DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
AUTHOR: fantasylover12001
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any similarities in this plot to the wonderful movie, Spirited Away which heavily influenced this fic, therefore I am not making any money off of this (sadly).
PAIRINGS: See first part.
RATING: R to NC-17 to lower (it differs between chapters)
SUMMARY FOR CHAPTER: As the new year comes closer, Naruto continues to discover secrets about the world he is inhabiting and continues to fall further for Sasuke. Sasuke meanwhile discovers Naruto's presence may not have been an accident and someone from his past may be involved in the brewing plots surrounding Konoha and the human he finds himself becoming attached too, despite himself.
AUTHOR NOTES: Sorry for the massive delay. Real life hates my fangirl life. For a more decent explanation you can see my LJ.
CHAPTER 3: DECEMBER
December brought cold to the village of Konoha and Naruto hated it. He may have been born in the fall, but he was a Summer person at heart. The only good thing about this time of year was that it brought the holiday season and snow, which was always rather pretty. But the bitter cold up until those times was annoying in the blond's opinion. A week into the month he shivered as he stood outside with Hinata, Kiba, and Shikamaru eating some Pocky.
The three of them were on patrol duty and Naruto had brought them some snacks to share before they left. He had taken to doing this lately because the apartment felt so lonely without Sasuke. The man was still on whatever mission it was that Tsunade had sent him on and Naruto found himself missing him. To escape the empty feeling of the place he had started hanging around outside more, getting to know the others better. Thus the reason he met the three of them with the treats in hand. He popped a chocolate Pocky stick in his mouth and sighed when he thought of the empty place waiting for him.
"Is something wrong, Naruto?" Hinata asked him hesitantly and then blushed deep red when the blond looked at her and smiled.
"Nah, I just kind of miss Sasuke that's all."
The three of them stared at him. "You're kidding," Kiba said in surprise.
The blond shrugged. "Well, I do. Believe it or not, the apartment is even quieter when he's not around."
Kiba stared at him doubtfully. "If you say so."
"He'll be back soon," Hinata assured him. "His mission was supposed to end sometime this week."
"Oh?" Naruto perked up. Then he frowned. "That's assuming something doesn't happen to him."
"He'll be fine," Kiba said. "That guy's never late on his missions."
"Really? Nothing's ever happened to him?" Naruto asked in surprise.
"Nah. Nothing serious anyway."
"That's not entirely true, Kiba, and you know it," Shikamaru said softly.
Kiba frowned. "What are you talking about, Shikamaru?" Then he blinked at the man's pointed look. "Oh, yeah. Almost forgot about that."
"I don't know how you could have," Hinata murmured with a shudder.
Naruto looked at the three of them in confusion. "Forget what?"
The three looked at each other and fell silent. "Nothing important," Kiba said quickly. "Come on, guys, we got to get going." The other two nodded and said good-bye to Naruto who glowered at their backs as they left.
'Great, MORE secrets.' The blond thought irritably.
SasuNaru
Later that day, Naruto stood on the balcony connected to Sasuke's quarters watching the sun slowly rise. Most of the spirits were now settled in for the day, so the tower and village were remarkably quiet. Naruto sighed as he watched the sun rise. This was when he missed Sasuke the most. Usually the man would be home by now and it had become an unspoken habit for the two of them to watch the sun rise while eating whatever Naruto had managed to cook that night. Now though, it was just him, and he found the silence disconcerting. Even if Sasuke did not speak much, he made noises while reading a book or clacking his chopsticks together as he ate. As he tried to ignore the silence, something flew against the rising sun in the distance and Naruto frowned as the black shape grew larger.
"What is that?" He murmured and leaned forward on the porch railing to see it better and then gasped as the shape became clearer. "No way..."
But there it was. An honest to goodness dragon. At least, Naruto was pretty sure it was a dragon. He had read enough fantasy books in his life to identify one, so he was pretty sure that was what the creature was. Large bat-like wings: check. Talons and teeth: check. Lizard-like appearance, including long tail: check. This dragon had jet-black scales and what looked like dark red eyes. Naruto couldn't help but marvel at it. But the marvel quickly turned to panic when he realized that the dragon was headed straight towards him. He didn't know much about what real dragons were like, but he was pretty sure that one headed straight towards him was NOT a good thing.
