"Talking"

'Thinking'

Memories

AN: Here's another chapter I hope you all enjoy.

Midnight's Moon

Chapter 9

They had been on the move for about 7 hours when the blond noticed his rival was getting a little wary. By a little it meant barely noticeable even if you were looking for it. The only reason the blond noticed it was because he could read the emotions behind the others mask.

'What's got the teme so worked up? He's had his Sharingan activated for about a half hour now. He's acting like a child afraid someone's going to jump out and steal his cookie.'

The blond just sighed. He then sped up again to keep pace with the older teen. The Uchiha had been continually getting faster and faster and it was starting to piss the blond off. He was tired darn' it.

The Sharingan wielder scanned the area again, stretching out his senses to see if he could detect anything.

He did.

That was the problem. The raven could feel other people getting closer to them and the worst part was their charkas were familiar.

'Kuso. I didn't think they'd catch up so fast. I under estimated them, thinking they'd be fooled longer by the trick I played.' The raven mentally berated himself. They had lost so much time with the bracelet issues, not to mention neither he nor the blond have a lot of charka. Using the Sharingan was draining him too, but he needed to keep an eye on their followers.

From what the raven could tell they were about 5 hours ahead of the Konoha nins. That was good. The raven picked up the pace again. They just might have a chance to escape at this speed. Another good thing was his blond hadn't complained yet.

"That's it Teme. I've had enough! Are you purposely trying to ditch me, because that would kind of defeat the purpose of kidnapping me?" The blond yelled as he landed on a tree branch and crossed his arms angrily.

The Uchiha turned when he heard the other yelling at him. He jumped back to the branch where the blond was.

"What the hell are you talking about, dobe?" he snapped. They didn't have time for this they needed to keep moving. The Konoha nins were only a few hours behind.

"What am I talking about?! Ever time I catch up, you speed up again leaving me in your dust. The sun is going down, it's getting hard to see and this forest is so dense you can't see your hand in front of your face."

The raven rolled his eyes at the over exaggeration. "The sun hasn't even set yet and the forest is not much thicker then the one by Konoha." Opps. That is a no, no word.

The raven had seen the brief flicker of pain in the others eyes at the mention of their village. No it's their ex-village, but still the hurt, pain and sadness in those oceanic blue eyes was enough for the raven to regret opening his mouth at all.

If it was anyone else they wouldn't have seen the flicker at all, but he older teen always seemed to have a strong bond with the younger. It was because of that he could catch these tiny proofs of the blonde's inner suffering. It always chilled him to the bone. It always left him not knowing what to do to make it better. Could he make it better? How do you erase years of pain like that?

'You can't.'

The raven knew this first hand, his pain had all been created on one day.

'The day they all were murdered.'

His clan was murdered. Even though it had only been one day, he still suffers to this very day.

'You can't totally erase pain like mine or like his, but you can ease it. You eased my pain Naruto and I promise I will ease yours.'

The blond felt his chest go tight at that one word. Funny what one word can do to you. Especially that word, that name. He had so many mixed feelings about that village. He gave up calling it his village along time ago. That place was home to some of his happiest memories and horror-ish nightmares. That place contained people he loved and people who loved to hate him. He had both friends and attackers there. How can one feel two opposite things for one place? He loved Konoha, but he hated it. He wanted to protect them, but he also wanted them to suffer. He wanted to go back, but he never wanted to see that place again. He was so confused and lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice that tears began to slip from his eyes. Years of repressed pain, suffering and sadness came bubbling to the surface in a flood of tears. But still not a sound came from his mouth. Suffering in silence.

After berating himself for mentioning that place, the raven took a good look at the blond. He hadn't noticed how completely exhausted to younger teen looked. He scolded himself again. He was to busy worrying about other things to notice that his fox was drained. In the middle of his self-ranting the raven notice a single tear fall from the blonde's shadow covered face. Taking a careful step forward the Uchiha realized that it wasn't a single tear but the first of many.

