Moon Snare

Author: Ladelle

Comments: I...totally forgot to post this here. Epic fail. I've started the process of writing fanfiction more for fun while working on my original more seriously, so I honestly can't promise super scheduled udates. I hope you wonderful readers will enjoy the chapter nonetheless!

Chapter 2:

What little bit of a fight Sasuke had planned to give backfired when daylight spread across the countryside, and his body came crashing into an unfortunate and unexpected tangle of aches and pains. Remembering horrid stories from his childhood, Sasuke felt like heavy coins had been placed over his eyelids as he awaited a certain death. His only comfort was a sweet and forbidden scent that occasionally tickled his senses and flared a tiny swell of life back into his fading consciousness.

Naruto brushed sweat-soaked strands of hair from Sasuke's face as his head lay cradled on his thigh. His fingers felt like fire against Sasuke's skin, and when he spoke, his voice was filled with worry. Sasuke wondered, as he drifted in and out of consciousness, just what was keeping him alive.

"Come on, just drink a little…" Naruto's voice ghosted Sasuke's senses as a ray of sharp afternoon light made the backs of his eyelids glow. Sasuke coughed as water flooded his mouth and escaped onto his chin. A voice he didn't recognize coaxed him further.

"Swallow what you can."

"C-can't…" Sasuke managed to say while forcing his throat to down the cool liquid. He struggled to crack open an eye and was met with piercing blue eyes he recognized, only the man they belonged to was much older than the boy he remembered.

The older man smiled, but Sasuke saw the weariness behind the soft expression. "How long ago were you bitten?"

Sasuke felt his eyebrows draw in confusion as he searched his scrambled thoughts for what the man was referring to.

"I know you're exhausted, but please try to remember. It's important."

"Dad, is he going to turn?" Naruto's familiar voice asked.

The older man flinched and chose not to answer. Instead, he gently pulled Sasuke into a sitting position and lifted his chin so that their eyes could meet. "Tell me. When did you get bitten?"

Struck with the terrifying image of the backlands of silhouetted shrubs and webbed oaks that had swallowed his brother, Sasuke sucked in a breath. "Two…two weeks?" His voice cracked.

"Two weeks?" Naruto was frowning with disbelief. "I thought that—"

"Have you changed?" The older man interrupted, his eyes narrowed, searching Sasuke's for some sort of confirmation.

Sasuke fumbled to grasp his meaning. "I…I've been sick?" As he admitted it, his head throbbed in blinding flashes of fevered chaos. As he tried to take in his surroundings, his eyes hardly able to stay open, he noticed he was in a shack. Rough wooden slates towered around him. The smell of sweat and earth bit his nose and he felt the prickly ends of hay beneath him.

"Have you changed into a wolf?" Naruto clarified, and Sasuke's head lulled to the side, the best he could do in an attempt to meet the Outsider's eyes.

"Wolves…" Sasuke remembered that no one had believed him when he had admitted that a pack of wolves had completely ravished his brother. "They killed him…"

There was a span of silence until Naruto finally spoke. "They? I thought there was only one killer loose in the town?"

"What would you like me to do, Minato?" A colder voice intercepted the inquiry, and Sasuke squinted his eyes to make out a garish figure standing beyond Naruto's father. "Tonight's a full moon. If you're thinking he's a—"

"If he hasn't changed yet, and he was bitten two weeks ago, he has to be. Damn it," Minato cursed. "I hadn't realized the situation had gotten so out of control."

What little strength Sasuke had left faded and he slouched backwards. Naruto caught him in an awkward embrace, and Sasuke tilted his head to the side, until his nose brushed Naruto's skin. "Smells…so good…"

A look of panic crossed Naruto's features as Minato frowned. "What did he just say?"

Shifting uncomfortably, Naruto shook his head. "It's not a big deal. He seemed to know in the village and—"

"Unbelievable," the man in the shadows stated.

Minato seemed shocked as well, though his features hid it well enough. "The kid hasn't even turned and he can tell you're in heat?"

Naruto laughed nervously, and the strange man standing behind Minato crept a little closer. "If he makes it, he might be pretty strong."

"Kakashi, you and I both know that if he makes it…" The comment died with a quiet contemplation. Naruto seemed to grow anxious in the silence.

"What will happen if he makes it?"

"We'll discuss it when the time calls," Minato answered.

"He will make it, right?" Naruto's grip on Sasuke grew stronger.

