Future and Present Clash
Remember to add this story to C2's and if you like it leave a review. I love hearing your opinions.
The kiss was something Naruto had never experienced; it was far from the accidental kiss shared between them when they were still twelve. This time the kiss had been instigated and not the product of a fluke accident. Sasuke's lips were cold, just like his personality, but were surprisingly soft to the touch; Sasuke's hand was caressing Naruto's scars on his face as the two boys were swept away by emotion. Something passed through them, a feeling soul deep but before they could identify it, they broke apart. A flame of desire was quickly burning Sasuke's veins to ashes but the feeling was suddenly suspended when Naruto's firm fist came into contact with Sasuke's pale jaw. Naruto's blush reached his eyebrows.
"What the fuck was that for teme!?" Naruto asked, before Sasuke returned to his usual cold and stiff self he noted that Naruto did not wipe his lips.
"It stopped you from fighting back didn't it?" Sasuke answered with a smirk.
"Is that the only reason you kissed me?" Naruto's voice betrayed his disappointment.
"Naaah it was because I wanted to check your kissing skills" the Uchiha sarcastically replied.
"Teme! So you know that girl I kissed in the cave didn't complain. Ha!" Naruto said in triumph.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "What girl in the cave" his voice reminded Naruto of the time they had spent in the Snow Country; freezing cold.
"Like I would tell you! Seriously I was all happy you came back and now you freak the shit out of me. If you wanted me to stop I would have, you didn't have to damage your Uchiha pride"
"Dobe, why would I spend my efforts protecting my pride when I can easily be attacking yours?" Sasuke smirked and walked away. Naruto was frozen for a few seconds then he understood what Sasuke was saying, "TEME!" he said, he too making his way back to the rest of the group.
When Naruto returned Sasuke was already isolated in a corner, his arms crossed over his chest and his hair covering his eyes. The entire group was silent; Naruto could swear he heard the birds flapping their wings not too far away. Every eye was turned not to him but to a man in the middle.
"So was your talk useful?" the breathtakingly beautiful stranger asked.
"Anooo, who are you?" Naruto asked. The stranger hung his head. Now that Naruto really looked at him, he noticed the sideward grey hair and the cover left eye. The stranger had a masculine face, perfect shaped lips and flawless skin. Overall he had a face that would make even the most beautiful model jealous.
"Ha! Kakashi-sensei! You... you... wow. This is the event of the century" Naruto managed to say, everyone else was still dead silent, their mouths hanging open.
"Good to know that my face is more important that two World Ninja Wars Naruto" Kakashi said.
Naruto smirked and rubbed the back of his head while Kakashi hung his head and tried his best to go unnoticed. He was still mad that Sasunara had ordered him to take his mask off, the fact that she did it with four tomoes spinning quickly around her red sharingan eyes, caused him to chicken out and agree. Or perhaps it was because she had threatened to take back the yet-to-be-written future Icha Icha books. Sasunara appeared from nowhere.
"Cheer up Kakashi, you should be proud that you look like your father. Great ninja he was, in fact Kiba and Ino should thank him, since it was their grandfathers that your father saved during his last mission, if he hadn't done that then you can be sure Kiba and Ino would not be sitting with us now" she finished.
"Are you serious!?" Kiba asked. Ino was likewise stunned.
Kakashi waited a few seconds to respond, "Yes, it is the truth"
"Wow, my dad told me about that story, but I never realised that the man he was talking about was your father Kakashi-sensei" Ino said, she bowed her head, "Kakashi-sensei I apologise in behalf of my family for the insults said about your honourable father"
Kakashi smiled, the girls and even some boys (mainly Sai and Kiba) couldn't help but allow a faint blush to colour their cheeks at the sight of the handsome face. They quickly shook their heads to get rid of the images.
"As much as I adore you all for your encouragement" his eyes narrowed and darkened in the unique Kakashi way "This is only for a week" he said and he went off with Chouji, Shikamaru and Kiba to wash up in the nearby stream since they were still dirty from battle, but everyone knew Kakashi was going to avoid any more staring from his teammates' behalf. Sasunara stretched her limbs and started to get comfortable, it was getting dark so might as well get comfy. She removed her white coat and her orange zip jacket revealing a sleeve-less grey fish net that was see-through in the back. Sakura gasped at Sasunara's body.