Without thinking the raven embraced the other strongly just as the blonde's legs gave out. Carefully he lowered himself and his beloved to a sitting position. He pulled the blond in his lapped tightly to his chest, as silent tremors racked the smaller body.

The blond felt like he was falling, there was no more strength in him. Falling… He was snapped out of his depression though when he felt two strong arms encircle him. He didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't falling anymore. For once in a very long time he felt safe. 'So tired… so tir…' Their was no more thoughts, no more pain, no more worries just…peace.

The raven felt the body in his arms relax as it gave into sleep. Bitter tears still fell from closed blue eyes as they washed away the pain, the loneliness, and the sadness. In return it gave the blond freedom. It would only be temporary freedom but it was more then the younger teen had had in years.

More tears fell to accompany the ones that had already fallen, but these ones did not come from sleeping blue eyes, but instead from understanding onyx ones. For the first time since his clans murder tears rolled down pale cheeks. These tears were for the years he couldn't cry, these tears were for the pain and consent suffering he faced and most importantly these tears were for the only precious person he had left. The only one who knew the real him. The only person willing to give him their all. His blond. His Naruto.

Tired onyx eyes slow closed following the younger teen into sleep. Knowing thar right then there was no past haunting either of them.

The two teens slept unaware of the pair of eyes that had been watching them. As silently as the eyes arrived they disappeared in to the dark once again.

Onyx-eyes blinked open, still somewhat glazed with sleep. He was slightly confused. Where was he? Why is it dark? Where is that warmth and weight coming from?

He blinked a couple more times trying to clear the sleep from his eyes as the memories came back to him. They are in the forest and the sun has set. The sun has set! Panic started to fill the raven teen at that fact. How long were they asleep?

'Kuso, the Konoha nins have to be close.'

Activating his Sharingan the raven scanned the area. No sign of anyone. He stretched out his senses to see if he could locate the familiar charkas.

Nothing.

He felt nothing. There was no one. 'What happen to the Konoha team?' The raven felt both relief and anxious at the same time. They weren't being followed anymore, as far as he could tell, but the question that remained is 'Why'? What would make them give up their search like that? They seemed to be following their trail so what happen?

The hairs on the back of the raven's neck stood on end slightly. He felt like he was being watched. Activating his bloodline limit again he searched once more only to come up empty again.

'I swear it feels like I'm being watched.' A slight shifting of body in his lap reminded him that the younger teen was still sleeping. All thoughts of being watched dissolved as he looked at the boy in his lap.

The raven just now noticed how peaceful he felt. It had been a very long time since he had woken up and felt this relaxed. Even with his earlier worries he still felt a clam over him. It was nice. He drew in a deep breath of the night's clear air and released it. Titling his head down to look at the person who gave him this peace, only one word came to mind.

'Beautiful.'

Tanned lids still hid sky blue eyes. The blonde's golden hair was splayed under the raven's pale chin, tickling him slightly. The smaller body was pressed so closely to his. They fit perfectly together. The younger's heat was seeping into the raven's body. The blonde's tanned face was so peaceful and from those pink, usually kissable lips hung a big, wet, string of…drool.

Twitch, twitch, twitch.

'Argh. No wonder my shirt felt wet.'

"Dobe." The raven growled as he not so gently shook the blond awake.

"Wha..What!?" The blond jumped up in alarm and nearly fells off the branch.

"Dobe."

"Teme?" the blond asked sleepily as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

'He's cute, but he's still a drool monster.' The raven thought.

"Hn."

"Why the hell did you wake meeee." The blond yawned, "I was having such a nice dream."

"About what?" asked the raven.

"Ramen." The blond fox answer and as if his stomach heard it let out a gurgle.

"Dobe."

"Shut teme, I'm hungry!" the blond yelled.

"You're too loud. Fine you can eat but no ramen."

"What!" the blue-eyed teen tried to protest.

"We don't have any hot water."

"You can just do the Jutsu thing. Please." Usually the blond would never beg, but right then ramen wasn't a want but a need. You see ramen was an outlet for the blond, it helped him relax. Where other people took long, hot bubble baths or got a massage he would eat ramen.

