Disclaimer: I don't own nor have I contributed to Naruto in any way! Nope! None!
Sky-eyed Kitsune: Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for waiting so patiently and reminding me to update this story. So much has happened lately! All good things though ^^ Without further ado, I hope you enjoy!
Let it be known that for the beginning of this story I will be replying to reviews that have more than one sentence. But again, the problem is that I tend to get so many that I don't have the time to respond thoughtfully to them all. So I'll be replying to any feedback while the number of them are still small ^^
Replies:
To Zenerific1: Your wish is granted in this chapter! And yes, no lemon is a shame, but I promise that the lime will be sufficient ;p Thank you for waiting oh so patiently! ^^
To bluegirlami21: You're right! You aren't quite supposed to know everything that's happening right now, so its understandable that you have many questions (which is what I wanted lol). it gives you alot to think about ^^ Don't forget that Naruto was a gang lord back in the day! Danger is ever present for him physically, and also mentally. Well Arashi and Sasuke finally meet, but I don't think it's what you are expecting lol. But a connection between Arashi and Sasuke? Hmm...(hint hint). Yes! Arashi has no substance ;p Naruto is trying to make a completely new person out of himself, so at this point such a persona is in its early stages so emotions and mental connections are determined yet. And yes, this is making Naruto disappear... I love to read your reviews! Your deduction skills are excellent my friend ^^ And you interpret everything I write in the exact way I want all of my readers to. Thank you for the lovely review!
To Lenny13: Oh...um, I can't make promises with update frequently. I apologize! I forget which stories to update, and I get busy and such...but when people PM me and tell me to update a story I usually do that same day or within five days. Thank you!
To Kae: Oh, well I'm sorry to say but these are all of the latest chapters. I update quite slowly ^^'
To laura: Sorry for the wait! I'm so happy you like it ^^
To Vampire-skulls: Oh wow, I'm so honored you like it so much!
To Kai: Oh yea, I've been there with the racoon eyes lol. Some fics are too good to stop so I end up looking like this: _ And I hate me too sometimes for what I put Naruto through T.T
To BlackFireXD13: Aw that means so much! Thank you! Your review made me smile so much ^^ reviews like this are what keep me writing, seriously! And I bet you could write really well if you try ;p Everyone has some potential! Aw, you burn your pictures? ::cries:: Why!?
To EnnaGirl: Yes it has been a while! ;p Itanaru romance I can't do, but they will be very brotherly for sure! If you want some itanaru check out my story "Fade to Shadows" because it is slowly turning into an itanaru fic lol. I have several ideas for itanaru fics I want to write, but I want to finish all the other stories I have started first! Gah!
To Silver Tongue theangelgirlmax: I know, I'm horribe T.T Lol, I am laughing, don't worry ;p Well they don't get together in this chapter, but I can guarantee a happy ending from this story!
Thank you to all other reviewers! I' so honored to receive them!!
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Chapter Four: Snow and Stone
"Sound the bugle now- play it just for me.
As the seasons change, remember how I used to be.
I'm a soldier, wounded so I must give up the fight.
There's nothing more for me- lead me away…
or leave me lying here."
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Naruto woke roughly, his body jolting as knocking resounded from the door to his room.
"Rise and shine rockstar!" Kankuro said as he poked his head in through the guest room door. Arashi stared at him groggily, half asleep.
"I don't ever remember Kankuro being this cheerful in the morning," he thought to himself, before nodding and unraveling the covers that cocooned him.
"Rough night of sleep?" Kankuro asked, leaning against the doorframe as he watched Arashi struggle to untangle himself from the web of blankets.
"Kind of," Arashi said, sighing as he threw off the last of the infernal sheets.
"You slept for half the day yesterday."
"Yea, long trip," Arashi said as he stood. Kankuro's face turned red and wrenched into a grimace as he turned around swiftly.
"You couldn't tell me that you slept in the nude?" he asked incredulously. Arashi shrugged.
"I don't have any night clothing," he said, grabbing the clothing he had worn yesterday and beginning to tug on his jeans.
"Right. Well then, for my sake, please let shopping be the first thing on your to-do list today!"
"I want to see Naruto's grave." Kankuro was startled a little at the wisp of a reply, but heard it nonetheless. He smiled gently as he left the room.
"I'm sure Naruto will be happy to see you again."
Gaara rolled his eyes up to the ceiling as he stood outside of a dressing room. He wasn't enthusiastic about accompanying this new friend of Naruto's that was supposedly an "old" one, but least he incur the wrath of Temari, he reluctantly took the brunette to the mall.
Gaara turned his head as Arashi opened the door, stepping out in his new clothing.
It was nothing as flashy as Gaara had imagined. Arashi could probably buy the whole store if he wanted to, so it struck Gaara that the brunette would choose to wear something so typical.
Dark jeans ripped at the knees, a crimson tee-shirt, and a black jacket that hugged his lithe frame. The only accessory he wore was a short chain off of his jeans, but that was all.
