Chapter 10
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!
Quick A/N: hey! so so so sorry guys for the super long wait! lots of things just came popping up into existance into my already tedious life- so let's just read what I tacked up here for you, 'kay? I'm going to update Stupid Excuses later. ( Just a note for those of you who didn't know ^^ I'm writing a second chapter )
As the dark seeped across the sky, stars began to light. One after another they winked down at the hell stricken land where a short yet antagonizing battle had tore the earth open. A sullen face gazed across the ripped fields, a deep discontentment playing in the depth of his heart. A small dog trotted to his side, and a pair of anxious and coal colored eyes rose from the far side of the tree littered field to regard them.
Kakashi turned from the scrutiny, his shadowed eye landing upon Pakkun with feigned placidness. However, the small dog was just as faint-hearted. Pakkun shook his head, turning his nose to the earth. Kakashi's last, fragile thread of hope squeezed his heart. Pain reverberated through his being. His squinted eyes lifted from his summon, and he rubbed his face tiredly.
"Go back to the village… both of you. Now."
"Yes, sensei."
"…I'm staying. I can't sit and wait- I'll help find him. I can't leave him here, alone."
Kakashi dropped his hand, surrendering to the aching and his throttling heart. He turned his eye over his shoulder, Sasuke's braced demeanor burying the wound deeper. Kakashi slowly made his way towards his student, Sasuke's now hardened eyes seeking his face for the answer he desired to hear. His sensei only pushed his hand into the pocket of his pant leg, and pulled a shiny metal from the fabric's confines. Sasuke's stony eyes hazed, and he numbly took the bloodied hitiate from Kakashi's stiff hand.
Sasuke dropped his chin to his chest as he showered the thin metal with his sorrow. The blood began to puddle in the carving of the leaf as salty tears mingled within it. Sasuke's reflection smeared along the mixture, his dark eyes boring back at him.
"Sasuke, I did it because… I was scared for you."
Naruto's apologetic smile echoed to the forefront of his mind. Sasuke grasped the metal in a desperate grip, pain danced in his eyes.
Kakashi placed a rigid hand on Sasuke's shoulder, trying to offer some sort of comfort. "…Sasuke he's-"
"No." Sasuke shrugged off his sensei's hand and swallowed thickly, taking a breath. "…don't say it."
Kakashi's downcast eyes searched Sasuke's face, trying to find the right words to say. Something that would keep Sasuke rooted to the ground; something that would keep him sane. "Sasuke, not one day did he look down on you." Sasuke remained silent. "He always kept you on high regards- respected you; his thoughts revolved around you. …And I know that to this day, you are his precious person." Sasuke's dull eyes shone with loss, and Kakashi paused with familiarity.
"Sasuke, he wanted to save you."
Sasuke's face tightened with grief and frustration, and he shook his head fiercely. "He's been shoving that nonsense in my face since I first left Konoha! I don't need saving. The last time I checked, I'm the stronger one." he grumbled heatedly.
Kakashi shook his head. "You've never really understood a word he's ever said." Kakashi lifted his pointer finger as if for scolding, but instead, he planted his finger just over Sasuke's heart. "He tried to save this."
Sasuke stiffened, his mind reeling as he pinned his sensei with an intense gaze. "…my heart? What does that mean?"
Kakashi sighed solemnly. "He told me once… that he was scared. He was scared you were drowning in your dark thoughts. He wanted so desperately to bring you back because he knew that if you strayed too far within those dark emotions and ambitions, that you would surely lose the sight of your sanity, and be blind to everything positive in your life. He wanted to save you from turning into something he knows you're not. Something that would haunt you all your life."
Sasuke's eyes widened. His heart thumping heatedly.
"Is that wishful thinking, teme? Because as long as I see that boundless determination, assertive endurance, that damned snappy attitude, and familiar actuality," his eyes narrowed, a sort of comprehension shining through as his hands tightened painfully around the material in his hands, "you'll always be Sasuke to me."
Sasuke ground his teeth together, pain coiling in his chest.
Kakashi lowered his eyes, distraught at the loss of his loud and noble student. He couldn't handle the loss of another so arduously fought for to bring back once before."…Now, Sasuke, let's just go home." he whispered, trying to quell his turmoil.
Sasuke took one more glance over the thoroughly searched grounds. As Kakashi wandered ahead of his student, Sasuke clenched the hitiate tightly in his fist. His eyes roamed over the horizon, a final, desperate glance for a sign. Anything. He couldn't have just disappeared without a trace.
"Sasuke… are you coming?"
Sasuke closed his glimmering eyes, and bowed his head. I'll be back. And I will find you.
