"Beyond Hearts and Minds"
by XyoushaX
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own any great quantity of money or property. I'm a STUDENT; that's why I'm poor, okay?
I want to warn the readers now that I won't be updating for at least a month.
Next week, I'm going on a trip — a three-week tour of art museums. I'm excited, since I haven't seen good art for... a good long time. Time to bring out the sneakers so that I can stand for hours on end in front of paintings! (Strange how I'm a political science major and am on the swim team.) Sorry, but I don't own a laptop — and even if I had one, I would not be able to write fast enough because walking in art museums, as enjoyable as it is, is tiring. Not that I won't be thinking about this fanfic from time to time. I'll be looking out for stories in paintings so that I can enhance this fanfic's quality. I also borrowed a copy of the Nihongi from the library to flip through while on the trip, and I'll also try to finish Faust by Goethe.
I don't own the Nihongi, either. (That's kind of obvious, as it's almost the Illiad of Japan, but you never know nowadays.)
If there are dear readers out there who are unhealthily obsessed with this story — which I remind you, is just a fun story so you shouldn't take it so seriously — read other fanfics, because there are plenty of great ones out there!
This chapter will turn back a little chronologically, since the last one ended with Hinata and Naruto spending time together the morning after.
"Quotations"
'Inner Thoughts'
(( Flashback ))
Chapter 25: Suspicions
Sasuke could barely function that night. The expanding and contracting of his ribcage was his only movement.
Naruto was right. What in the world was he doing at home? There was still a chance that their former teammate was alive. The river-guardian might have been lying; it only controlled a tiny fraction of all the bodies of water in this world...
But what really confused Sasuke was that if Sakura's case was not a suicide, it was at least a clear case of running away. Abandoning the village. For what?
Perhaps some ninja from another village had managed to sneak into Sakura's hospital room, and convinced her that life would be better elsewhere. Inconceivable — Konoha was one of the top five shinobi villages! Sure, it went through a few wars and rebellions, but it was by far better than an exploited village in the outskirts of nowhere. Sakura had really nothing to angst over compared to other ninja. She had both of her parents, unlike him and Naruto, and even the Hokage favored her in medical skills. If Sakura ever went into battle, it was as a medic on the sidelines... Right?
Then again, her performance in the Chuunin Exams hinted on something slightly different. It must have taken years for Sakura to earn that dexterity in healing and taijutsu. And her newfound frost when faced with being poisoned, chained, stripped, and shot at — receiving those treatments was one thing, reacting correctly to each was quite another.
Sasuke realized that he knew nothing of how Sakura turned out that way. His first-ever glimpse of her training was when the Hokage ordered Sakura to advance her Kuchiyose no Jutsu. All those years, and he didn't even consider to spend a minute to observe her train. Sure, he more than once spied on her before, but those were for brief instances in non-training ground. It had taken a needle of mockery in his dense pride for him to offer advice. He then worried his head off for her in the Chuunin Exams. And now, she just runs off to the river, and drowns herself...
She couldn't be gone. She just couldn't.
The Uchiha of seventeen brushed his hand over the blanket. Sakura had slept here next to him, only weeks before. The sheets had been washed since then, but it was as if her memory was already connected to the fabric. She had embraced him here, gifting him with at least a taste of what being with a caring woman might be like. Her pink hair sweaty yet sensual, the innocent expression on her face when she was asleep, every gentle curve, the taut yet graceful muscles... Sasuke loved and hated that he could remember so much.
(( "I don't want to find her dead body." ))
Sasuke gripped the sheets. He was being a coward, and he knew it. 'Get up,' he told himself. 'You've got to find her. You owe her—'
Yet his body wouldn't move. The exhaustion and psychological turmoil of the day overtook him, and he fell asleep.
Sasuke's eyes cracked open. The sky through his windows was a dark blue, indicating morning just ahead.
Sasuke glanced at the clock. 4:12. The ninja swore under his breath. He put a hand to his face, and felt some spots of dry film under his eyes. They glued abhorrently to his cheeks like soap scum to bath tiles. He rubbed them slightly, wondering what they were.
Sasuke's fist slammed on the cabinet next to the bed. A few red marks touched his fingers, burns left by the jutsu-scroll he worked on exactly twenty-four hours ago. The ninja had been agonizing over tiny rolls of paper, checking and re-checking that he had copied everything in writing correctly so that the Goukakyuu no Jutsu would come out. If he went that far to ensure Sakura's safety, then he could go on a little further.
Sasuke's legs swung to the corner of the bed. He tugged a little on the sweat-stained clothes, wondering if he should change. He gave a mental shrug. What the hell. He was going to get dirty once more anyway.
The teenager walked down the hallway, fitting on various weapons and ninja-gear that littered the floor. He unsnapped the door of its locks and sealing-fuda, slid it open, and stepped out into the early autumn morning.
Sasuke got onto the main street and speed-walked towards the exit gates. He took care to avoid the commoners drunk in the gutter, leftovers of the parties; they were usually more temperamental and loud than necessary. When one guard stopped him, Sasuke displayed the Hokage's note assigning him to search for Sakura (he carefully hid the words 'under the supervision of Hatake Kakashi' with his fingers). The guard dismissed him, and then added that Sasuke should either "find Sakura or go to hell."
