Moonstruck Nightmare
IX - Second Key: The Boy's Curse
Written By - Treina (angelcrack)
A/N: I am sorry once again for killing Shikamaru! I have noticed that people are worried that Neji and Gaara might be the other two keys, I ASSURE you that this will not happen. Also, thank you to all the lovely people who have commented, I LOVE YOU ALL!
WwWwW
Neji could feel the overpowering sorrow and guilt that filled Naruto's heart, these feelings reminded him of when he was young and he watched his parents die, only this was not his sorrow, but Naruto's pain that he was feeling. This was without the shock attached to it. It had been several hours since the fall of Shikamaru, and all the water in the room was gone. No dripping was heard. They had all managed to finally become fully dry and Naruto stood up. He looked off the ledge to the floor of the room where the water had once been.
"What are you doing?" Gaara asked, hoping that Naruto wasn't going to do the same thing Shikamaru did.
"We're going to look for the body," he announced in a bold tone.
"Naruto," Neji stated in a soft voice, "how are we going to get down?"
Naruto looked around for some way to get to the bottom floor, but there was no way down, and he certainly couldnt jump. The fall alone would kill him. But there was no way, no ledge, "I wont leave until we find his body."
"Naruto, how do you know that if we did get down there, how do you know we would find his body?" Garra looked over the ledge, "I don't see him anywhere."
"That's cause your not down there looking!" He snapped, he couldn't belive that Gaara would request to leave Shikamaru, as if nothing had happened. As if Gaara had never knew Shikamaru, and he didn't care, "what the hell is wrong with you Gaara? Don't you even care that Shikamaru died? I thought you were his friend. I knew you always didn't get along, but I.."
At this Gaara cut him off, "I do care Naruto, but I'm not willing to just stand around. We should move sometime, and if we cant find a way down..." Gaara's face held pain within it.
"So if you were the one to die, would you not care that we just left your body somewhere within this damned house?" Naruto's eyes began to water once again, but Gaara's expression did not change.
"No Naruto I wouldnt care, not if it meant that you had the chance to get out of here quicker, then no Naruto I wouldn't care, not if it meant that my death did not turn into a useless one. Besides, even if we find the body, what would we do with it? We cant bury it anywhere. What do you think? That we should carry it around all over the place?
"I don't know!" Naruto yelled, "but at least I wont feel as if I abandoned him."
"No Naruto, he was the one who abandoned you," Gaara would not accept that this was all Naruto's fault. It was Shikamaru who had brought Naruto here in the first place.
"It wasn't Shikamaru's fault!" Truth be known, it was all his fault, if it wasn't for him, Shikamaru wouldn't have ever been involved, if what Itachi says is true, then Shikamaru died due to him, Naruto could tell that Shiakmaru was no controlling himself, that Shikamaru's life was in the palm of his hands the entire time and he never knew it.
Hey!" Lorim shouted from behind.
Naruto turned around and saw that Lorim was trying to pull a tremendously long bar off the wall, "would this work lad"
Naruto's face lit up, knowing that Lorim had just solved their current problem, "great job!" He commented, and everyone began to help the two pull off the fifteen foot long bar and soon they were all lowering it to see how far it would reach down to the floor, but they found that it was just too short. "We can make it if we jump from there, the jump doesn't look too far down, I think we can make it."
"So how do we fasten it to the railing?" Naruto looked around and finding nothing, he knew there was only one way, so he began to take off his over shirt. Gaara raised an eyebrow as Naruto did this, "what ye be doin?" Lorim asked with a puzzled look on his face, Naruto wanted to get down to the bottom right? So what was he doing taking off his shirt? Why would you need to be shirtless to get to the bottom?
"I'm going to tie the pole in place...so we don't fall," he began to look for a suitable place to tie the poll and instantly he spotted a place, he tied it as tight as he could, trying to make sure it wouldn't slip out. After he was satisfied with his work he took a step back, "okay, im going to go first to make sure its safe," but Gaara stopped him, "no, I will go first, you stay here with Lorim and Neji, once I get to the bottom, you can follow," Gaara placed a hand on the poll and slowly began to climb down.