'I'm not weird! I just don't have a lot of money to spend.' The blond mentally yelled at no one.

The blonde's eyes became duller at the thought of his money situation lately. The landlord raised his rent fee again. This was the third time this month. He'd talked to the landlord to figure out why, but the only answer he got was itaxes/i. Funny how he was the only one to receive this tax. The landlord was probably charging him double because were two beings in that apartment, him and Kyubi.

'I guess I'll have to get Kyubi to do some house cleaning or something, lazy slacker.' The blond mentally laughed at his joke, but it wasn't a joyful laugh it was a bitter one. He was not bitter at the demon, even though the demon acted like an ass, he was bitter that people refused to see him not the demon.

'I really need some ramen, badly.' He was so stressed with everything that was going on here and back in the village. So many double minded thoughts. He could feel the cord inside himself winding tighter, he was going to break down again, and he could feel it. When things got too impossible to handle it would happen, a part of him would snap. Usually when that happened his body would shut down almost completely, unable to handle the pressure any longer. He would remain unconscious anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days.

The only exception was about a month after he got back from training with Jiraiya. He had been so depressed after returning, it felt like the world was squeezing the life out of him. His chest was so tight, he couldn't breathe. He couldn't stand it any longer the pain was too much. He needed some ramen but there was none left. Blackness started to fill his vision as he collapsed to the floor knocking his pot to the floor too. Nobody knew of the attacks he had because he never told anyone and he didn't have visitors often, but this time someone did come. Unfortunately it was someone he wished hadn't. For as he lay of the floor unconsciousness creeping in he saw several pairs of feet approach him. He could only make out one of the faces and in that instant he was glad he would be unconscious for whatever was about to happen to him.

When he had awoken he found himself in a white hospital room, with a tired looking Iruka at his side marking papers.

His groan on awakening had alerted the teacher that he had woken up, finally. Iruka looked like he wanted to hugs him but was afraid to.

He tried to ask his father figure what was wrong but found himself unable to speak because there was a tube down his throat helping him breathe. The blue-eyed teen tired to look at the rest of himself but found it too painful. What had happened?! He didn't remember! Why was he here? He closed his eyes and mentally looked at all his injuries. What he found was horrifying. Even though he was almost totally healed he could still feel where all the damage once was. From what he could tell he must have looked like a mangled corpse. No wonder Iruka looked so worried even now. 'Oh kami, please don't let it have been Iruka who found me.' The blond prayed. Iruka was the blonde's father figure and for that father to not be able to protect his son…well Iruka wouldn't handle it well. The last thing the blond wanted was for his old teacher to feel like he let him down.

"Naruto" Iruka spoke softly, tears were shining in his chocolate brown eyes. "I'm so sorry."

'No whatever happened wasn't not your fault!' he wanted to yell. The blond knew that whatever happened wasn't Iruka's fault. He just knew it.

The door opened and the Hokage stepped in. She seemed almost shocked at him being awake but instantly started to cry. The door flew open at the sound of the Hokage crying and Sakura rushed in. Her vivid green eyes met his pale blue ones and he could see the relief and care in them. Behind Sakura was Kakashi and strangely enough he wasn't reading his book. His sensei's eyes held strange emotions that the blond couldn't understand.

'Why is he looking at me like that?'

His sensei's eyes held a look of self-loathing. Why is Kakashi-sensei angry with himself? Righteous fury burned in the copy-nins eyes as he looked at the blond.

'Is he mad at me?' the blond worried.

His sensei saw the worry on his students face and his eyes became softer as he spoke. "I'm sorry Naruto I'm not mad at you."

The blue-eyed teen wanted to speak but still had a tube down his throat.

By this time the Hokage had collected herself and stepped forward. "Naruto I'm going to take the tube out of your throat so you can talk a little."

He nodded.

"Hokage-sama are you sure that's safe? What if his throat collapses again?" Iruka asked fearfully.

"No he should be fine now. The Kyubi has healed him well." She replied.

Blue eyes widen at the Hokage's words. 'Oh no Sakura will hate me for sure.'

