Disclaimer: I don't own nor have I contributed to Naruto in any way! Nope! None! -
Sky-eyed Kitsune: Wow! So happy that you all like the story so far, but some of you might hate me after this chapter ;p I can hear the bat outside squeaking, no doubt catching mosquitoes. Hurray for bats!
Reviewer Replies
To marinav92: Thank you so very much for being patient! :D I'm a very slow updater so patience will be a virtue here, no doubt!
To VampireNamedRaphael: You're wait ends here I hope! ;p That's so kind of you to say! I really like the fact that you keep the story fresh in your mind-sometimes I'll read a fic, and then the next chapter is published and I have no idea of what happened beforehand!
To SouriMaxwellYuy068: Who recommended you? I'd really love to know so I can thank them :D
To Chibiwu: I don't know, COULD HE! Lol, definitely something to keep in your mind ;p Muahaha I'm so happy when people notice the little things that are important! Yes, you are absolutely treading on crucial plot points! How observant of you! :D
To AngleBadGirl247: Of course! Naruto will need some help if he wants to get over his "tool" mindset though!
To punkin17: Thank you!
To kaname-luvr: I hope you didn't have to wait too long!
To Lightly: You'll certainly receive your answers in this chapter, I guarantee it! The thing to remember is that the tamer stone collar can only be taken off by the master whom bestowed it. That would mean for Sasuke to give Naruto up...?
To narutolover15: Thanks so much, I'm honored! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! :D
To KiTsUnE-cHaN18: Thank you!
To : Thank you very much for the review! Hm well this chapter may disappoint you...
To EphemeralJynx13: Thank you so much! I try to get my readers to feel the emotion as much as possible, so it's a really good sign to me that you were crying lol
To skyglazingMaro: Talk about hitting the nail on the head!
To ChibiNekoBandit: It's nice to know that some readers read my little blurbs at the top and bottom of the page :) I managed to sleep like a rock that night, and I'm very awake right now. To make up for the last short chapter, this one will be long ;p Thanks as always for your review and patience!
To wassupkiba: XD Wait no longer!
To DarkRavie: Thank you very much for reviewing!
To BlackFireXD13: Oh, how I love long reviews! Naruto could understand a little human language in the beginning but not much ;p Lol, thank you! Kuro is an original character of mine. Maybe I'll bring him back in later ;p I can't reveal much here, but I will say that Madara and Orochimaru will have vital future roles in this story. I will also hint on some kakairu for the future as well! Thank you so much for your lovely review, I am honored! :D
Chapter Eleven: Scents
Sasuke scrunched his eyebrows and stretched his lower torso from his midsection, groaning a little.
"About time."
Sasuke opened one eye, closing it immediately and hissing. He opened it back up only a crack, not ready to see the sunlight as Kakashi blurred into view.
"What?" Sasuke slurred hazily.
"I said, 'about time.'"
Sasuke said up, groaning as his body ached, and a colossal shiver wracked his spine.
"You've been asleep a long time there," Kakashi said, turning a page in the book that rested on his lap. Glasses hung on the man's ears, balanced on his nose as his eyes smirked back at Sasuke through their lenses.
Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck, hissing when his fingers brushed over a sore spot.
"How long?" he asked.
"Two days."
Sasuke sighed deeply.
"What…what happe— wait, Naruto—where's Naruto?"
Kakashi tilted his head behind Sasuke to the window, and Sasuke turned to find Naruto sitting in front of the window in his small fox form.
"He's been there since he woke up two days ago." Kakashi removed his glasses and shook his head sadly as he stood. "He won't even go out to hunt. I think he's been waiting for you." With that he quietly padded out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.
Sasuke slowly stood, steadying his weak legs as they supported his weight for the first time in two days. He walked over to Naruto, albeit cautiously.
Naruto didn't move as Sasuke sat down beside him. They didn't speak, both just staring out the window silently.
Sasuke finally sighed.
Before he had blacked out he had realized just how angry he had been at Naruto. But what…what if the blond had the same feelings? Sasuke realized his slim chances, but there was always that little bit of hope, right? Sasuke felt a connection to Naruto stronger than anyone he had ever met. He was almost certain Naruto must've felt it too.
"Naruto…" Sasuke started, pushing himself. "I know that you read my journal. I'm not...what was written there wasn't a lie."
Naruto morphed back into a human, sitting cross-legged beside Sasuke. He shifted his blue eyes to lock with the raven's, and Sasuke noticed just how tired they looked. A dark shade lay under Naruto's eyes, the blue hue of his eyes darker. Had Naruto been staying up all night for the past for days?
For…him?
"Naruto, I know that we aren't from the same worlds but…" Sasuke rubbed the back of his head quickly. "But I don't care. I—I really don't care! Does it matter?"
Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head.
"It does, Sasuke," he said, his voice quiet. "It matters a lot. We were raised to kill each other. One of us should already be dead right now."
Sasuke shook his head.
"You're wrong. And you were right before Naruto, when you said we're connected. Analiax or human, we're all connected because we're alive."
