Ashen Leaves (a Silent Hill/Naruto Crossover fic)

Disc.: I own neither this amazing anime/manga or this wonderfully creepy videogame series and the movie(s) made from them, I'm just borrowing for the sake of entertaining all those out there looking for something to read.

A/N: So…many…words, but that's part of the fun right? Here's Ch.7, from here on out it's gonna delve mostly into the game with very little of the movie, at least until a later chapter. Anyway, Iruka will finally appear in this chapter, how do he and Kakashi know each other? You'll have to read what's after this note to find out!

Ch.7- Alchemilla Nightmares

Itachi was currently going over the map of the Hospital, the pickaxe in his hand covered in the blood of the staff members that tried to kill him with their scalpels. He saw that he was standing in front of a door with a faded bronze plate over the center, the letters barely legible but he somehow managed to make out the words 'Examination Room'. The raven used the key he'd found earlier to open the door and upon entering the room he was hugged by a young brunette man who looked around 30 or so years old and was wearing a nurse's uniform. His hair was pulled back into a high ponytail that spiked out at the back, a few strands framing his handsome face. He had fairly dark tanned skin with a scar on the bridge of his nose and deep chocolate eyes, all in all the man was very good looking as he smiled at Itachi kindly.

"Finally, someone else who's alright…I thought for sure I was the only one here who was still alive."

"Who are you?" Itachi asked the man.

"My name's Iruka Umino, I'm a nurse who's on staff here at the Hospital…what's yours?"

"Itachi Uchiha."

"Maybe you can help me make sense of things around here; first and foremost, where is everyone? And what's going on around here…?"

"Do you not know?"

"No…I was busy filing some papers and when I woke up, everyone was gone. I must've gotten knocked out, because I can't remember anything after that."

Itachi sighed tiredly, his search for his missing husband wasn't getting anywhere and it felt like he'd been wandering around the town for days on end.

"So you don't know anything either…great. I can't make sense of anything that's been going on around here, it all feels like some kind of bad dream."

"Yeah, like a living nightmare."

Itachi decided to ask Iruka about Naruto, even if he hadn't seen him he still wanted to know for sure.

"Let me ask you something real quick Iruka, have you seen a young blonde haired man around here? He just turned 22 last month, I'm looking for him and I was told he may be hiding out here."

Iruka just looked at Itachi with a thoughtful expression on his face, the description sounded familiar but he couldn't remember from where exactly he'd heard of someone who looked like that.

"A 22 year old blonde man…is he your friend?"

"No, he's my husband."

"Hmm…a 22 year old blonde man…no, I can't say that I have. But, I did see someone else before I blacked out."

Itachi felt his mood perk up a little at hearing that there may be another living human in the Hospital besides them and Dr. Hatake, but he wanted to know something else first before he asked about this mystery person that the male nurse claims to have seen.

"Really? Before I ask you about that, do happen to know anything about all of that weird stuff in the basement?"

"No…why? Is there something down there?"

"You don't know? Don't you work here?"

"I do, but we're under very strict orders to never enter the basement store room…so I really don't know. What did you say was down there?"

"Um, well…nevermind. Who was this other person you saw in the Hospital?"

"Hmm, let me think…it was a young girl with long black hair, she wore a gray Church uniform and I believe her name was Hinata Hyuga. Her father Hiashi is a very strict Church goer, rumor has it that he disowned her cousin Neji for being gay and an Atheist. I think she went to the Hotel on Finney Street, said something about it being safer there than here."

"The hotel, huh? Thanks, Iruka…one other thing, a man named Kakashi Hatake was looking for you…how do you know each other?"

"He's my fiancé, but I'll tell you about that later…for now, you should rest; you look tired."

Itachi figured that maybe the brunette was right, after all he'd been searching for his husband without resting at all…maybe a brief nap would help him as he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. Iruka saw the Flauros peeking out of his jacket pocket so he knelt down at Itachi's side and began praying.

"Oh Flauros, hear my prayers and help shield this man from the terrifying demons of the night until morning."

As he finished his prayer, the Flauros began glowing blue and the Hospital then changed to a deserted building as the sky lightened and turned grey once again as Itachi opened his dark eyes. He then looked around for any sign of Iruka but found none, a sigh escaping his parted lips while sitting up on the somewhat clean bed.

"Was I dreaming again?"

The raven's attention was then directed from the sky to a door opening across from him as someone stepped into the room and spoke to him.

"Foolish boy, you were too late."

"Hey, it's you…from the Church."

"Yes, though I neglected to introduce myself to you…my name is Kabuto Uzumaki, and as I said you were too late."

Itachi watched Kabuto close the door behind him and stand near the desk, the raven standing in front of him and hoping to get some answers out of the man.

"Alright, tell me everything you know…what's going on around here?"

The silverette pushed his glasses up again before he answered Itachi's question.

"Darkness…the town is being devoured by the Darkness. Strength must overcome petty desire, and conquer childish sleep talk. I knew this day would come, but yet my foolish sister still refuses to listen to her big brother…she would rather deny the reality of her child's death and embrace the dream wherein he still lives."

"What are you talking about? I don't understand any of this at all."

"Then believe not my words, but rather the evidence of your eyes. The Balkan Church, that is your destination…you must get there before the Darkness descends again on this town, but tell me young raven…have you not seen the crest marked all over the ground everywhere you've gone?"

Itachi then let his mind recall the markings he'd seen on the ground in the courtyard of the school and even on the doors of the building.

"So that's what I saw in the schoolyard and on the doors…what does that crest mean?"

"Go to the Hotel and ask the Hyuga girl, she will tell you what you want to know…this is beyond all of my abilities, only you can put a stop to it now."

