I do not own Naruto or Concrete Garden nor do I make any money off of this.

"talking"

'thinking'

Flashback

Chapter 2:

"Do you really dine on human beings?" Naruto asked.

"Is that so bad?" Sasuke questioned, cutting a slice of an apple and eating it.

"Yes it is," Naruto stated.

"Why?" Sasuke frowned. "For me to eat human beings is just like people eating fish and meat."

"If you stop eating us, will you not survive?" Naruto looked up. "If you eat other foods like apples instead, will you not survive?"

"Let us retell the story of the mosquito," Sasuke said. "This mosquito creature used to feed on fruits from trees. And then one day, a mosquito gathered up its courage and sucked the blood of a mammal. Thus evolving into the blood-sucking mosquito we have today. Why suck blood? Because blood contains more nutrients and fat than fruit juice. The other point is about one's taste." He licked the juice of the apple from the knife. He smirked. "Do you prefer the taste of fish of meat? As for myself, I fancy a woman or man with a bit of fat on the inside."

Naruto gagged. "This is wrong... You're tricking me with words to make everything sound plausible to the ear but, it's still wrong!"

"That's because you're analyzing this from the human's point of view," Sasuke said. "Afraid to see you own kind being slaughtered?"

"Of course!" Naruto yelled. "I'm an man too! Obviously I cannot condone cannibalism!"

"Then why do you assume pigs and cows are willingly waiting for men's slaughter?" Sasuke knew he was making a point.

"Men... are different from live-stock."

"Your two-way philosophy has many contradictions. Tell me. If you can convince every cell in me with your philosophy, maybe I'll consider not feeding off human flesh any longer."

"When you eat meat or fish, do you feel a sense of guilt?" Naruto asked. Kabuto and Naruto were eating lunch together.

"No," Kabuto answered. "You appreciate but lack guilt. All creatures on earth depend on one another to survive, most by feeding on others, the circle of life. When a person dies, he returned to the earth and bugs will feed off his corpse. Japan has no underground burials. A small country like Japan cramped with all the underground corpses would be really freaky." He laughed.

'It's not that funny,' Naruto thought.

"However, if it involves killing an animal on your own, then the process of slaughtering will seem cruel," Kabuto said. "A pig's cries are especially painful to listen to."

"Show me," Naruto said. "The angel's notorious appetite. I want to understand just how dangerous the angel I am dealing with is." Kabuto's words reminded Naruto of the time he killed a pig. His father, before he died, bought a farm. The three, Kushina, Minato, and Naruto lived on that farm for two years before the car accident. Naruto had to kill some pigs and chickens for dinner, but there was one pig he couldn't take it upon himself to kill. He thought it was different from the others. Minato had killed the pig without Naruto knowing and it had tasted the same as the others.

"So you've shown Naruto-kun the massacre document." Orochimaru said. "You are really horrible." He smiled. "I heard he threw up his lunch after watching the feast."

"He said he wasn't happy," Kabuto said. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "Compared to that cannibal, confronting our difference to others' lives, we're the greater evil."

"Indeed we are," Orochimaru said.

Naruto cried himself to sleep only to wake up in the middle of the night. He turned on the news, but shut it off since it talked about deaths. 'The morality and laws that men ought to obey have not polluted Sasuke's soul,' Naruto thought. 'Put no restraint on him either.' A cat suddenly jumped onto Naruto's back. "Where you worried about me?" He turned over and began to pet the cat. Then he got an idea.

Sasuke was tapping away on a laptop when Naruto approached him. He looked up and saw the blond. "Naruto."

"Am I interrupting you?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, it's just a trivial matter I've been working on," Sasuke answered. Don't worry." Naruto showed Sasuke his cat. "A cat?" He scratched the cat's chin.

"Yeah" Naruto smiled. "Meet me pet, Tama."

"Heh," Sasuke smirked taking hold of the cat. "My first time with a living cat."

"You can't eat her," Naruto ordered. "She is like my family."

"I don't eat cats," Sasuke said.

"And no dogs either," Naruto said. "Back at the farm, we had a golden retriever." Again, he remember the pig he couldn't kill. "I don't understand. I just... If there are more and more living creatures that have the ability to communicate, it'll be tiring. For example, if one day a pig tells me "please don't eat me," I won't be able to eat him for sure. Maybe things like communication and language gaps are really all just in my imagination. You may find me too naive or hypocritical. but just like that, we by using the same type of language, we are able to communicate better as compared to Tama-chan. Or are we just living baits to you?"

"What you've just said," Sasuke smirked. "Is truly some kind of screwed logic that only humans can come up with. But I don't hate it."

Naruto blushed. "But you still refuse to say 'I don't eat humans.'"

"That's a different matter all together," Sasuke said putting Tama down. Sasuke noticed Naruto's sad expression. "What's wrong?" He moved his hands to Naruto's cheeks. "Don't put on a face like it's the end of the world. Let me help you relax."

Naruto felt a weird sensation before he was suddenly floating in the air. "Eh?" he flipped upside down. "Whoa! I'm floating! How? How can this be... Sasuke!"

"I'm responsible for it," Sasuke said.

"Liar!" Naruto yelled. "That's powerful... is this counted as a supernatural power?"

"I can 'peep' too," Sasuke said. "I can see the dorm you're living in, and your room."

"Really?" Naruto asked.

"Really," Sasuke smiled.

'He can't be consoling me, right?' Naruto asked himself. "Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"Didn't you say that you called for me because you were lonely? Then treat others like how you treat me. I think that the people here will also believe that the day when they can live peacefully with you will arrive" Sasuke lowered Naruto to the ground. "Sasuke?"

"You place too much trust in them." Sasuke's eyes were cold. "You should go home today. You look very tired and your body is a little feverish too." He stepped back. "Good night, Naruto."