Sasuke reached his hands forward and tilted Naruto's face to look at him, and was stunned as the comforting hand was smacked away harshly.
Naruto's sapphire eyes churned to a dangerous violet storm.
Naruto's claws dug into the floor beneath him as anger suddenly fueled his soul. Loving Sasuke, this human, made him so frustrated with himself. Beings that destroyed everything they touched, and Naruto loved one of them? And in his one agonizing moment of pain, all Sasuke did was yell at him for disobeying.
Naruto's canines grit painfully hard together as he snarled at his beloved. He knew that he was stupidly angry, but it was for the best.
For both of them.
"What the hell would you know about being connected to me?" he hissed, ears pressing back against his head and tail flaring. Sasuke took a step back as Naruto stood and approached him, eyes bleeding to a deep wine red. "The hell would you know anything about me!"
Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Wh—"
"If you really loved me then you wouldn't have done this to me!" Naruto shouted, slashing his collar fruitlessly, sparks flying from it.
"I didn't know better then!" Sasuke shouted back.
"And what, you think you know better now?" Naruto and Sasuke circled each other now, and Naruto lowered on all fours to the ground, changing into his gargantuan nine-tailed fox form. "Humans will never learn. Love?" Naruto snorted. "Love does not involve imprisonment in this place!"
"Then leave!" Sasuke shouted, anger bubbling up inside of him as he unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the fox.
"Oh gladly, master," Naruto said, venom dripping on the last word. "That is why I have stayed up these past days—so that you may remove this wretched thing and I will leave this place for good!"
Sasuke shook his head, trying to clear the anger from his eyes.
"Why? Do you really want to leave so badly, Naruto!" he said, body quivering with restrained emotions and rage.
"I have a kingdom to lead into battle!" Naruto roared. "And as far as I'm concerned the only love that I need is worth much more than that of a worthless human; my mate awaits my return as we speak." Saying such foul things hurt more than Naruto had thought they would, but he couldn't stop now.
Sasuke's eyes widened as he took a new grip on the tamer sword with a vengeance.
"You have a mate!" he boomed, wanting nothing more than to slash Naruto with his sword and make him take back those words, to tell him that they were a rage induced a lie.
"Don't talk like you aren't looking for one!" Naruto retaliated. "I smell the pheromones practically dripping off of you when you return from your little visits to other kingdoms, no doubt in search of a mate!"
"I was," Sasuke said, blood burning with rage and desperation. "I thought I had found one."
The venom drained from Naruto's eyes as he watched Sasuke throw down in his sword in restrained, but anguished defeat.
"No, pick it back up!" Naruto thought to himself, growling. His blue eyes widened as Sasuke turned and walked to the door, and with a roar Naruto pounced.
Sasuke turned in time to see a wolf-like figure suddenly crash through the palace window, knocking Naruto down in mid-pounce. The blond's surprised face disappeared in a puff of smoke as he was forcibly changed into his small fox form
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, turning back and picking up his sword, pointing it menacingly at the wolf.
Naruto dangled between the beast's teeth unconsciously, and Sasuke's eyes fell upon the scar over the wolf's muzzle.
It's ears suddenly pricked up, and it swiftly leapt back through the broken window just as Kakashi opened the door.
He looked at Sasuke's fighting stance, and then at the broken window.
"I thought I heard something," he said. He looked around quizzically. "Where is Naruto?"
Sasuke threw down his sword at the mention of the name, storming to his room and locking the door.
Naruto squinted his eyes as he awoke, shards of sunlight beaming down on him harshly.
His ears pricked up as he heard whispers, and he opened his eyes fully to the gaze of the royal staff. He pulled his ears back as they all went in a tizzy, shouting about how he was awake and firing off questions with no hesitation.
Naruto saw that among the faces was Gaara, looking down at him with quiet concern.
"Alright, alright, all of you as you were!" Iruka said, dispersing the little crowd. "Shoo! Shoo now, all of you!" Gaara turned to leave. "Except you, Sabaku-san, of course you need not go."
Naruto blinked as Iruka's face came into view. "How are you feeling, young prince?"
Dazed, Naruto pushed himself up with one hand, the other flying out blindly to grip something. It caught on Gaara's outstretched hand and he was able to fully tug himself upright. "Ugh," he said, holding a hand to his head. "How did I get here?"
"Well the guards were incapable of tracking you down, so I decided to do it myself. Sorry for the surprise but there was no time to waste when I saw that you had bee captured by humans."
"Hu-" Naruto stopped himself as everything came back to him. His eyes lowered to half mast and he smiled bitterly.
"Either way, we're both back to where we should be now, Sasuke."
"Sasuke?" Naruto looked up at Iruka. "Naruto, who is Sasuke?"
"Huh?"
"You just said the name aloud."
"Oh…it's nothing. No one." Naruto reached up to touch his neck only to feel bandages wrapped around it securely.
"Unfortunate, that that wound on your neck." Naruto looked up at Iruka. The man raised his eyebrows a little. "But hopefully it should heal in time. We need not worry Sabaku-san or the king and queen about it, isn't that right?"
