Author's Note- This chapter and the next to be are to a very special person…actually I don't know much about you but you were nice and what you said meant a lot to me so- THIS CHAPTER IS FOR THE REBEL OUTCASTS. Thank you so much for showing your support and it means a ton that you have loved my story; the chapter after this goes along hand in hand with this one so that one is for you too. XD
Chapter 21- Promise to Keep
Every breathe I took was a blaring siren of agony as the chemicals in the air sank their claws into my lungs. I could feel my heart straining to keep an even beat and pulse my slowing blood. 'There's nothing left for me…' the deeper parts of my mind told me other wise but that voice had was hoarse and quiet like my real one. 'Slowly allowing darkness to rock me to sleep…slowly…slow….ly!' a strange wave of weight was thrust upon his wear shackled being. As the soles of his feet slammed the superheated ground he was surprised to feel nothing. Surprised? Hadn't he gotten used to the burn? A strong flume of gases came up from the shock of the sudden weight and Naruto heard a strange whisper inside his mind as he began to cough up blood.
'Who's there? What is happening to me?' Naruto brought up his arm to try and staunch the violent attack on his throat and lungs but pulled up short. His need to inhale became stronger and he yanked at the rope that bound him. 'Freakin' strong rope…' he sat for a moment, the major turmoil over, and became aware of a foreign presence that was tensed as it seemed to know he had caught on. This presence was well known and familiar to Naruto…it didn't belong here.
'Naruto?' his voice was hesitant and even though I knew it was him the shock still came to my weakening body. I knew I had tensed involuntarily and screaming wound in my side confirmed my assumption as it raged against my movements. I tried to speak with my voice,
"That voice…I…know that voice…"
'YES Naruto! It's me…Sasuke!' I forced myself to pay attention. I thought I was dreaming last time I heard him…when she stabbed me. I didn't want to get my hopes all the way up and have them crushed. I tested my brother's voice.
'Can you…hear my thoughts?'
'Yes, is it easier on you?' genuine concern in his voice; it took me a second to imagine what he must be thinking of my…recent living conditions.
'Yah, it's probably not good to talk with my voice in the condition it's in…that and she might hear me…' at the thought of the witch that haunted me to no end I felt the familiar chill freeze my blood momentarily. I hated fear. I felt Sasuke's shock at my resignation to the emotion as it sailed throughout my body. His voice became urgent and tight as he spoke,
'Naruto where are you? We need to come and get you out of there!'…desperation. I knew he would slap me if he could when I was not going to tell him the answer; so instead I just lifted my head slowly; I had no idea I had been hanging it, and looked around at my most recent form of hell. I knew he was scoffing at the image of the lava filled cave, he always did hate clichés. 'Yeah, cavern great. But WHERE are you?' I braced myself but tried to tell him with the firmness my own voice once held,
'I'm not going to tell you Sasuke.' My inner voice sounded strange and alien to me. I could feel the familiar sense of his anger eating away at his calm attitude.
'IDIOT! DO YOU WANT TO STAY THERE FOR AN ETERNITY?' I cringed at the booming echo of his voice as the pain electrocuted me into resubmission of its grip.
'…no, but…you guys will end up being stuck here too…' my inner voice now strained under the pressure of the sufferings of my body. Sasuke felt me and I tried to raise my tone a few levels.
'This lady can't keep me here forever! Right?' There was a much deeper meaning to that statement. Just a few minutes earlier I had honestly consider just slipping away.
'Right Naruto…but' the way he said "Right" I knew he knew what I had really meant by saying that she couldn't keep me here forever.
'She's planning on killing me.' The silence itself was almost as painful as the wounds.
'…'
'I'm not a dumb kid anymore Sasuke. The fox doesn't make me immortal y'know; I grew up too. You didn't expect me to stay the same stupid, pranking, obnoxious, and loud-mouthed-'
'Your loud-mouthedness made up for my "I'm too good for the world" silence…' I remained silent this time; his caring honesty to this assessment of my talkativeness caught me off guard. 'You did pranks to get attention and people called you stupid for them, but they never saw you fight like Kakashi,' I missed him in a weird sorta way, 'Sakura,' my first crush. 'And I did.' I felt like I had been sucker punched in the gut, but he didn't stop he kept up on the attack on my emotions. 'Your loud-mouthed attitude was your confidence and it boosted the team's morale through roof.'
'No it didn't.' I had only received a second for my voice before he started again.
'Yeah, think back to when Ino had taken over Sakura's mind. She said your loud voice helped her fight Ino out…even if it was a tie in the end. You had influence Naruto.' This time the cut to my heart called for all my attention as torrents of memories returned to me and rejuvenating my pathetic state of being. The tears that I didn't know I would ever shed again slipped down my cheeks.
