The Kappa
Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.
"What are we doing here? I thought we were going somewhere… interesting." Sasuke agreed with Naruto. When Suigetsu insisted that he wanted to show them something fun, they had been expecting something more nature related. Instead he had led them to the 24/7 shop on the outskirts of town. Admittedly they were close to the local quarry and a small gathering of trees but it wasn't what they had been expecting.
"We're not going there you fools with little faith. We're not that far off though."
"You could just tell us what we're supposed to be doing."
"But that would ruin the surprise!" Sasuke scowled at him. If this ended up being some kind of trick and he led them to the middle of nowhere then he was going to kill the boy. Naruto was more trusting so accepted this easily.
They walked to the end of the car park towards a hole at the bottom of the fence that led into the scattered gathering of trees. Suigetsu crawled under and gestured at them to follow. From there they headed down a well-used path that led into the quarry.
Although it was no longer used as a quarry, a large amount of people used it for camping/getting drunk and so the place was often filled with rubbish and graffiti.
"It would seem that he hasn't cleared up in a while. Weird."
"Eh? Who do you mean?" Suigetsu tapped his nose.
"You'll see."
"Stop screwing around and acting cryptic."
"We're literally two minutes away, chill out."
There were several fairly large caves in the quarry so Sasuke assumed they'd been visiting one of them but Suigetsu instead headed towards an opening in the cliff side.
"Ok, you guys should probably wait here a second." He then headed into the opening.
"Where are you going?"
"Just wait and see~." He disappeared as he melted through the rocks, leaving Naruto and Sasuke with bemused looks on their faces.
"It's so creepy when he does that." Naruto shuddered.
"I know. It's hard to get used to but you learn to live with it."
"You must've thought you were hallucinating when you first saw that guy."
"Oh yes… Until my mother saw him and I realised it wasn't just the result of concussion."
"Damn. Well at least now we both know, you don't have to hide things from me anymore." Naruto had accepted the presence of a supernatural being a lot faster than he had.
"Sorry for not telling you before…"
"You don't need to apologise, I understand." It was a relief that he had someone else to talk to about this. And he had his boyfriend around to distract him from Suigetsu's attempts at seduction.
They stood together for a while and still Suigetsu didn't appear. Sasuke was considering leaving and taking Naruto somewhere private when they heard raised voices. At first they were barely understandable but after a while some words became clearer.
"I don't want to hear it anymore so get out!" This was a deep unfamiliar voice.
"You need to get out of this you damn agoraphobe!"
"I'm not an agoraphobe! You know why I can't go outside!"
"The fact that you're ginger and therefore burn easily shouldn't stop you living your life." It was very easy to tell that this was Suigetsu. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the boy.
"I told you! I'm! Not! Ginger!" Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances.
"This sounds kind of serious." The blonde seemed worried. "What should we do?"
"Leave him. If anything happens to him he deserves it." Sasuke just felt sorry for the poor sod the kappa was bothering.
"All you have to do is open the damn door! You let me in."
"I couldn't keep you out if I wanted to. And I'm not letting else in here. What part of 'alone time' don't you understand?!"
"I want you to meet these guys so suck it up! You've been way too anti-social for too long."
"I like it this way!"
"And I like meeting people! I thought you were supposed to be my best friend but you won't do this one little thing for me!" There was a momentary silence and then conversation resumed in lowered voices.
"What was that all about?" Naruto looked confused.
"It sounded like Suigetsu being an emotionally blackmailing asshole." As per usual.
"I feel like we should feel bad about this."
"He's the cause of it all so don't worry." Anything Suigetsu did had nothing to do with him and so he didn't feel obliged to step in.
By now there was complete silence and for a moment Sasuke considered leaving. Not long after this there was the sound of footsteps and then part of the wall started to move. This revealed a small tunnel at the back of the cave. Suigetsu leant out and waved.
"Come on in guys."
"…Are you sure?" Sasuke wasn't very keen on entering a darkened cramped space with a sex pest and someone who didn't want them being there.
"Yeah, isn't that guy you were talking to kind of pissed off?"
"He's fine, don't worry. Now come on, we've got things to do."
Sasuke went in first expecting some kind of cramped and dirty tunnel but instead found a giant hobbit hole with candle light. At the end of the tunnel was a large room with assorted objects from bird feathers to deer antlers on any space that was available. There was a bed, an odd looking table, and an alcove in the corner. It was inside this alcove that the tallest man he'd seen seemed to be hiding as well as he could. His bright orange hair contrasted with his bright red cheeks. Sasuke was silent as Naruto and Suigetsu walked in behind him.
"…Hello?" Naruto was the first to make an effort.
"H-hi." Although he had been loud when shouting at Suigetsu, he was a lot quieter now.
