Chapter 3: Water Fun

Naruto's eyes shot open. He quickly looked around the room trying to hold as still as he could. It was morning. He sat up slowly. The blonde looked to his side and gasped. The puppet was sitting there next to him looking as though he was asleep. Naruto stared for a while waiting to see if it would come to life again. He didn't quite understand what happened last night.

He pulled the covers off of himself, not taking his eyes off the puppet for a single second. He backed away slowly and bolted for the door slamming it behind him as he ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Good Morning, sweet heart. Do you want some..." Kushina gasped when she saw her son.

Her had a large bruise on his face, more so around his cheek. "My god! What happened to you?" She rushed over quickly to the little boy and bent down in front of him. She gently held his face in her hands examining it. "Naruto?" The boy was quiet, but she could see fear in his eyes. "Baby, tell me what happened." She gripped his hand and he pulled away quickly making a hissing sound.

She looked down at his hand. There was a bruise there too. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" Naruto didn't answer. "Hold still." She commanded and tried to lift his shirt. He pulled away again, glaring at her. "Naruto, stop! I need to see." She gripped his shoulders forcing him to hold still. She lifted his shirt slowly. There was another large bruise, oddly in the shape of a shoe. She let his shirt drop and she looked into his eyes. "Naruto!" Her voice was filled with anger and concern. "You need to tell me what happened! Right Now."

Naruto eyes started to water from hearing his mother yell at him. "I fell off my bed and hit my head on the floor." His small voice quivered. Kushina looked over her son again. 'There's no way he could have gotten all these bruises from falling out of his bed.' She thought. She wanted to believe him. "Are you sure that's what happened?" The little boy nodded slowly with a slight pout in his lips. "Alright." she kissed him on the forehead and stood up. "Are you hungry?" He nodded again.

Naruto ate the cereal in his bowl slowly. "Are you in pain?" His mother asked. "My tummy hurts when I move." He said. Every time he lifted his arm to eat a shock of pain went through his back. It hurt to breath, and the muscle in his cheek throbbed when he chewed. "Mommy? Did daddy go to work already?" Kushina looked at him from across the table. "Uh-huh. He'll be back at one. The I need to go to the school to sign your papers."

The small blonde looked at her confused. "What papers?" She smiled at him. The papers that will let you in pre-school. Naruto had forgotten about that. He was so excited to go to school. He would be able to make new friends, play on the play ground, and learn more about his ABC's!

"When do I get to go, mommy?" He asked taking another painful bite. "Well, I think Wednesday. But we need to get some supplies." Her son raised an eye brow. "Supplies? Are we going fishing?" She laughed at her son's cuteness. "No, no, sweetie. Supplies for school. We need to get crayons, markers, notebooks. And I think we should get a new book bag too." She winked.

Naruto's eyes sparkled. "Can I get the spider man one?" He smiled. "If the store has one." His mother replied.

When Minato got home he was shocked as well to see the bruises on his son. Kushina had shown him the rest of his body, and Naruto told him the same thing he told Kushina. For dinner his mother brought some pizza home along with a special preasant.

"What is it?" Naruto squealed making Minato laugh. Kushina held the shiny blue bag up. "When I went to the school they gave these special preasant to all the new students." She handed him the bag and he ripped through it like a maniac ignoring the slight sting he got from his hand. "Wow!" He held up a stuffed neon orange sock monkey with super long arms and legs. "Lookie!" He waved the monkey towards him mother and father.

"Hmmm." Minato smirked. "It kind of looks like you." Naruto huffed and pouted. "Nu-uh! It looks like you!" he pointed at the older blonde with a smile. "You have to take it to school with you on Wednesday." His mother chimed in. "Why?" He said hugging the monkey close protectively. "Because, they gave them away for play time. That way, everyone has a toy to play with."

After finishing his pizza, Naruto knew he would have to go back upstairs to take a bath. He had avoiding going up there all day. He didn't even go up to get a toy. He knew the puppet was up there. He wasn't sure if what he saw last was real, but he was a little boy. The fact that he was hurt was what scared him.

"You ready for a bath?" Kushina said from the sick putting the last plate into the cupboard. Naruto tried to look calm but his mother could see through it. "Are you ok? You look a little pale." She said placing her hand on his head and ruffling his hair. "I'm fine mommy." The young boy couldn't resist the urge to latch on to his mothers leg. He held on tight nuzzling his face into her thigh. "Go on. Get your jammies, and I'll run your bath."