In any case, Sasuke got into the outside territory of Konoha surprisingly scot-free. Adrenalin rushed him as he started off through the forest and towards the cliff. Every tree, every rock, his eyes searched out for any blip of chakra or mop of pink hair. There was a half-moon tonight, but it was plenty enough light for him.
Pretty soon, he was at the end of the river. Large toad prints were on the gray, sandy bank, showing where Naruto had already been. The half-moon's reflection glistened in the wide lake, like a slice of apple floating in water.
Slice of apple. Damn. That comparison reawakened memories he'd stuffed in the corner long ago. Annoyed at Sakura, and annoyed at whatever forced him out of his warm bed, Sasuke continued his search.
A purple-haired girl looked down at an unconscious body next to her.
Potamos poked a finger at the human's chest. Her lips moved towards the ear... and her cute voice cried out: "WAKEY-WAKEY!"
The rounin let off a shout. A fit of giggles overcame Potamos.
"What was THAT for?" the master-less samurai demanded, pulling up from the mat. A needed siesta had been ruined.
Potamos grinned mischievously. "Now, now. Mino-chan will soon get your clothes." She admired the half-dressed figure before her.
"You don't expect me to flirt with you still, Hiromi?" the other asked. "Because you tried to snag a kiss after fishing me out. You don't perform mouth-to-mouth if the victim is coughing." A roll of the eyes. "It took you long enough, by the way."
"I had a little deal to do," Potamos argued. " 'sides, I got you alive, didn't I? I want a reward!" She tackled the human to the ground. "You're just so YUMMY to look at!"
The door slid open. "Get off our recruit, Devil-child," said a bored voice.
Minoru walked into the room in his shrine-attire. In his hands lay a folded set of loose-fitting robes. He knelt down to the human. "I acquired one of your size," the blond elf said. "We'll clean laundry together at certain occasions, like at inns. But mending is strictly your own business." He tossed down a hat woven of straw. "And this will make you less prominent."
The rounin picked the straw-hat up, and examined it.
Minoru looked at the human with careful blue eyes. "It might be required that you have your hair cut. Forgive me, but you appear a bit too feminine and vulnerable."
"Look who's talking, Pretty-boy," Potamos said, scrutinizing Minoru's long, wavy locks.
"Be quiet," he dismissed. "When representatives of religion are half-decent in appearance, it makes a good impression. 'Cleanliness is the closest thing to godliness.' 'When you fast, wash your face.' Et cetera, et cetera. Religion exists because people want to find and witness what true beauty is." The human and water-demon stared in awe at his eloquence. A brilliant smile came from Minoru. "That's why my presence alone contributes to one-third of all donations to the shrine I am employed at!"
The runaway human blinked.
Potamos scratched her head. 'Didn't someone back home declare Pride as one of the Seven Deadly Sins?' the water-demon thought. 'Mino-chan's narcissism makes me doubt that elves are beings of light. I like more the theory that they used to be spirits of water.'
Minoru's attention reverted on the rounin before him. A pair of scissors clicked in his hands. "Fifteen centimeters off."
The shoulders of the lost one sagged. "I had been growing it out..."
"All right, ten centimeters," the elf compromised. "But you must tie it high up in the back."
"Yeay, it's a sleepover!" Potamos cheered. "Mino-chan, can I French-braid your—"
"Absolutely not."
A flock of crows scattered from the trees above. A long figure crouched on the surface of the lake.
Sasuke pulled his head up from the water. Nope, Sakura wasn't underneath. If she sank anywhere here, the mutated crayfish would have collected at her body by now. Sasuke was at least glad to not find her waterlogged face torn up by underwater creatures. That opened the possibility of discovering her body around the shore. If worse came to worse, a tiger might have dragged off the dead kunoichi into the forest and mauled her as carrion...
'Don't jump to conclusions.'
Sasuke looked up weakly at the sky, which was now lighting up. The sun was coming out already? Time certainly had a strange way of playing with his mind.
The Uchiha was perfectly aware that he was doing a dangerous dance on the border. If caught, he could face detention, or even worse, execution.
Oddly enough, a sense of satisfaction came with the risk. What else other than danger made a mission interesting? Besides, the lake's perimeter was humungous, and Sasuke had his doubts whether the other search crew had put all its effort to cover the area.
From the middle of the lake, all the way to the sandy banks, the raven-haired ninja made his way slowly and carefully. Each step, he felt himself sink downward. At one point, Sasuke stuck his hand in the water pulled an unwary fish by the tail.
Half-drained of chakra, he fell into a crouched, hoodlum position on the hard rocks which consisted of the lake shore. The water soaking his hair dripped uncomfortably down under his shirt. Watery mud squished around his feet within their sandals.
Sasuke crushed the gasping fish on a rock, putting it out of its suffocating misery. An autumn breeze passed his back, making goosebumps rise on his back. What a goddamn waste of time. Sasuke only came here to clear up his conscience — or something akin to a conscience, he supposed.
"Sakura," he growled, "I hate you."
The ninja picked up several fallen branches, planning for a fire to warm him up a bit and recharge his chakra reserves. For pride's sake, he would have to put the fire out as soon as possible before a rescue team came for him. But right now he needed some breakfast.
Breakfast.
