Title: Cycling through Time
Rating: M
Warning: Yaoi (BoyXBoy), SasuNaru
Note(s): I hope that you are all loving the story, but I am going to assume that if you are still reading it you must like it somewhat. If you do like it please review. Thanks for reading.
Summary: Naruto is one of nine royal demons but they are not all back on earth yet. So he lives his life and watches his friends grow old and die. Then he has to wait for them to be reborn and the cycle to start again. 'Denotes flashbacks and inner thoughts' "Denotes speech"
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.
Beta: uchihasasukekun07
Chapter 12: Home
-Naruto's POV-
'God why does she hate me so much it isn't like I have ever done anything to here.' I thought to myself.
'Yes you did you took her precious Sasuke away from her, not that she ever had him but she will still blame you.' a voice said in my head.
'Hello, Kyuubi, how are you? I haven't heard from you in a while.'
'No you haven't but you have also been asleep for a while, I'm just starting to really wake back up. However I have had a talk with your dear Sasuke.' he said pulling me into his chamber in my mind. It was a room that was set up like a temple. Not that I could blame him, he was the first Kyuubi, the first king of demons. I was the second.
'What? Why didn't you talk to me first?'
'Simple, the way I did it, you couldn't tell me not to.' he said smugly.
'Why are you so annoying?'
'I don't know but maybe because I am a part of you? Then you also have the fact that I am used to getting my way.' he said. 'We do need to talk though, about one of the things that I told him about.'
'Okay, what do you want to say,?'
'In about seven years, on your birthday, we will finish merging and you will inherit the rest of my powers.'
'What do you mean?'
'I mean you will be more powerful and I don't know what will happen. This will be the first time that something like this has ever happened. It will happen nine times as each of the nine royal demons come back into the world. They will merge with the people that they are with. Normally you would have already but you were asleep, so we didn't get the chance. I am not sure if Gaara and Shukaku have merged yet, but I doubt it. Their power still seems to be barely stable.'
'So what? I don't get it.'
'When we merge our powers combine and so in essence it should become stable. It looks like he is still refraining from sleeping. If their powers had merged he would not need to worry.'
'Okay I get your point.' I said sitting down.
'Sasuke's watching. He followed you in here, time to leave my house little one, take care.' Kyuubi said before retreating from my mind.
I blinked a couple times to see Sasuke sitting in front of me.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Um... yeah...why?"
"Well I came in after you and you have been sitting there quite for about an hour... so I was wondering if you were okay?" he said looking away.
"Yeah, I'm fine I was talking to Kyuubi, it doesn't seem to take long while I'm in there but when I come back it always seems as if a lot of time has passed."
"Oh okay."
"You can go back if you want, you don't have to stay here, I wont force you."
"I didn't come here because you forced me. I came because I wanted to. I wanted to make sure that you were okay" he said.
I smiled, "I'll be fine, okay? It isn't the first time that someone has acted like that towards me and unfortunately it probably will not be the last time."
"That isn't the point." he said.
"Then what is the point?" I wanted to know because this was really confusing and I was having trouble trying to figure out where he was trying to go with this.
"The point is, that people should not treat you like that." he said frowning.
"I know but it is an inevitability that people will feel what they feel. There is also the possibility that after she truly gets over the shock, that we could become friends." I said, my smile firmly in place. This was not my Sasuke, so this Sasuke could not see me break. I would not allow myself to be weak in front of him.
"That doesn't make it right."
"Never said that did I? Now did you come here to argue with me or did you come here so that we could talk, or what did you come here for?"
"I came because I wanted to make sure that you are alright." Sasuke reiterated, exasperated.
"And I am, I am as fine as I can be right now, so if you wish you may leave..." I said standing up and stretching my muscles. Waving my hand I created a bed in one of the corners of the room.
As I walked towards my bed I smiled. He wasn't leaving. In fact he was following me. Then a horrible thought hit me. Why was he following me? I know that the bond had not yet been formed because I had not pushed it, so why would he follow me? It was gone in a flash as I watched him strip off his shirt. I forced myself to turn away.
