Confluence

By Violet Garnets

Chapter Twelve: A Hindrance

o-x-o-x-o

Tsunade had indeed allowed them into the archives, despite the fact that Kakashi kept her in the dark about the situation. "It's about the same thing as last time," he had said and given her a pointed look. But it didn't matter much, as they had made their way to the archives.

Kakashi was unsure of whether or not he should be grateful that they found Sakura to take along with them to the archives. Naruto and he had fumbled their way through explaining the situation to her, and one of them (Naruto wouldn't admit to it, the brat) had somehow let it slip that they had shared a less than typical moment. She had promptly burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter and nearly fell off the edge of the table she was sitting on.

Kakashi and Naruto shuffled uncomfortably while she enjoyed the images playing through her head, gave each other pointed looks before blushing painfully, and then split off to different ends of the library to begin research. Although really, the jounin could hardly focus on the titles of the scrolls and spines, let alone actually research. He scrunched himself on the floor of an aisle and waited for the red to leave his cheeks and for Sakura's laughter to die down into hiccups.

Regardless, painful thoughts blended in his mind. Naruto had kissed him again… Naruto admitted to being bisexual… it should have been easy from there, right? Not to mention the whole reincarnation thing.

Assuming that was true, and Kakashi and Naruto had really spent a past life together or something absurd like that and he had had strong feelings for the past Naruto... it didn't solve anything, at all. Nothing proved that Naruto's past felt the same way about him. It could have been unrequited, even then. If it weren't, if they really...cared for one another in that way, well...maybe Kakashi didn't love Naruto after all. Maybe it was just residual feelings, a few lifetimes overdue. He groaned at the prospect. That he never had any real reason to love THIS Naruto, that it was all...preordained. It made his skin prickle. He hated fate, destiny, whatever the hell they felt like calling it these days. It made his life...less.

He heard a knock on the bookcase he was leaning on, and looked up to see emerald eyes sparkle at him kindly. "Troubled, sensei? You weren't embarrassed, were you?"

It was the first time in his life that Kakashi had ever felt the urge to stick his tongue out at Sakura, or anyone, really. In addition to his master self-esteem, he also considered how awkward it would look to stick his tongue out while wearing a mask, like some creepy worm writhing under the cloth on his mouth or something. So instead, he looked away at the shelves, as if fully absorbed in A History of Farm Tools as Weapons in Konohagakure no Sato, Volume Three. "Did you say something, Sakura?"

She bent down to his level and smiled. "You two are really clueless. Everyone else in the village practically knows Naruto likes you. Why won't you just do something?"

"Remind me who everyone is, again?"

"Well, the Rookie Nine, pretty much, and probably some other people."

He turned his gaze over to her, giving her a look that was not quite cold, but one without heat. "Have you ever stopped to think about whether or not I like him?"

She scoffed and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position, then pulled out a random book, flipping the pages absently. "Whatever happened wouldn't have happened if you didn't feel that way about him. I know you better than you think, sensei."

"It's more complicated than you think," he grumbled.

They heard a yelp from the other side of the archives; the thuds and scuffles of various works followed soon after. Sakura snickered and they both shook their heads.

"That should take him a while to clean up," the kunoichi said with a smile. "Which means I have some time to ask you a question."

"Which would be…?"

"Do you believe in past lives?" Her eyes turned a shade darker, the evening light in the room playing off at different angles from before.

Kakashi couldn't help but feel a little surprised, and a little irritated; that was the question he wanted to ask. He never thought about answering it himself. Looking up at the ceiling (which was unremarkable, but an improvement from facing that steely expression to his left), he sighed. "Maa, what is there to believe in? I have seen death. There is an afterlife, surely. That should be the end. Even in death, however much you look back, you cannot take those steps again; the current will pull you forward, always."

She nudged her foot into his leg. "What happens after the afterlife? What if there are multiple currents?"

"Those two questions are completely incompatible," he said and pointed his index finger at her.

She pulled a face. "I'm just saying. It wouldn't kill you to be a little more flexible." Sakura stood up and stretched out her arms, looking down at her teacher over her nose. He didn't know how exactly he should interpret the look she gave him, so he looked up at the shelves, regaining interest in The History of Farm Tools as Weapons in Konohagakure no Sato. She sniffed, something that could have been a snort had it been more pronounced, and walked off, calling Naruto softly. As she left, he stood up and continued to walk down towards the history section. He grazed through the scrolls until he found the one he picked up the previous time. Scanning the calligraphy quickly, he identified the pieces he needed.

