Inspired by the Fray's song: How to Save a Life. Please listen to it, if you can or wish. As always, I claim no ownership of Naruto or Hikari. Just this story :)
Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated. Flames will be noted, but ignored!
So without first ado. Here's the new update. Please enjoy and please review! :D
HOW TO SAVE A LIFE
"Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend.
Somewhere along in the bitterness.
And I would have stayed up with you all night.
Had I known how to save a life." ~ The Fray
~NARUTO P.O.V~
Sasuke must have gone nuts! I mean why kidnap Hikari-chan? She's our best friend! I'm determined more than ever to go after them and demand why Sasuke did this. The moment Baa-chan told me and Kakashi-sensei that she was going to send out a group for a 'retrieval' mission, I was going to be on that team – and FUCK whatever she said otherwise. I'm not going to let him hurt Hikari-chan.
Even if I have the kill the bastard to do so.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
What the?
"Who's there?" I called out, hoping it wasn't that crusty old bat from next door coming to yell at me again for 'being loud and for all the graffiti' again!
"Open the door, Naruto…" Shikamaru?
I raced over to the door and nearly ripped it from its hinges when I opened it to find a really annoyed Shikamaru standing there, looking bored.
"What's up, man?" I asked. Shikamaru rubbed at his eyes looking stressed. Typical.
"Stop asking stupid questions and get ready, we've got a mission!" My eyes widened.
"Are you serious? Baa-chan said she was sending people to go after Sasuke—"
"Stop wasting time. Let's go!" Shikamaru jumped off the staircase and sprinted for the Village gates.
"HEY! Wait for me!" I hollered and grabbed my weapons' pack as I dashed out the door, ignoring the old bat next door screaming at me for the loud noise. Me and Shikamaru made it to the gates and I saw Kiba (and Akamaru), Choji and Neji waiting for us.
"What's that moron doin' here!" Kiba drawled looking right at me and looking cocky as all hell. I felt myself bristling at that.
"Oi! Who's the moron here?" I retorted, getting really sick of Kiba having a go at me EVERYTIME I saw him. It's clear he's still sore that I kicked his arse during the Chunin preliminaries.
"Take a wild guess." Neji said sarcastically, eyeing and avoiding the chip crumbs that was flying from Choji's mouth. Shikamaru spoke up before Kiba could act like a smart-ass and shoot from the hip again. He's lucky too. I was about to sink my foot up his arse.
"Can it, Kiba. Her ladyship has given us a mission. We're supposed to head out, locate and bring back Sasuke Uchiha and Hikari Yukimura." Kiba made an 'oh, that's why that moron's here' face before going serious.
"What has Yukimura-san got to do with this?" Neji asked. Shikamaru sighed.
"Apparently, Uchiha went nuts and decided to kidnap Hikari." He reported, "Don't ask me why, I have no idea." Shikamaru added. Kiba turned to look at me for an explanation, but I ignored it because even I didn't know what was going on in Sasuke's head. Choji raised an eyebrow at how casually Shikamaru used Hikari's name.
"You called Hikari by her full name?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the random question.
"So? What's your point?" asked Shikamaru impatient like I was to get the mission started.
"You've always viewed girls as 'troublesome'. Your Mum, Ino…" Shikamaru sighed. I was getting frustrated.
"Kami! We've gotta go now!" I yelled out angrily, getting worried for Sasuke and Hikari. Shikamaru didn't seem to have anything to say to that, but still looked slightly annoyed by my outburst.
"Let's go!" He agreed.
"Wait!"
All five of us turned to see Sakura standing there, looking flushed and out of breath. It looked like she had been crying recently.
"Sakura-chan?"
I went over to her, worried, half-expecting her to either punch me or step away from me and tell me to back off. Instead, she threw herself into my arms and started crying into my shoulder. I curse the day Tazuna-san pointed out that I was the shortest in our team, it's so humiliating! I flinched instinctively, while I heard the others gasp behind me with shock and Shikamaru mutter 'troublesome' underneath his breath. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought Sakura was about to kick my arse … again.
"Please," Sakura choked through her tears, "Bring Sasuke back to me, Naruto. Promise me that you will." Sakura urged.