"Done?" Gaara asked, and Arashi nodded, taking his pile of clothing from the dressing room and heading over to the register.
Gaara, like Sasuke, had found it a little too convenient that a "friend" of Naruto's they had never heard of would show up out of the blue to possess his deceased friend's company. Furthermore he had no written notice or liable proof that Naruto really had passed on the company to him, just his word. But as far as words went the man didn't say much.
He responded to questions and listened politely, but that was all. He never started talking or asking questions to anyone else. Then again Gaara had no problem with silence.
Arashi nodded to Gaara as he held two bags of clothing, and the two left the store.
Arashi and Gaara came into the Sabaku home, the breath of winter flourishing about them as the redhead closed the door. He stood and watched the new guest of the house walk up the stairs with his new clothes, his feet barely making a sound against the steps, before disappearing as he ascended away from Gaara's line of sight.
This person was…strange…in a way. Of course Gaara had no problem with his behavior, and yet such a quiet person rose suspicion.
Gaara looked up as Arashi came back down the stairs, and their eyes locked for a moment before they both swept out the door once more.
Sasuke placed his hand on the top of the cold headstone, closing his eyes as the chill in the wind seemed to pass right through his skin.
The anniversary of Naruto's death was approaching quickly with less than a week to go. Sasuke didn't know if he would be able to see another day, that day, without the blond beside him.
Sasuke looked down at Naruto's grave, kneeling and placing his forehead against the carved name in the stone before him, sending chills down the skin on his neck.
He would've given anything to see Naruto, just one more time, just for one more moment to hold and kiss him and tell him how much he missed and needed him.
Sasuke wished that he could go back in time to the first day he met Naruto, to tell himself to hold on to the blond and never, ever let him go.
And yet, Sasuke stood in front of Naruto's grave.
He would have given his life just to look one more time into Naruto's eyes, just to be truly happy being lost in that sapphire sea.
Sasuke knew by Naruto's parting words that he had been forgiven, and yet the blame hung over him until he could feel its physical and emotional pain seep through him. It wore on him, as if a real weight balanced itself on his shoulders, making him weaker every moment.
Sasuke knew that it was unhealthy to burden his life with such grief, but he couldn't help it. He honestly didn't have anything else to hold onto in the world. In the short time they had known each other, Naruto had ingrained himself into Sasuke's heart. Not all of the money, or love from others in the world would give him enough reason to keep living the way he was now. Wouldn't it just be easier to end it all…to join Naruto, wherever he was, and destroy the aching pain that had torn his heart to shreds?
Sasuke abruptly stood and looked over his shoulder as he heard loud crunching snow, and Gaara pulled up in his sister's car a few yards away from Naruto's hill.
Gaara frequented Naruto's grave often, so it wasn't uncommon to see him there, but it was uncommon to see Gaara staying in the car and a stranger stepping out of the passenger side, striding towards the hill.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
Who did this man think he was to just waltz up the hill towards Naruto's grave?
Sasuke turned back to Naruto's grave as the crunching footsteps grew louder and nearer, until the man was beside Sasuke, less than a foot away.
Sasuke flicked his onyx eyes to the man who had his hands in his pockets.
Pale. Brunette. Lithe. Handsome. Emotionless. Sasuke was reminded of himself.
The man took one of his hands out of his pocket and placed it atop the grave where Sasuke's hand had previously rested not two minutes ago.
"Uzumaki Naruto," the man said, reading the engraving. He smiled and shook his head, and Sasuke seethed. "How did I know you would end up down there?"
Sasuke tightened his fist at his side but kept his glare focused downward.
The man reached back into his opposite pocket, and with two fingers delicately removed a withered and sickly grey flower.
Sasuke couldn't help but look at the dead thing, and glare fiercely at the man, his fingernails digging into his palms.
The brunette flicked the flower in front of the grave, and cocked an eyebrow when he caught Sasuke's angry stare.
"It was a very fragile and pretty white rose," the man explained. "Unfortunately it died on the way here. I don't think Naruto would mind."
"Who the hell are you to speak for him?" Sasuke hissed, and the man smirked.
"I must've hit a nerve there." He sighed deeply, looking up at the sky. "I knew him for a very long time, so I really don't think that you are the one to be asking that particular question."
Sasuke ground his shoe into the snow, practically steaming. It took every fiber within him to not strike the man then and there.
The brunette flicked his gaze back to Sasuke, glaring.
"Who are you to argue on his behalf? His lover?"
Sasuke gnashed his teeth against each other as the man smirked at the raven's lack of response.
"I knew Naruto when he was still innocent. You probably didn't even meet him until he was already poisoned by the world. Then again being as gullible as he was I'm sure it didn't take long for him to make a mess of his life."
The man's head snapped to the side with a crack as Sasuke sent his fist whirling into that superior, smirking face.
Sasuke tightened his fist where he stood, amazed that such a hard strike hadn't blown the man over. Instead he swiveled his feet, skid a little, and maintained a standing position.