"Could you create another bed, so that I may use it?" he asked me.
"Um...sure." I said trying not to look at him. It was hard.
Flicking my wrists I created another bed on the other side of the one I was approaching.
"Are you okay? You're all red."
"I'm fine, better then before." I said forcing a smile and begging my eyes not to wander. I wanted to start working on the bond but right now I knew that he was only really interested in finding and killing his brother.
"I'm sorry." I said.
"About what?"
"Your family."
"Oh."
"I want to tell you something, but I doubt that you will believe me."
"Go ahead, I think I remember you saying something about not being able to lie to me." he said causing me to flush again.
"Um...It wasn't Itachi who killed your family...well it was, but it was not his idea."
"WHAT is that supposed to mean?" he snarled, his voice dangerously low.
I backed away, I knew I was radiating fear but I couldn't help it. He seemed to realize what he was doing because his stance relaxed and he sat down on his bed.
"Then who was it, who ordered the hit on my family?"
"I cannot tell you that but Itachi could. I would tell you but I do not know what they would be called in this time. I'm sorry." I said. I was starting to get upset, this whole time difference was a little annoying, especially seeing that there were apparently terms that Gaara had yet to teach me.
"I'm sorry." he said getting up from his bed and crossing over to me. I tensed as he raised a hand. I know my Sasuke wouldn't hit me but I still barely knew this Sasuke. However he only pulled me into a hug. I melted into the touch, it was something that my body had needed and here he was giving it to me. He didn't hug me for long but it was good enough, for now. After he pulled away, I moved to my bed. Slipping under the covers I tried to ignore him watching me.
-Sasuke's POV-
I watched as he moved away from me. He seemed a little happier than he had when I first came in. However it seemed that something was still bothering him. He had moved into the hug and seemed sad when I pulled away but that wasn't going to take a lot of thinking to figure out why. He was probably used to getting hugs from me when he was having a bad day. I watched as he lay there it actually hurt for some reason, to see him pull into himself the way that he was. He was even curled up on the bed. I turned and walked over to the bed he had made for me and laid down on it.
-Neji's POV-
I walked up the side of the main wall that surrounded Konaha. I had seen Gaara up there for the past few days. As I got on top of the wall I looked around. He wasn't here.
"Why are you here?" a voice asked. I leaned over the wall to see Gaara was standing on the outside of the wall.
"I came here to keep you company but I really don't have a reason other than I felt like it." I said looking down and away. When I looked again his face was right there in front of me.
"Okay then." he said as he finished climbing onto the wall and sitting down.
"So what have you been doing here?"
"I am working with a friend to get them home. It is a complicated jutsu."
Oh, I'm sorry I can leave if you want?"
"No I don't mind you being here." he said.
After that we really didn't talk. I watched the sky and he watched the ground. It was comfortable, almost like we had done this before.
As night fell I turned to walk away,
"May I come and visit you tomorrow?" I asked.
"Yes, you may." he said his eyes still focused on the ground.
I walked home with a smile, it was something new to me.
"Hello Neji how are you?" a voice asked.
I turned to see Hinata standing there.
"Hello Hinata," I said, "I am fine."
"It is nice to see you smiling." she said with a shy smile.
"Well... thanks."
"You're welcome." she said turning to walk back into the house.
I turned as saw Hiashi Hyuuga standing there. He seemed shocked at first.
"Neji it is good to see you smile again!" he said walking towards me.
"Thank you." I said with a bow.
"No need to be so formal, not right now." he said with a smile.
"Okay." I said.
"So what has put you in this mood?" he asked me.
"I don't know, I was standing on the wall talking to Gaara and it felt good. I felt like... I was needed. Does that make sense?"
"I guess, but I don't really understand. Oh but that does remind me, Kiba Inuzuka has been acting closer to Hinata, could you check in and find out what is going on?"
"Naturally, I will try to figure it out by tomorrow." I said.
"Good." he said turning away.
I turned and walked into the branch house and headed towards my bed, tomorrow was going to be a busy day.