"I'm Naruto and that's Sasuke." They waited but the taller boy just stared at the ground and gripped the wall.
"Err… It's nice to meet you?" Another attempt but still no sound.
"Just say something you shy asshole." Suigetsu marched over and started trying to drag the other boy out of the corner but he only tightened his grip and scowled.
"Stop forcing people to do things. If he doesn't want to talk, why should he?"
"He's just being stubborn. Admit it, you like it really." He shook his head. "You damn pussy."
"So… I'm guessing he's one of your friends?" Naruto tried.
"He's my best friend." The emphasis on best and the creepy grin made Sasuke pity the guy even more. "So yeah, that's Sasuke the arrogant arse and Naruto his adorable boy toy. This is Juugo. He hates people, socialising, sunlight, and anything interesting."
"So this is the troll guy." He was a lot quieter than Sasuke had expected. "Why do you hate sunlight?"
"Apparently he turns to stone. It's probably just an excuse for him to stay in all day."
"Oh… Well what's with all the feathers and stuff?" Naruto asked a reasonable but Juugo gulped and looked away.
"He's a nature nerd, he collects all this crap." It seemed Suigetsu was going to answer for him.
"It looks really cool." Naruto and Suigetsu seemed content to look through all of Juugo's private things and discuss them loudly, regardless of whether or not Juugo was happy about it. Sasuke was less bothered about this so he stood where he was and watched them with annoyance.
Juugo sighed and slumped to the ground. Although he still seemed tense he was a lot more at ease than he was before.
"Err…" Sasuke took a step forward and Juugo tensed up. "I'm really sorry about this… Suigetsu didn't tell us what was happening and we didn't know we'd be invading your home so…" At least then the boy would know they hadn't been involved in this stupidity.
"It's fine…" Though still quiet he was attempting to socialise.
"Sorry about all the other times you've had to put up with him too." From the sound of things Juugo had dealt with the kappa's weirdness alone for way too long than anyone should have to.
"I-I'm the one who should be saying that to you." They shared an understanding look.
"Why is he so annoying anyway?" He pointed to the corner where Suigetsu was sticking assorted feathers into Naruto's hair whilst the blonde talked with him, completely unaware.
"He's not that bad… Well he wasn't always that bad. It was just after his brother-." Juugo stopped suddenly.
"His brother?" The idea of another person like Suigetsu in the world was a terrifying one and Sasuke shuddered.
"…It's nothing." Juugo seemed to be looking at the kappa. Clearly it was something he couldn't talk about.
"So what about you?"
"Me?" This came out as a squeak. It was odd seeing someone so large and imposing acting so shy.
"So you… can't go out in the sun?"
"Well I turn to stone so…"
"That must really suck."
"It does… But I do go out at night so I don't stay in here all the time."
"At least you don't have to deal with lots of irritating people." He paused and looked over to the two fools in the corner. Naruto had noticed his new hair decorations and was stupidly trying to hit the man made of water. "…Except for that."
"I'm used to it."
"I suppose you've had plenty of time to get used to him."
"Only a little…" He wasn't keen on revealing his actual age.
"Oh my god!" Suigetsu jumped in the middle causing both of them to flinch. "You guys are actually talking! How? Sasuke has a stick up his ass and Juugo is an anti-social prick." Whilst Juugo looked kind of dejected at this, Sasuke glared.
"You shouldn't force people on him if he doesn't like it."
"I thought you guys wanted to meet him."
"Not if he didn't want to." He did understand how irritating it was to be forced to socialise.
"You guys are so picky."
"Your place is really cool looking." Naruto seemed blissfully unaware.
"Thank you."
"If he got over his complex over his ginger hair he'd be even more awesome." At least it had a compliment in there.
"You're the one with the obsession with my hair. And we've been through this. I'm a redhead, not ginger." You could hear the growing anger in his voice.
"Are your pubes that colour?"
"No!" Sasuke could only scowl at Suigetsu and will him not to carry on. It seemed he didn't have it worse than this boy so he could at least be pleased about that.
"…Prove it." Uh oh.
"What?!" Understandably Juugo was alarmed.
"Either you drop your pants or I drop them for you."
"Don't you dare."
"You asked for it."
"No I-." Juugo jumped out the way as Suigetsu lunged at him.
"Should we do something?"
"…I think it would be better if we left."
"But-."
"Move." The last thing he wanted to was to get in the middle of these two when he didn't know how bad it would be if they got worse.
"Do you think they'll be ok?"
"Well-."
"I swear I will kill you if you don't knock it off." Juugo's voice was clear at this point from outside.
"…I think it'll be fine." Juugo could handle himself and Suigetsu definitely deserved it.