It took him nearly fifteen minutes to get to the bottom of the poll, from there he jumped safely to the ground, noticing how slippery the floor was, he was surprised he did fall. Then Naruto began to climb, and once he was to the bottom, he began searching the floor for Shikamaru's body. Three hours went by and there was still no sign of the body. But Naruto refused to find a way out until they found it.
WwWwW
"Did you dispose of the corpse?" A soothing voice flooded the room, making goose bumps crawl all over Sasuke's small frame. The young Uchiha nodded slightly, but wouldn't look into the red eyes of his brother.
"Good, that means that I wont have Naruto getting anymore sidetracked than the prince is making him, for now, you may leave." Itachi waved his hand, signaling that he wished that his brother would leave him now and Sasuke slowly turned around and left, closing the door behind him. Now that they had guests, he had something to do with his time. It wasn't often that he got to play with other people. So far, the thing he had the most fun with was sending all the water to them while they were on the staircase, he knew his power was nothing close to that of his brother, but still, he had enough to have some fun. Usually, the only thing he had to play with, was his ball now there were humans to play with, which was much more exiting to watch react compared to ball, which will only bounce, but humans do unlimited amount of reacting in different ways to different things.
Shikamaru was the first person that Sasuke had ever seen murdered. It was an amazing thing to witness, out of all his hundreds of years on this earth, he had never experienced something that gave him that sort of emotion. He had never truly realized how fragile human life was, how easy it is to dispose of it. It amazed him how much pain both physically and mentally a person could go through before they let go of their fragile life. Handle a human the wrong way and he died, this fascinated him, how fragile these beings were.
When Sasuke had disposed of Shikamaru's corpse, he kept getting the feeling that as if Shikamaru's eyes would pop open and his body would once again start functioning. The Uchiha couldn't be happier when Shiakmaru was buried in the very bottom of the building with the rest of the dead people. For a long while, Sasuke watched from way up in the water room Naruto and his friends search for something. After many more hours of watching, he finally began to get bored. He began to act as if he were having the most fun in the world, every child knows that in order to make your friends jealous, all you had to do was make them thing that you were having a lot more fun than them.
"What are you doing?" He asked in his most playful tone, everyone looked his way, glaring at him with everyone they had, "We don't want you here," Naruto stated, "don't you think you've done enough damage?"
Did this blond think that Sasuke was the cause of all this? "I didn't do anything, Itachi was the one who did all this," pouting like a five year old, Sasuke crossed his arms.
"Well, you did nothing to stop it," Nauto was not about to let this child off so easily.
"I cant do anything, your so stupid!" Sasuke was mad now, all he wanted to do was play, he had decided that his mind worked best when he was having fun. He smiled as he changed the subject, "what are you guys doing?" He repeated.
"Go away already!" Naruto was in no mood to deal with this evil child.
Neji was beginning to wear down due to all the mix of emotions that wouldn't stop hitting him as if he were getting lashed like a disobedient slave, "tell me Sasuke," his tone was flat, almost as if it were an order which should not be disobeyed, although Neji knew he could do nothing to the child, he couldn't help but hold that position, "would you know where Shikamaru's body is?"
Naruto began to protest about Neji asking for help from this...thing, after all, he was the enemy right? But Neji shot Naruto a glare, letting him know that this was not a subject that would be discussed upon. Naruto shut his mouth, but his eyes shot to the ground. At that moment, he felt as if he were being scolded as a child all over again. Sasuke laughed, "oh, so that's what you have been looking for," his smile turned into a stoic stare into nothing, "you wont find it here, I buried him with the rest of the dead people."
"What did you do with him?!" Naruto demanded.
Hate, pure hate is what coursed through Neji's body and soul, "Naruto, calm down," he snapped, once again as if he were barking orders, "just stop for a minute," he tuned back to Sasuke, "where did you bury the body?"