"Don't worry Naruto." The pink nin spoke. "I found out about the Kyubi shortly after you came to the hospital. Actually almost all of the rookie nine and Gai's team know." The blonde's eyes were so wide now. He had no more friends. They would all hate him.

The pink haired teen could see the worry in his eyes. She could see he was waiting for her to curse at him and hate him. This made her insides turn. 'Naruto, what type of life have you lived? I'm so sorry for pretending not to care. Forgive me, I promise I will take care of you nii-chan.'

"Naruto…" Sakura spoke getting his attention again. "We don't care! You are you Naruto, not the demon." The pink haired girl soothed.

'They know and don't hate me. They don't care that I'm a demon vessel.' This made him feel so warm. He felt tears prick at his eyes. 'They don't care.'

Seeing that was all that was going to be said, the blond Hokage stepped forward. "Okay this is going to feel weird and you might gag a little." The Hokage said gently.

He nodded again and let her slowly remove the breathing tube. Once it was out he took a deep breath, but started to cough violently.

The Hokage ran her hand over his chest and the coughing died down.

"Thanks." The blond croaked hoarsely.

"Shh you shouldn't talk too much because you haven't used your voice in over a month." The she gently scolded.

"A month!!" he yelled and started coughing again.

The Hokage rolled her eyes. She ran her healing charka over his lungs again and the coughing stopped.

The blond open his mouth to thank her again but decided just to nod his head and smile instead.

"Yes a month. I have some things to tell you and some questions to ask, but please don't speak unless you have to. They are just yes or no question so just nod or shake your head okay?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Good."

During that time he had been asked things like 'what had happen prior to the attack?', unfortunately he didn't remember. He had learned that he had gotten severe head trauma and that was the most likely cause to his memory loss. There were many other question about what he did earlier that day and his over all health before the 'incident'. All he answered with a nod or shake of his head.

When the Hokage finally seemed finished, he decided to ask some questions of his own. After three failed attempts at speaking and a huge coughing fit, they decided it would be best to just have him write down his questions.

Most were simple silly questions that would make the group laugh and smile at the blond. After awhile Sakura left to meet up with Lee and Iruka had to go to the academy. After they left it was only Kakashi, the Hokage and himself left, that is when he started to ask the serious questions.

The Hokage sighed sadly as she read her gaki's question.

Who found me after the attack?

It was the sliver-haired nin who answered emotionlessly "I did and it wasn't after the attack it was in the middle of it."

The blond was relieved that it wasn't Iruka that found him but was horrified that Kakashi-sensei had seen what they were doing to him first hand. He guessed he should be happy that they were stopped half way through their torture, but still he felt guilty that Kakashi had to see that.

The blond next question was about what happened to his attackers. The Hokage just said that it was taken care of and he didn't need to worry any longer.

He asked a few more question but nothing of too much importance.

For the next 8 months or so it was hard for the blond to get any alone time, not that he minded. It only became a problem when he felt that pressure within himself start to build again. This time when he snapped Iruka was there and had rushed him to the Hokage, not that it did any good. The causes of his breakdowns were environmental, but not environmental as in trees, birds and stuff like that it was the village itself. What can you do about that though? It's like being allergic to air, you still need to breath whether it hurts you or not. So nothing changed.

He didn't tell anyone that he remembered the attack after awhile, he didn't want them to worry. He was right though, he was glad that he was unconscious for what they did to him. From how bad it was they were probably pissed he wouldn't wake up and scream for them. He did find out what happen to the group that attacked him though. It was sealed in a scroll set in the completed piled on the Hokage's desk. It wasn't hard to find considering that pile only had 4 things in it compared to the stack of paperwork on the uncompleted side. He had read it and was kind of surprised, I guess Kakashi-sensei was quite upset at what he walked into at his apartment. There were 7 attackers total, 3 died in hospital from their injuries, 1 is in a coma and the other 3 are locked up so deep inside the Konoha prison that the only light they will ever see is artificial. It was a weird feeling knowing someone avenged you. Not a bad feeling by far, just pleasantly weird.

