
Naruto's smile faded a little, "I don't remember"
"Oh..."
Then there was more silence until Naruto got up, "im going to take a shower"
"Your not going back to sleep?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the clock.
"Its three thirty"
"No,
im not tired, I will probably make sure all of out equipment is
together...we will be leaving in four or five hours," he said with a
grin.
"It will take you that long to make sure everything's together?" Shikamaru asked with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto
shrugged and hurried out of the room, away from Shikamaru and his
questions, sometimes Shikamaru was too smart for his own good and it
made the blond paranoid.
For a while Shikamaru sat and listened to the shower run, one half of him really wanted to go back to his pillow and try to get some more sleep. But then the other half of him told him that he needed to go and hang out with Naruto for a while. He found it odd that Naruto was having a nightmare at the same time, and seemed to feel like shit after awakening also.
This made Shikamaru curious, but his dream was quickly fading and the only thing he could remember was the intense red eyes, but even then they began to fade and he could no longer even remember what they looked like. "What looked like?" Shikamaru asked himself, feeling the blood throbbing through his veins in the quiet room.
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Naruto walked out of the bathroom feeling ten times better, although still a little shaken. Actually, he had never been so paranoid in his life, every two seconds he wanted to look over his shoulder in the bathroom. Trying the whole time to not get soap in his eyes so he could see, but that didn't happen and he ended u spending the whole rest of his shower with soap in his eyes, he needed to see...
"Morning," Shikamaru said happily, making sure that all there equipment was together and ready to work.
"Uh...I was gonna do that," Naruto said with a chuckle.
"I couldn't fall back asleep, so I got bored"
"Wow, you couldn't fall back asleep? That's a first"
"I have to get the tea...before it burns," Shikamaru said in a weird tone and walked into the kitchen.
Naruto frowned, 'what the hell is going on?'
Most of that morning was filled with lots of tea and not much talking. Naruto could feel that the vibes that were floating around the room were not the same vibes that he received the day before, this house no longer held the homey feeling that it had, which is most of the reason that Naruto liked this house.
Shikamaru noticed that Naruto hadn't spoken two words in over three hours and tension was doing nothing more than growing. Shikamaru was never good at things like this so he thought the logical conclusion would be to not say anything at all, but he was soon finding out that this was not working.
"I had a nightmare last night..." Shikamaru finally said.
Naruto's eyes widened and he could do nothing but stare into Shikamaru's eyes who were also filled with the same fear. But half of Naruto did not believe Shikamaru. Sure he was an honest guy, but there was always something about him that made the blond nervous.
"What...did you dream?" Naruto asked, breaking the eye contact to stare into his tea.
"...I
don't remember," Shikamaru said, also looking down to stare into his
cup, "but I can still feel it, its still here, like in that dream...but
I dont...remember," he continued, getting very serious, frowning into
his cup.
"Can I ask you something?" Naruto said, sounding very serious.
"Hai,"
"How long have you been having these dreams?" He asked, frowning.
"Uh, just last night," he exclaimed, surprised at the question.
"How long have you been having these dreams?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Every night for the past week-" He said nothing more, for the old man was now awake and ready to get going.
The old man poured himself a cup of tea, "you all ready to hike up that mountain?" he said with a grin.
Shikamaru stared at the old man until he left the room, "he certainly is happy..." Shikamaru stated.
Naruto smiled his smile, "don't worry to much about it...we wont even be around him ALL day, just 6 hours"
"Do
we have enough water?" Shikamaru stated with a raised eyebrow,
remembering that his car is just outside and the city is two hours away.
"Water"
"Maybe
we shouldn't do this job, its risk is a little to high and I don't
really feel like dying," Shikamaru stated matter of factly.
Naruto
stood up and began to laugh, "die? your not going to die Shikamaru,
nothing even lives on that mountain to kill you...theres no bears to be
scared of"
Shikamaru frowned, "its not bears im afraid of"
"Eh? Then what is it your afraid of"
"I don't know..."
Naruto's eyes widened for a second before he arose to put his dishes in the sink.
"Heh, don't kid me," he whispered.
Shikamaru frowned, hearing what he had said, "Naruto"
"Im gonna get some water together," he said with a huge grin.