Sasuke shook his head, "it's at the very bottom of the building, there is no way you would ever find it, its within a labyrinth of graves and tombs," he shook his head again as if confirming it, "nope, there is just too many, you could spend your entire life looking and never find it," now Sasuke was having some fun.
"But you know where it is right? You were the one who buried him," hope now fell upon the blond.
"Yes," Sasuke replied, "but I am forbidden to show you, brother would punish me, besides, you have made it all the way up here, why would you turn back now?"
Naruto grit his teeth, "because Shikamaru is a friend. Do you think I would just leave him here? In this cursed building? I will find Shikamaru."
Determination, hope, and hate is all that Neji could feel. This was not good, it seemed to be getting worse with every emotion. Soon, all that Neji will be able to feel is what Naruto is feeling. Soon, there would be no more Neji left. His whole being would soon be consumed by Naruto, he was too weak. Naruto's will and soul was beaming with overpowering strength and every emotion that coursed through Naruto's body slowly sucked the soul of the Hyuuga. This struck fear into Neji, fear which crept upon Naruto, "are you okay Neij?"
When Neji nodded in his stoic manner, Naruto wondered if it was his own fear, if it was, then Neji was lying to him , either way he didn't like it. Fear is one of those emotions that was not so easy to get rid of. Fear, which is worse than any other emotion, even anger, for fear would stick like to him like honey on a tree, no matter what reasoning, no matter what the thoughts, fear would always remain.
"I will cut you a deal," Sasuke began, "after you break the curse, I will help you find Shikamaru's body, but only after you break the curse, thats all I can do for you," he didn't know why, but he somehow felt guilty for everything, for the first time in his long life, Sasuke felt as if he had done something wrong. It was a strange feeling, he decided that he liked having visitors. Since Naruto had showed up, he was able to experience all sorts of different feelings and emotions that he never imagined existed.
Although most of these emotions were bad ones, he was still greatful for feeling them, for learning that they existed. For this, he would soon learn that he would grateful forever. With that promise, Sasuke heard his brother call for him, "I must leave," Sasuke smiled and waved his hand, then faded away to nothing.
"He's up to something," Naruto crossed his arms.
WwWwW
When Sasuke approached his brother, he noticed that Itachi was smiling at him with intention in his eyes, "your doing well my dear brother, your finally growing up."
What was his brother talking about? Is it possible that he knows about the new feelings that he's been discovering? If he does, would it be a good thing, or a bad thing? Would he be punished for this?
"Tell me Sasuke, have you ever wondered why you don't age?" Itachi gestured Sasuke to move closer.
"It's because of the curse," it was the reason why all of them did not age, it's the reason why they were able to live here for hundreds of years, this was all common knowledge. Why would he think that he was any different?
"Ah, but this curse you speak of, it is not the same curse. Sit down and I will tell you why you don't age little brother."
Sasuke found a seat and waited for his brother to begin the story. The young Uchiha couldn't think of anything better than the stories that his brother told, he hardly ever got to hear one and when he did, they were always exiting and most of them were true. So he sat down, made himself a little comfortable and Itachi began his story.
"Do you remember when I brought you here to this castle?" Sasuke shook his head, it was too many years for him to remember, "the reason you do not carry the same curse as I, is because you were not on this mountain when the curse began, you were with Mother. When she died, I called you to the mountain, just like I did with Naruto. Do you remember?"
Itachi knew that Sasuke would soon find out the truth, this way, his brother would get the whole truth.
Sasuke's face lit up as the memory passed through his being, "yes, I remember walking through the forest, it was scary"
Itachi smiled, "well, when you got here, I began to see how you were growing up, I would catch you outside playing, a place where I could never go. I grew furious at the simple pleasures my brother had. I was doomed to live an eternity without those rights which you so easily took advantage of," as Sasuke's brother said these words, his eyes became angry, and Sasuke saw that his brother was still mad about the issue.