The pressure was still growing. Even though he cracked a little before he fell asleep, he still felt the cord winding tighter and tighter. His vision was starting to swim too.

Raven eyes stared at his blond worriedly, even though his face didn't show it. What was the blond thinking about? 'He practically begs me for ramen and now he's totally zoned out.'

Carefully the older teen walked toward the blond.

"Dobe?" he asked quietly trying to get some type of reaction. No response.

"Naruto?" he called again. This time the blonde's lips did move, but no sound came out. Luckily the Uchiha could read lips. 'Ramen? He's still asking for ramen?' The raven thoughts were cut short when the blond started to turn pale and sway a bit. The raven rushed forward and grabbed the blond and pulled into a sitting position in the raven's lap. 'Kuso, what's happening?'

The onyx-teen felt eyes on him again it felt stronger then before. It was horrible timing to have someone attack them. He couldn't worry about that right then thou. He had to figure out what was wrong with the blond.

The bracelet wasn't the problem, which he was glad for, but it seemed the blond was having some kind of mental attack. 'Like the ones I had after I was caught in Itachi's Sharingan.' Luckily there is a way to stop it. When it came to things like this there was always an outlet. The onyx-teen's was a necklace with a pendent on it. His mom had given it to him, the pendent was the symbol of the Uchiha clan. He would rub it between his fingers and slowly to pressure would decrease. It was one of the only things he kept with him that had the Uchiha symbol on it.

What could the dobe's outlet be? 'Duh, ramen.' The raven wanted to hit himself for his stupidity, but didn't because he needed to feed his dobe. Besides it felt like there were eyes drilling into the back of his scull.

He held the blond close to himself while he pulled out a scroll from his bag. Careful not to drop the nearly unconscious teen he unsealed the scroll. There was a small poof and from the scroll came a cup of ramen, still hot. He raven was thankful he had thought far enough ahead to seal a premade cup of ramen, incase of an emergency. He shifted the blond in his lap so that he could feed him. He picked up some of the noodles and tried to get the blond to eat them but there was no response.

'He falling fast if I can't get food into he might go into full mental shock. I could pass the noodles to him threw my mouth but is that like a kiss?'

As an Uchiha there were certain rituals that were to be followed and if he kissed the blond on the mouth with out the others consent and acceptance then he would ruin the tradition. He was torn.

'It's not a real kiss right?' Taking a look at his friend he made his decision.

'You are worth more to me than a silly tradition.'

Quickly the raven placed the noodles in his own mouth and leaned forward. Pressing his lips to the blond he passed the noodles.

Though their lips only touched for a few seconds many things race threw the Uchiha's mind. The kiss felt really good and he was also aware that the blond was chewing the noodles and seeming to become more aware. He was also aware that people had landed behind him on the branch. Also that their were eyes burning into the back of his head. Even with all that going on he felt slightly disappointed with himself. He was the last Uchiha, continuing traditions and rituals was his duty and yet he just disrespected the whole clan. He felt dishonored and he felt worse that if the blond needed another mouth full of noodles he wouldn't hesitate to kiss him again. 'Dobe, you really have me rapped around you finger and you don't even know it.'

Blue eyes blinked open as he felt the pressure with in him dissipate. He stared into the onyx eyes of his rival, friend and …savoir?

"Eat the rest of your ramen, dobe."

The blond nodded as he took the cup still slightly dazed from the avoided mental attack. The raven stood up and with his back still turned away he spoke to the others on the branch.

"I guess we need to talk… Kakashi-sensei."

TBC

Done… for now. Does happy dance Okay I have some ideas for the next chapter too and I will try to work on it, but I just started back to school, so I'll try my best. I love your reviews, they are the reason I was able to update even though I'm a slow slacker. As for this chapter I know it was very angst, but I needed to show a little more of Naruto's background and why the village really isn't the best place for the 'Drool monster' to live.

Please rate and review.

Thanks

Yours truly, Spoon

Oh, I got a deviantArt Account, too! If you want you can see some of the project I've worked on. They're pretty cool.

spoon10488 .deviantart. com