Sasuke couldn't cling to consciousness long enough to hear the answer.

The furtive fragrance of strawberry fields invaded his dreams like a sweetened smoke. Tall grasses in the lark meadow hissed his name and demanded that he wake, but Sasuke tore through low-hanging branches and the silky sweeps of spider webs as though his life depended on it. A cold breeze sliced at his skin and he distantly heard himself crying out.

When the sound shocked him awake, a strong body forced him flat onto the straw-laden bed of the shack. He howled in a mixture of pain and fury, not recognizing the sound of his own voice. He thrashed about and screamed as his body burned, but when his eyes opened, he saw no fire. The sickness was consuming him, it seemed, like a flame.

"Breathe through it," The man above him said, and Sasuke caught glimpses of his white head of hair as it fell over scarred skin near his eye. He seemed quite young, even with his grey hair and glossy eye, which looked as though it hadn't seen anything for years. His good eye was the color of a cobalt sky just before twilight.

Sasuke obeyed the command, breathing in quick rushes of air through his nose, still writhing as he felt the fiery sensation saturate his skin. He kicked and screamed until his throat could only concoct guttural growls.

"Kakashi, my dad is coming," Naruto's voice managed to fill the void that Sasuke's hollering had left. "Have you got him?"

Kakashi was frowning and Sasuke seethed. "My skin is p-peeling—" He felt it curling away from his flesh like the coiled skin of an apple, but when he glanced down, it was completely intact. He cried out and wriggled helplessly under Kakashi's grip.

Kakashi spoke calmly, even if his voice was gruff from his struggle to keep Sasuke grounded. "Don't fight it."

"Is he turning?"

Sasuke saw Naruto look at him with knowing eyes. He had no idea what the Outsider's words meant. Kakashi nodded.

"T-turning…into w-what?" Sasuke's nails dug into the chilled soil beneath him and his teeth clamped together. Naruto replied as though the answer was obvious.

"A wolf."

Sasuke felt panic take over, and the raw energy of the emotion surged through him like a rush of water preceding a mudslide. It made no sense. It made perfect sense. It felt wrong. It felt right.

In one rush of movement, he tore himself up from the ground, sending Kakashi stumbling backwards like a ragdoll. With only his instinct to guide him, he escaped the small shack and took off into the night.

Wind bit at his skin and burned his throat as he struggled to inhale it. The moon was full. So full it looked like a rubber ball that would at any moment fall into Sasuke's soil-stained hands. He scratched at his skin as he ran.

Turning into a wolf? That was impossible.

"Hey!"

Sasuke didn't stop, especially because Naruto's voice sounded so close. He pelted across a long stretch of grazing land for sheep before ducking into the woodlands. He could feel the tremors coming on; the aching need for things he couldn't name. Adrenaline throbbed with every pulse of his heart, mixed with the undeniable pain of his sickness.

"Why, you—"

Sasuke didn't get to hear the rest of what Naruto had to say before the other boy tackled him to the ground. Their bodies met and melded together. They rolled against thatches of fallen branches and leaves and the dull perfume of night-flowers and dirt filled Sasuke's nostrils. Naruto's skin was cool against his own. Their legs tangled. They fought and Sasuke clawed, but in the end, when their tumble stilled, it was Naruto who was on top, pinning Sasuke's hands to either side of his head.

"Get off of me!"

"Turn!" Naruto demanded, and his eyes glowed a cruel and brilliant cerulean.

Sasuke growled back, "I can't turn into a wolf, I'm—"

"Not human anymore!" Naruto finished for him, panting.

Sasuke's lips pursed and he stuttered over a breath. His eyes were wet and he was shaking, the pain stinging so badly. "I can't—"

"You have to," Naruto's voice was much kinder, even if his eyes hadn't lost their intensity. His body slipped closer to Sasuke's, until his nose was nearly nuzzling Sasuke's neck.

"You said you liked my scent, right? Just think about that…"

Sasuke had nearly forgotten. The moonlit lilacs had just about hidden the smell from him. Sasuke buried his nose in Naruto's hair and inhaled, the sweet smell of something aching and forbidden healing a bit of the pain he had felt moments before.

"That's right," Naruto's lips hovered just above Sasuke's skin. "Now just stay calm. Don't fight it."

Sasuke shivered. "I don't want to be a wolf…"

A hot puff of air made the skin of Sasuke's shoulder erupt with goose bumps as Naruto chuckled. "You won't be one forever. But you have to change tonight. Trust me. My dad said so."