The blond quickly ran into the living room as the dragon landed on the railing and slammed the screen doors shut but it was pointless as the dragon simply walked right through the doors as if he was a ghost. Which Naruto reminded himself, he basically WAS. Now up close, he saw that it's neck was long as well and it was about the size of the large living room and it's wings spanned the whole room as well. Naruto was tiny enough; having the dragon there made him feel like an insect.
The dragon let out a low moan and that's when Naruto noticed the blood. It hadn't been easy to spot at first, due to the black scales, but now he realized that the dragon's whole right side was covered in blood and was swaying.
'Crap. Not only do I have a dragon, I have an INJURED dragon. Where the hell is Sasuke when I need him?' He thought furiously. Then, as if answering his thoughts, the dragon's shape began to shift. Naruto watched with wide eyes as the dragon shrank and changed into Sasuke himself. The blond blinked several times and then gawked at the man.
"What the hell?" He stuttered and then jumped when Sasuke collapsed to the floor. He ran forward and sucked in a breath at the wound that somehow looked ten times worse on his human form.
"Tsunade." Naruto blinked and stared at Sasuke in confusion.
"What?"
"Get Tsunade. Heal." The man ground out and then finally passed out.
He wasn't sure what good the woman was going to be but Naruto wasn't about to waste time asking questions. Not with so much blood spilling to the floor; so he ran.
SasuNaruSasu
Black eyes slowly opened and Sasuke slowly woke up to the familiar sight of his room. There was the wall full of books and scrolls. His desk, reading chair, and the small shrine to the rest of his now deceased clan. Sasuke realized that he was shirtless and in his bed and gingerly lifted his hand to his side and winced. He was bandaged but the injury still hurt like the devil. 'Damn you, Itachi' he thought. Then he glanced down on his other side and started at the sight of Naruto fast asleep.
The blond sat on a cushion next to his futon with his head buried in his arms on the edge of the mattress. It was a marvel to see the blond so quiet, Sasuke mused and merely watched him for a few moments, partly puzzled about why the blond was there in the first place. Then he recalled how he landed in the first place and winced as he remembered the blond's terrified face.
'I should have warned him about my other form' he thought. 'It would have made this much more easier.'
But dragons were myths to humans. As far as they knew his creatures did not exist anymore (or at all). And indeed in the human world there were very few dragons that DID exist. Mostly because aside from he and his brother, there were no more dragon spirits. Which was due to the brother in question. He scowled.
"Well, if you're scowling, then you must be feeling all right," an amused voice came from his door and he glanced up at Kakashi.
"How long?" He asked, knowing the man would understand. Kakashi had gotten seriously injured about as many times as he had.
"Two days. Tsunade says that you are to take it easy and she means it this time, though she doesn't think you'll listen. What happened? It was merely a scroll delivery."
"I ran into my brother."
"Ah. That explains the injury."
"Hn." He glanced down at the blond. "How long has he been here?"
"He's been watching over you since you fell," Kakashi said, looking very amused. "Been quite the mother hen actually. Gives Iruka a run for his money. He fell asleep an hour or so ago, but that's probably due to the sleeping drug I put in his tea. The man has a remarkable amount of energy, I must say."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Sleeping drug?"
"Just a small one. He's remarkably stubborn as well."
"I noticed. How long is Tsunade grounding me for this time?"
"You'll have to ask her. She'll be by in a bit to read you the riot act for not only disturbing her and Jiraiya, but upsetting your charge, as well as getting yourself nearly killed." Kakashi smiled. "I think she's growing attached to Naruto."
"Can't wait," Sasuke muttered and lay down. Then he hesitated. "Itachi said something during our fight."
"Something beyond death threats, you mean?"
"Yes. He said he and Orochimaru were looking forward to meeting my little blond."
Kakashi frowned. "He means Naruto. Since when were he and Orochimaru so interested in humans?"
"I'm not sure," He glanced down at the sleeping blond. "I also would like to know why everyone keeps referring to him as 'mine'."
"Well he is in your charge," Kakashi said in amusement. Sasuke glared at him. "Anyways, we should keep a sharp eye on him. Perhaps you could also find out more about his past. Maybe there's something about him we don't know, but they do."
"I'll see what I can do," Sasuke muttered.
SasuNaru
Naruto slowly woke up and then immediately wished he hadn't. His entire back and neck ached because he spent the night by Sasuke's bed. Again.