"Uh, Kakashi…sensei?" The jounin did not miss the slow addition of the honorific. He looked over his shoulder to find Naruto leaning against a bookcase, his blond hair catching the light. Briefly he imagined just pulling Naruto away and pushing him down onto a nearby table, visualized just how his tongue would flick over each whisker mark.

He coughed and turned back to the scroll. "Yes, Naruto…kun?"

"Have you, uh, found anything yet?" A shuffle of feet, a quick accidental tap against the bookcases.

Kakashi scanned the characters, finding the names he needed much sooner than he had hoped. "The names that ring a bell… are…"

"You're afraid you're going to do it again, aren't you?"

He tensed his shoulders, and then tensed his eyebrows, mad that his shoulders tensed in the first place. "I don't know what you mean, Naruto." Screw it, it took too much work to keep that '–kun' on.

"I'm here. Just say it. Sakura's nearby. Besides…we need to figure out what's going on. It's not a big deal anyway…don't they usually go around killing people in the stories, when they're possessed or whatever? All you do is grope me, no big deal!"

Kakashi wasn't sure of whether or not he imagined the giggle that followed Naruto's words. He blinked, having already comprehended the absurdity of that statement, but still at a loss as to how he should respond.

"Damn it, just say something, Kakashi!"

A knocking on a bookshelf broke their tension. They both looked over to see Sakura staring at them, a flurry of emotions crossing her face, mostly those of amusement. Kakashi blanched.

"Ne," she said, her voice soft and a knowing smirk on her face, "why don't you say something, sensei?"

He swallowed, let his eyes flicker over the names again. "Well, Ishin no Kodomo no Ryuji is a start. He's apparently the progenitor of the Uchiha clan."

"So, he's Sasuke's great-great-great-great-great-super-great grandpa?" Naruto asked as he sat on the table, his legs crooked at the knee.

Sakura nodded as she pulled her hair into a ponytail and looked up at the shelves. "What else does it say?"

"There was a war between the Ishin – the Uchiha clan – and two groups named Ankoku no Ookami and Eien no Bushi."

"Ankoku…" The blond brought up a hand to his chin, thoughts flying through his mind. "Wait. You said that the other day! When you were all weird! Wolves of Darkness!"

Sakura pulled down a scroll, reading the title on the outside, then shook her head and put it back. "So they're all clans from pre-country times. We have so little history on it. Fire Country may be the most powerful, but we're not as old as other countries."

"But this revolves around the Clan Wars, leading to country formations," the jounin pointed out. "We should have something on that."

The kunoichi sighed and crossed her arms. "I don't know. The texts will just give us generic reasons for the war, territory quarrels and all. We want to know more about the people. "

Naruto raised his hand, and Kakashi nearly laughed at how juvenile the movement was. That was so…Naruto. Even at this handsome age of seventeen, he still resorted to so essential, so clear.

"Naruto. You can just open your mouth and use your vocal cords," Sakura said, a teasing sneer on her face.

He shrugged. "I mean, I was talking to the Sand siblings earlier, when I was still in the hospital. They said that Akira no Eien sounded familiar. Gaara said they'd do some research and stuff, send it over if they got anything."

Sakura 'hmmed'. "What would Sand have on Konoha history? Then again, I guess it's pre-nation, so it's a possibility. We could just wait for news on them. But..." Her eyes flashed, like sunlight in the forest, and a horrifying expression overtook her face. Kakashi felt a definite level of discomfort at that look of elation, near epiphany. He glanced over at the younger man, who took a step back into the table against which he had been leaning on.

"Sakura-chan? What are you thinking?"

She giggled. "I think it's pretty late. I'm going to go now. Let's continue this later." She turned around and began to walk away, prompting the other two to make choked noises of surprise, some attempt to say something and make her stay, if they hadn't been so shocked. Yet she paused for them, turned back for a moment. "You might want to think about the most beneficial way to get that information in the meantime, ne?" She smiled at them, cryptic and so adult-like (damn kunoichi, Kakashi thought darkly) before walking off.

Kakashi didn't miss her insinuations; he just hoped to heavens above that Naruto did. Sure enough, when he looked over, Naruto had a wholly confused look on his face, although it was not the completely oblivious sort– rather, he looked like he was unsure of what to do.

Before the silence could pervade the situation, he decided to take matters into his own hands. "Ne, she's right. It is rather late. You and I should probably just go home. Since you're clear to go, I think they will probably put you on a team soon. We can continue training until then. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Naruto-kun."

He began to move away.