Sasuke wasn't sure what relevance Naruto's father played in the ordeal, but he didn't question it. Naruto's grip on his wrists loosened and so Sasuke clung to him tightly, biting his lip as he groaned against the perplexing pain swallowing his sanity. His vision flashed colors he didn't know existed. His bones felt like they were snapping and bloating, his flesh felt as though it had been scalded off, and Sasuke's nose and lips felt like they were being stretched to impossible lengths.

All at once, after an eternity of discomfort and tear stained vision, the pain was gone.

"Whoa, I've never seen one completely black before," Naruto's voice caused Sasuke to look at him curiously. "Even your eyes."

Sasuke's body felt funny. He felt compact, and when he whipped his head to the side to stare at Naruto, his snout smacked the Outsider in the cheek.

"Ouch," Naruto pushed himself backwards and rubbed his face. With one eye clenched closed and other peeking over at Sasuke, he looked pleased with himself. Leaning forward, but not too close to Sasuke, he pointed towards the ground.

"You've turned, see?"

Sasuke shakily got to his feet. His four feet. He stared down at his paws; couldn't tear his eyes from them. It was like watching a dream and he was struggling to convince himself that what he was seeing was reality. He tried to talk, but only a whine escaped his throat.

Smooth fingers scratched behind his ears, and Sasuke unconsciously leaned into Naruto's touch. He was past the point of losing his mind. At this point in time, he was convinced that he already had. He was a wolf. He could feel it. He could see the fur and his ears could pick up every noise, it seemed, no matter how small.

"Not so bad, right?" Naruto scooted backwards and sunk to his hands and knees. "Although, it's a bit different from being in this form…" he motioned to himself, still seemingly human.

Sasuke nodded uncomfortably, remembering that his voice didn't work. He felt like screaming. He tried, but instead, a howl tore itself from his throat. It was a guttural sound that started low in his chest and blossomed forward until Naruto was on him, cursing. His fingers were curled around Sasuke's snout, clamping his mouth closed, ending the sound as quickly as it had started. "You can't do that."

Sasuke quieted and sat very still. The exhaustion he had felt as a human had been replaced with an aware sort of energy, and the extent to which he hadn't eaten was now devastatingly apparent. His stomach growled and he licked his lips. The action only made it more apparent that his teeth were now startlingly long and sharp.

"You can't howl because you're only supposed to for emergencies," Naruto explained the rule. "Are you hungry? I can see your ribs." Naruto's fingers sifted through the soft fur of Sasuke's side, roving the bumpy extrusions of bone. He was frowning. "How did you make it two weeks without turning?"

Sasuke had no way of responding, and didn't know the answer himself. He didn't understand why he had turned to begin with. A growl hummed in his stomach. Sasuke felt so hungry and dehydrated that he still felt sick, even if it was different than before. This time he didn't feel like he was being overcome by a fever. He felt like his entire body was empty.

"Just wait here," Naruto advised. He stood up and as he did, his body changed. In a second it turned from human to wolf, so quickly that Sasuke feared he had missed the transformation by blinking. Blue eyes glittered before Naruto bolted off.

Staring at the hedges that Naruto had disappeared beyond, Sasuke sat still. He had never seen a wolf, only mangy dogs that wandered the streets and picked fights for abandoned bones and shreds of meat. Wolves weren't dogs, he thought, the image of Naruto lingering in his mind. They were bigger, more regal, and smart.

He shivered, despite his warm coat. Naruto's words echoed in his mind.

You're not human anymore.

A whimper caught his attention and his head snapped up. Naruto had returned and was clutching something unmoving and dripping blood between his teeth. It looked like a rabbit. Sasuke stared in disbelief, hoping that Naruto didn't intend for him to actually eat it. After Naruto dropped the little body on a bed of leaves in front of Sasuke, it was apparent the bloodied little animal was supposed to be dinner.

Sasuke snorted and ignored the offering. Naruto's snout wrinkled in confusion and he stepped forward and nudged the rabbit closer to Sasuke, who shook his head. His mouth was watering, but his pride and humanity kept him from devouring a raw animal. The wolf that was Naruto tilted its head to the side before huffing. Creeping forward, Naruto nibbled on a bit of the animal, as if to show that it was safe. Still, Sasuke didn't make a move towards it.

