Chapter 14

Despair

Seeing a friend you haven't seen in years always makes your heart jump in joy, especially when that friend is almost like family to you. You can't avoid the feelings of happiness that make you smile and make you forget about all the problems in your life.

Quickening his pace, the blonde waved to his old red haired friend. The last stood still, waiting for him to come to his side, never blinking or moving the muscles of his face. Blue eyes shined, at the moment, he finally stopped to greet Gaara with his best grin.

"Long time no see. Sorry I couldn't come earlier, but I promised I would behave, until those lechers die at least."

"That indeed makes me wonder what is it that is so important that brings you here, when you promised. I never ought to see the day you would be breaking a promise."

"It is very important, and I need your help.", Naruto said seriously.

"Then follow me to my house. We'll discuss it in private."

The blonde demon nodded with a smile.

The trip to the red haired demon's house was quick and silent. In another time the blue eyed demon would have been talking nonstop, his heart however was beating fast due to anxiety. He had sensed something earlier, a shadow of a familiar feeling he couldn't point out, which was upsetting him like a spider's bite. Besides that his instincts were tormenting him, a little voice that said 'hurry up' and 'danger is near'.

His mind was also busy thinking of Sasuke.

When the two of them were finally sited at the table in a simple and ample division, Naruto spoke.

"I need you to help me find a human."

"A human?"

"A very especial human."

"And why are you looking for him?"

"He's my mate."

"Have you mated with him?"

"No."

"Then he's not your mate!", Gaara scold him harshly leaving the blonde speechless." I can't believe you would break a vow to simply search for a human."

"He is not just a human! It's true that he isn't my mate, yet, but I am going to change AAAAAA"

"Is he really your mate Naruto? I know how you are when you're in your mating season; as long as the other has a nice scent, you don't mind either that someone is a demon or a human, dangerous or harmless."

"I am not acting like this because of the season!"

"Oh, really?"

Suddenly, Naruto was confronted with a half looking demon, waving its red tail. The blonde demon's body reacted to that, mimicking what the other had done. In a blink of an eye, a pair of golden fox ears perked up, followed by the swift flow of the two tails.

The raccoon dog demon was quick to seduce the fox to come to his side. Trying to contain his lust, the fox tried not to do more than rubbing his head and tails against the red haired demon. Naruto however wasn't able to silent the pleased purring when Gaara corresponded.

It wouldn't be the first time he would have 'played' with the raccoon dog demon. They had gotten together for a reasonable number of seasons since he had reached the age of a hundred years, when his second tail appeared. He liked the red haired, a lot, especially because they were alike. They were both part of the nine tail beasts, they both had their share of awful experiences with humans, and both had a parent that was human.

However they were not suitable mates. They knew that since the first time they had been together and didn't feel connected. Ironically as it sounds, the two of them who had so much in common were incompatible, although, that didn't change the fact that they liked each other enough to 'play' and spend the season together.

The gentle purring had become louder.

On the floor, Naruto was lost to instinct, groaning while marking the red haired demon's neck, mistaking that pale skin for another. His mind was fighting against his lust, with poor success, but still fighting.

"I guess he really doesn't mean much to you. You're acting out of lust and possession as always."

The second Gaara stated those words, the blonde demon's stomach turned upside down. Leaving the red haired demon's neck, he crawled to the farthest corner in the room. With tearful eyes, full of regret, he started to push his fox ears harshly. Swallowing the sobs, he repeated that action for minutes, until pain was the only thing he could feel.

Silent, the green eyes observed the other carefully. His red ears and tail had stopped moving the moment the blonde had let him go. Naruto wasn't the only one whimpering.

Gaara had started to lick the other's scent off of him. He was now anxious, having trouble in thinking of ways to get rid of the mark on his neck. If it had been two seasons earlier, he wouldn't be feeling like that. But he had a mate, a one that had left him alone, but still his mate. No matter how much he hated humans, he loved his mate and would forever be loyal to him. That was what he had thought.

He knew how much Naruto was suffering about not having his mate by his side, because he himself was suffering. He had chosen, and now he was regretting having a human for a mate. He thought that he could forget about him if he spent the season with Naruto, and this last could also forget about his fated mate. But that proved to be a failure for both sides.

Both demons looked miserable, each one in its own corner, both desperate to forget what they had done.

Gaara was about to begin to scratch his skin out, when the blonde demon took his hand.

"Are you ok?"

"No."

"I, hum… I didn't mean it."

"Me neither."

"It's strange, we never had problems with spending the season together… But now I feel like dying."

"You shouldn't mate with a human Naruto. You'll regret it."

"I'll regret even more if I don't."