"Bad sleeping position," he muttered, lifting his hand to his neck. You would have thought he had learned his lesson last night when he did the same thing and got scolded for it by Lady Tsunade who had discovered him.
"No one told you to sleep there," a familiar voice said and he jumped when he saw Sasuke sitting up wide awake.
"Jeez. When did you wake up?"
"While ago."
The blond glowered at him. "You could have woken me. While we're at it, you could've mentioned you were a DRAGON."
Sasuke frowned a little. "You didn't wake when Kakashi shook you, so we let you be."
"Oh," Naruto said. "Well, you still could've mentioned the fact that you turn into a dragon."
He shrugged. "Probably. But you know now, so what's done is done."
Naruto made a frustrated noise. "Is there anything else I should know?"
Sasuke hesitated. "No."
The blond narrowed his eyes. "Funny, I highly doubt that. But whatever. I'm hungry. You want something to eat?"
Sasuke nodded. "Fine. I'll bring you back some ramen."
"Ramen is hardly healthy," Sasuke said blandly.
"Hey, beggars can't be choosers. I've been looking after your sorry butt for the past few days so I get to choose what we eat tonight." He then left before Sasuke could protest any further.
SasuNaruSasu
Tsunade ultimately decided that Sasuke was to be off active duty for a month while his side fully healed. He tried to reason with the woman but after seeing her crack her knuckles he wisely retreated. Sasuke had no desire to be thrown through a wall. It would only prolong his bed rest.
Luckily, a few days after his announced "grounding", Iruka asked him to teach Naruto how to use his Chakra which apparently had started to show after he left. Iruka gave the blond a crash course in what Chakra was used for and a basic way to access it, but their lessons were technically over as he and the blond had gone over just about anything Naruto would need to know to survive the spirit world so he thought it best to pass him over to the one he was to be serving anyway. Sasuke also had a feeling Iruka knew he was getting restless and was giving him something to do.
So that was how he found himself explaining to Naruto how to access his Chakra a few days later. The blond sat on the ground with a frown. "That doesn't make sense."
The two were outside in the gardens of the tower in the back. Sasuke felt it was best to do their first lesson in a place where not much people went. It was a bit cold, being December, but after he lit up a few of the outside torches it helped with the cold. Sasuke sighed. He really should have gotten Kakashi or one of the others to do this. What on earth made Iruka decide he was teacher material in the first place?
"Here, I'll access my Chakra so you can see how it's done," Sasuke said and then stood in front of Naruto. He closed his eyes and put his hands in the correct position. Naruto frowned in puzzlement and started waving his hand in front of Sasuke.
"Stop that," Sasuke said, without opening his eyes and the blond promptly stopped.
Then after a few seconds, Naruto watched with astonished eyes as a white light began to form around the man. "Wow."
Sasuke opened his eyes and the glow disappeared. "Now you try."
Naruto hesitated and got up. His hands formed the seal that he was taught and he closed his eyes. Then he opened them. "Uh...what am I supposed to be feeling here?"
"Just try to clear your mind. Then we'll go from there."
"How do I know if my mind is clear?" Then blinked as Sasuke glared at him. "Uh...never mind."
It ended up being a few hours of Naruto standing there before something finally happened. Sasuke started to see the Chakra form around the blond (who as far as he could tell, didn't even seem to know he was doing it) but then he frowned as the Chakra grew stronger.
'What the hell?' he thought and activated his Sharingan to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but no...there were TWO Chakra signatures forming around the blond. One a warm bright blue, the other a bright vivid red.
Sasuke made a surprised sound and Naruto opened his eyes, "What? Am I doing it?"
The Chakra disappeared and Sasuke frowned. "Yeah, you did it."
"Aww...I didn't realize. Was it pretty, like yours?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and the blond realized what he said and looked away quickly.
"It was...interesting." he said slowly.
SasuNaru
"TWO Chakra signatures, are you sure?" Tsunade, staring at Sasuke in shock.
"Positive. One was red, one was blue."
"It's impossible for someone to have two Chakra signatures. Especially for a human," Shizune said, equally stunned.
Tsunade sighed. "I bet this has something to do with why Orochimaru and Itachi are so interested in him."
"Probably," Sasuke muttered, scowling at the mention of his brother.
