Dead End AKA A Demon's Wish

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Naruto franchise, including but not limited to the characters. I do not make any profit off this franchise and am only using it for the sole purpose of entertainment. I only know the stories which I write and the characters that I create.

WARNINGS: Yuri (female slash), Yaoi (male slash), violence, death, war, etc.


The inky black night was silent, dull, and uneventful. For that Iruka was grateful. He vaguely remembered seeing his wife's face, resembling that of a perverse corpse. Before he had left the safety of his home, he had noticed the hollow yet evil eyes gazing into his own, and the sharp canine teeth behind the chapped lips that he had last kissed on the night of their wedding wedding universality He had hesitated leaving Naruto, still slumbering in his bed, but brushed it off as an illusion of his tired mind. Iruka saw the look of pure hate on his wife's aged face, barely concealed by a sweet smile. The widowed man sighed as he felt a couple of tears make their way down his tan, scarred face. 'She was only twenty-two, yet she died so young, her dreams stolen out of her grasp.' Iruka remembered the first time that he learned about the disease that was slowly killing his lovely wife. She had shortly gotten it during their arranged marriage.

FLASHBACK:

It was Spring and the flowers were just beginning to bloom. The sun seemed to be smiling down on the village people of Konoha, a welcomed difference from the harsh winters and long agonizing nights. The crops were growing at a fast rate, compared to the slow rates of previous seasons. It was a welcoming difference and the season hinted at promises of success and happiness.

Iruka was in the shed, working on a client's busted down car that needed more than just a tune up when he heard the crash from the kitchen. He had jumped at the loud sound, taking a rag to clean his oiled covered fingers as he ran down the hallway. The wrench in his hand was disposed off, falling to the ground in his haste, the sound it made when it clattered to the floor not even registering in Iruka's mind. As he drew closer to the closed kitchen door, he heard coughing sounds that caused him to worry before panic took over. It didn't sound like coughing at all, it sounded like someone was...someone was chocking! Springing into action, Iruka flung the door open, only for his eyes to land on a fallen Ayame, her lips stained red and coughing into a bloodied fist.

"He...l..p...me" Ayame went into another fit of coughing, eyes frantically moving as she struggled to breathe. Iruka wasted no time complying to his wife's begging as he picked up her up bridal style and ran to the car. He gently sat her down in the car and drove off to the hospital.

It had taken him twenty minutes to drive to the emergency room, another five minutes to get the doctors to attend to her, and forty minutes since he last seen his wife. He had been pacing up and down the hallway, a nurse coming up to him for the third time to inform him that he was unnerving the other patients and he needed to stop.

Finally, a tired doctor emerged from Ayame's room and told him the news.

"Mr. Umino, your wife Ayame is very ill. She has contracted Tuberculosis which is a bacteria that usually attacks the lungs but can also attack the kidney, spine and brain. In this case it is the brain. Originally your wife had developed TB infection which is not fatal but since it was never treated, it developed into a full blown disease. We would be able to treat it with drugs but there are more complications."

"Complications?" Iruka questioned, his eyes watering.

"I think you might want to sit down Mr. Umino."

END FLASHBACK

Before he even knew it, his car had run out of gas. He cursed under his breath, how come the car always broke down when he needed it to work? But luckily for him, he had already made it in front of Kakashi's work place. Well, he really hoped he had the directions incorrect after his eyes landed on the building. Iruka's expression morphed to one of shock as he looked up at the gloomy looking mansion bathed in darkness and shadows.

The five story mansion was made out of black bricks and covered in Gothic statues, giving it a menacing feel that made Iruka shudder in his seat. It had wide tinted windows, black wooded double doors, a cement walk through, and the landscape was made up of rare flowers and an overwhelming amount of black, red, and lavender roses. The mansion was located out of town; five miles at the least as far as Iruka knew and an additional twenty miles from his home, and looked terrifying to him. He gulped, noticing the black gates with twisted points at the top that surrounded the place, and the vines that covered them. It almost looked like something from a horror movie.

Iruka sighed as he got out of the car and went to lift Naruto up from the other side.

"Naruto wake up," he said in a soft tired voice as he shook Naruto awake.

"Daddy?" came the whispered response.

"Naruto, get up...we're here."