'I won't die here Sasuke. I PROMISE I won't die here…besides you haven't met Narelle.' I smiled my one signature smile before he slipped away completely and left me alone in hell again.
P.A.C.T.
"I want her head on a freakin' slate." Kixur and M.A. stood as far away from Narelle as possible; the poor girl was having major mood swings between heart wrenching sobbing and pain to unnatural rage and wanting to cause pain. Right now she was going through the latter. "I will kill that slutty witch so slowly that she will die and keep screaming in her grave! Even though I will make sure that she never gets properly buried!" she began to gesture to everyone and no one as her enraged lecture was slowly turning away from Tiesha and towards her tortured lover, "I will make sure she is eaten away by rats that live in a cement box, then I will torch the box cooking the rats inside and then I will blow it up until not even a molecule of it remains." Her eyes brightened as the whole room seemed drop below freezing and get heavy with killer intent. Kixur slowly made his way towards his infuriated sister knowing that the one word would diffuse the moment and hurt her at the same time to bring her back to a bit better judgment. He grabbed her shoulder and gasped as she turned her glare on him. Quickly regaining himself her looked intently into her eyes and slowly released the breathe he had been holding,
"Naruto." The look in her eyes was disintegrated and blew out like dust on the wind. The tears that filled her eyes shocked him at the emotion the revealed as the cleaned away all the masks that she wore over them and revealed her true pain. He wrapped his other arm around Narelle as he felt M.A. approach warily.
"Another one of our scouts thought they found something but, it too, vanished with the others." Kixur shot him a glare,
"Thank you Master." It was a stiff formal way of telling Master to get out. The older man didn't hesitate; he'd let them have their moments but sooner or later they would have to help in the search.
UNKNOWN AREA
The rope was weaker now…I could feel it slipping out of the rock. This time it wasn't my shoulder popping out of place it was the rope coming out of the rock. I snapped my arm to attention and began the pulsating tug of war with my bindings that I had been working at for hours now. I turned my mind from the pain and onto my friends that were waiting for me to make my big entrance and smile and tell them I was alright; for the most part it worked until I stopped tugging and returned my mind to what I was feeling. Breathe…breathe…inhale deeply…yank… pause… yank harder… pause shorter… yank harder…the rope tore free of the metal binds that held it to the walls and I gasped when my left arm froze me mid-fall. Slowly rising and testing my balance, I began to untie the second prison warden. The knot slipped and I braced my newly free hands to the hot rock to balance myself. Tiesha would be returning soon to "play" with my wounds again and give them more "friends" so I subtly made two clones and tied one into the ropes as I hid a few senbon into his mouth. The other followed me as I slipped into the surrounding darkness; we nodded my thanks…to myself. My clone nodded back and mouthed "GET OUT NOW!" to me. We didn't hesitate to follow his…my orders. Slowly we made our way to the one door where I saw Tiesha take my shirt and weapons. Entering the room we allowed my eyes to adjust to natural brightness of the room and slowly picking our way through the caches we found what we was looking for. The clone he me in slipping one arm through the sleeve before I froze in agony. My wounds were biting back as they rebuked me for agitating them; mentally yelling back to my troubles I forced myself to hold back the moans and cries as the shirt covered the rest of my torso. My clone handed me my blades and I took the minute just to enjoy holding them again. Once I slipped them on my clone changed to match what I looked like now and together we slipped back through the tunnels. Pausing at the entrance we heard the first clone taking our beating as Tiesha laughing her icicle laugh that mingled throughout the large open cave. I stared at myself for a very long time; I heard the first clone spit the senbon into Tiesha as she cried out and began to beat him harder. I looked into my own cerulean eyes before sprinting right past Tiesha. Looking back long enough to see her shock as she watched my back getting smaller in the distance; I knew I didn't have much time but I had enough to make it to the surface at least. I heard her scream in anger and I knew that the first clone had been dispatched; I pushed myself harder as my legs revolted against my wishes, but the light was so close and I burst through before I knew it had happened. Blinded temporarily I knew that I had to try and keep moving or Tiesha would catch me here and all would have been in vain. Forcing my suddenly dry eyes open I became aware that we were in the middle lands between Suna and Konoha. I smiled to myself when the thought came, 'Either way we run we've got allies who would not hesitate to help us.' Automatically I sprinted towards Konoha…my home where I could find refuge so I could finally escape.
Author's Note-heheheheheheeeee there's an incredible twist to this and if you were paying attention to every one of Naruto's actions of escape then you MIGHT be able to guess what's REALLY going on. Feel free to let me in on your guessing. You won't get an answer until…soon actually…but still…you will have to wait. Please let me in on how I'm doin! Love to hear from you!