He followed his mother up the stairs and the parted ways as he went to his room and she went to the bathroom. He opened his door slowly peering into the darkness. He quickly reached up high for the switch to turn on the over head light. He was happy to see that the puppet was still sitting on his bed were he left it. He rushed over to his small dresser and pulled out his favorite pair of light orange pajamas with blue seams. The blonde took one last look at the puppet and ran to the bathroom. "I'll be back Mr. Puppet." He whispered.

'That little brat!' Sasuke thought. 'He never uses my real name.' He was in pain at the moment from being stuck inside the puppet. The space felt tight and cold. He was able to get himself free from the doll occasionally. After he had feasted on the fear of a human, or sucked the last remaining life from a fresh corpse, he was able to release himself for a short amount of time.

The worst of all, he couldn't see. That old man that put him inside the puppet in the first place had painted his eyes shut so he couldn't read the releasing spell. That idiotic old man knew nothing about demons. Painting his eyes shut wouldn't keep him from getting to that book. He could still speak. He was able to change his voice to lure men, women, or children to his aid.

He felt the need to punish that idiotic blonde child. He hadn't been taken to the shop yet. He didn't really care if the boy was only four, it needed to happen. He had already told the boy there would be punishment. He said he would hurt his mother... but then again he didn't tell anyone about him. Either way, there was still a need for punishment,

For some odd reason Sasuke enjoyed hurting this young boy in particular. The way he cried so easily, the way he was so gullible to his tricks, the way he bruises so easily. It was riveting. 'I know what to do.' Sasuke smirked to himself, and mustered all his strength to break apart from the puppet.

Naruto sat in the tub with his mother standing beside him going through the cupboard above the toilet. "Do you want bubbles?" She asked holding a round pink bottle with a green fish on the side. "Yes please!" she walked over to the edge and squeezed the pink goo from the bottle under the still running faucet. She pulled away and stopped the flow.

The blonde's blue eyes twinkle with amazement as the white puffs multiplied and began to rush towards him. "I'll be right back, ok?" His mother headed for the door. "Mommy!" Naruto yelled. His mother stopped and turned around to meet terrified eyes. "What is it?" She squinted at him. "Do you still think there's a monster living in here?" the boy looked down at the water. "Were are you going?" He ignored her question.

"I have to go get some towels for the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes. Just play with your fishies." She smiled and left.

Naruto looked around the room holding completely still. After he was sure there was nothing was going to hurt him he began playing with his sponges that were shaped like different colored fish.

He heard a tapping on the door. "Mommy?" he peeked around the open shower curtain that was obscuring his view of the door. There was silence, then more tapping. "Daddy?" Naruto started to tense up with the waves of fear he was getting.

"Naruto..." Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized the voice that belong to the man from last night. "Go away!"

Outside the door Sasuke relaxed in the subtle feeling of the young boys fear. But it wasn't enough. He could feel himself being pulled back to the puppet. He needed to feed on pain.

Naruto huddled himself against the wall holding his fish tightly hoping it would protect him. The door began to open slowly and Naruto watched with wide eyes. The door was fully open to reveal empty space. The blonde relaxed.

"Boo." Naruto turned to his right to see the man leaning on his knees in the water. He almost screamed before the man's hand slammed down on his mouth. "You didn't do what I wanted." he said simply digging his nails into the boys cheeks. Tears ran over his hand and he sighed in the ecstasy. "I told you, you would be punished." Naruto frantically mumbled something under his hand.

"What?" He removed his hand, only to hear the boy scream. He quickly slammed his hand down again making sure there was a cracking sound between skin. "No screaming! You fucking peice of shit!" He slowly lifted his hand again. Naruto sucked in air quickly. Aparently he couldn't breath.

"D-don't hurt my m-mommy." He said through sobs. "Don't worry. She doesn't interest me now. I'd rather hurt you." Naruto stared at him. "M-mr. Pup-" The man gripped hard to the fragile boy's arm. "Stop calling me that! My name is Sasuke! Not fucking Mr. Puppet!" Naruto winced and shook with the harsh words.

"I'm sorry. The boy whispered overwelmed with tears. Sasuke put on his sweet face. "Aww... You look so cute when your sad." He latched on to blonde hair. "You sick little bastard!" he hissed into his ear.

Without any warning, Sasuke shoved Naruto under the water.