"But soon little brother, your curse will be lifted, and though your body and mind will stay the same for now, over the passing of years, your will age and change. Your mind will no longer be that of a child, you will not be bound by me anymore, you will be free to leave the castle as you wish. But know this little brother, if you should betray me, I will kill you."
Although his big brother looked extremly angry, Sasuke could tell that he was lying. Itachi would never be able to bring himself to kill his own brother, this Sasuke knew. But why would his brother think that he would betray him? How would Sasuke do that? Sure, there were times when leaving his brother entered into his mind, but in reality, he could never leave his side. Itachi was the person who had looked after him for all these hundreds of years, how could he ever forget that? Is Itachi thinking that he would join the blonde? Why would he do that? All Naruto seemed to do was call him names and be hateful, there was no reason why he would follow such a pest.
"Aniki," Sasuke started, but Itachi's eyes silenced him.
"Do not lie to me little brother. Did you not already make a promise with that idiot? A promise I hope that you do not intend to keep," Itachi stood and walked over to his chair, "I'm tired Sasuke, leave me for today."
WwWwW
"I'm telling you not to trust him! He's up to something!" Naruto was not going to stand by and listen to this.
"Naruto, we have no choice but to trust him, Shikamaru is no where to be found and we are not going to find him. How are we going to get to the very bottom when we are so close to the top?" Gaara was getting impatient, for some reason, he had a feeling that they should leave.
"Naruto," Neji looked at the blonde with a grave face, "we should go"
Naruto knew that there was no way he could convince both Neji and Gaara about the situation, so he put his head down and said in a low whisper, "I'm so sorry Shikamaru"
Gaara frowned but nodded, "then let's go," and walked through the large doors, everyone followed but no one said a word or made a sound.
"It's darker down this tunnel," Gaara commented, he looked around to see that the walls were also getting closer. The red head could not imagine how Shikamaru would take this, he hated any kind of enclosed space. So they neared the end of the tunnel only to find that they were surrounded by...
"Trees?" Naruto's eyes were wide, he reached out to see if what he was seeing was real, but a hand stopped him.
"No Naruto," Neji shook his head, "do not mess with these, they are not normal," he paused, "it would be best to not touch them."
Naruto nodded his head and made sure to make his way around the branches, "these are dead too." He looked at the trunk of one of the trees with tired and sad eyes, "why is everything dead on this mountain? Is there nothing alive?"
"You and me are alive," Neji placed a hand on the blond's shoulder and smiled, "Gaara is alive, there is hope Naruto"
"I know," Naruto trailed off, of course there was hope, although it was slim. The closer they got to wherever it was, he got the feeling that maybe he wouldn't make it out of this alive. After what happened to Shikamaru, he wouldn't be surprised if everyone else felt that way too. Then why were they doing this?
"There is hope," Gaara repeated Shikamaru's words.
"What me would likes to know," Lorim began, "is how we to be not touchen these here branches...they be everywhere"
"Just do your best Lorim," Neji replied, "so far no one has touched any of them, so we still don't know what would happen"
"Well," Naruto paused "I have actually touched a few branches," he looked down, "by mistake,"
Everyone stopped to look at the blond, "are you okay"
"Nothing wrong yet," Naruto replied.
Gaara frowned, "still, let's try not to touch them, ne?"
"I wonder how long this goes on for," Naruto wondered, "I bet the next key is in these...woods," he didn't know what else to call this place. It was exactically like the forest, only stuffier. The tree's almost looked like the ones outside the castle, but these were darker. Naruto didn't blame everyone for being so cautious in this place, these tree's looked like they were pumped full of poison.
Among a jagged trunk, if Naruto looked just right, he could swear that there was something in the tree in front of him that was not part of the tree. He stared at the elaborate patterns which made this tree and was not convinced, there was something in that tree.
"What is it Naruto?" Neji asked, noticing that Naruto was taken by something.
"That tree," Naruto pointed to the trunk in front of him, "do you see that?" It was barely a whisper.
Neji stared at the trunk, causing everyone to stop.
"What is it?" Gaara asked.
