Dreams Aren't Real
Part 2
Chapter 5 (10)
Dreams About Monsters and Confessions.
The hours seemed to drag on and still Sasuke remained silent. This was a problem for Naruto for a few reasons. The first and most basic reason was because the longer they waited, the more Sasuke slept and the more in danger his life became. The second reason was sometime soon, Naruto would wake up naturally, and there was no real way to stop that from happening. He knew he could get out on purpose, they'd tested it a little while ago and Naruto had come right back after his success. But he'd still been tired so it had been easy to come back. He wouldn't be so lucky next time, and because he had been able to wake himself there was no reason to think he wouldn't wake up on his own either.
Previously when he'd spent so long in the dreams it had been because he was not only addicted to them, but having the dreams made him so exhausted he couldn't do anything other than sleep all the time. It was a vicious cycle that had resulted in Naruto passing out from exhaustion and being hospitalised. But these days he wasn't so tired and would wake up naturally if he didn't force himself awake first. Once awake he was almost just as refreshed as if he'd spent the whole night in a dreamless, invigorating sleep. So when he woke up this time he probably wouldn't be tired and he probably wouldn't be able to get back to sleep either.
So with that in mind he promptly stopped his calm focus that helped his body relax while he dreamt in the hopes to stave off needing to wake up, but it would probably only buy him an hour at most. What he really needed to do was wear himself out and hope his body felt the exhaustion. After all, physical exhaustion in the dream had seemed to affect his body in the past, he knew that well enough from the cave dreams.
"I'm going to go look for it," Naruto said suddenly.
Sasuke snapped out of whatever deep thought he'd been thinking immediately and shifted in Naruto's arms.
"What, why?"
"We need to know what this thing is. If I can sneak up on it maybe I can watch it. I might even be able to take it by surprise and kill it."
"You don't even know if it can be killed, moron. I couldn't kill it and it wasn't for lack of trying."
Normally that might have annoyed Naruto. Sasuke just assumed that if he hadn't been able to best the monster, there was no way Naruto would be able to. But instead of getting annoyed Naruto took the information on board. Sasuke might be a prick, but he was a talented prick. It hadn't been recently tested which of them was the better fighter yet, but Sasuke was good, and if Sasuke had ended up tied to a tree and solidly beaten, Naruto didn't have high hopes for himself either, despite who the better fighter was.
"I'll just watch it then. Maybe we can work out what it is. Or find some other way to stop it."
"What more do you need to know? I doubt you're going to find its ultimate weakness just by spying on it for a few seconds even if you do manage to get that close again without it noticing. It's not going to be wearing a big sign saying 'will surrender if tickled'."
Naruto almost laughed at the joke. But in his current mood he couldn't really manage it.
"I need the exercise," Naruto told him quietly. "If I don't do something, I'll wake up soon. This doesn't seem to be affecting me like you. There's no reason to believe I'll just keep sleeping like you have. Doing something to make my body tired in the dreams always made me sleep longer."
"Fine, let's fuck."
Thankfully he could tell Sasuke was only joking. Even the most diehard nymphomaniac would probably not really be in the mood after the treatment Sasuke had edured.
"I'm serious. Even running around for twenty minutes here might mean a couple more hours of sleep. I don't want to leave you here."
"I'd be touched if I cared," Sasuke replied acidly. "You said it yourself, we don't need to stick together. I can get myself out of this without your precious help."
If Sasuke wanted him to leave in an angry, hurt, huff he was certainly going about it the right way. But Naruto got the impression through his anger that there was something else going on here. But of course if he was wrong about this, he was really going to regret it.
"Do you want me to leave because you are worried about me?" Naruto speculated.
"No," Sasuke replied.
But his tone was just a little too quiet, his reply just a little too hesitant and Naruto realised he'd lied.
"You don't have to worry about me," Naruto continued as though Sasuke hadn't just said the opposite of what he'd meant. "I'm not hurt, I can wake myself up if I get into trouble so there's no reason for you to want me gone because of that. I'm worried about you."