Now he was thinking of that morning with Sakura! It had been nice of her to make breakfast for him after that might. She even helped him cook a few dinners later. Even though it had been in exchange for helping her calling-jutsu, he still had enjoyed Sakura's food and company. His mother had been better in cooking (nostalgically speaking, of course), but Sakura was the one who educated him in the details. Like that there were spices other than soy sauce and horseradish.
The fish slowly roasted. Sasuke noticed that the top part of his shirt was soaked. He pulled it off, and awkwardly draped it over the boulder near the fire. It wasn't pleasant, but he'd rather be dry and shirtless than covered in a wet sheet and risk hypothermia.
"Sasuke?" a feminine voice murmured.
The Uchiha froze. He turned around, and saw a dirt-covered kunoichi with tangled pink hair.
The figure of Haruno Sakura stood before him, her hand on a tree to support her weight. One leg of her black trousers was ripped open, and her torso was covered only by a ninja-undershirt with a dark sports bra.
Sasuke could find nothing to say. He only reacted when he saw the girl trip on a root and stumble forward.
The raven-haired ninja caught her. Sasuke felt how freezing her body was: no wonder, she didn't even have proper clothing on. Although Sasuke admired her figure, he was annoyed, and worried. Sasuke himself had his torso bare, but least he kept his shirt close to a fire to dry!
"Come on." Sasuke pulled her towards the fire.
Sakura gulped. She shuddered within his arms. "A-are you mad at me?" she asked.
Sasuke opened his mouth a little, but quickly closed it. The truth was that he was too dazed and confused to offer any sort of verbal reaction. Besides, Sakura looked truly repentant, almost as if she were about to cry. Scolding her now would probably tempt her to run away again.
No, keeping his mouth shut was the best option. As Kakashi always said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
Sasuke nudged her to sit. It was better for the both of them if they ate and warmed themselves before returning to Konoha. Sakura looked terrified, and was just as low on energy as he was. If he gave her a bit of hospitality, maybe he could calmly lead her back. "Warm yourself by the fire," Sasuke ordered. "I'll go catch more breakfast."
He listened to her silence as walked to the lake. His chakra-covered foot splashed onto the surface. 'If she attempts to leave, I'll knock her unconscious,' his inner thoughts steamed.
Sasuke carefully glanced back. Sakura slid off her wet sandals, and was now drying her feet near the fire. Her hand stroked over the exposed leg to warm it up.
The raven-haired ninja nearly tripped into the lake. Sasuke turned away quickly, and readjusted his control of walking on the water. He stabbed a fish underwater with a kunai.
Sasuke walked back, and sat down next to Sakura. He quickly cleaned and gutted the fish, and thrust a clean stick through it for a roast. He handed Sakura the already-cooked one from the fire.
Sakura blinked. She looked confused, as if not understanding what to do with the fish.
"Take it," Sasuke said. Sakura seemed hesitant. "Eat it!" he harshly ordered — the girl jumped. "I'll have the next one," Sasuke quickly explained, lowering his tone of voice.
The pink-haired girl only nodded. She took it in her hands, and made a hesitant nibble with her blue lips. Sasuke noticed that she didn't even graze the meat.
This was just ridiculous, Sasuke thought. The young man angrily grabbed the fried fish away from her, and ripped a piece off with his teeth. He then took a hold of Sakura's shoulders. If she was not willing to eat properly, he was going to force it down her throat.
Sasuke didn't know what came over him. He was infuriated at her one moment. And at the next moment, he found himself pushing fried fish into Sakura's mouth — with his tongue. Id est, he was kissing her.
Sasuke watched Sakura's green eyes open wide. She probably was taken aback at his display of affection. No surprise there... he was known as the human ice cube. Sasuke himself was jolted, wondering what possessed his body to do this. Worry plagued him about this decision. Would Sakura accept him still? It had been bad enough when Sasuke barely brushed his lips over her cheek in front of that old couple in the marketplace, but this was something much more serious and real than an act!
Sakura's eyes softly closed in heavenly bliss. Her hands trailed up Sasuke's bare chest, and wrapped around his neck.
'What the HELL are you doing?' Sasuke's inner pride roared. 'This is a bit extreme and too forward for your image, don't you think?'
'To hell with pride,' the foreign voice scoffed. 'You've watched too long; you've waited too long. Nobody else is seeing you because you're out in the WILDERNESS! Sakura seems to understand!'
A roll of dried leaves crackled within the fireplace.
Sasuke couldn't resist anymore. He lowered Sakura down next to the fire, devouring her mouth in a raging kiss. This was exactly what he imagined doing with Sakura for weeks... or months... okay, so he at least entertained the thought a year in advance. He probably was a little sloppy with it, as he had absolutely no prior experience — but considering how Sakura gave no complaint, Sasuke could practice all he wanted.
A strong aroma hung in the air. Sasuke's eyes opened slightly. Was that Sakura? He did not see her as the perfume-wearing type, especially when she was out in the wilderness. Come to think of it, no kunoichi wore perfume except for undercover purposes...
Sasuke quickly drew his face away. His hands kept a firm grip on Sakura's shoulders. He was confused, frustrated, and angry all at once. "You..."
A lazy, seductive air touched Sakura's green eyes. "What is it, Sasuke?" she gently asked.
Sasuke glanced at the fire. Flames licked at a bunch of weeds. He did not remember placing them there. The ninja tried to get up. His leg muscles wouldn't move.
The blood ran cold in Sasuke.