"Naruto, I don't see anything," Neji put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "your probably just getting tired"
"Tired?" Naruto looked at Neji with suspicion, "when does anyone get tired here"
Neji did not answer.
"I am telling you, there is something in that tree," Naruto squinted his eyes into a better focus, "yes, I'm sure of it."
Naruto headed to the tree and found that it looked closer than it was and when he finally got to the tree, everyone following, the object seemed to be a lot higher as well.
"Do you see it now?" Naruto asked, pointing up at the tree trunk.
Everyone stared at the tree for a long while, "it certainly is a big one," Neji commented, "but I still don't see anything."
It was in plain sight, why no one saw it, Naruto did not know, but it was there, plain as day. A perfect square, black but a few shades lighter than the tree itself, it almost gave off a green tint. It looked like a box from where he was standing, as if someone had forced it into the tree, the wood around this box seemed to be growing over it.
"I bet it's the second key," Naruto said aloud, "I am going up to get it"
"No your not," Neji stopped him, "there is nothing in that tree Naruto and I still don't trust these trees"
"That's good, but I trust this one and I must get the second key, your life and everyone else depends on it," Naruto glared at Neji, "so let go of my arm."
Neji released Naruto and Naruto began to climb the monstrous tree.
WwWwW
Sasuke did not know how to take what his brother said. But if it was true, why would Itachi expect him to stay here? What did he mean by betrayal? These things that his brother told him rose too many questions. Why would he curse his own brother? If he hated watching him grow up, what's to stop his brother from killing him the next time he watches him grow up? The Uchiha shivered at the thought of his brother trying to kill him, it was not something that he wanted to go through. There was no fear of death, just the look on brother's face aimed at him, thirsting for his own brother's death. It was a terrifying thought.
So it was decided, if Sasuke's curse would be lifted, he would leave this place and never come back, no matter how terrible Itachi would be to him in his dreams. Dreams you can wake up from. Here, he wasn't so sure. Thinking about it, Itachi had never been nice to him, and he never really took a liking to him. His brother was mean and inflicted fear, as well as pain when he thought that the young boy needed punishment. It was not a great thing to be immortal, to heal quickly, no matter how terrible your body had been torn, it would heal so that it could be torn once again. The pain was the same, but death never came. Sasuke grew to fear Itachi very soon and did everything in his power to keep his brother at bay. Now he was talking about betrayal, and Sasuke's instinct to run became more strong as time went on. He quickly decided that the only way to get out of here, was to help Naruto.
WwWwW
Neji, Lorim and Gaara stared at eachother in amazement as Naruto pulled something the size of his hand out of the tree, "what is it?" Neji whispered to himself.
"It seems that Naruto was correct," Gaara commented before heading to the tree to help Naruto.
"No!" Naruto shouted from above, "I'm fine, just stay there and wait for me." It wasn't like Naruto to admit it, but he was paranoid about these trees. Sure he was fine, but he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks.
When Naruto climbed to the bottom of the tree, he opened his hands to reveal a small black cube with intricate designs laced all around it, covering the entire thing. It was small, but heavy. Naruto stared at it along with everyone else.
"So what do we do with it?" Gaara asked, not really liking the aura it gave off.
"I don't know, but I'm betting it's the second key," Naruto went on, proud of himself that he found such a small thing in a very unlikely place.
"Wait," Neji paused and looked around, "did you hear that"
"I didn't hear anything," Naruto answered, but could feel an intense paranoia.
"It was like a cry or something," the Hyuuga went on to explain in a shaky voice, "it was right next to me."
Then they all heard it, a very deep creaking, almost like a cry or moan. It was right in front of them, but all that stood were trees.
"There be something in ere," Lorim commented, eyeing every tree as if something could be behind it.
Then another one, this time longer and louder, but it came from the tree that Naruto had just climbed out of.
"It's the trees," Naruto looked up and around, all the trees around them began to sound off and one by one they began to cry. Soon the sound was unbearable as it continued to grow louder.