Naruto groaned, but got out of the car anyway, even if his legs felt like jelly, and his head felt like it had been stomped on non-stop. His father went to the back of the car to get their luggage out. He struggled to carry all the bags from the trunk, all three of them. The large one belonged to him while the two medium sized bags belonged to his tired son. There were two additional bags in the trunk, but they had belonged to his wife. Iruka's mood seemed to damper at the sight of them. He really did miss Ayame, even if they had stopped loving each other as husband and wife a long time ago.

Both males walked toward the gates of the mansion, hesitate movements revealing their fear of the unknown place. Next to the old looking gates was an intercom box, that was made out of clear metal with small gaps which hid a speaker. There was also a red button in the bottom center of the intercom box, which Iruka pressed after a brief pause. He was slightly surprised to hear a silky voice coming out of the speaker.

"Who is it?" asked a masculine voice that sent slight shivers up Iruka's spine. He frowned, gnawing at his lip, knowing that he had heard that voice somewhere before.

"My name is Umino, Iruka, and my son Uzumaki, Naruto and I are here to see Hatake, Kakashi," answered Iruka nervously. For some odd reason he felt sick all of a sudden, his stomach doing flips and churning as he thought back to his wife and how she was suppose to be here with him.

"I'll be right out, please hold on," was all the voice said before a figure emerged from the double doors of the mansion.

At first Iruka's eyes couldn't make out much except the silhouette of a large and tall figure. When he came closer was when Iruka had realized who the man was. Dressed in a black turtle neck, black slacks and his signature wild silver hair was Kakashi. Iruka's jaw opened and closed, words dying on the tip of his tongue, swallowed up by the nervousness that arose at the sight of his long time friend,

"Hello Iruka," greeted the man. His voice was husky; the same voice from the man in the intercom.

"Hey..." Iruka answered, a light frown marring his scarred face. "How long has it been since we last seen each other?"

Kakashi had shrugged, taking out an orange book that made Iruka smile. It was nice to see the man again, even if he was still the same perverted bastard from college.

"A while." The light from the moon brought Iruka's attention to the ring on Kakashi's right index finger, which caused his smile to widen.

"I see you're still wearing my gift." Kakashi briefly looked up from the book, bringing his right hand to his line of vision. On his index finger was a ring on a silver band with a picture of a scarecrow in the center.

"I suppose." The tan man's smile softened and averted his eyes to his silent son. Naruto was yawning, stretching his arms above his head. He wasn't paying attention to his father's conversation and looked surprised when his eyes landed on Kakashi.

"Who's that?" Iruka glared and Naruto laughed nervously.

"I mean, hello, my name's Uzumaki, Naruto, nice to meet you." The blond held out his hand, which Kakashi shook.

"Kakashi."

"Oh so you're the guy that mom-" Iruka's glare caused him to swallow his words. Kakashi rose an eyebrow but didn't comment. Instead, he led them through the open gates.

They walked through darkly lit hallways, which Kakashi explained was due to a power outage that caused the staff to resort to torches and kerosene lamps. Kakashi took them to the second floor, passing various doors and promising to give them a tour the next day.

"You two must be tired. For the night you guys can spend the night in these rooms and we'll discuss your living arrangements come tomorrow."

-(1)-

Morning arrived a little too soon the next day. The figure on the bed could tell you that. The blond had woken with a groan as the sun's rays hit his face; the light leaking into the cracks of his eyelids and into his eyes. He slowly rubbed his eyelids with the back of his tan hands while yawning loudly, stretching his body in the process.

"Where am I?" he asked, his voice as soft as feathers as he observed the unfamiliar room. Last night's events eluding his mind. His azure eyes scanned the room from top to bottom, not even missing one detail.

With a still foggy mind, he noticed that he was on a four poster bed with red sheets that were soft to the touch. Surrounding the bed were red wooden panels that covered the walls and on either side of the bed were black side tables with red based lamps. When he got off the bed, he couldn't help shivering as soon as his warm feet connected with the cold black marble of the floor. He walked pass the red curtains, a match to the sheets on the bed that didn't belong to him or his father.

He considered going to the windows, all four of them with black frames, and draw the long drapes shut to shun out the light. Naruto didn't know what time in the day it was and he didn't really care. All he knew was that it was too damn bright. He barely spared a glance at a wooden black dresser with black handles hiding in the corner or at the empty fireplace that looked out of place in the room. For a moment, Naruto was tempted to lay back in the bed and pretend it belonged to him.