Notice that she didn't mention Hikari-chan? I frowned at her, hoping that she simply forgot.
"What about Hikari?" Sakura looked at me in confusion.
"What about her?"
Bitch!
I pushed Sakura away gently, refusing to look her in the eye. Her hatred for Hikari was becoming a problem. I couldn't believe how selfish Sakura was being, and if I was being honest it was sad.
"I'll bring back Sasuke, Sakura." I stiffened at the hopeful smile Sakura spread across her face. "But I'm not doing it for you." I promised.
I looked over Sakura's shoulder, avoiding the fury I was sure I would see in her green eyes, to see Ino standing there with tears dripping down her cheeks. She nodded and smiled at me, and I was shocked at the acceptance and trust that I saw in that smile and in her ice-blue eyes, before I remembered that Ino had had a close friendship with Hikari since we all started out back at the Academy. I smiled and nodded back.
"Let's go before they get too far away." Shikamaru urged. I nodded and all five of us sprinted away. I heard Ino call out to Sakura with my sensitive hearing.
"Your selfishness is going to get you into trouble one day, Sakura."
So there we were.
Five guys still totally clueless in the way of the ninja, on a retrieval mission to find my two best friends in the whole world: One stubborn and arrogant ass who I dubbed as my rival in everything; and the girl who was the first (apart from Iruka-sensei) person who acknowledged me not as the Kyuubi; who Sasuke so OBVIOUSLY digs and denied completely to my face every time I mention it.
Shikamaru had taken point because he was the so called 'leader' of this stupid mission – even though it was my teammates that we were going after. Seriously, it's like Baa-chan thinks I'm useless and can't do anything right. Neji came second, because of his freaky veiny eye technique that I think he called 'byakugan' or somethin' – which has the so called power to see chakra from long distances and in hidden places. After him came Kiba (and Akamaru) then me and following from the rear was Choji, who for once wasn't stuffing his face.
"Neji! See if you can spot them!" yelled out Shikamaru. Neji made some hand signs and immediately those freaky veins popped out. Neji squinted for a few seconds before his eyes widened suddenly.
"Up ahead!"
"What do you see?" demanded Shikamaru.
"Four sound ninjas. There's a fat one holding Hikari-san over his shoulder and the other three carrying a large coffin." He squinted again. "Sasuke is in the coffin … and he isn't moving—"
"WHAT?!" I yelled, earning annoyed glares coming at me from all sides. We skidded to a halt and Shikamaru let loose his shadow imitation technique to stop them in their tracks.
"Oi! Let our friends go!" I demanded, ignoring Shikamaru trying to calm me down. One of them, the guy that looked like Iruka-sensei with a bad purple dye-job sneered at us.
"Oh lookit, Konoha rats!" The others cackled like this was the funniest thing ever. This only made me angrier.
"Yeah laugh it up, prick. We're gonna stop you!" snarled Kiba, bristling like the dog he was.
"Ooh, we're so scared!" A freak with violet hair jeered at us.
"Have your dick measuring contest in your own time, idiots! Orochimaru's expecting our package, let's go!" The token chick yelled before turning to the bolding ginger-haired guy who was holding a dazed looking Hikari.
My eyes widened.
"What did you arseholes do to her!?" I roared, taking a step towards them unthinkingly. The girl smirked at me.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she mocked before focusing on 'ginger'. "Slow 'em down, Jirobo." She ordered before taking Hikari from him and draped her roughly over her bony looking shoulder. "Move out!" and off they ran, carrying the coffin that held Sasuke with them.
"Hikari!" I hollered, hoping to snap her out of it. 'Jirobo' chuckled and started to crack his knuckles menacingly.
"Alright, who wants to die first?" Choji stepped forward.
"You guys go on, I'll take care of ugly here." Jirobo's mocking face twisted into an ugly sneer the moment Choji insulted him. Shikamaru hesitated before he walked over to him and clapped a hand on his meaty shoulder.
"Be careful. Catch up with us when you're done!" Choji nodded once, not taking his eyes off of Jirobo.
"Don't sweat it, I can take him!" Choji promised confidently. Shikamaru nodded before signalling for us to move out.