Itachi tried to stop Kabuto from leaving but was too late as the man left him alone in the room, the raven standing near the desk in thought. If he remembered correctly, Iruka had mentioned a girl named Hinata Hyuga had gone to the Hotel to hide…perhaps she and the girl Kabuto mentioned were one and the same. He figured there was nothing else he could do at the Hospital so he left the building and stared once more at the sky, ashes resting on the edges of his vision.

Before he could go anywhere, Itachi was stopped by Kakashi's voice speaking to him, the raven whirling around to lock eyes with the silver haired man.

"Kakashi…what do you want?"

"I heard you talking to someone in the guest room, I'm glad I caught you before you left…where were you gonna go, anyway?"

"I was gonna go to the Hotel, why?"

"Just…nevermind. Have you seen Iruka anywhere?"

"He's your fiancé, and yes I saw him…he's on the second floor, but you might wanna stick around until night falls; I think he's too scared to show himself during the daytime hours."

"Oh, thank god he's alright…thanks, Itachi."

"No problem, Kakashi…let me ask you a question before I go, have you ever heard of anyone named Kabuto Uzumaki?"

The silver haired man stood there quietly for a moment before he remembered where he'd heard that name before.

"Oh yeah, that crazy Uzumaki guy…him and his sister are both kinda famous around here."

"His sister…? He did mention a red haired woman named Karin Uzumaki when we spoke at the Church, but he never said anything about being related to her."

"I'm not surprised by that, apparently his sister had an affair with someone not from this town and she had his child…I can't remember what the child's name is, but I heard that Kabuto despised him. But, he never really sees anyone so I can't be too sure about that…apparently the kid died in a fire and both siblings have been crazy since then."

"Yeah well, he said the town is being devoured by Darkness…know anything about that?"

The silver haired doctor once again grew quiet as he tried to recall if anything like that sounded familiar to him.

"The town being devoured by Darkness…yes, I think I do, actually. Before this place was turned into a resort, the townspeople here were a bit on the quiet side and followed some sort of queer religion. You know, Occult stuff…black magic, that sort of thing. As the young people moved away, the elders believed they'd been summoned by the Gods. Evidently, things like that used to happen around here all the time…before the resort, there wasn't really much of anything else out here. Everybody was so flipped out, gotta blame it on something. But when a bunch of new people began moving into the town, everyone clammed up about it. "

"A Cult…"

"Yeah, and the last time I myself heard anything about it was…oh god, years ago…that was around the time when several people connected with developing the town died in these mysterious accidents that just happened at random for no apparent reason, and everyone said that it was some kind of curse."

"Huh, that is weird…anyway, thanks for telling me Dr. Hatake. You should probably get inside and wait for the chance to be with Iruka, I'm gonna go to the Hotel and see if I can't find anything that might lead me to where Naruto's hiding."

"Alright, just please be careful out there."

Itachi nodded before he walked out of the gates and ran off towards the Hotel only to be stopped by a gunshot that landed at his feet. He looked up to see Sakura walking towards him with her gun pointed at him, a sigh of relief escaping his lips as he talked to her.

"Sakura, it's me!"

"Itachi?! Oh, thank god- I shouldn't have left you, things around here are even worse than we thought. It's crazy!"

"How did you get back here? I thought you left town to call in reinforcements."

"I saw you running through the fog, so I followed after you to talk to you. Besides, even if I wanted to, I couldn't get out at all! All the roads that lead out of town are blocked, and cars have completely stopped running…the phones and radios are still out of commission, as well."

Itachi sighed, this wasn't what he wanted to hear but he could worry about that later.

"What about my husband, did you see him anywhere?"

Sakura stayed quiet for a minute when she recalled seeing a young man much like the one Itachi had described when they first met.

"I did see a young man."

"Was it Naruto?" Itachi was hanging onto every word, this was what he'd been hoping to find out as he let the pink haired policewoman continue.

"I only caught a glimpse of him through the fog, but as I tried to go after him he vanished. I don't know about your husband, but I did see him heading down Bachman Road towards the Hospital…or was it the Lake…?"

"And you just let him go!?"

"It's not like I could follow after him, anyway…that road has been completely obliterated, it was almost like he was walking on thin air!"

"Whoa…"

Sakura stared at the distraught raven haired man, worry lines already present on his face as she sympathized with him.

"Well, anyway…what about you? Have you found anything out about where your husband could be hiding?"

"Yeah, I met this bizarre man named Kabuto Uzumaki…does his name sound familiar to you?"

"Hmm…Kabuto Uzumaki, you said?"

"Yeah."

"No, can't say that it is."

"Well, he said that the town is being devoured by the Darkness…gibberish like that…know what he meant by it?"

Once again, the atmosphere became quiet as the pink haired woman mulled everything over before she spoke up again.

"The town being devoured by Darkness? Is that what he told you, Itachi?"

"Yeah…?"

"Hate to tell you this, but he's probably on drugs. They sell them to the tourists, and the force still can't figure out who's behind it…none of our leads have panned out and the investigation is stalled."

"What could drug trafficking have to do with all this?"

"I don't know, but it's all I can think of."

"Well, in any case, I'm glad you came back…I was worried about you."

"Hold on, you were worried?! Where'd you disappear to?"

"Well, um…nevermind. Anyway, I was going to the Hotel on Finney Street- maybe I'll find out something there."

"I'll go with you, I don't want you getting in over your head this time."

Itachi knew that she wouldn't relent, so they both began heading in the direction of Finney Street. Maybe now, they'd be one step closer to finding the elusive blonde that was Naruto Uchiha.

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T.B.C.- Whoo, so much typing that my hands are killing me! Anyway, up next our two travelers meet Hinata and run into Kushina again. What will happen after that? Read on to find out!