"It's beautiful" she said, getting closer to the mission leader. Her hand touched the intricate dragon tattoo on Sasunara's arm, she noticed the design started at her hip, went under the fabric and emerged further up, part of it went into her shoulder but the magnificently detailed head was over her heart, sharp lines of teeth exposed in a protective growl. What stood out were the bright red eyes of the best that contrasted with the mostly green tones of the body and scales.
"Who long did it take?" Sai asked, he too inspecting the art work. Sasunara sweat dropped; if Sai recognised his own art style her cover was doomed.
"Half a year with five sessions a week. The artist is dead though" she said. She mentally apologised to Uncle Sai for lying about his death. She finished removing all the unnecessary gear, her two katanas from her waist were placed on the ground near her, the one from her back remained hidden under a henge, she undid her bandages from her thighs and wrists and removed her thigh long black socks and black shinobi sandals. She had a clean mask on and not one speck of blood remained on her clothing.
"This is a chakra tattoo" Sai said, not as a question but as an obvious statement.
"What's a chakra tattoo?" Naruto asked.
"A image tattooed using ninja ink, like the one I use, whilst the tattoo is being needled into the skin the artist and client most continuously input their chakra into the tattoo, the longer it takes the more powerful the drawing, the more detail the more destructive the animal that comes out when invoked. I've never seen anything like this before, whoever did this had to be a great master of ninja ink techniques. Do you have anymore?" Sai enquired.
Naruto didn't fully understand, what shocked him was that perhaps this had been the longest sentence Sai had ever said, the way he looked at the tattoo; with admiration, was something that Naruto had hardly ever seen on the pale shinobi.
Sasunara turned and showed that she had an Uchiha fan tattooed on her back; the thing nearly took out half her back.
"What is up with Uchihas and their damn fans?" Naruto asked.
"Don't insult the fan!" Sasuke and Sasunara said at the same time. People looked at Sasuke; it had been the first time that the teen shinobi said anything in a while. Sasunara sat down, she only had her black shorts and the grey fish net, the glow from the fire in the centre of camp made her pale skin actually look tanned.
"Such youthful coordination" Lee said punching his fist into empty air.
"Hn" they said at the same time, it was followed by a growl of annoyance from both. They decided to be quiet.
The men who had gone off to wash returned and the group of 17 sat down by the fire to eat, at this point it was already night fall. Everyone was chatting except one person; Uchiha Sasuke still sat a bit off to the side. Naruto was seating next to him, probably making sure he would not run off (having apparently forgotten his anger over the kiss already) but the two were not talking.
"Sasuke do you want to join the conversation? Naruto?" Sasunara asked, looking into his eyes, daring him.
"No" Sasuke replied.
"I believe you have some explaining to do. I warned you before that getting back wouldn't be easy but you are not helping the situation by not talking" Sasunara said.
"You tricked me into coming here" he said with venom in his voice.
"Sasuke please" Naruto began "I...we have been working hard to return you to Konoha, we all want you back home"
INNER SASUNARA
This is strange; when I removed the Cursed Seal he should have left all this pent up anger behind. He killed Itachi so he should be partially free from the desire for revenge. Of course there is still Madara and the Elders but what is going on with him? I thought I knew Sasuke-otousan back to front.
She made up her mind. She would give him an incentive to change. She got up quickly and turned her back to the group, the Uchiha fan tattoo seemed to become almost alive basking in the light from the fire.
"Sasuke follow me" she said in a serious voice. Sasuke didn't move.
"Uchiha Sasuke as the eldest Uchiha I order you to follow me" she said.
"Uchiha-sensei there is no need-" Naruto began standing up in protest.
"I don't need anyone to stand up for me dobe" Sasuke said, standing up and walking ahead of Sasunara. The blonde masked shinobi sighed, "Leave us be. I will talk with him. Naruto-san please be ready for our night-time training, there is no time for slacking." and she disappeared.
"That was some major tension" Kiba said, ruffling Akamaru's fur. The giant white dog barked in agreement.
"Sasuke-kun has changed so much" Hinata said.
Naruto sat down with a puff, "It should be me talking to him" he said, crossing his arms.