Continuing to lie at this point was apparently too childish even for Sasuke. Even if he didn't sound too happy that he'd been caught out.
"Don't be, I've been through worse."
"Yeah, but you don't have to do it alone."
"I'm used to it."
"If you are, then why were you so keen earlier for me to stay when we first got here? You said we were in this together. You sounded like you wanted that-"
But Naruto did get to finish. Sasuke's hand had reached up to clamp over Naruto's mouth silencing him.
It was then Naruto heard it, it wasn't real close, but they could hear the roar of the monster in the vicinity of their little hidey-hole. And when it roared again it sounded a little closer than before.
At this point Naruto had an idea. He could get in some exercise while leading the monster away from Sasuke by getting the thing to chase him. After all, it had been easy enough to escape it the first time so he wasn't particularly worried about being caught this time.
Wordlessly he pushed at Sasuke's shoulders trying to convey to him to move away so Naruto could get up. But Sasuke refused. He stayed put and gripped Naruto's legs stretched out either side of him to hold him in place.
"No," Sasuke hissed.
"I'm not going to confront it, I'm just gonna get it to chase me," Naruto whispered.
"I'll go then."
It was Naruto's turn to grab Sasuke's shoulders in an attempt to stop his friend from moving this time.
"Think about it Sasuke. You're hurt and the last thing we want to do is tire your body out more. I need to do as much as I can to wear myself out so I can sleep longer. And if I get into really big trouble, I can wake myself up."
"I thought you were trying to avoid waking up."
"I'll only use it as a last resort."
Sasuke was quiet for a while after that. Naruto realised he was understandably torn about what to do. On one hand Sasuke didn't want to be left alone, on the other hand he wanted Naruto to leave and wake up to be spared the danger himself. Sasuke was probably just trying to decide which course of action would help him most with his dilemma.
Naruto was curious as to which desire would win out as well. Selflessly protecting Naruto, or the more selfish option of wanting him to stay.
"Fine," Sasuke said after a closer roar this time. "Lead it away. But I want you to wake up when it's done."
"But Sasuke I-"
"I will be fine here for a few more hours while you are gone."
Naruto had no intention of following Sasuke's request. But he did appreciate Sasuke's motives behind the request. Sasuke was being selfless. And while Naruto knew he did have it in him – well, occasionally – usually Sasuke was only selfless when it suited some other goal and Naruto couldn't see how Sasuke might benefit from him leaving other than to put his own mind at ease from worry.
Naruto let go of Sasuke's shoulders and allowed him to move away. When Naruto got to his knees, he reached out and found Sasuke's arm and shuffled toward him. He ran his hand up the arm to his shoulder, over his shoulder and up his neck till he could cup the side of Sasuke's face. He leant in and kissed him gently for a few lingering moments before leaning back taking a deep breath.
"Don't kiss me like you're going to die, dobe," Sasuke whispered sardonically. "Even you should be able to run and not get killed."
That wasn't the reason, but Sasuke probably didn't realise Naruto understood his concern and how much he appreciated it.
Naruto headed toward the dim light of the entrance to their little hidey hole and after a quick peek at their surroundings to make sure he wasn't being watched, he emerged into the skeletal forest and mist covered ground once more and started heading off in the direction he'd last heard the roar from. He'd only been away from Sasuke five minutes when he heard a low growl behind him. The sound coupled with the snapping of twigs sent a chill down his back. Resisting the urge to look back he started running.
Unlike before he wasn't trying to escape. He was trying to lure the thing away from Sasuke, and therefore needed the thing to follow him for as long as possible. The monster wasn't particularly fast but it wasn't slow either. With all of Naruto's training he only barely managed to keep ahead of the thing and he knew if he tripped he would be caught and probably tortured like Sasuke had been. It was hardly a pleasant thought.