"You don't think about it do you… As long as if he's with you the rest doesn't matter. But Naruto, he won't be by your side. Humans are not bonded to each other like demons. Humans can leave when they want, saying they love you. They'll never stay, and when we try to leave it hurts."

"Gaa…"

"I mated last year with a human. He stayed for a while and then he left, saying he would come back. I haven't seen him since then."

The red haired turned his glare to the blonde demon.

"I know he loves me. I feel our bond and it isn't fading, it's actually the opposite I feel his love for me getting stronger. And still that kills me. Demons aren't meant to love from afar."

"But Sasuke won't leave… I won't allow him to."

"Then you're just plain selfish, because he will leave either you want it or not. And if you try to stop him from leaving then you don't love him enough. I won't help you find him."

"I do love him, that's why I won't let him go!"

Naruto stood up, ready to leave. After one last apologetic look to the raccoon dog demon, he rushed out the door.

The fox demon was running around trying to find the exit gates of the city, when suddenly he sensed a familiar fading scent. The blonde almost hit a building while trying to stop. He took a long sniff from the air around him. Finding the source of it, the demon turned and ran with a grin on his face.

He was almost there.

Just a little more and he would find Sasuke.

The demon followed the scent to a house. He didn't stop. He broke down the door hoping to find his mate, instead he ran into something pink. For five entire minutes there was screaming, hitting, punching, whining, begging… until Sakura had calmed down enough to grab the intruder by the collar.

"Who are you?"

"That's my line! Who are you and where's Sasuke?"

"Why? What do you want with him?"

"I'm the nine-tailed fox demon Kyuubi, and I'm here to take Sasuke with me!"

Naruto was able to get away from the human girl's strong grip, by scaring her with the red aura that emanated from his body.

Sakura's first reaction had been to laugh of the blonde who proclaim to be the terrifying demon of her village. However when the red spiritual energy started to be more and more visible, she stepped back.

"I followed is scent here. Where is he?"

"I'm not telling. He's my friend and if you want him you'll have to defeat me, evil demon."

And with that it was more twenty minutes of pure chaos. Naruto hadn't wanted to hurt Sakura because like she said she was Sasuke's friend, so he avoided the blows while babbling. On the other hand the pink haired girl gave everything she got, which meant carving holes all over the house.

"Wait...stop… I…don't…want… hurt…ouch…please…listen…Sasuke…I..."

Sakura had hit him, right on the face. The blow made him fly across the division and through a couple of walls. Fiercely the girl walked towards the fox demon that was literally seeing stars.

Just like Sasuke to be friends with a girl that had a demonic strength and temper.

He saw the girl approaching ready to make stew out of him, and in panic he screamed the first thing on his mind.

"I LOVE SASUKE!"

The girl ceased all movement, shocked.

"I love him a lot, I really do, and I need your help."

It seemed to be the right words.

The girl looked deep into his eyes, and seeing nothing but truth she dropped her arms in awe.

"Sasuke isn't here."

"But I smelled his scent…"

"I guessed… But forget that! Sasuke is in danger!"

"What do you mean with that?"

"A man of the town identified Sasuke as a missing demon slayer."

"Missing slayer? The village is looking for him?"

"It's worse than that it means our elders declared that he must be killed on the spot if seen, they sent black ops. That's why I rushed here to warn Sasuke. But I couldn't find him here and when you came through the door recklessly I thought you were one of them."

"So that was the danger I was feeling. After Sasuke ran away I sensed the black ops! However isn't Sasuke strong enough to defeat them? He defeated me ten times."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Sasuke is very stubborn and won't stop once he puts something in his mind. He said he would kill you if he ever found you."

"Hehehe… yeah, I remember that! It only made me snuggle more, he was so cute."

Sakura looked at him with disgust.

"Pervert! Don't you dare to touch Sasuke! I'll kill you!"

Naruto wasn't able to dodge the punch which Sakura aimed at his face. Not only the girl was friends with the raven haired, she had to act like a protective mother.

"Wait! Wait! Sasuke… why is he in danger?"

"He's still recovering from the fever and tiredness. He may be strong but he is still human. What worries me more is that he didn't eat properly, he's probably still sick. No matter how much resistance he has, his body will eventually falter in strength. Against a large number of opponents he won't stand much time."

"We have to find him! God knows if he didn't pass out in the desert already!"

The fox demon was about to rush out the door, but the girl stopped him with a strong grip on his shoulder.

"Wait I already sent Lee to find him. We should wait."

"But how are we going to know when, hum, Lee finds him?"

"With this…" Sakura showed him a weird kind of black bracelet"… we can communicate with each other through this.

Naruto tilted his head to the side not understanding how that object would help. The girl didn't bother to try to explain, she only said it was complex. Humans come up with really weird things.