A low chuckle came from Sakura. She drew up gracefully before the ninja, unaffected by the powerful scent. "Is the incense too strong for you, Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke's wrists shook. He was paralyzed. 'Damn. DAMN!'
A smirk drew across the girl's face. She crouched down at the immobile teenager, and stroked his chin. Her hand was as cold as ice.
"I am the demon Utsushi," she whispered. Her legs gelled together into a long, glistening fish tail. Her face sharpened. Lips reddened to the color of cherries, and cheekbones heightened until she was completely unrecognizable as Sakura. "Whatever I do, whatever I appear, is a reflection of all your fears and desires."
A red area swirled around her neck, and red marks crossed her skin. Sasuke recognized the pattern as the 'heaven' seal which Orochimaru had cursed him with. The demon's abnormally long nails drew across her face, and it morphed into Itachi.
Sasuke couldn't even shout in anger. The fumes of the burning plants stifled his voice.
The female demon changed her face back to a Sakura with perfect white skin. "I've come across many humans who've lost their loved ones to drowning." Her face neared that of Sasuke. "Have you heard of the little mermaid? Mer-people were beings whose upper-body was human, but the lower half was a fish." She waved her tail flirtatiously.
Sasuke ordered himself to move. Yet his limbs were still rigid in place. What in the world was happening?
Utsushi laughed softly at Sasuke's attempts to flee. He couldn't even activate his vocal cords. Her own slick tail grew out, and dipped into the lake. "There was once a young mermaid, whose curiosity for the human world was greater than anything else. Her first visit to the surface of the ocean was when she was fifteen. She spotted a ship, and swam up to it. She saw a human prince, and instantly fell in love with him. Later she saved him from drowning."
'Utsushi means Reflection,' Sasuke thought. 'This demon pries into people's emotions to drive them mad and drain their chakra...' The ninja tried to crank his neck around. Something dense pinched his skin. It felt like... metal chains?
Utsushi shook a reprimanding finger. "Now, now, it gets better. Do you know what the little mermaid did to be with him? She sold her voice to the sea-witch, in exchange for a potion that would give her legs. The conditions were that if the mermaid failed to win the prince's heart, she'd turn into sea-foam. She took the potion, pulled herself up on the beach, and drank it. The instant she tasted the drink, it felt like a knife cutting through her tail — she fainted from the very pain. And when the prince discovered her and helped her to walk, the little mermaid realized that every step felt like walking on sharp blades." Utsushi smirked. "Mute. Yet she stayed at his side like a faithful handmaid. She even learned how to dance. Brave little one, don't you agree?"
Sasuke tried to move his arms. They weren't tingling, so they weren't asleep — but what was keeping him from moving? It was probably not the raw incense. Such a quantity, although it dazzled him at first, was certainly not enough to keep him immobile for this long. The air and his bloodstream should have cleared up by now.
"This is the rich part, though," the demon murmured. "The prince had remembered someone rescuing him from drowning, and he wished to marry that girl — but he never connected it with the little mermaid. Instead, he thought it was the princess of another country." Utsushi let off a bubbly laugh. "The prince had even told the little mermaid beforehand that if he didn't find the mysterious rescuer, he'd marry her instead. But he met the princess, and his little mind 'clicked', as it were."
Sasuke's eyes adjusted for a brief moment. There were wisp-like, transparent chains over his limbs. How strange: they just appeared, and he had not even turned on his Sharingan. Sasuke looked up at the monster, as if patiently waiting for her to continue the story. In truth, he was just trying to figure out what this new sight was. Observing the surroundings would give him some time.
The dark-eyed ninja observed the lake behind Utushi. There was an unconscious man floating in the water. But what was strange was that the waves did not slosh around the body. Instead, the current passed right through him. 'A ghost?'
"At the wedding feast, the little mermaid danced beautifully with the thought of death in her heart. She knew that the sunbeams of the next day would kill her." The demon's face grew menacing. "She could not sleep that night, so she just sat on deck. She then saw her mermaid sisters waving towards her from the ocean. They handed her a dagger. 'We have sacrificed our hair to the sea-witch for this,' they told her. 'You must plunge it into the heart of the prince. Once his blood sprays on your legs, you will become a mermaid again. You will be able to live out your life for another three hundred years, just like all of our kind.' Her sisters disappeared under the waves.
"The little mermaid walked to the royal bedroom, and she saw the bride and bridegroom sleeping peacefully. The prince was murmuring the princess's name in his sleep. The mermaid raised the dagger with a shaking hand above the prince — and then she threw it in the waves. She couldn't do it.
"The mermaid went to the deck of the ship. At the first gleam of the sun, she threw herself to the waters. Her body dissolved into sea-foam." Utushi smiled. She cupped Sasuke's face, forcing him to look straight at her. "Do you know what moral of the story is?" she asked. "The mermaid fell for the wrong person. Your Sakura fell for the wrong person, because you are a spoiled, ignorant prince, who can't see past the end of his—"
"Shut up." Sasuke's head tilted upward, his black eyes glaring.
Utsushi stilled. The human talked! He was not even supposed to move his neck.
With shaking control, Sasuke infused chakra in his palm, and grabbed onto the ghost-like chain. The ninja didn't even care if his hand was giving off an eerie, gray aura. He would use anything to get out of the clutches of a mermaid or whatnot. Sasuke kept his mind calm as he yanked on the metal — the ethereal chains broke away from the ground, and disappeared entirely.