Shikamaru sighed, 'This is a bad idea.'
VvVvVvV
The sun finally rose above the mountains and they were able to leave. Although Naruto was a bit confused on why they had to wait for the sun to rise all the way, it was light enough an hour before they even began the hike into the mountain, but the old man hadn't said one word all morning, he just smiled happily and didn't really do anything but stare in one direction, and that was Absol.
For the first hour, walking up the dark mountain seemed like no problem, but after the second hour Shikamaru was wondering if he was going to make it all the way. Naruto didn't mind the walk, he went to work right away, snapping pictures of anything that caught his attention.
"Hey Naruto, save some film," Shikamaru called to the blond who was lagging behind.
"This
is where it starts to get tough," the old man said, adjusting the pack
on his back, "best to stay together!" he yelled out to Naruto.
"Coming!" Naruto called, pleased with his last shot.
"Uh, how much more difficult is this going to be?" Shikamaru asked, but got no response.
Shikamaru found it amazing how black the mountain really was. He always figured it was under shadow of the mountain next to it, but that wasn't so. It was just black, the trees, the ground. If you stood still and did not move, you would find that there was no sound to be heard. No birds, no wind, no nothing, so Naruto made it a point to remain making noise.
"What
happened here?" Shikamaru asked to the old man who was just ahead of
him, climbing over a huge dead tree blocking their path.
"What?" The old man yelled over the fallen tree.
Shikamaru climbed over as well, "what happened to this forest?" he repeated himself.
"Nothing happened to it," the old man replied and continued the hike.
"Its always been like this?" Shikamaru asked, not convinced.
"Its
been like this since I was birthed into the world, beyond that, I don't
know," he replied in a nasty tone, not happy with the constant
chattering that these two loved to conjure.
For a long while Naruto whistled random tunes to the dark jagged trees.
If it were not for the faint brownish glow in everything, you would never be able to see where you were going. Shikamaru suddenly felt dizzy, it was like he stepped into another world.
The old man grinned, "see the ground?" He stopped to let Naruto catch up, who was taking a picture, "sometimes in this wood, you can imagine your walking on nothing...do you know what I mean by nothing boy?"
Shikamaru nodded, but didn't look at the ground, it was all he could do to keep the image of him in a world of nothing-ness out of his mind. He just shut his eyes and thought of a shady tree surrounded by green grass and cool breezes, he was no idiot and was not going to get caught up in the plan, or trick or whatever it was that the old man was trying to pull. The old man began to chuckle as Naruto walked up.
"What's going on?" Naruto asked, wondering why the old man was laughing and Shikamaru was in his weird meditative state.
Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked at Naruto, "nothing," he said with a slight smile.
"Let's go," he said in a demanding voice, turning his head to the old man who chuckled a little more and then nodded.
"Yes, its no good to linger about," he said with a smile.
Now Shikamaru was mad, he wasn't sure if the old man was saying these things to seriously warn him or just to scare the living hell out of him.
Naruto meanwhile was still oblivious and was enjoying the change in scenery, although he wasn't that anxious to sleep this night...in these woods. But even if it were not for his nightmares, he didnt want to sleep tonight, now that he was curious if whether Shikamaru would have 'another' nightmare or not. But for some reason he felt like Shikamaru was making the whole thing up and there would be no nightmare, if Shikamaru was or was not having nightmares, Naruto was still glad that he got assigned with Shikamaru instead of Gaara. If Gaara were here he would watch Naruto's every move...mostly because he would be worried...mostly.
"Are you okay Naruto?" Shikamaru whispered to Naruto from over his shoulder.
"Yeah, why"
"You haven't snapped a picture for over five minutes," he replied sarcastically.
Naruto grinned and snapped one of Shikamaru and the old man behind him.
Shikamaru quickly covered his eyes after the flash, "Naruto!" he said in a warning tone.
"Heh heh...I figured we would need a few tourist pictures..."
Shikamaru found it pointless, what's done has been done and nothing he could do would change it, he would have to wait out the white spots blinding his vision and path. Well, at least he could see the old man ahead of him which was really all he cared about. The last thing he wanted to do was get lost in these woods, he didn't even have a map on him, he only hoped that maybe Naruto brought a compass. But if he was the one to get lost, Naruto's compass wouldnt do him any good, unless Naruto used it to look for him...if Naruto wasnt lost himself.