"You need to eat," Naruto phased again, and was human, and angry. He was also naked, and Sasuke tried to hide his embarrassment as Naruto crawled towards him and shook the rabbit in his face. "Don't humans eat rabbits?"

Sasuke blanched in disgust. Cooked ones, he thought.

"I saw some human burning one once. Is that it? You need it to be burned?" Naruto looked a little disgusted with the idea, and Sasuke decided that if he lived through whatever was happening to him, he planned on thoroughly explaining the difference between burning and cooking a meal.

When Sasuke didn't answer, Naruto figured he had guessed correctly. He shook his head. "You're picky, aren't you? Look, let's go back to the house. We can start a fire there and—"

Sasuke edged backwards, immediately opposed to the idea. Naruto was okay, for now, mainly because there was something about him that meant pure attraction and trust to Sasuke. The rest of the people that were waiting were strangers, and his first impression hadn't been warm. Strapping him to the floor and demanding he change wasn't a memory he was going to cherish.

"Okay, okay, sorry. We won't go back. Don't run away, okay? Because I'll catch you." His last statement seemed like a promise rather than a threat. Sasuke almost wanted to test it.

"What, you want to run?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow and Sasuke realized that his expression must have exploited his thoughts. Suddenly Naruto's eyes glittered. "We should run. It always feels better to run."

He was a wolf again before Sasuke could comment, and nudged his head towards a clearing ahead. Sasuke watched as the golden wolf trotted off, glancing back a couple of times to ensure that Sasuke was following. Sasuke was, but in a delicate pace. His paws sank into the mud beneath him and the pads of his feet snapped every branch they came into contact with. In comparison, Naruto was soundless.

Naruto barked at him, and Sasuke's attention shot up. He was excited, Sasuke realized, watching Naruto's tail wag. He picked up his pace, enjoying the way his muscles seemed to stretch with the movements. It did feel better, but also extremely foreign.

Soon they were both jogging. After a little bit of that, Naruto was racing forward. Sasuke threw his inhibition to the wind and bolted after him, leaping clumsily over fallen tree trunks and small clumps of furlong bushes. He stumbled, tripped and felt embarrassment flood him. When his eyes met Naruto's and he saw a smirk, his rebellious nature kicked in.

He snorted and was off. He dodged past Naruto faster than he had been running before and bolted out into a widespread grove of grass, weeds, and wildflowers. He stretched and lunged and Naruto ran beside him, looking competitive. They circled the field side by side a few times before Sasuke slowed, his hunger weighing on him again.

Naruto nudged his neck and Sasuke got the impression to follow him towards a herd of sheep grazing nearby. Most had settled into cottony clumps on the grass, and as Sasuke and Naruto approached, a few that were still awake cast them weary expressions.

Naruto nodded Sasuke over to a larger clump and settled down beside them. Sasuke followed in suit, feeling clumsy as several sheep cast him agitated glares. He curled against the puff of one sheep and the warm fur of Naruto, and before he even felt tired, he was asleep.

Sasuke shot up with wide eyes, panting. Naruto's arm rolled from his torso to his lap, and Sasuke scrambled away, nearly tripping over a sheep in the process. He sat quietly, watching Naruto mumble and shift, looking every bit human with no trace of animal. His heart was beating wildly from a dream; a dream where he had changed into a wolf himself. He pressed backwards into the soft fleece of the animal behind him, realizing with embarrassment that he was completely naked.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to turn back," a voice caused him to jump, and his arm instinctively came forward to catch some cloth that had been tossed his way. He saw Naruto's father staring down at him and examined the gift with hesitation. "Pants and a blanket," Minato stated the obvious, smiling, though his eyes didn't hold the same enthusiasm.

Sasuke shuffled the pants on quickly before getting to his feet and wrapping the blanket around the rest of his frame. He looked back at Naruto, who was still fast asleep.

"He rests like the dead after he turns," Minato said. "For most of us, it's exhausting and takes some getting used to. Not for you though." He was standing on a rise of land not ten feet from Sasuke, leaning over an old picket fence that oversaw the sprawling pasture.

He looked like he belonged there, overlooking the land.

Sasuke shifted, finding himself almost moved by the way the older man's piercing blue eyes looked so wise in that moment. Even though Sasuke could feel the fear of confusion and doubt clouding his mind, he stood his ground.

"What are you?"