The young man flipped himself up to the boulder, picking up his backpack. He slid out a blade, and flipped it open into a Fuuma Shuriken. "Interesting story. But I don't feel like dying."
An angry snarl came from Utsushi, revealing two rows of jagged, shark-like teeth. Her skin turned a cold blue. She always narrated stories to her victims to draw out their tasty anger and despair — but somehow, this raven-haired boy had cooled down enough, thus allowing him to rest and rejuvenate. He even went a step further by escaping her trap.
"You... you unfeeling bastard!" she screamed.
"Correct." Sasuke leapt up into the air out of the demon's reach. He had figured out how to keep himself from being drained by the mermaid. If Utsushi fed off the emotional extremes of wants and fears, all Sasuke had to do was follow the path of moderation. In other words, be cool. He could mourn for Sakura later. Right now he had to live.
Sasuke raised the steel blades. He flung the Fuuma Shuriken towards the mutant fish.
Utsushi spat out a jet of water, pushing the spinning weapon off-course. A second Fuuma Shuriken appeared in the first one's shadow — the Kage-shuriken no Jutsu. It gouged into her shoulder, letting black blood flow.
Utsushi yanked the shuriken out of her arm. The weapon disappeared in a puff of smoke, the Kage-shuriken it was. A monstrous hiss came through her jagged teeth. The youkai dragged her tailed body over the cold rocks, and splashed into the lake's water.
Sasuke touched back on the ground. He pulled the original Fuuma Shuriken from the rocky beach. 'Did she run?'
"Foolish little brother."
Sasuke grew rigid. He turned around to see his murderous brother, Uchiha Itachi, staring at him coolly on the shore. Sasuke's eyes automatically turned crimson.
A pain shot into Sasuke. The Sharingan always drained chakra. For a moment, he saw that the core of Itachi's body consisted of a long fishtail: it was only an illusion.
Before Sasuke could counter-react, a nailed hand grasped his throat. Utsushi leered next to his face. "That's much better," she cooed at the dark-eyed shinobi. "It was my initial mistake to rely on your immediate grief, rather than delve into something more long-term. The deeper pains are usually the more uncontrollable if you suppress them for so long..."
The pseudo-Itachi tilted his head to the side, as if studying his younger brother's progress. He didn't seem all that impressed. After all, that was exactly what Sasuke imagined Itachi's reaction to be. Even the monologue was perfect.
"You were seduced by a demon disguised as your former teammate, and you didn't even turn on your Sharingan?" he asked. "And you're supposed to avenge the Uchiha, by killing me? Pathetic." He held up a hand and studied his purple nails, as if his manicure was more important than his own brother's life.
'CALM DOWN!' Sasuke ordered himself. Sure, his Sharingan had told him that it was only a hallucination. But that coolness of his older brother's face just simmered an uncontrollable rage within Sasuke. Itachi's memory was his most powerful motivation, and yet his greatest weakness.
The mermaid dug her nails into Sasuke's white skin, drawing blood. "I should strangle you quickly instead of draining you to the end," she decided. "You annoyed me when you pulled off the chains, but now I pity you. I'll allow you to join your family and beloved in the afterlife."
Her powerful fingers constricted his airway. Sasuke's dark eyes widened from the pain.
"Nunagawa!" a different voice echoed.
Utsushi glanced to the side.
The watery form of a dragon erupted from the lake. The moving sculpture foamed at the jaws, and its tail whipped back and forth like the turns and bends of a roaring river. Utsushi screamed at the sight. She uncurled her hand from Sasuke's neck. The mermaid evaded a direct hit, but the wave pushed her back.
Sasuke experienced a stiff rush of water, like when a wave overcame a swimmer in the ocean. A glob of air escaped his mouth before he closed it tight. He felt the unpleasant burn of water up his nose. Sasuke's dark eyes caught a blur underwater: the shimmering outline of a dragon passed by, before lifting up into a swarm of tiny bubbles.
Sasuke burst his head of the lake surface. He coughed and gasped, taking in much-needed air. Anything with the resemblance to a dragon was gone.
However, Sasuke did see Gamabunta. The toad sat on the lakeshore with a petite, blue-haired girl on top of him.
Hinata jumped off the giant amphibian. "Go fetch Uchiha-san." The Priestess then faced the beached mermaid, who was ten meters away from the lake. Utsushi snapped her jaws threateningly at Hinata.
Hinata's Byakugan zoomed in. This youkai's chakra was too high; she would have to call upon another spirit, and quickly. She lifted up one arm, her hand glowing with white chakra. She knew what name to call. "Hafusono!"
A flash of green appeared in front of Hinata. It formed into a man with black, straight hair and a sturdy jaw-line, much like that of the First Hokage. His kimono was woven of moss and leaves. Hinata had called upon the spirit of the Forest of Death.
Hafusono twirled a gnarled wooden staff between his hands. " 'Hafu' stands for 'hafuri', the sacrifice," the forest-guardian said, "and 'sono' is the garden. My name reflected the blood of many ninja spilled on my forest." He threw himself towards Utsushi. "Taste it."
His staff pushed through the mermaid's back.
Utsushi let off a blood-curdling scream. The hole in her chest ate away at her flesh like acid. She fell into the lake, her tail whipping back and force.
