Title: Porcelain

Author: Your Existence

Fandom: Naruto

Date: 15/2/09 (Feb. 15, 2009)

Chapter: Twelve

Pairings: SasuNaru (main)

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em…

Author's Note: This is March's chapter! I like this chapter too. For those who have been waiting for Sasuke to return, your wish have been granted! He's all up in the next chapter and possibly in the chapter(s) after that~ (There's going to be a time where he always there, but we haven't got there yet ;D)

That's it really. So, please enjoy chapter Twelve of Porcelain~!

Fresher Air

In a month's time, Shino, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, Gaara, Rock Lee, Dominik, Jan, and I have stored food in one large room. There wasn't a chance that the Jackboots would burn down this home of ours (besides the fact that it was all brick and we all believed that brick absolutely could not burn).

In a month's time, we had developed and maintained a routine. Each of us has something different to do everyday concerning the household. Someone takes out the trash. Someone makes up all the beds. Someone keeps the walls clean. Someone cleans up the rooms. Someone makes sure that the others aren't sneaking food and drinks from out the Food Vault. There's always something to do, or at least, Shino found something for you to do. And if you do your chore right the first time or kept up with your chore, you'd have the rest of the day to play, explore, sleep, whatever.

In a month's time, I learned what months and days were. I learned how to count to higher numbers. I learned how to read and spell out my name and how to read the names of all the other boys, too.

In a month's time, I had begun to notice that the enclosure was getting more and more people almost everyday. I wondered how so many people can fit into what seemed to be such a small space. I also noticed how the Jackboots came every Sunday just to stroll around with women on their arms. Some of the Jackboots carried a black box like thing with them and aimed it at various people. I had experienced this first hand one day while out on an errand with Shikamaru.

Rock Lee had been playing out front by himself and somehow tripped and fell and ended up with a gash on his leg. Shino had sent Shikamaru out to go and get some bandages and I decided to tag along.

"Where are we going to get bandages from?" I had asked Shikamaru as we walked down the street towards the center of the enclosure.

"From the market."

"Market?"

"You'll see." He said as we turned a corner. I had never been in the center before. I was always sleeping or playing either in our little house or in front of it. So I was curious and excited and jumping the whole way there.

"Is it--" I started, but Shikamaru shushed me.

"You'll see," He repeated. I couldn't wait to see what this market was. I imagined that the market was this gigantic building as big as the world itself where inside, there were all sorts of things and all sorts of things happening. There were all sorts of people who could make things appear and disappear with a flick of the wrist. With a snap of a finger. Maybe there were animals as smart as people who sold things and told stories. Maybe a person there made things from other things or even from the air. This was probably the person Shikamaru was going to get the bandages from. I couldn't wait.

Shikamaru grabbed my arm suddenly and pulled me over to the other side of the street. I was about to ask Shikamaru was that was for when the reason passed as up on the other side. A Jackboot with two women with him kept strolling along. One of the women cradled the box-like thing in her hands. She clutched it tightly when she laughed at whatever they were talking about. Shino's voice rang in my head.

'Always stay away from the Jackboots.'

He had said this after the barn was burned down. Shikamaru sighed heavily. I expected for him to say 'how troublesome', but he didn't say anything. We walked on.

It wasn't long before we ran into another Jackboot couple. We managed to avoid them too, but as soon as we reached the corner across the way, a Jackboot and two ladies turned the same corner and ran into us. I fell down.

One of the women said something in German, though it sounded a little rough, nothing like Shikamaru's or Sasuke's, or Chlodna Pani's German, which was smooth. The Jackboot laughed, though I wondered at what. At her bad German or what she actually said? Or maybe at what she meant to say.

The Jackboot looked up at the sky, which was grey with clouds. He spoke, "Es ist ein feiner Tag. Nehmen wir ein paar Bilder. Ja?" He kneeled down and brought up the black box up to his face. I backed up a few steps. What was he doing? Was he about to shoot us? Just like that? He brought the black box down from his face, frowning. "Blond Jungen. Hälst du immer noch." He pointed at me and motioned for me to get back in my original spot. I didn't move. "Jetzt!"

"Naruto. Get back up here." Shikamaru said from the side of his mouth. "It's not going to harm you. It's just a camera."