"You're running away, aren't you." It was more of a statement than an accusation or a question.

He shrugged. "Not away. And I'm not running."

"Why?" The voice sounded soft, fragile, like the ancient scroll paper. He felt fingers just ghosting his sleeve, as if they wished to touch upon his own. He couldn't reach out, he shouldn't.

"Neither of us know what we're doing. We're just walking around in the dark."

"Can't we at least do that together? Isn't that a little smarter than doing it alone? Yeah, I know I sound fucking desperate, like a fucking girl or whatever, but sometimes girls know better anyway and you shouldn't toy around with me, damn it!"

"I know." He paused, let it sink in. He didn't have to turn around to know how confused those blue eyes looked, turbulent as a raging sea. "I don't want to toy with anything. That's why I'm doing this, Naruto. So just leave it."

Once more, he started to walk. This time he found himself shoved up against a bookshelf that heaved from the impact, wobbling back and forth. Although he felt warm hands pressed against his chest, scrunching up his shirt, and he knew that Naruto's nose was hardly a hair away from his, all he could see were blue eyes, those stormy blue eyes, that glared at him with a fire that should not have existed within something the color of water, the color of the sky. But it was there, hot and angry, and god, why did he have the urge to just jump into it all, this raging and fiery tempest?

Naruto grit his teeth, with his blond brows knit tight together, and whispered, almost snarled. "Fuck if I'm going to obey that."

Then he walked off. Kakashi felt a bitter sort of gasp escape him and he realized that Naruto was beating him to the punch. Now Kakashi couldn't run away from all this; Naruto was doing it, with the full intention of coming back.

o-x-o-x-o

The tree fell with a sonorous thud. Any nearby animals bolted, except for an unfortunate buck, which collapsed as its head separated from its body.

Karin frowned. "Was that necessary, Suigetsu?"

The white-haired male rolled his eyes and then stared at her. "I don't need this right now, Karin," he said as he picked up his dagger and and threw it at the fallen tree. It hit the target and sunk all the way down, up to the hilt. "How could we have wasted so much time?"

"That's assuming the switch occurred two years ago. Chances are it was just a few months," she replied, pushing up her glasses, her eyes darting over to catch a glimpse of their leader. "We haven't lost that much time. The others can't say much either, they've been trying to trail Bee all this time as well. He's something above their level too. He drives them crazy."

"So what do we do?" Suigetsu asked, nudging the buck's head with his toe. It almost seemed as if he contemplated stepping on the thing, stomping on it to bits, but the dark presence that loomed over him kept his urges at bay. "Are we going to kill that son of a bitch?"

"No." Suigetsu immediately removed himself from the severed head at the sound of Sasuke's voice. Karin and Jugo tensed up, their eyes immediately shifting to him. His voice seemed to still the rustling of the leaves. "A waste of time. The others will hunt him down well enough. We cannot let them get to the new one."

Jugo, quiet this whole time, finally spoke up, a quavering in his tone as he asked, "But...are we going to hunt the new one down?"

The Uchiha nodded his head, though it was hardly perceptible. He stood up and began to walk in the direction of the rising moon.

"But–" Jugo blurted, "how will we find the new host?"

"Tell him if you want." He threw behind him, not sparing a glance back.

Karin shot a look at Suigetsu, who shook his head and began to follow Sasuke. Jugo gently put his hand on the kunoichi's shoulder, his eyes searching.

"Jugo. I don't want to make you choose between yourself and your memories of Kimimaro. So...just follow along. You'll find out in a few days anyway."

She began to move, biting her lip as they moved towards the east. Supposing they moved along the coasts and cut through some insignificant towns, it would be a week's worth of travel to Lightning Country. Karin never prayed to anyone, but every now and then she hoped...and this time, she hoped they would never find what they were looking for.

Because they were looking for an infant, and she had no idea what Sasuke planned to do once they found it.

The buck's large eyes peered at her as she passed, the moonlight shining from its dark depths. She looked away and kept her gaze on Sasuke's back, who never looked back, not once.

o-x-o-x-o

Ay, sorry for the delay. I haven't had a chance to write at all since school started. I'll do my best to keep the monthly updates, but it's sadly not a guarantee. Damn you, physics! As always, thank you for all the comments, alerts, favorites, etc.

Ay, yes, I'm playing around with yet another cliché trope. I hope it turns out well. Make some predictions for Taka, won't you? Sasuke's like a ticking time bomb, I just have no idea what he's doing.

Reviews are most appreciated!

Ja ne,

Vi