He was tempted to sleep til night time and pretend he knew where he was and that all was right in the world and his mother was still alive. Pretend that the war never happened and that he had school and friends that he could trust. But none of that was true, and was the only thing that made him want to crawl and bury himself deep into the sheets and cry into the cotton pillows. However, it was also the very thing that kept him from doing so.

He had to face reality, one day at a time. It wouldn't be easy, but no one ever said it was going to be easy, to stay strong or to be strong enough to let himself fall apart.

With a sigh, the blond walked over to the dresser and observed his figure. His sun kissed hair was still as wild and untamed as usual and he knew that even if he found a comb or brush, that his hair refused to be controlled. His skin was still golden with small pale scars scattered around his skin accompanied by faded burn marks, caused by things he rather forget. Naruto ran a finger over the scars on his face. He didn't know if it was just him, but he thought that the whisker like scars on his face always seemed to darken in the mornings. Yet, oddly enough, they seemed to thin out come afternoon, something he found rather strange. His feet were bare and his fingers were still half asleep, causing them to have an annoying tingling sensation that he wished would go away soon.

When he noticed that he was still wearing the clothes from the past day, he suddenly felt dirty, memories rushing back to him in snippets. He recalled the face of his mother, her soft words and the realization that she was gone. He remembered the sound of breaking glass instead of the heartbeat of a human and realizing that he was in the arms of a demon. He sneered, ripping the shirt off his body, stomping on it and resisting the urge to scream and cry.

It wasn't fair. His mother wasn't suppose to die, not again. He wasn't suppose to lose another parent. They were suppose to live together, just the three of them: Ayame, Iruka and him in their small home. But now winter was looming, his mother was gone, ripped from his grasp and the aftermath of her death made him feel as if he were on the verge of dying.

The white shirt was on the ground, and he breathed deeply as he fixed his eyes on it. Naruto let out a shuddering breath, running a hand through his shaggy locks and nipping at the skin of his lower lip.

He glanced at his bags at the top of the black dresser he had ignored earlier. He approached it, unzipped one of the bags and took out another tee shirt. He looked around the room once again, after slipping on the piece of clothing. His eyes landed on a digital clock that didn't display any numbers and Naruto frown. What was the use of a clock if it didn't show you the damn time?

With a frown still on his face, he approached the cherry wood door, pausing briefly to observe the interesting dragon design craved into it. Shaking his head, he reached for the bronze door knob.

As soon as his fingers touched the door knob, he felt a wave of shock run up his spine. His eyes widened as pain overtook his suddenly alert mind, electricity cousin through him. His eyes rolled back into his head and his body went limp, falling to the ground with a loud sound as if he were a light that had suddenly turned off. Naruto now laid on the floor like a log, motionless and body struggling to breathe. Moments later a figure came into the room, taking a moment to stare at the occupant's still form before lifting Naruto's body and laying him back in bed. Several hours passed before the blond awoke again, this time in pain and with a headache.

Naruto groaned, stretching his arms above his head, wincing at the discomfort it caused him. He craned his neck to search for the clock that he hoped would now be on. Neon green numbers were glaring at him from across the room, a frown once again on his face.

It was one in the afternoon.

"How the-" He didn't even get to finish his question as the door was suddenly opened. At the smell of food, his stomach growled and he resisted the urge to burp, his body's way of letting him know that if it wasn't fed soon, that he would throw up yesterday's meal. His stomach rumbled loudly and finally a man emerged from behind the open door.

"Are you hungry?" The deep voice was the first thing he noted before he saw the dark smirk.

Naruto gulped at the taller male who was staring at him with a tray of food in his hands. The man was pale with dark eyes with red undertones and two lines that went down his cheeks. He was smirking and Naruto had a feeling that the smirk was not a good sign of any kind. The guy had set the food down on the side table, quickly moving the lamp to the side to make room for the food. If it wasn't for the dangerous aura that he sensed, he wouldn't have been as tense as he was nor as scared. The man just kept staring at his tense figure, which made him even more tense.

"Do I scare you?" he asked Naruto. Yes, very much to the point that he wanted the bed to swallow him. The younger male sensed a hint of amusement in the older figure's eyes and he didn't like that at all. Naruto's fear soon gave way to irritation.

"No," he lied, his voice coming out in a short hiss.

"Now who are you?" he asked quickly, eyes frantically searching for an escape route in case things got bad.

"My name is Uchiha, Itachi and I am going to make your stay here a living hell," a cruel smirk had appeared on the male's lips. Naruto gulped, scared for his life.