"Lee is really fast and he knows the desert even if it's dark. We will wait."

The waiting was tormenting to Naruto. He couldn't feel if Sasuke was alive or not or where he was so he could help. He was regretting not making the human his mate when he got the chance.

If it had been his decision the human would have been his mate the day he realized it. However Kakashi had ruined his opportunity and had let Sasuke go away! He would be dead if his fated mate was injured. And the probabilities were very high. The demon knew Sasuke would go over the edge even if it turned out to be fatal.

Praying silently, he waited. His stomach was again upsetting him, not because of lack of food though he hadn't ate since he parted from his castle. All his thoughts ran into the human. How much he loved him. How much he wanted to tell him that. How he should yell at him for leaving. How beautiful and perfect he was. How he was cocky and managed to defeat him.

A couple of hours passed and he felt like he was dying. To a demon it was not a matter of speech. His skin was already pale, and his heart was starting to slow down its pace.

Sakura had also been worried. However she opted to keep her mind busy with cleaning the mess she made. When she noticed the demon her eyes immediately widened. The Kyuubi, the terrible nine-tailed demon, the strongest of all demons looked sick. Love sick, as she came to realize.

It was still a shock, although she shouldn't be surprised. All demons have weaknesses even the strongest ones. Ironically the most powerful demon's weakness was the feelings for the most skilled demon slayer.

With a sigh the girl went to the kitchen and made a special tea. It took ten minutes, until she was done determinate to know the truth. She walked steady, carrying the tea set in platter, to the demon sitting against the corner.

She put down the platter, offering the demon the cup of tea.

"I'm afraid I was really rude earlier. My name is Sakura Haruno, I'm Sasuke's childhood friend."

The demon looked at the cup of tea, after a moment of hesitation he accepted it.

"Thank you, Sakura-san. I'm known as Naruto Uzumaki."

"Naruto? It's a funny name for the world's most powerful demon."

"I guess.", he replied with the strength he managed.

"You really love him, don't you?", she saw him nod. "I once loved him too, the way you do. But I was not right for him. I realized that the person he needs is someone he could see as an equal. I never filled the requirements, because I was not alone. You know he really feels very lonely, so he doesn't like to be around people that have family or friends. It reminds him of what he lost. He doesn't smile or cry since his family died. Was he happy with you?"

Naruto's response came slowly.

"I don't know… He left I mean. But he never told me he was unhappy. It didn't seem that way. We ate and slept together, even bathe together, we would fight until exhaustion to see which of us was better, and he never hushed me away, not once. I know he would say that he didn't like it, he would have injured me seriously."

"He loves you too."

The fox demon lifted his gaze from the ground.

"When I found Sasuke, he looked exactly like you do now. He was depressed and very sad. He was sick but I didn't know what it was. Now I know. He even lied to me about you. He misses you deeply. He ran because he was scared."

"Scared?"

"He lost everyone he loved. Sasuke doesn't show it, but he is afraid that if he ever is able to love somebody and have a family, he'll lose them as well. He never got close to me. It has to do with his spiritual power. It attracts demons therefore bad luck. You're the living prove of that"

"Hehehe. You're right Sakura-san."

Naruto felt his energy revived. His heartbeat raced with joy, knowing that Sasuke loved him was the best thing he could dream of. In a flash he up, ready to fight the world's greatest army of men and beast. Nothing would stop him from finding Sasuke, bring him back and make him his mate forever and ever.

"Naruto."

The fox demon turned his head to see the red haired demon. They looked fiercely into each other's eyes.

"You really have made up your mind haven't you?"

The blonde gave him his best grin.

"I'm still not going to help you."

"Don't need to. Sakura-san and Lee-san are helping me."

Again they locked gazes.

"Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan?"

Naruto looked around to find the source of the sudden noise. He figured it came from the black bracelet that Sakura was holding now.

"Lee did you find him?"

"Sakura, this is bad, very bad! What should I do?"

"Calm down, Lee. What…"

"I checked, oh Sakura, I really don't know what to do!", the voice yelled alarmed.

"Calm down, what happened to the black ops?"

The fox demon's heart dashed.

"They're dead, I think. There's too much blood."

That's my Sasuke!

"What about Sasuke? Lee, take deep breaths everything's fine."

"Oh, Sakura. I really checked!"

"It's okay if you didn't find him…"

"No, Sakura. He's dead!"

"You… don't mean…"

"Sasuke's not breathing, I can't feel the heartbeat! It's really cold Sakura!"

"Lee, are you sure?", Sakura's face had gotten sickly pale.

"Sasuke's dead."

I'm really sorry I took so long. The fact is that I had half of the chapter written already but it's my first year at college and I'm very busy. I hope you like this chapter it's the bigger I have ever written so far. Please review.