As they slowly made their way into the village, Sasuke's dark eyes caught a faint outline of pink along the gathered rookie nine. A numb sort of feeling raced through him as Sakura ran up to him, her face flushed with anxiousness. Her eyes set on him fixatedly. Sasuke looked past her for a moment, taking in the forlorn and presumptuous expressions of their classmates.
"Sasuke," his name was a plead in itself, bringing his eyes back to Sakura.
Sasuke found he couldn't break his eyes away from hers, knowing that if he did, that it would only mean Naruto was truly, definitely gone. Instead he willed his hard eyes to soften. "We haven't found him,"
Sakura held onto that small hope his answer held out in the open, her eyes beading with tears; her lower lip trembled. She threw her arms around his neck, and began to sob into his chest. Sasuke furrowed his brow, perplexed as a squirmy feeling wormed its way into his chest. "Ah, Sakura…"
"I'd hoped that if anything had ever happened to this team… to me… that you'd be there to hold it together when I can't… though, I guess that's too much to ask for…"
Sasuke pursed his lips, and slowly, cautiously, hugged her back. This only seemed to encourage Sakura as she sank into his embrace and balled. Sasuke lowered his eyes as that squirmy feeling faded into a sense of consoling he had only felt once before. More surely now, Sasuke tightened his hold. Almost like a line had been cast from her heart and had hooked into his, a flood of what he felt was barren emotion came forth. He could feel her grief and fear, and honestly, it didn't comfort him at all. If anything, it almost made him fall into his own doubts.
He raised his eyes to the silent onlookers, their expressions of surprise. His eyes darkened at the sight of them, and he wanted to wrench away from the weak emotions playing through him. However, something held him there, something took over him. Sasuke grasped Sakura's arms gently, and brought her away from his chest. Sakura's red and puffy eyes questioned him. Sasuke blinked slowly, finding words tumbling out of his mouth.
"Crying won't help." his gentle tone made him stiffen at his own words. Sakura's eyes widened and Sasuke hesitantly removed himself before he did something drastic. He then began to move quickly away, striding past the astonished aura draping over the onlookers.
Sasuke advanced onto his home with haste, and more or less slammed the door behind him. He leaned against it, and raised a hand to his chest. The cold feeling was absent, replaced by an airy sort of casualness as if what he had just done was natural to him. Sasuke drifted away from his door, confusion riddling his thoughts. Then, a sort of epiphany came to him.
Naruto.
Sasuke did a one-eighty, and again slammed the door behind him. Sasuke raced to Naruto's apartment, taking to the rooftops to avoid unwanted encounters. He ascended onto the balcony in relatively quick time, and burst into the empty abode with renewed vigor.
Naruto's not so tidy room betrayed the motives of a rowdy teenager. Clothes lay strewn about, some older than others. An empty ramen cup lay at the foot of the mused bed. A few candy bars and sodas sat on the stand next to the alarm aside the photo of Team Seven. Sasuke lowered his chin, relaxing for the moment in the otherwise peaceful and laid-back atmosphere that was Naruto's home. Sasuke ambled towards the cabinet, kneeling in front of it and sliding it open with relative ease. The cabinet was empty- besides the dust of course. Sasuke's nose wrinkled in disdain, and he shut the door sharply. The cabinet groaned in response and shifted a cloud of dust into Sasuke's face.
Sasuke jumped to his feet, coughing and scrubbing the grit from his eyes with the backs of his fists. He backed up, trying to escape the cloud when the backs of his knees hit the bed. Sasuke's eyes flew open in alarm, and he threw out his arms, swinging them for some semblance of balance. The ceiling met his gaze as his shoulders hit the other side of the bed and he began to slide down. Sasuke grabbed hurriedly at the blankets, but they slid with him. Sasuke's head collided with the hardwood floor, and his body collapsed after him. He groaned after a few moments, and steadily lifted his head from the wood, rubbing it wearily.
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
Sasuke froze, his whole body going stiff. His wide eyes rose over the bed, and there, on the other side, stood Naruto- rasping with laughter. Sasuke dropped his hand limply as the blond doubled over, grasping his chest as if it might explode.
"Sa-sasuke! You just- pffffft! Ahahahaha!"
Embarrassment channeled a burst of red into Sasuke's face, his ears flushing to match. He scrambled to his feet, clutching his fists at his sides. "I-idiot!"
Naruto gasped for breath, "Ha..haha… that was the stupidest and clumsiest thing I've ever seen you do!" Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes. "Ah… hilarious…"
Sasuke gritted his teeth in annoyance, "At least I didn't fumble in the sight!" he retorted. Naruto stopped laughing.