Hafusono warped away at the very moment his weapon touched Utsushi's blood. By the contract, Hinata could only use one attack of a guardian-spirit at a time. But Hafusono was more than enough; Utsushi was weak compared to other youkai. The mermaid-demon was more of a scavenger on human emotions than a fighter who could defend herself.
Hinata swallowed, watching the depths of the water with her Byakugan. Utsushi's body turned into bubbles — the foam rose on the lake's surface.
Gamabunta slammed on the ground next to Hinata. He unrolled his tongue, letting a very tired and drool-drenched Sasuke go free.
Hinata let off a relieved sigh. Sasuke thought the same thing. 'It's over.'
Sasuke found his shirt draped over a dead stump. He peeled off the wet mass, and wrung the lake water out of it. Ironic, that he had initially hung it out to dry.
Hinata took out a small container from her jacket. She shook out a pill, and held it out to Sasuke. He looked at it. "Chibi-hyourougan," she told him. "I made it for recovery purposes, as normal soldier-pills have extreme side effects when ingested too often."
Sasuke took the pill without a single inquiry on its 'cutsy' name. Instead he asked her, "Where's Naruto?"
"Warashi-chan reported that you needed help," Hinata answered, "but Naruto-kun couldn't come because the team of medics captured him. As if they had been expecting him to leave too early." A dreamy look came across her face, as she thought about her boyfriend's chivalrous attempts to come along. While the medic-nin dragged him away, Naruto had called upon Gamabunta and gave the orders to escort her. There was touch of a sigh in Hinata's voice: "Naruto-kun must be tied up on the bed now..."
Sasuke turned away.
Hinata's cheeks flushed in realization. The dark-haired kunoichi looked down. Her last sentence made it sound like she was interested in sadomasochistic activities. 'That wasn't what I meant!' she wanted to explain to Sasuke. 'Naruto-kun and I... oh, no, no, NO!'
Had Sasuke noticed the Freudian slip, he either ignored it or didn't care. The Uchiha glared at his wet and crinkled shirt before tugging it back on. He leapt onto the giant toad with Hinata.
Hinata calmed down. The Priestess stroked a hand over the toad's head. "Gamabunta-san, please take us back to Konoha."
"Sure thing," Gamabunta answered. He sprung into action. "Oof-dah!"
Sasuke watched the trees go past. His black eyes were dry, unreadable. Halfway through the trip, he finally spoke.
"Hyuuga," Sasuke said, "how does the story of the little mermaid end?"
Hinata nearly fell off Gamabunta in shock.
Uchiha Sasuke asking Hyuuga Hinata about children's stories. Hoh boy. Hinata had always imagined Sasuke to be cold — like her cousin Neji, but with an even darker disposition. Sasuke had been orphaned in a terrible manner, and had a background with Orochimaru. Hinata was sure that if it weren't for the fact that she was Naruto's girlfriend, Sasuke would never have given her the time of day.
Sasuke waited for the answer patiently. He was only asking her, because he figured she would know better than Naruto. Besides, his rival would probably laugh at him for inquiring about a romantic fairy tale. It was just that the story seemed too tragic to end in that manner.
Hinata mentally shook her head. Leaving someone else's question hanging in the air was rude. "She turns into sea-foam," Hinata answered quietly. "The little mermaid threw herself in the ocean, and..."
A strange look crossed Sasuke's obsidian eyes. "Oh."
Recognition struck Hinata. She had said the wrong words. Even though she guessed correctly that Sasuke was the type to prefer the hard truth over a comfortable falsehood, Sakura's case was a fresh disaster that was too closely related.
"B-but," Hinata added quickly, "the mermaid gets the chance to go to heaven afterwards!" She twiddled her thumbs. "After her death, she served three-hundred years doing good deeds as a Daughter of the Air, and then achieved nirvana. Full enlightenment was something normal mer-folk never got, because they were minor kami of the ocean." A faint smile came from Hinata. "So even though she doesn't get the prince... it's not really a sad ending."
Sasuke's face tilted upward. "I suppose."
Awkward silence.
Hinata looked down. Yup: talking with her boyfriend's best friend was, and ever would be, one of the toughest things Hinata ever faced.
Naruto stared up at the ceiling. A rather irritated mood overcame him. And it was not just the fact that he was strapped to the hospital bed with a prudish schedule ruling from when he ate to when he did his business.
Two specters floated above Naruto's bed. "We meet again," one greeted the other. "This time, we will crush the existence of Konoha! Operation #1213!"
Naruto twitched.
The Konoha hospital was haunted by ghosts.
It had taken all of Naruto's control to not yell when he began to see specters floating around. It just wasn't natural! Who knew that so many hungry spirits were not in the afterlife? After the initial scare, Naruto grew excited. He reasoned that it was kind of cool to be able to see ghosts.
Now the awe was completely gone. Most of the phantoms who hung around in this hospital were insane, dumb, or both.
For example, during his trip to the bathroom, Naruto had caught one ghost of a lecher sneaking the hallways. The apparition eyed the nurses, and had a go at grabbing their attention... as well as other things that women possessed. The ghost's attempts at flirting: ignored. The living who heard his off-putting pickup lines: only Naruto, as a third-person observer. 'Do you believe in love at first sight,' the dead man asked one oblivious nurse huskily, 'or should I walk by again?'