"Kick his arse, Choji!" Kiba encouraged him.
About twenty minutes into our chase, it became obvious that this group was going to take us on one by one to try and either slow us down or kill us off so that we couldn't prevent them from brainwashing Sasuke, Hikari or both on their way to Sound. Eventually, we came upon the 'Iruka-sensei' clone who told us his name was Kidomaru.
"So who's gonna be my opponent or do I have to start having target practise?" Kidomaru egged us on, trying to get us to slip up. But before we could decide who was going to take him on. He suddenly sprouted four more arms, making Kidomaru look like a mutated spiderman.
"Holy crap!" I exclaimed. Kiba looked sickened.
"For once I agree with the moron here…"
"OI!"
"Don't start bickering amongst yourselves. We cannot waste time!" Shikamaru reminded us.
"But he started it—" I protested. Shikamaru glared at me.
"We don't care who started it. Stop acting like a child and harden the fuck up!" Neji snapped, "I'll take him on. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve." He added. Shikamaru nodded.
"Catch up when you're done."
We booked it.
I looked over my shoulder to see Neji circling around Kidomaru, sizing him up. Kiba, Shikamaru and I were not prepared for what happened next when we came across yet another member of this fucked up team of mutants. But it made me really think about when Kakashi-sensei explained to us who the Sound Four were. At the time, I felt that the information was kinda useless since I assumed that Konoha would be well protected from Sound, should they actually have the balls to attack.
It's times like these when I think that sometimes, my teammates have a good point and that I really should pay attention more and stop goofing off. Maybe once I've knocked some sense into Sasuke and brought both him and Hikari back, I'll get my act together. That's only way, people will starting taking me seriously and acknowledge me as somebody worthy—
"Naruto, stop daydreaming and focus!"
Oh yeah, the mission! I tuned back in to see that we had gained on Sakon – I recognised him from Kakashi-sensei's bingo book – and that bitch with the reddish-orange hair and bandana who were still lugging that coffin with Sasuke in it, and Hikari who was still knocked out and dangling like a rag doll over Sakon's shoulder. It was Sakon who had my attention; he had this sick smirk on his face as he seemed to caress Hikari's butt, knowing that she couldn't stop it from happening.
I saw red!
"Hentai! You sick freak!" I launched myself at him, but found myself being restrained by Kiba and Shikamaru who had immediately grabbed me by my arms to stop me from caving in that fucker's head. But I guessed that they were having the same thoughts as I did, judging by the pissed off look on Kiba's face and the disgusted look on Shikamaru's.
"Sakon! Keep your hands to yourself!" Sakon shrugged before dumping Hikari on the ground beside the coffin and turned back to us – looking pumped and ready for our smackdown. I was about to rush forward and wipe that smirk of that bastard's face when Shikamaru stopped me again.
"Dammit, Shikamaru!" I cursed.
"Stand down, Naruto. Let Kiba and I take care of them. It's up to you to get Sasuke and Hikari outta here." Shikamaru reminded me. I nodded and moved towards them, but was blocked by the two bozos.
"Oi, move it!" I growled. I made another attempt to sidestep them, and was more successful when something sideswiped me and I felt the air knocked out of me.
"OW! That hurt—" I gasped, silently thanking the fact that Kyuubi absorbed serious blows. Sakon, the prick, had somehow escaped from Kiba and Akamaru and made a detour for me.
He tutted under his breath.
"Tsk tsk. Must touch what's not yours." He scolded me and then moved in for the kill before this random gust of wind knocked him off course and this tall girl dressed neck to waist in purple and had four spiky ponytails stepped into my path. It was the massive fan that she was carrying and the Sand headband she wore around her neck that jogged my memory.
"What the-? Temari?" She didn't take her eyes off of Sakon as she acknowledged me.
"You right there, squirt?" I bristled.
"Who ya callin' squirt!?" I yelled and saw Temari roll her eyes.
"You're welcome." She drawled as Sakon got to his feet and had to dodge a charging Kiba and Akamaru in the process. But he also didn't take his eyes off Temari either.