"Are you sure Naruto?" Sai said, "Last time you two had a chat you came back blushed and with your clothes torn. Something you wanna share dickless?" Naruto's blush returned and he stomped off into the forest.
"How troublesome" Shikamaru said, getting comfortable and preparing himself for sleep.
Sasuke's POV
I walked ahead of the blonde bimbo, she infuriated me, she lied to me, and she tricked me. She promised she would give me power but she took it away. And now she drove me here. Leading me right to him! The bimbo's voice broke through my thoughts.
"Why are you being like this Sasuke?" she said, I could detect the sadness in her voice but I really did not care. I remained quiet; she should already know my answer.
"I have given you what I can for now. I wish...I...I don't know...I wish you could understand. You are one of the most important people to me, I can't stand to look at you and see you falling deeper and deeper into a bottomless black pit. I know you won't listen to me right now, so I will bring someone who can"
I sneezed, "Sorry I am allergic to bullshit" I said, the pain in her eyes could only be matched by the pain that followed on my cheek from the slap she gave me. I didn't really feel like moving to avoid it. She bit her finger and did a long series of hand movements, they were so fast that I could not even see them and before I even thought about preparing my sharingan her hand slammed on the ground, "Ghost Summoning no Jutsu" she said. There was no smoke and no indication of the usual markers of a summon; predictable, the idiot failed, you can't summon ghosts.
My eyes widened and just to be sure I did the hand signs to dispel genjutsu but my eyes still saw the same thing. In front of me was steadily forming the shape of two people, two people who I have for nearly ten years, fought to avenge. The spectres of my mother and father became clearer but I could still see through them, an aching reminder of their deaths.
"My dearest Sasuke" my mother said. Her voice was just as I remembered, how long have I longed to hear that voice again?
"My son what has happened to you? I have watched everything from the Death God's realm. Sasuke...no mother should ever see her two children fight like you did"
I wanted to shout at the blonde bimbo, tell her to stop with this humourless sick joke. But I couldn't. My brain seemed to take action by himself and I found myself talking to the ghosts as if I actually believed they were there.
"But oka-san, otou-san Itachi killed you! I had to avenge your deaths" I said, couldn't they see I was right to do as I did?
"Sasuke" her transparent hand touched my cheek and at that moment I knew she was really there, the touch was exactly as I remembered but it was cold and very light, "My son, do not let revenge take over you. We are dead, revenge will not change that. We would rather go through a hundred deaths than see our remaining son fall into an abyss of darkness" her sweet voice said, "We want you to be happy, to live a full life, free from the burdens that our clan's miserable curse carries. Break the Uchiha curse Sasuke; do not let yourself get lost amongst the darkness. You have wonderful friends who care and a promising future to fight for. Please my son, do not give yourself more pain"
I looked at my father who had yet to utter a word but when my eyes connect with his see-through ones his voice reached deep into my being "Sasuke, it is often in death that one regrets the decisions of life. If I could take back what I did then perhaps we would not be having his dead conversation right now. I will give you one piece of advice son, do not be like us, reshape the Uchiha clan the way you see fit, leave old grievances behind, they do you no good."
They began to fade, my feet stepped forward on their own, I reached to touch my mother but my hand went right through her. How painful it was to see her yet only be able to feel coldness where she stood. Three times my hand went through her, trying to grasp the disappearing figures in vain. It most have started raining because my cheeks were wet, only after a few seconds did I realise I was crying.
"Remember Sasuke, we will always be proud of you" my mother said before disappearing.
I was quiet for a while, staring into the empty space where up until a few seconds ago the spectres of my dead parents stood. I felt water on my body, this time it had really started to rain. My heart was beating franticly, suddenly all my bottled up emotions were set free, the iron-strong wall I tirelessly built over ten years collapsed. The frustration, anger, rage, depression, humiliation, confusion, neglection, guilt, remorse, bitterness and hundreds of others I had no name for erupted in my being, bringing me to the brink of insanity. My knees gave away under me but a body held me up before I could hit the ground. Even under the purring rain Naruto's body held my tightly as I shouted my anger away into the dark night.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was hard for me to write it but I like how it ended up. I hope you leave a review and tell me what you think. Thank for reading.