Minato seemed surprised by this question and laughed. It was a nice sound, and Sasuke wished he could remember a time where he had ever heard his own father laugh. The memory of his parents was so vague and distant that he hardly clung to the thought of family any longer.

"Something from your human lore, I'm sure," Minato answered. He put his elbows onto the fence, and rested his chin on his palms. "We are the protectors of humans and the land they live on…though in your bedtime stories, we are creatures that hunt during the full moons and bathe towns in blood."

Sasuke frowned. "I've never been told any stories like that."

"You've never heard of werewolves?" Minato looked genuinely amazed. "Your town's getting quieter and quieter. I suppose that's a good thing. It means they fear me enough to dull the rumors, at least…"

"Werewolves?" Sasuke tried the word with his own tongue and lips. It had a bitter taste.

Minato smiled down at him, though it wasn't an honest expression. There were secrets behind the father's eyes, ones Sasuke was sure he would never know.

"Am I…a werewolf?" Sasuke asked, pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders. A cool breeze sifted over the valley, a sign that dawn was close in coming. Minato looked unaffected by the sudden coolness, despite being shirtless. He frowned at the question.

"Walk with me," he answered instead, and he pushed off from the fence, following a dirt path away from Sasuke, towards a pull of land where the fence ended and the pasture met the winding road. Sasuke followed after some hesitation, casting Naruto a sidelong glance before continuing forward. Minato waited for him, hands buried in the pockets of his own pants, his chest bare and lean, and pale in the fading darkness of morning.

They began walking, and Sasuke noticed how smooth the dirt was beneath his bare feet. It was softer than the overturning sands of the small beach near the pier, where Sasuke had often pricked his foot on jagged pebbles and gravel the size of salt nicks. He stared down at it as light began to shoulder the horizon, painting the sky purple and the trees blue.

"Who bit you, Sasuke?"

The question was so abrupt that Sasuke stopped cold in his tracks. He met the older man's eyes and knew, in some tiny part of his mind, that he couldn't admit what he knew was the truth.

"Someone you knew then," Minato answered to himself, and Sasuke felt a surge of panic. He saw pieces of that night a bit more clearly now, as if someone had removed a veil from his mind's eye. A wolf had bit him that night, but there hadn't been just one. And mixed with the memory of canine teeth sinking into his neck was the image of his brother's silhouette ripping to shreds, replaced by a wild animal with a piercing wail.

Sasuke shook his head, hoping to dispel the rotten feeling inside of his stomach. "What does biting have to do with anything?"

Minato looked away from him. "Whoever bit you turned you into one of us," he replied solemnly. "Only you're different. In a way I can't explain at the moment, because I need to discuss with my pack what to do with you."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You're going to kill me?"

Minato glanced down at him from the corner of his eye, and started a reply. "No, but there are rules—"

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Naruto paraded up the hillside, stark naked, looking offended. "Ino's going to make sheep jokes all day," he pouted.

Sasuke turned his attention away from Naruto, and could feel Naruto's confused reaction even without seeing it.

"What's wrong—"

"Naruto, go put some clothes on," Minato sighed. "And while you're at it, get everyone together. We have some things we need to discuss."

Naruto glanced down at himself in confusion before nodding, and phased into a wolf before sprinting off. Sasuke took a step backwards out of pure surprise, and held up his own arm, as if to validate that he wasn't a wolf himself. Minato placed a hand on his back and his head whipped up to see the older man's face.

"You'll need to wait in the barn while my pack meets," he explained, and pointed to the log building Sasuke remembered being in the night before.

"Pack?" Sasuke asked, though he was starting to vaguely understand. They were like humans that obeyed the laws of wolves. It only made sense that they had a pack, and that Sasuke was an outsider to it. Fascinating, too, considering the town only had stray dogs, and the only collections of wild wolves were said to live deep within the forest; so deep that not even the hunters had ever managed to find one to bring back.

Sasuke looked at the pasture and the woods that nestled against it, almost like their small plot of land was an island amongst the wilderness.

"So I'm just supposed to wait?" he asked. For the first time in two weeks his head felt clear and he didn't feel sick. Unfortunately, that also meant that he had little left to hold his tongue. "One of your kind did this to me, and now you get to decide whether or not I live or die?"

Blinking in surprise, Minato summoned an expression that defined him as a leader. "Even if it wasn't your fault, you are what you are. You're not like us, you're worse. So yes, you're going to have to wait."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes before Minato ruffled his hair and started towards the house.