"You're gonna pay for that, bitch!" He vowed. Temari snorted looking and sounding unimpressed.
Taking the chance to see if Gaara was with them, I checked out how Shikamaru was fairing against Tayuya (that's what her name was!) Apparently, he had teamed up with Gaara's older brother, Kunkurou who had unleashed his freaky 'puppets'. This was my chance, the coffin was unguarded and I could go and get Sasuke out and take him and Hikari back to Konoha. I started moving fast for the coffin, fashioning hand signs for my shadow clones to help me carry them when another Sound ninja got there first.
"Back off!" I yelled but the guy seemed to either not hear me, or ignored me as he picked up the coffin and legged it away. Hikari had been left behind. I ran to her side and checked to see if she was okay.
"Hikari! HIKARI! Are you okay?" I asked frantically. She didn't respond, but her chest was moving which was a good sign. But I assumed that whatever whammy they put on her wasn't going until they were dead.
Shit! I picked up Hikari and sped off in the same direction as the stranger. I caught up with him about 10 seconds later before he finally stopped and faced me.
"Give it up, kid. Sasuke belongs to Orochimaru."
"Don't feed me that crap!" I snapped, "he's been brainwashed by that snake freak!" I insisted.
"Nevertheless, you won't get by me." He promised, and winced a little – which was weird.
He must be sick or somethin'.
I reacted when sand suddenly surrounded this guy. My eyes widened.
Gaara? I glanced around for him and finally spotted him standing in a nearby tree with his arms folded across his chest. The same deadpan expression was on his face as sand floated from the massive goard on his back and carried him to the ground.
"We've come to help you with this unyouthful abduction, Naruto-kun!" I mentally groaned. Why the heck was Rock Lee here? Suddenly there was a loud bang as the lid from the coffin came off and out sprang Sasuke. The left side of his body was covered in weird black marks and his left eye had turned a menacing gold colour.
Geez, Sas'ke. What have they done to you?
I stepped forward, ignoring the fight between Gaara, Rock Lee and Kimimaro (what Gaara called that stranger). But before I could even open my mouth Sasuke turned and looked at me dead on.
"Sasuke, c'mon we've gotta go home, we're all worried sick about you! They've even done something to Hikari-chan!" Sasuke didn't say anything at first as he looked between me and Hikari. Then suddenly he started cackling madly, and in a blink of an eye, snatched Hikari from my arms and ran off.
"Hey, wait!" I was getting tired of this shit! But before I could chase after him Kimimaro attacked me, but Lee stepped in his path.
"Get moving Naruto-kun!" shrieked Lee.
I didn't think twice.
~HIKARI P.O.V~
I woke up feeling extremely confused, surrounded by the sound of rushing water and lying on something cold, hard and wet. I couldn't move my hands or feet, and something was covering my eyes. By the smoothness of the material around my face, I concluded that I had been blindfolded with my forehead protector.
Fabu.
"What's going on?" I mumbled groggily.
Footsteps approached me from behind and I started fighting to free myself so I could defend against the unknown stranger behind me. My thoughts started racing as to who it could be. The last thing I remembered before that bitch Tayuya hypnotised me with her flute was Kidomaru, Sakon and Jirobo picking up Sasuke's unconscious body and placing it in that coffin. I remembered my desperate attempt to get to him before the music started playing and Jirobo picked me up—
"So you've finally woken up."
I froze mid-struggle and nearly flinched when the stranger squatted behind me and started stroking my hair affectionately. The fogginess cleared my brain when I realised who had spoken.
"Sasuke?" I questioned. He didn't reply, instead he scooped me up from where I was lying on the wet surface and cuddled me on his lap. Alarm bells started pealing when I realised how unnaturally possessive this action was. Sasuke was never this touchy-feely, except for when we had that 'understanding' back at Tazuna's house during our mission in Wave Country. "How did you escape from that coffin?" I asked quietly.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he carded his hand through my hair. I hated when he responded with grunts. I went to remove my blindfold so I could see where Sasuke had taken us, before I remembered that I couldn't move my hands.
I sighed in frustration.
"Sasuke, could you please remove my forehead protector from my eyes?"