"Naruto," Neji pointed to the ground, "what is that"
Naruto knelt and slid him finger over the ground. It was wet. When he looked at it closely he realized what it was, blood.
"It's blood," Naruto answered, he stood up and looked around at all the moaning trees, "the trees are bleeding"
"What?" Gaara looked around, "why"
"I don't know!" Naruto yelled, not at all liking the situation they were in.
"Maybe it had something to do with that thing you pulled out of the tree," Neji commented as he noticed that the blood was rising.
"No, thats not right," a childlike voice appeared behind them.
"Sasuke," Naruto spat the name like it was vomit stuck in his throat.
"That cube has nothing to do with their crying, they just want to be outside," Sasuke smiled and looked around, "this is my brother's private garden"
"I doubt that is the only reason," Gaara muttered under his breath.
"You are probably true, but we should go, you don't want to stay in here for very much longer," Sasuke smiled and skipped among the trees, there is a door over here"
"How could we trust you?" Naruto growled, all he could think about was Shikamaru's death.
"Just follow him Naruto," Gaara said, "I don't trust him, but the blood keeps rising"
"Why do you always listen to him?" Naruto was angry and confused, "he was part of the reason Shikamaru died! How can you listen to him"
"Naruto calm down," Neji placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"No!" Naruto shoved the hand away, "what is wrong with all of you! We were doing fine, why do we need to listen to him?"
Sasuke didn't say a word, he just watched and listened.
"Why don't you all care? What the hell is wrong with you!" Naruto screamed as loud as he cold hand stunned all his senses.
"That is enough of that," Itachi smirked before looking over at Sasuke. A minute went by where Itachi stared at his brother, but he didn't say a word and no expression could be read off his face.
"What do you want Itachi?" Neji demanded.
Itachi looked at the Hyuuga but said nothing, "I see you have found the second key," his focus went to Naruto, "I'm impressed."
"What do we do with it?" Gaara asked, hoping that maybe he would say.
"I don't know," Itachi said without remorse and looked at Sasuke.
The trees began to go silent and the blood began to drain.
"But you," Itachi glared, "I am not so pleased"
With that, he was gone, not to be seen.
"Please hurry guys, I need to talk to you," Sasuke did not look so happy as he said this but began to lead the way.
Naruto did not want to follow him, but everyone else began to follow, this left him with a choice to make. The answer was simple, although it made him mad. There was no way he could ever leave his friends. And for some reason, he got the feeling that Neji would find out soon enough and come looking for him. So he followed in the back, behind Lorim, which was very odd for him, as Lorim would try and make insignificant small talk with him, soon he was quiet, understanding that Naruto was not in the mood for chit chat.
"Okay this is fine," Sasuke had led them though a small door and they were now in a small room where three small staircases led down, one of which did not even look accessible.
"So what do you want?" Neji ordered from the 'child.' "You said you wanted to talk?" Gaara questioned.
"Yes, I need to tell you some things," Sasuke pulled out a small ball and began to toss it up and down in his left hand, "there is a room not far from here where you can use to the key to go up," Sasuke spoke in a bare whisper, "when you use this key to unlock this staircase, a number of things will happen, some of which, I do not know. But I do know that the curse my brother placed on me will be broken and he will probably kill me."
"Why?" Neji asked.
"Because he thinks that I will betray him," Sasuke explained, "the only way I might be able to get out of this alive, or at least with minimum pain, is by helping you guys to get out. When the curse breaks, I will be nothing more than a human six year old with memories that I can assure you no other boy has had. I can tell you other things, some things about you, but for now we must go, he is listening," Sasuke ended and stood up to laugh, "I have to go now, ja ne!" He said in a loud voice compared to the whispering, and left.
"Why should we belive a word he says?" Naruto crossed his arms and looked at each of the staircases.
"I don't belive him, but time will tell," Neji stated.
"Should we go down?" Naruto pondered.
"I don't think so, I bet there is a door or something up ahead," Gaara answered, if not, we can always come back to this spot."