"A 'camera'?"

"I'll explain after they're gone. Now come on." I nodded and stood back at my original spot. I tried not to shake as the Jackboot brought the black box back up to his face. He slid his finger over to a large button and I had to fight down the urge to scream as he pushed I down. As Shikamaru had promised, the black box did nothing. Nothing pierced through me as I thought it would.

"Gut." The Jackboot said as he stood back upright. "Gut." He repeated as he handed over the black box to the lady to his right and started on his way, the two ladies trailing after him. They snickered and laughed as they turned down a corner. My stomach felt uneasy and something was coming up in my throat burning the whole way up.

I fell to my knees with sickening feeling as I threw up all over the sidewalk. Shikamaru was beside me, rubbing my back.

It was maybe an hour before we were off again, walking through the enclosure. My stomach was calm now, but growling. I was hungry.

"What was that thing? The camera thing…" I asked Shikamaru.

"A camera is what takes pictures." His voice sounded annoyed.

"Like the ones in my cellar? But those were painted with colours." I thought for a moment. "Does the camera have paints and colours in it that paints the picture right away?" Shikamaru laughed.

"What an imagination." We turned another corner. His voice sounded amused. That was better. "No, it doesn't have that, but that's really clever."

As we walked on, I realized that we weren't going to the center, that we had actually passed it up a while ago. We would have had to turn around and turn down a few corners to get the center.

"Market?" I asked, stressing the word just like Shikamaru had.

"Finally caught on, huh." said he as we approached a black wrought iron gate.

"What are doing here?" Shikamaru didn't respond right away. He seemed to be checking his surroundings. Like he didn't know where he was.

A cold breeze shook the slowly dying trees gently. The trees were losing leaves, some already bare. The few birds still here had long gone, not wanting to be caught up in the soon-to-come snow. The squirrels had gathered their nuts and such and were already secure in their tree-homes. The cold was coming. Winter was coming.

Shikamaru finally gave me my answer. Another cold breeze blew, a little stronger than the last, blowing some leaves off the trees and into my hair.

"We are going to the outside." My eyes widened as Shikamaru walked over to the gate and carefully slipped through the bars.

"It feels so different over here." I stretched as we walked down the street. I had gone through the bars of the gate just like Shikamaru had. "It's like the air is fresher on this side and the sky is brighter, even though it's grey today."

"Yeah." Shikamaru agreed. He stretched also, taking a deep breath of the seemingly fresher air. I noticed that he didn't have on his armband.

"Hey, where'd your armband go?" I pointed at his wrist. He quickly shushed me.

"Don't talk about the armband openly like that. Especially when outside, okay?" I nodded. "Hmm, speaking of those, why don't you have one?"

"I never got one. Where'd you get yours from?"

"The Jackboots gave everybody one before herding us in there." Shikamaru rubbed at his wrist. The armband had left indentions in his skin.

Herding.

There was that word again. That was the same word Benedykt used. Did they all feel like trapped animals in the enclosure?

As we walked on, I noticed that the people that didn't get put in the enclosure seemed to somewhat continue on with their lives the best they can in the current state of the city. There were many new looking faces walking up and down the side walks. Women and family and friends of the Jackboots. This bothered me. How could they do that? Just go on like nothing's going on. And how could these unknown people just come here and start using our stores and eating our food and driving our cars? I wanted to push them all out of the city, out of the country. I wanted to scream at them and make them pack up their belongings and go back where they came from. I wanted to herd them into the enclosure to show them how life was going for us. They wouldn't like it at all. They wouldn't like having their freedom restricted to such a small space. They wouldn't like having to wonder where the food is coming from or to have the amount of food they eat be limited to something smaller than the size of your fist. They wouldn't like feeling hungry all the time. The burning, squeezing, tiring feeling of hunger. I could feel my face growing hot and red. I would have suddenly screamed I was so frustrated if it weren't for that particular voice coming into earshot of me. I've only heard it once, but once was I all needed. I froze in mid-step. I want to turn the other way and run. I was hoping that it was just my mind playing evil tricks on me. But all my hopes were shot down with a gun and burned up with a black fire when that voice welcomed me:

"Sasuke's infatuation. Welcome back."