Sasuke also expected Naruto to be gone for a long time, perhaps until night fell in the real world when Naruto would be again tired enough to sleep after his escape from the dream tonight. That meant that if he was caught, his chances of a rescue were slim. So having that in the back of his head he tried to pick his route carefully, but being slightly panicked he still ran into branches occasionally that would scratch his face and arms badly. He didn't let it slow him down though. As frightening as the idea was of being caught, he wanted to keep Sasuke safe even more. He knew that even if the thing did end up catching him, he would resist waking as much as possible. The longer the monster had to toy with him, the longer it would be prevented from going out looking for Sasuke. And the further he could lead the thing away, the more he upped Sasuke's chances of staying hidden as well.
He managed to stay ahead and had no mishaps which was a surprise since he was running all out across the forest and could barely see where he was placing his feet thanks to the mist. And he knew he could keep this up for hours so he was-
It was then he felt a white hot pain rake down his back. The force of the blow sent him forward and he was barely able to stop the full impact of smacking his head into the tree in front of him. He still hit his head, but it would have been worse if his reflexes hadn't saved him in time. Nevertheless, he had hit his head hard enough to open a gash just above his eyebrow and he spent a few precious seconds wiping away the blood threatening to run into his right eye and steadying himself against the tree trunk when he should have resumed running.
It was now that he got his first proper view of their nightmare monster. Naruto didn't know if it was because of the blow to the head or not, but the beast looked almost like a blurry shadow. There was definite substance there, but the edges looked fuzzy and the features almost entirely absent. It was so dark it was almost like a hole in the forest. At the moment the general shape of the thing reminded Naruto of a really large bulky panther-like creature. And the only features he could see where those two glowing red eyes.
It was too late to escape now. If he turned to run, the thing would be on him in seconds and he'd have no chance to defend himself. He had to stay and fight. But then he remembered Sasuke telling him that the thing had spoken to him before, giving Naruto the idea that maybe it was possible to reason with it. Or at the very least delay the inevitable for a few precious minutes.
"Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked.
"You should wake up little boy. The other one thinks he doesn't need you anyway," the thing replied.
The voice was so odd. It was like a deep throaty hiss that somehow got transformed in words. If possible it was even scarier than the thing itself.
"He doesn't need me. He can kill you himself!"
The thing started stalking around to his side, very slowly, its eyes never leaving Naruto. Naruto watched it warily, ready if the thing pounced.
"You have such faith in him. I wonder what he has done to deserve such faith from you. I will let you in on a secret little boy: Having great skill does not mean you can face everything life will through at you all on your own."
"Stop calling me that! And he's not alone, I won't leave him!"
The thing chuckled at him. "But you are a little boy. Your naivety is like that of a child. You may never want to leave him, but can you say the same for him? No, you can't, can you? This is because it wouldn't be the first time he has left you. What makes you think he wouldn't do it again?"
"H-how do you know all this?
"Ah, that is unimportant little boy. Tell me where the other one is hiding, and I will let you go. It would be very unpleasant for you if I were to keep you. But you can forgo any pain if you tell me what I want to know. You have no reason to protect the traitor any longer."
"You think I would give him up to you, dream on!"
"Hah, nice choice of words. I will then, though for you, for the time being, that is no longer an option."
And then Naruto's eyes flicked open to see the sun peaking in through the curtains of his bedroom window and he sat up with a start.
"No!"
He tried to get back to sleep for a good long hour after that, but he wasn't tired. He'd had a whole night sleep and although a lot had happened during that night, all it had done for him was make him sleep a total of ten hours instead of his usual seven or eight. All of that running around, all of that worry, had only bought him at most three hours and it wasn't enough.
The monster was after Sasuke, that much was clear by now. It had chased Naruto fair enough, but it wasn't mindless, it had chased him down because Naruto might point the way towards Sasuke.
He was surprised why the thing hadn't tortured him for the information at the very least. It hadn't tried very hard to get the information it wanted, and that gave Naruto some hope. He'd first thought when he'd woken up that the monster had been the one to dismiss him from the dream, but now that he thought about it, it seemed unlikely that the thing would get rid of him without putting up more of an effort to get some information from him. Sure that meant that the monster had known when Naruto was going to wake up, which was a little worrisome, but not as much as knowing it had the power to dismiss him at will.