The two spirits currently floating above Naruto were mumbling to each other, clearly unaware that somebody else had beaten them out in assassinating the Third Hokage. In other words, an outdated goal. They didn't even know that their secret meeting had an audience of one.
The first spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. "Now, once when that old man Sarutobi walks to the announcement area, we'll distract the ANBU by putting up explosives to this side! And then, the lamplights will flicker out because you'll pull the cord, and..."
'Hinata-chan,' Naruto prayed, 'please, please come soon and throw these guys away with your nifty jewelry. I know my younger self was kind of dense... but listening to these ghosts is just rotting away the brains I have left!'
'But how are we going to pay for all the weapons?' the other ghost asked. 'Our budget is compromised.'
'Don't worry. After the revolution of Konoha, we'll FIX the budget!' his partner declared.
Naruto whistled. 'Now that is ambitious. No wonder they haven't entered the next life.' He listened a few minutes more of pointless dialogue of these wannabe rebels, and then got bored.
Sure, Naruto was eager to be Hinata's bodyguard. He wanted to protect her. But Naruto would prefer not to have this ability to see and hear ghosts. Where were all the heroes of old, all the introspective evildoers? It seemed that all the interesting souls, virtuous and villainous alike, had parted from this world. Many of the ghosts left over either had powerful obsessions that kept them chained to Earth, or were just plain dumb to not realize that their physical bodies had already expired.
Naruto was plenty enough bothered by youkai. He knew; he was the landowner of one. At least one never had to fix a toilet if the tenant was a fox-demon.
Naruto began to struggle against the ninja-customized knotted ropes. The danger had passed Hinata; he could feel the completion of her mission. But that meant Sasuke would probably drop by the hospital for some medical treatment. And Naruto be damned if his rival saw him in this state. Trapped and strapped in his own bed.
The blond craned his neck towards the bedside table, where his pouch of ninja tools lay. The closest part of his body to the pouch was his head. The rest of him was tied up.
His arms were firmly strapped together against his torso. The blond attempted to pull them out. He turned red in the face.
'I only want to free myself from these stupid ropes.'
Like a worm, the ninja wiggled on his bed towards the ninja pouch. His wrists were tied behind his back, so using his hands was out of the question. His face neared the pouch... and was jolted back by an elastic rope.
Naruto took a breather. 'I can do this.' The spiky-haired chuunin tried again. His teeth nipped at the bag — and nudged it away. Naruto groaned, before pushing himself to move a little more forward.
Crink. Naruto held down a cry of pain. 'I think I just pulled a muscle I never knew existed.' He looked up at the ninja pouch, just five centimeters away from him. 'Move! Move!'
He bit on the cloth's corner. With triumph, he drew back to pull his supply of weapons onto the bed. Just when it was off the cabinet, the pouch flapped open. It scattered tiny shuriken, maki-bishi spikes, bags of explosives, and other little ninja tools all over the floor.
Naruto's lips tightened, muffling a snarl. He carefully pulled himself over the bed's edge. Blood rushed into his head as he neared his mouth towards one tiny shuriken on the ground. That was the only thing with a real blade; the kunai and larger shuriken were in their own holsters, which were set further away from the bed. Praying that his tongue wouldn't be cut, he bit one shuriken on its dull center.
'Okay. Weapon in place.' Not wanting to dangle partially upside down anymore, the chuunin craned his neck towards the ropes around his upper-arms. It took slow, single strokes, like when a knife was sharpened on the wet stone. The braided rope began to snap, thread by thread.
One rope fell to the floor, the first bind. Most of his body was still cocooned, but it was a start. He curled up, and began working on the knees. A tooth of the shuriken caught into his upper lip. It made Naruto flinch, and drop the tiny weapon from his mouth. 'Damn!'
But the rope was half-shaved. He put energy in his legs, and pulled them apart. The binding snapped.
Half-hanging from the mattress, Naruto extended his feet towards the ends of the elastic ropes tying his ankles. A toe curled over a hook, and lifted it out of its socket.
The sheets slipped. Naruto, still tied around his arms, fell off the mattress and towards the floor. The floor with all his maki-bishi spikes. 'Oh crap!'
The blond ninja twisted his wrist, and slid his left arm out of the ropes. His palm slammed on clean granite. His freed legs kicked off the edge of the bed. He was off. 'YES!'
Unfortunately, a one-hand-stand was a virtually impossible position.
Naruto fell on his back. Not a flat fall, because he landed on three maki-bishi. "Urgh!"
Tears threatened to well up as the spikes dug into his flesh. He used his one arm and two (partially) freed legs to stand up — but man, those spikes had smarted. The ninja picked up a kunai from the desktop, and sliced the remaining ropes from his bodice.
Standing amidst a littered hospital room, Naruto stood with raised arms. "The gymnast completes the routine!" he shouted.
Naruto then realized that the door was open.
Tsunade stood watching with a straight face. Her arms crossed over her enormous breasts.
Beads of cold sweat formed on Naruto. Punishment was coming...
The Hokage delivered her judgment. "4.5."
"...That's it?" he said weakly.
Tsunade scowled. "It was a good escape, especially with those customized ropes. But there was a little bit too much noise. And you hurt yourself on the maki-bishi." She motioned for him to sit on the bed. "I'll have to check your back. Not only those wounds, but any pressure-points which might have been affected."