Sasuke's competitiveness crashed hard when Naruto stood. His eyes were dull, face now expressionless. A chill ran through Sasuke's being, and he suddenly felt very hollow and alone.
Sasuke was about to take the insult back when a sharp clack against the window made his eyes snap to the glass pane. There sat the black bird, tapping insistently on the glass. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at it. He turned back to his friend, only to find the room empty. Sasuke's eyes widened, and he looked around him. The house was silent besides the bird's tapping.
"Naruto?" Sasuke called uncertainly.
Silence was his answer. Sasuke swiftly moved into the kitchen, his eyes darting around the make-shift dining room. His heart began to beat hastily, and he darted from the doorway to the bathroom, surging in. The sink dripped tediously in the small white basin. The bath room pane stood open, a slight sent of musk radiating from the shower.
Sasuke fell back against the doorframe, his befuddled mind racing to catch up to him. Naruto… was there, wasn't he?
The sharp crackling echoing through the house made Sasuke wander back to Naruto's bedroom. His eyes traced the floor, and what met him unsettled him. There, in the blanket of dust, was his struggled looking footprints back-stepping into the bed. The rest was untouched, smooth in its evenness, though, Sasuke couldn't care less how level the dust was. His heart panged, and Sasuke sighed heavily, running his hand through his hair.
I was hallucinating. Great…
Sasuke's shining eyes drifted to the window, the bird staring at him impatiently. He sauntered to the sill, and pulled it open in one swift pull. The bird flew in, and Sasuke took a step back out of its way, when his heel connected with something sharp. Sasuke inhaled through his teeth sharply, his hiss making the bird, alarmed, flap to the other side of the room for distance. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the comforter draping off the bed and onto the floor. Sasuke bent to pick up the blanket, planning to kill the thing that stabbed his heel. As he lifted the blanket up to the bed side, the corner of what looked like a brief case presented itself. Sasuke furrowed his brow and knelt to the bedside. Pulling out the black case, he hefted it up to the mattress with a grunt.
It rattled, and intriguing his curiosity, he opened it with a click of its clasp. The top fell back on the bed loftily, and Sasuke peered on the contents with interest. A scatter of papers lay atop what looked like books underneath. Photos wrapped in a rubber band lay bundled on the side. Sasuke attentively took them apart and shuffled through the photos. They were the same arrangement as before, yet they were different images.
One grabbed his attention. It was a photo of Naruto and Sasuke pumping fists; Naruto grinning like an idiot whilst Sasuke tried to look indifferent. Under the two of them, there was writing.
" Sometimes, amidst all our constant fighting, I forget why we were fighting in the first place. Then I remember it's because of how important it is, and it makes me smile. "
Sasuke lowered his eyes, and his thumb stroked the photo's side thoughtfully. He tucked the picture into his pocket, and twiddled the band over the rest of the photos. Setting them aside, he examined the papers. They were scribbles of theory and examples. Sasuke was a bit amazed of Naruto's complex thoughts and ideas.
If he's this smart, why does he act like such a dimwit?
Sasuke skimmed over the papers for a time until Naruto's penmanship gave him a headache, and he set them aside. Two books and a scroll lay side by side at the bottom. On the far left, the bird summon's brilliant red and gold imprinted bird glinted familiarly in the light. The middle book was a dull, worn brown. It was beaten up around the edges of its thick spine. Sasuke frowned, wondering how this book caught Naruto's eye. He lifted the heavy book from the case's confines and flipped the spine into his line of sight. In big golden lettering, it read: Ancient Medical Techniques. Sasuke's drew his mouth into a tight line of discomfort. He set it back not too gently into its place.
Lastly sat the scroll on the right, and Sasuke hesitated. What ever it was, he knew it was important, for he had no idea as to what it related to yet. Carefully, he lifted the scroll, turning the label into the light.
The Methods of Interrogation…?
Sasuke began to lift the seal, but he paused- apprehensive that he might find something he didn't want to find. Sasuke took a breath, and proceeded to tear away the seal.
What unraveled in his palms was something so convoluted, yet so obviously true.
A/N
Okay, for those of you who hated how i stopped so short after not updating for what can very possibly be labeled FOREVER- I'm so deeply, terribly sorry, but, I had to.
It's just my way of the author to write cliff hangers... please don't kill me ^^'
Forementioned above the story, Stupid Excuses is being turned into a two chapter story, or three if I'm not satisfied with the ending. I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep it to two chapters though.
Oh and, HAPPY EASTER!! If you celebrate it that is. :) "May you gorge yourself with candy, for this my friend, is the only day you may eat candy for breakfast."
Chapter 10! Review to Continue! SERIOUSLY! I see those of you lurking... don't try to hide! lol
-MM :D