His real problem now was getting back to sleep. After all their caution trying to prevent Naruto from sleeping too much it turned out that is what he really needed right now. He supposed he could try tiring himself out, but that would take too long. And then it came to him; he could enter the dream when unconscious. When he'd passed out previously he'd gone straight back into the dream, so if he gave himself a big enough knock on the head, he figured he might be able to achieve the same thing. But he had to be careful. After he'd started losing a lot of blood last time the dream had stopped so he figured this time he had to hit his head hard enough to knock himself out, but not too hard that he endangered his life. It was a tricky proposition.
And then there was the question of how to do it. It wasn't like he could punch himself. He could fall off something or bang his head against a wall, but who knew what he would do to himself? No, he needed help. And he needed it fast.
"Sakura, I need you to knock me out!"
Sakura was left holding a clipboard and staring at her team mate in complete shock. No 'hello, how are you', just the request to knock Naruto out and no explanation.
"I'm not knocking you out!" Sakura responded after a moment.
"But you hit me all the time! And besides, you're a medic, you know how to do it without hurting me too much."
Seeing that he was indeed serious, Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and led him off into a deserted hospital room where they could talk privately.
"Naruto, tell me why you want me to hit you."
"Please trust me Sakura-chan! I really need you to do this."
She watched him for a few dubious moments like she was trying to work it out herself.
"What's wrong with you?"
He hadn't really wanted to come to Sakura for this express reason. She would demand answers he didn't want to give and then she would probably refuse anyway. All he had was to hope she trusted him.
"There's nothing wrong with me. Please."
"Look if you tell me what's going on, maybe I can help. Certainly more than having to hit you."
Naruto spent a few moments here debating what to tell her. Obviously she wasn't just going to do it on his word alone, and really he couldn't blame her. If someone ran up to him pleading to be smacked in the head hard enough to knock them unconscious, he'd be more than a little curious too. Maybe he should have just gone to Lee and told him it was a manly test of willpower or some bullshit like that, but Lee was out on mission and really whenever he thought about being smacked in the head, he immediately thought of Sakura.
Naruto took a deep breath. "Sasuke's in trouble."
Her eyes got real wide for a moment before she began to frown again.
"And you being unconscious would help him how…?" Then she seemed to catch on and got really angry very quickly. "Naruto! These are about the dreams aren't they? You're still having them! I knew they were messing with your mind, but this is extreme insanity. Just because you might have dreamt about Sasuke being in trouble doesn't mean it's true. I know the dream seems really lifelike but-"
"It's really him Sakura. He's dreaming the same as me."
"You've gone nuts, you know that?"
"Sakura think about it for a moment. When I was in trouble before, how did you know?"
"Well, those ninja cats. But I don't know-"
"Yeah and where did those cats come from?"
"We never found out. We assumed that whoever had put you under the genjutsu had dissent in their ranks and someone undermining them sent us word."
Naruto hadn't been aware of that theory. Tsunade had probably come up with that, but even he thought it was pretty far fetched. But hey, no more far fetched than believing the person sharing the dream with him had sent them.
"Uh huh, but there's another explanation. Who else do you know that knows ninja cats?"
That got her. He was surprised actually that she hadn't made the connection when it had happened the first time. But she obviously didn't remember.
"Well, I knew they looked familiar but I…oh."
Sakura took that moment to sit down on the hospital bed behind her before she fell down.
"This is the reason I knew Sasuke wasn't the one responsible for the genjutsu," Naruto pressed. "Because he was a victim of it too. I wasn't dreaming about him, I was sharing the dream with him. He knew I was in trouble because I told him in the dream. So he woke up and sent the message to you."
Sakura still looked to be getting over the shock. She had gone very pale and was staring blankly at the wall directly across from her.
"This can't be true. Who would do that?"
"Good question. But I've got a bigger problem at the moment."