Numb at the Hokage's rather facile reaction, the chuunin sat obediently on the mattress. Tsunade pulled up Naruto's shirt in the back. She did three pokes of the Chiyute no Jutsu to seal the punctures left by the maki-bishi. Her tan eyes caught a knot in one of his muscles. It was the cramp Naruto acquired in his struggle out of the bindings. Tsunade quickly undid it by jabbing her finger on it. The boy howled in pain.
"That's for trying to escape the hospital again," she said. Her finger then sank into another area. Naruto's cerulean eyes bugged out in surprise, before slowly closing. "And that's to keep you from escaping further."
Naruto did not answer. He was already snoozing on the bed.
Tsunade bent over to pick up the ninja-tools on the floor. Although she was the Hokage, she would not leave it to the hospital's non-shinobi personnel to clean up the dangerous items. Naruto had turned into a powerful ninja, and his weaponry had advanced. The problem was that he still put up a façade as a totally carefree spirit, so the doctors just assumed that keeping his gear in the same room would be okay.
The Hokage stilled when she picked up the last maki-bishi. She drew herself up. Her voice was directly towards the open window. "Out, Jiraiya."
Jiraiya hung upside-down from the roof outside. He flipped through the open window, his geta-sandals clanging on the floor. "How did you notice me this time?"
A vein pulsed on Tsunade. "I can feel it when people stare at my backside."
Jiraiya made a disgusted face. "Like your ass is worth anything —" Tsunade's glare made him halt in speaking his mind. He coughed. "I... wanted to check in on Naruto."
Tsunade sighed. "He's more than fine. I just hit a pressure-point that would make him sleep."
"But it's only noon," Jiraiya pointed out. He caught the look on the Hokage's face. "Then again, you're the doctor." He walked over to Naruto's bedside. His hand swiped up his kunai holster from the top of the cupboard. A three-pronged kunai slid out. "Kakashi gave him this, right?"
"Most probably," Tsunade said. "It's too heavy of a weapon for regular chuunin to acquire."
"Naruto still doesn't know who its original owner was." Jiraiya turned to the Godaime. "Are we going to tell him?"
"No," Tsunade said. "At least, not yet. He wants to become Hokage for his own sake. Blood relations shouldn't matter. In fact, the stress might kill him."
The old lecher took a peek at his former teammate's rack, before continuing. "I've picked up something of the Akatsuki's whereabouts." He pulled out a scroll. He unrolled it before Tsunade. "They're holding silent for now. It's obviously a forced extension of their activities."
"Any reason?" Tsunade asked.
Jiraiya's face was cool. "I caught hold of one letter that slipped, and decoded it." He looked intently at Tsunade. "You already know that the Akatsuki is targeting the powerful demons, like the Kyuubi. But recently, they appear to be setting their sights on other sources of power. And to make things worse, the apprentices of the Konoha Sannin are included in those being watched, bizarre as it may seem. As enemies or potential recruits, I don't know." His eyes turned sad. "It could be that Sakura..."
Tsunade's fist tightened. "Are you saying that my apprentice was murdered by them?" Powerful mind-control jutsu existed, and certainly a few members of the Akatsuki were capable.
"Perhaps... but not necessarily," Jiraiya said. "But she could have known something. Why else would she run off? And don't forget that she was absent for over a year."
"The hunter-nin are still on her trail," Tsunade reminded him, and herself. She pulled down several strands of golden hair to hide her eyes. Her stubborn refusal to believe Sakura's suicide was clear. As a medic-nin, and a teacher, she needed a physical body before concluding a death. "So you're suggesting that Naruto and Sasuke might be in that organization's sights." Her normally alto voice turned unusually high, like the sneer of an ill-disposed teenage girl. "Does Uchiha Itachi want a family reunion?"
"This is no laughing matter," Jiraiya intoned. He saw Tsunade lower her eyes — she had immediately regretted displaying her bitterness. "But anyway," Jiraiya continued on an official note, "it seems like their change of plans is due to some sort of recent prophecy."
Tsunade snorted. "Aren't prophecies supposed to be done centuries in advance?"
Jiraiya frowned. "It seems like you've been reading too much fantasy lately."
Tsunade slammed her palm on the wall. "I don't read anything except paperwork and medical books nowadays!"
The old man cackled. "Oh, I see! No reading for pleasure anymore, eh? Stressed out from the Hokage-work. I have something that will lighten your mood." Jiraiya pulled out an orange book. It elicited a groan from Tsunade. "Hey, hey, don't get too judgmental just yet," he said defensively. He tossed her the new Icha Icha volume, which she caught. "The heroine of this volume is based on you."
This threw the Hokage off. "What?"
Jiraiya scratched his reddening cheek. "Well... the most interesting parts of her personality, I took from you."
Tsunade's mind was torn between pounding Jiraiya for watching her too much, and telling him that it was kind of... well, sweet. She looked hesitantly at the volume. A corny, supermarket-romance-novel picture was on its cover. The heroine? Was this some kind of joke? Well, he wouldn't have mocked her in print if he actually gave a copy.
"Read it on your leisure," the hermit said. Before Tsunade could decide to bestow a pounding, Jiraiya escaped through the open window.
Notes:
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please tell me! If I suck, by all means tell me. In an intelligent manner.