"Shikamaru," Naruto whispered, "I think someone's following us"
"Its probably your imagination, or some animal who is more scared of you then you are of it," he said non-chalantly.
"No, It's something else"
"What are you all whispering about back there? Keep up!" The old man snapped.
For
about an hour they all walked silently, Naruto becoming more paranoid
as they went. He knew somone...or something was watching them, all he
could do was tell himself that it was his imagination and keep the
looking over his shoulder to a minimum.
"So tell me about this
forest," Naruto said, trying to make conversation with the old man. The
silence was driving him crazy, on top of all the other things pushing
him to the edge.
"There's nothing to tell. My grandfather built
the cabin you will be staying in, he died right after building it. I
remember how beautiful it was when I was a child, a real piece of
work...now it leaks and is half falling down, but at least you have
walls between you and the dark"
"Heh, I never though of you as scared of the dark," Shikamaru said sarcastically.
"When you've lived near these mountains for as long as I have, you learn to be," the old man responded seriously.
Once again Shikamaru was reminded why he should just keep his mouth shut around the old geezer, it was too troublesome to be at a constant word battle with the old man. It was much easier to just shut up and not say anything, that way the old man wouldn't have anything to say back. The problem was this silence, he wasn't used to it. If your in the city you continually hear traffic and people, if your in the mountains you hear the sound of chirping birds. But on this mountain you heard nothing and Shikamaru was itching to find out why there were no birds or animals to be found. Why the trees block the sunlight and cause everything to die...no nothing grew in the first place so nothing would die. There were so many questions toppling over one one another that he was determined to find out the secret of this black mountain and why it is the only one that's desolate.
Soon a sound was clearly heard and Shikamaru turned around and looked at Naruto.
"Uh, Lets stop and eat!" Naruto proclaimed and sat on a rock nearby.
"No, we keep going," the old man ordered, "we're almost there."
Naurto
looked at Shikamaru with pleading eyes while Shikamaru shrugged and
continued walking, "he said that we are close, you can wait," he said
non-chalantly.
"Well if I die on the way you will be held responsible," Naruto said with a glare.
"Hai hai, I will even pay for your funeral," he responded sarcastically waving his hand back and forth.
Naruto made a pretty good sour face and crossed his arms while his stomach was the only thing that could be heard in the dark woods.
Two hours
passed and Naruto thought he was going to die of starvation.
"Shikamaru," he whined, knowing that Shikamaru knew why he was whining.
"Aa I know, your hungry, but the cabin is right there," he said pointing and Naruto looked up.
"Food! I can eat!" His eyes gleamed with delight and he at once ran to the cabin and tried to open the door.
The old man took out his keys and gave them to Shikamaru, "I will be back in five days to take you back, stay inside when the sun goes down, I don't want to haul any corpses down the mountain."
Shikamaru
would have laughed if it went for the seriousness in the mans voice,
"Uh, thank you for leading us hear, and the cabin"
"Just stay inside when the sun goes down and you'll be fine," he warned once more before heading back down the mountain.
Shikamaru
watched his back as he left, "Shikamaru! Lets get inside!" Naruto
screamed from behind him, tired of trying to get his partners head out
of the clouds.
"I don't like it here Naruto," Shikamaru suddenly
said, heart beating fast against his chest, "we should go back," he
said straining his eyes to try and see some trace of the old man.
"What!" Naruto bellowed, "what are you talking about? Lets get inside and eat!" Naruto did not like the tone of Shikamaru's voice, nor what he had to say for that matter, so de decided he would stick to food. No harm usually comes from filling your belly.
to be continued
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A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. As have have mentioned on one of my other fics, my computer crashed and I have had to write all of it over. But I think it turned out okay...although not as great as I would have liked...but what can ya do?...Thank you all for reading and I hope you return for the next chapter. )
Reveiw Replys
ohjuotaku: Thank you for your reveiw and as you can see I have given you some of the dream. It was meant to be in the first chapter but I decided it worked better here. Gaara you will soon find out about soon. )