If Sasuke didn't know better he would've said that the man had been expecting it.
The man grinned, turned his head to the side and spit out a spurt of blood onto Naruto's grave.
Sasuke snapped and tackled the man to the ground, who didn't even struggle or seem to resist. Sasuke held the man down by his shoulders, glaring fiercely from all of his pent up rage.
Naruto couldn't help but see the softness beneath those hard eyes, the same tenderness that Sasuke had once looked upon him with, only for him.
Sasuke jumped a little when he felt a cold hand press against the back of his neck, pushing his head down until he and the brunet were practically nose to nose.
The coldness of their breaths mingled with each other into the air, and Sasuke was frozen to the spot.
He raised his eyebrows a little when the man's eyes seemed to churn with a hint of sorrow, eyelids lowering a little. Sasuke watched as those anguishedeyes closed, and the next thing he knew he was flung back, a bruise pulsing on his cheek where he had been punched.
He looked over, surprised to see the man still lying spread-eagle on the cold ground, looking up at the grey sky in an almost trance-like state.
This must have been the strangest man Sasuke had ever met. Well, besides his own brother.
Naruto didn't understand.
He knew that these feelings wouldn't go away for a little while, but three years hadn't changed anything?
He still felt the burning in his chest, like a fire that refused to be quenched, and the tingling of his skin when Sasuke's breath had billowed over his face.
Had he really…loved Sasuke…?
Sasuke rubbed his tender cheek "Tch, bastard," he grumbled as the brunet before him stood, brushing snow off of his backside. He and Sasuke both looked up as soft white flakes suddenly started falling all around them.
"Don't wanna catch a cold there teme," the man said, turning back to face Naruto's grave, and Sasuke froze. Slowly his lips began to curl into a snarl, fists clenching and teeth gnashing.
"Don't you ever…" he said, voice deadly and shaking with suppressed rage. "Ever, call me that."
Naruto didn't turn as he heard Sasuke's angry crunching steps becoming distant. He reached out, tracing his name on the tombstone, knowing perfectly well who should be six feet deep under the ground before him.
He shivered a little as the snowflakes from above melted on his naked hand, and he felt his knees give out to the point where he was dipped before the statue in a bow-like stance. He reached out onto the tombstone to support himself as his shoulders shook, hair framing his face as he let his head hang down.
A raw sob wrenched from his throat as frozen tears poured down his face in rivulets, pattering on the snow above the grave.
When his arms finally couldn't take it anymore, Naruto collapsed onto his knees on his own grave, gripping the headstone to give himself an anchor to the rest of the world. His bare forehead touched the cold engraving of his name as he wept for all the years he had lost, all the joyous and frightening memories that were flooding his entire being with every tear that pattered on the gave where his body should lay.
Naruto's breath wisped from his lips like smoke, tinted by the winter air. He had never remembered crying so hard in his entire life, never able to let go of everything, forget himself, and just let everything flow forth.
God…God how it hurt…all of the happy things he left behind, he tried to erase, and all of the horrible shards of the past that cut him deeper now than ever before.
If anything, Naruto already realized that by coming back and trying to prove to himself that he had forgotten everything, it only made him remember more.
Gaara looked up in the car as he heard the crunch of footsteps, and looked out the window to see Sasuke storming a path from the hill, practically melting the snow around him with his rage.
"So, you met him," Gaara said, rolling down the window and nearly giving Sasuke a heart attack.
"Yea," Sasuke spat, calming his heart from the sudden surprise. "Who the hell does that bastard think he is?"
Gaara smirked. "Apparently his name is Arashi, and he was Naruto's oldest and best friend."
Sasuke felt his jaw drop a little, quickly shutting it.
"Hard to believe, I know." Gaara looked up at the hill where Arashi stood in front of Naruto's grave. "Apparently he and Naruto have been best friends since they were children."
"If he's Naruto's friend the where the hell was he when Naruto needed him? When he needed someone, anyone?" Sasuke snarled, and Gaara shrugged.
"Well he lives in Japan, and Naruto did too when he was younger, so I guess they lost touch when he moved."
"Pfft." Sasuke glared over at the brunet on the hill. "Some excuse."
"I'm surprised you got a word out of him. He's hardly spoken since he's been here. I suspected he's grieving about Naruto's loss. He wasn't aware until a week ago after all."
Sasuke's angry expression faded a little as he saw the brunet ahead collapse on his knees in front of Naruto's grave, shoulders shaking.
"Sasuke."
Sasuke looked back at Gaara.
"For Naruto's sake, try to get along with the guy."
Sasuke's lips tightened a little, but he nodded nonetheless. He would try, for Naruto, but if push came to shove he couldn't guarantee that Arashi would leave Konoha unscathed
Oh mai, not a very productive first meeting, hm? In the next chapter: family dinner food flinging? Arashi and Sasuke face off in the dining room!? Arashi's first visit to his father's company, and Gaara makes a shocking discovery!? Reviews are an honor!
Sky-eyed Kitsune