Naruto nodded slowly as he and Iruka exchanged silent messages with their eyes.
Iruka's face softened as Naruto yawned widely.
"I can tell that you're exhausted, so I'll leave Gaara to attend to you now. Anyways it is midnight, and I must retire myself. You were out for some time you know."
Naruto watched as Iruka walked briskly down the hallway, a resounding slam of the great door shutting indicating that he and Gaara were now very much alone in the throne room.
Naruto cleared his throat, the silence hanging above them awkwardly. He gasped a little as Gaara suddenly scooped him up in his arms and opened the door to the main hall. Naruto didn't speak as the redhead carried him to his room, shutting the door before gingerly placing him on his bed.
Naruto admitted that he missed his room, filled with his own, comforting scent. He looked down at the floor as Gaara sat beside him on the bed.
"The King and Queen are arriving back early tomorrow," the man finally said.
"Oh," Naruto replied. This meant that his coronation would be within the week, and Naruto had to be mated to Gaara by then.
Gaara practically shot up from the bed as Naruto bowled him over, holding him down hard and pressing their lips together firmly.
Gaara simply blinked as Naruto separated from Gaara's lips and looked at him expectantly.
"What was that?" he asked.
"A kiss," Naruto scoffed, grinning as if it were the dumbest question in the world.
'What's a ka-iss?" Gaara asked, and Naruto's grin slowly faded. Kisses only existed to humans.
"Nothing," Naruto said half-heartedly. He looked down at Gaara as pale finger wove into the golden locks tickling the nape of his neck, and he pressed his head against the fingers wantonly, their texture just like Sasuke's.
"Naruto, you realize we have to be mated very soon," Gaara said, and Naruto nodded, closing his eyes and relishing in the touch of skin on skin.
Gaara swallowed thickly. "Now would be the opportune time, don't you think?"
Naruto nodded, then stopped as his eyes opened and he deciphered what Gaara had just said.
"Mate…now?"
Gaara nodded.
Naruto realized that he still had Gaara pinned and scrambled off of him. He barely had time to recover as Gaara leaned into him and brushed his lips against the tan skin of Naruto's neck, and the blond caught his breath.
Gaara wrapped his silken raccoon tail around Naruto's golden ones and a quiver rumbled quietly through him from head to toe. This, he decided, was the equivalent of a human kiss.
Naruto let Gaara push him back on the bed as his claws delicately trailed under his shirt and charted a path up the golden expanse of hidden skin.
Naruto groaned in his throat as Gaara bit down on the crossroads of his neck and shoulder, a rippling, possessive growl escaping the man's pale lips.
Naruto's hand drifted down Gaara's pants just above his arousal before trailing back up. Gaara growled again, biting Naruto a little harder that did nothing but tear another groan from the fox's mouth.
Naruto's remaining eight tails all unfurled in a breath of light, wrapping around Gaara's in a tight embrace. The man groaned heatedly into Naruto's neck, his breath electrifying the skin there.
Naruto's ears pulled back in ecstasy, drinking in all the needless attention, and bathing in every second of it.
"Sasuke," he breathed for only himself, only his ears to hear.
Gaara peeled Naruto's shirt off and rubbed against his skin in an almost feline manner.
Naruto was in bliss, his senses tingling to their very core and spreading in hot waves.
…and then it was gone.
Naruto's ears pulled back in frustration.
"What?" he said a little impatiently as Gaara paused his ministrations.
"You are drenched with the scent of a human on your skin," Gaara replied in the same, if not slightly irritated monotone as always.
Naruto's ear twitched. "Well that was a human dominated kingdom," he said. "There were loads of them everywhere."
Gaara narrowed his eyes to the skin on Naruto's chest. "This is not the faint scent of many humans, but a strong scent of one, intimate human."
Naruto could have slapped himself for not ridding himself of Sasuke's scent before doing anything with Gaara. He was so used to smelling like Sasuke that it was almost natural. But now, surrounded by the scent of the Analiaxes, of home, of his room, he realized how pungent Sasuke's scent was hanging off of him.
A jealous wave curled in Gaara's abdomen, briefly shown on his face before fading back to his unemotional state.
"You have been touched by a human," he said quite levelly.
"I—"
"You've been touched by a human," Gaara repeated, growling with a little venom this time.
Naruto remained silent as the redhead traced the seal on his abdomen with a clawed hand.
"Touched, but not mated," he said with finality. His eyes flicked up to Naruto's with a predatory gleam. "This will never happen again, as after tonight you will be covered only with my scent."
Naruto watched Gaara warily as his raccoon tail flicked agitatedly behind him.
"We were meant to mate," Naruto confirmed. "You need not worry about me smelling of human ever again. I do not plan on returning to that place."
Naruto shivered as Gaara wrapped his tail around a golden leg, brushing against it like fine silk. He leaned in close to Naruto's ear, his heady breath rushing like a storm.
"I only want to smell the stench of human blood on the battle field."
Some of you will now probably want to throw things at me for being so cruel...
Sky-eyed Kitsune
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