The woman put a hand to her forehead. "Damn questions. I hate them. Jiraiya, next time we run into that snake, remind me to pound him for the headaches he's causing me."
"Will do," Jiraiya said cheerfully.
"Well, I suppose we can't do much except keep a closer eye on Naruto. Good thing you're around for a month, eh Sasuke?"
Sasuke glared at the woman.
SasuNaruSasu
A week later or so, the holiday festivities were in full swing. Normally, Sasuke ignored these events to the best of his ability. Oh, he showed up to the annual dinner and dance that Tsunade threw for her Shinobi but mostly because she would order Kakashi to pull him by the ear in front of anyone if he didn't show. Something he learned the hard way, his first year there. But other then that and a few exchanging of cards with his peers he preferred to think the holidays didn't exist.
Naruto didn't share this view. A fact he made perfectly clear when he dragged in a tree to decorate into the apartment. He purposefully ignored Sasuke's glares as he happily decorated with help from Hinata and Kiba (who both kept a wary eye on him throughout the process of it, as if they were afraid he was going to blast the thing with his fireball jutsu; something he had briefly considered doing). As if the tree weren't bad enough, he put up lights on the porch. Sasuke let it go, though. Besides, he had a feeling if he took down the decorations Naruto would just put them back up anyway.
On the night of the winter festival Sasuke had plans to sit and read a book. However, Naruto was having none of that and therefore was finding himself listening to a whining blond for at least an hour until finally, he said, "If I go, will you leave me alone after?"
"Maybe."
He would take what he would get. "FINE. Let me go change." He had his festival kimono SOMEWHERE...in the back of his closet, maybe.
After changing into the dark blue outfit, he went back and froze as he saw that Naruto had changed as well. The blond had on the traditional black divided pants, black sandles and white socks. His top was a light turquoise blue that was the exact shade of his eyes and he was frowning into the full length mirror on the bathroom door. He glanced up and smiled when he saw Sasuke.
"Hey, can you help me with this? I can never tie these things right," he said hopefully, holding up the dark red obi belt in his hand.
Sasuke hesitated. "Sure." Naruto beamed and wrapped it around his waist. Sasuke came up behind him and set about tying up the ends of the belt. He stepped back when he was done.
"Thanks," Naruto said. Then he went and grabbed the jacket that went with the outfit. The jacket was an orange color with a red and white swirl pattern along the knee length bottom and on the sleeves. The coloring was perfect for Naruto and Sasuke couldn't help but admire Ino's handiwork.
"Well, let's go," Naruto said happily and Sasuke found himself being dragged out the door.
SasuNaruSasu
The festival was not the only event Naruto dragged Sasuke too over the next week, much to his chagrin. He found himself attending fireworks displays, get togethers he wasn't even aware his peers held, and after a severe scolding from the blond, buying his peers more then just cards.
By the time New Years Eve rolled around he felt exhausted from all the festivies and was ready to fry the next person who had the gall to smile amusedly as Naruto dragged him to something else. Yes, it was strange how the blond managed to get him to do things, he wasn't sure why he couldn't bring himself to tell the blond to fuck off like he would have normally with anyone else. Though honestly, he had a feeling the blond would just smirk at him and ignore him even if he DID tell him that.
He was a bit surprised, yet relieved when Naruto opted to stay in for the New Years Eve celebration. They spent the late hours in companionable silence. Naruto lay on the floor sketching away and Sasuke read a book. Then as midnight approached, they headed to the porch to watch the fireworks display from the festival.
"They say that if you kiss someone at midnight on New Years Eve, you'll spend the next year with them," Naruto said. Then he frowned. "At least I think that's what they say. I know there's some saying like that about the whole kissing thing."
Sasuke looked at him. "That was completely random."
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know why I thought of it, I just did."
"Hn," he looked forward and then started when a warmth graced his cheek and looked at Naruto with wide eyes as the blond quickly backed away from him.
"Happy New Year," he said quickly, and practically ran to the living room.
Sasuke sat there for several minutes and then followed him inside.
AUTHORS NOTE: Again, I apologize for the massive delay. Hopefully the next chapter will be out MUCH sooner. But then, that's what I said on the last update too...wasn't it? If anyone is interested in seeing artwork for this fic or my others, please visit my DA account which can be viewed at my DA profile here:
http : / / fantasylover12001 . deviantart . com (type address without spaces)