He then told Sakura about the latest string of dreams focussing mainly on the last one and the monster that was after Sasuke. He did however leave out the more intimate details of being in the field previously, figuring she'd had enough of a shock for one day.
"So that's why I need your help. I can't leave him in there to face that thing alone," Naruto concluded.
Sakura closed her eyes and got to her feet. And then she did smack the back of his head. It hurt a lot, but he was conscious for the pain.
"Ah, Sakura you're going to have to hit me a lot harder than that," Naruto told her while rubbing the back of his sore head.
"You idiot! How could you keep this from me! You've been talking to Sasuke this whole time and I had no idea. Not to mention the fact that the both of you have been continuing to dream together in a genjutsu that was probably designed to kill you both. I mean how stupid can you be!"
"I told Sasuke that, but he wouldn't listen. It was his idea to stay!"
"I don't care! We have to tell Tsunade-sama about this."
"No! Sakura you can't. I only told you because I trusted you to keep this to yourself. Tsunade won't understand. But you do, you care about Sasuke too."
Sakura must have realised the truth in that because she didn't argue the point. Rather she took a deep breath and opened her eyes finally.
"Okay fine. But you have to promise me that it stops after you've resolved this. After Sasuke is safe, neither of you are to keep it up, am I understood?"
Sakura didn't know what she was asking. Besides the fact that Sasuke would just do whatever the hell he wanted regardless of what Sakura made Naruto promise, she didn't know about the growing closeness between them that Naruto would also be giving up. But it wasn't like it wasn't something that hadn't already occurred to him before. These dreams were dangerous and they had to stop. But could he do that if it meant never getting to spend that time with Sasuke again? Well, if it would keep Sasuke safe, Naruto would agree to just about anything.
"Okay Sakura, I promise."
"Good. Now there are other ways we can knock you out without causing brain damage you know. Heaven knows you sure don't need to lose any more brain cells."
Sakura made him wait in the room while she went off to fetch something. She came back ten minutes later with a vial of something vaguely yellow in colour and told him to drink it.
"What is it?" He asked eyeing the bottle suspiciously.
"It's like the other potions you have, only this one will not numb your mind to the point where you can't dream while you're asleep. It will knock you out for a good four hours, but after that you'll sleep normally for another two unless you're woken up.
"So after four hours I'll be able to wake myself up if I want?"
Sakura frowned. "I don't know, I guess so. I don't know what Sasuke taught you exactly but you'll be sleeping relatively naturally after four hours or so, so I guess whatever worked before should start to work again then."
Well, whatever. Before now he'd been so desperate to get back into the dream he would have suffered a major head injury to do so. Taking the potion was a way better solution.
"But I want you to stay here so I can keep an eye on you. And if you haven't woken up after seven hours I'm going to wake you myself, okay?"
He wanted to tell her not to, to let him sleep for as long as it took, but she had a very stubborn set to her features that Naruto had seen many times before and there was no way he was going to talk her out of that.
"Okay. And thank you Sakura. I knew I could rely on you."
Sakura did smile then but only for a moment. "C'mon, drink the potion already. Sasuke needs you."
Naruto nodded with a smile and downed the entire contents in one gulp.
TBC
Notes: Well so now he's finally told someone else. This was a late minute thing I gotta tell you and I'm not sure what it will do to the story but we'll see. Anyway so Sasuke still hasn't come up with a plan and time is getting away from them both. Neither of them can keep it up for too much longer…
Unsigned reviews:
Yu-chan – thank you so much, I'm really glad you are enjoying the fic and I hope to keep the awesomeness up for you :)
Liv – Wow, thanks! I get a little that way too sometimes which I why I started posting things like this in the first place so thanks again for your kind words I really appreciate it.
Starladyplace – sorry I didn't reply last chapter. You were signed it but I think you have PM blocked so I forgot to add this last chapter. My bad. But anyway, thank you so much, I'm always happy to hear when people say I've kept them in character because it's something I worry about being able to do. And as the the other…don't worry, the fic isn't over yet and I promise there will be more opportunity later for the good stuff ;)
Till next time everyone,
Dash.