They all agreed and went down the hallway. Soon there were three doors, and just like the staircases, one of them was un-accessible. Naruto figured, that is, if the boy was telling the truth, then the room he needs to use the key in would be one of three doors, but which one to try first?
"Which one?" Naruto asked, looking at all three.
"Well we cant take that door," Neji pointed, "it looks like its about to fall down"
"We can always just break it all down and get through if we need, but first, lets try this one," he pushed on the first door and it opened with a creak.
One by one, they all entered the dark room, not really knowing what to expect.
WwWwW
Sasuke sat on the windowsill in his room. He stared off into the darkness, remembering a time when there were beautiful tree's to see and birds to hear. But now, there was nothing. Just darkness. One thing after all these years that he never seemed to understand was why, why was he doomed to a life in the dark? With nothing but dark people and dark ideas. He hated it, he hated the darkness, but he couldn't remember what sunlight looked like, the only light that was found here, was still somehow dark.
What would happen when the curse breaks? What would he feel and how would he know? Would he look older already? Would he still retain all the memories of his past life? Dozens of questions ran through the boy's mind as he stared into the darkness. Luckily his brother had not come for him yet, maybe he was waiting until his curse was broke, then he could kill the boy easily. If Itachi did decide to kill Sasuke, then Sasuke hope beyond all hope that there would be no more pain, just death.
WwWwW
Candles began to light, one at a time, all the way around the room. They flickered and began to glow bright. Naruto never remembered candles to be that bright.
"It must be because I've been in this darkness," Naruto whispered to himself.
Everyone around him heard him, but didn't reply, they all also thought the same thing, except for Lorim.
"It be black magic! This whole place! It not be you lad," Lorim patted Naruto on the shoulder with confidence.
Naruto ignored the man and walked over to the only single table in the room. The red tablecloth hung from the sides of the table and on the red soft material were many things. There was a small screwdriver, a small sphere, much like the cube, three small metal rods, and a roll of red string. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and began to examine each one carefully.
After about an hour he shrugged his shoulders and turned to everyone, "I have no idea what we should do with this cube."
"May I take a look?" Neji asked, walking over to the table.
Naruto handed him the cube and watched as Neji first looked at the cube. He examined all sides of it before looking at the table.
"I am betting that the only thing on this table that has anything to do with this cube is that sphere," he picked up the sphere and looked at it carefully, "maybe we have to turn the sphere into a cube...or the cube into the sphere," he was only guessing, but it was the only thing he could think of when it came to the key.
"Maybe that is what the screwdriver is for," Naruto suggested.
"Hmm," Neji picked up the screwdriver and began to tinker with the cube.
"Are you guys sure you wont break it?" Gaara was not so sure about this.
They both ignored Gaara and focused on the task at hand. Soon, Naruto asked if he could try and Neji handed him all three objects. The instant that Naruto placed the screwdriver into the sphere it began to glow a bright light blue. Everyone watched in amazement as he did the same thing to the sphere. Naruto dropped both of them onto the ground. He looked at his hands, burned and charred, he looked back at the glowing objects. The sphere began to spin and push the cube along the floor until it hit the wall.
Everyone watched as the cube began to shake while the sphere was still spinning. A small bit of smoke was seen as the cube began get bigger, but flatter at the same time. Soon the small cube looked like a door the sphere looking much more like a door knob.
"I think we did it guys," Naruto somewhat smiled as he stared at the door.
WwWwW
Sasuke, still sitting on the windowsill, began to feel something in his lower abdomen, a strange tingly feeling. He put a hand there and looked down, "has it begun?"
It wasn't so bad, but just as he thought that, his whole mind and body was taken over by pain. For a while he was able to withstand it, but this pain was too violent, he felt as if he were slowly being turned inside out. He looked at his hands to make sure that this is not what was happening. Soon everything went black and he knew that at this point, he could not stop his mind from shutting off due to the pain. So there he lay, out cold, as slowly, he began to take real breaths and for the first time in hundreds of years, his heart began pumping his blood.
TBC