-Gaara's POV-
I watched as Neji walked away. He was starting to remember. I smiled for the first time in a few hundred years. I sat down so that I could wait for Naruto and this new demon. It would be nice to have someone new I could talk to. I could not wait to tell Naruto about this and see how far he had gotten with Sasuke. I sat through the night as the sun started to rise I realized that they were almost here. They would be here sooner than I had thought they would. I turned to head to the Hokage's tower. I jumped off of the top of the wall. In a swirl of sand I vanished only to reappear in the Hokage's main reception room. Shizune looked up from the desk to see me standing there.
"I need to talk to the Hokage, is she here?"
"My apologies, Gaara but no. She is at the hot springs right now, she will be back in about three hours." she said.
"Thank you." I said vanishing again.
I walked into the main reception area of the hot springs.
"Where is Hokage Tsunade?" I asked.
"She is in the last private spring on the left side." she said.
I turned and walked away. From the main counter I walked down the hall and found the one where her chakra was coming from. After I knocked on the door and was told to enter, I opened the door.
"Hello, Gaara, what can I do for you?" Tsunade asked.
"I wanted to let you know that they are almost back." I said.
"How long?"
"Maybe about an hour, would you like to be there?"
"Yes, I would, where will they be?"
"The main gate."
"I'll be there." she said.
With a nod I left and headed back to my position on the gate.
"Hello Gaara how are you?" a familiar called.
I turned to see Neji standing there.
"Not much different than when you left, but still alive I guess." I said.
"Okay, is now a bad time?" he asked.
"No, sorry my attempt at humor."
"Oh okay." he said sitting down next to me.
Tsunade showed up just before the hour mark and Naruto not much long after.
"They're here." I said grabbing both of their hands. We vanished and reappeared outside of the main gate. Tsunade and Neji collapsed holding their hands to their hearts.
I turned, "Oh sorry, I meant to warn you. It is always a little weird the first time, if you try it with Naruto he uses fire."
"Good advise, where are they?" Tsunade asked.
I walked about three more feet from the gate and placed a hand on the ground. It melted and formed into a hole that led into a cavern.
"They are in here." I said.
"Hey Naruto where are you?" I called after I stuck my head in the hole. Not receiving a response I jumped into the hole. Tsunade and Neji followed after.
We walked into the main room. There were two hallways, I sensed Naruto's chakra down one hallway. So I turned and followed it. It did not take long before I found his room. Tsunade and Neji followed after me. I saw Naruto sleeping in one bed and Sasuke in another bed close by. 'Apparently he made some headway as well.' I thought looking at them.
"He has had a very interesting mission." a voice whispered from behind us. We turned to see Kakashi standing there.
"What?" Tsunade asked.
"Let's go into the main room." he said turning to walk away.
We followed him into the main room. I waved my hand and created four chairs for us.
"He has changed a lot, it seems that he was trying to change to this situation." Kakashi said.
"Situation?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes, his situation. It really isn't for me to talk about."
"I understand." Tsunade said.
"He is talking about his past life trying to reconnect with this cycle. Mainly to reconnect with his old mate but the bond isn't ready, it is...hard for us to be separate from our bond mates. It becomes harder when they are reborn."
"So someone is his mate and they have been reborn and he is having a problem?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes, but normally the bond will not reconnect until about age seventeen. It normally takes us a little while to find them. But this time around we all happened to be in the same place."
"Really? So you also have a mate in Konaha?" she asked.
"Yes, as does Naruto, so our bonds are trying to reconnect, it is...problematic, more for Naruto than for me because I am used to denying my emotions, Naruto is not." I said.
"Who are you mated to?" Tsunade asked. "If I may asked?"
"You may ask but I will not tell you. Naruto is able to change things faster than I can and I don't want to start anything right now, so if you don't mind I would rather not say."
"I understand." she said, but I saw a flash of something in Neji's eyes.
"We should let Naruto sleep, he has been through a lot last night." Kakashi said standing up. "The mission was successful, I will have a full report for you later today." Kakashi said walking away.
"Understood and welcome home."