Warm hands fumbled at the knot of my forehead protector, and I was almost blinded by the sudden burst of light when the material finally fell from my eyes and Sasuke took a step back from me. Immediately I started scanning our surroundings. We definitely had never been here before, although we had heard about it before from Iruka-sensei during one of his history lessons back at the Academy. This was the Valley of the End – a sort of memorial that commemorated a legendary battle between the First Hokage, and an ancestor of Sasuke's that dated back after Konoha was first established as a Village so many years ago.
Sasuke and I were currently sitting on the head of Madara Uchiha, and across from where we were was the statue of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage.
"Wow…" I murmured taking it all in. The sound of rushing water drew my attention and stifled a shriek when I realised that separating the two massive statues (both standing in the Seal of Confrontation) was a large waterfall, pooling into a decent sized lake at the base. I gulped at the distance between where I was 'standing' and the pool below and tried to swallow back the vertigo I was feeling. I wasn't afraid of heights, but it didn't stop the fear I felt when I unintentionally looked over the side.
"Why the hell are we here?" I asked rhetorically, realising that we were waiting here for a reason but knew that Sasuke wasn't about to reveal his sources. I jumped when I felt Sasuke come up behind and embrace me. I turned to look at him and gasped with fright. "Sasuke ... what did they do to you?" I demanded, gaping at his face.
The left side of Sasuke's face (and presumably his body) was covered in complicated black markings and his normally black eye was now a vivid, menacing gold hue.
"Oh kami…" I whispered, feeling tears welling up in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks when Sasuke smiled emotionlessly at me before reaching over and wiping them away. "This isn't happening." I decided, shaking my head in disbelief. This all had to be some twisted nightmare I was suffering.
"Oh, but I'm afraid it is." Sasuke murmured into my ear before he softly kissed my forehead. Then I felt him shaking, as though he were silently laughing or even crying.
"Sasuke?" I ventured cautiously.
"I don't get it." Sasuke whispered in this broken voice and kissed me again, I could feel his tears dripping onto my face.
"Don't get what?" He stood up abruptly and started pacing. I decided to make another attempt at freeing myself, all whilst making sure Sasuke wasn't about to attack me.
"What is it about you, Hikari? Why can't I go through with my plans for you?" My eyes widened in surprise as I suddenly felt a whole lot of dread.
"That sounds ominous." I replied. Suddenly Sasuke pounced on me, brandishing a kunai at me threateningly.
"I have to choose between you, and that moron!" Sasuke wasn't making sense and my fight and flight instincts were telling me to get myself out of there. Suddenly I sensed a very familiar chakra heading in our direction and I knew that things wouldn't end well, considering how lost and crazed Sasuke sounded at the moment.
"HEY, TEME!"
We snapped our heads in the direction of Naruto's loud booming voice, and saw him standing on the First Hokage's head glaring furiously at Sasuke. I wasn't sure whether to breathe a sigh of relief or yell at the well-intentioned moron to 'get the hell outta here' as fast as he could. Sasuke's anguished and stressed personality quickly shifted to a dark and very dangerous one which practically oozed from every one of his pores.
I recoiled in horror.
"Took you long enough, dobe!" Sasuke shouted back, smirking. Naruto snarled.
"Who's the dobe here!? You kidnapped Hikari-chan!" He retorted.
I shrieked in surprise when Sasuke suddenly pounced and roughly pulled me to my feet, ignoring the fact that my feet were bound by the ankles. I silently weeped for my beloved friend, cursing Orochimaru for poisoning him with that stupid Cursed Seal of Heaven. If it wasn't for that bastard, we wouldn't be in this mess. But something kept nagging at me about this whole situation. I couldn't help but wonder if Naruto and I were contributing factors to Sasuke's descent into darkness – was it our fault?
"Let her go, dammit!" Naruto demanded, baring his sharpening teeth.
Oh shit! He going Kyuubi!
Sasuke was silent for a moment and I could practically hear the cogs clicking away in his head. The resulting chuckle I heard caused me to panic.
"If you insist." Sasuke's voice sounded too innocent. He 'walked' me over to the edge of Madara's head, as though inviting Naruto to come on over and collect me, before suddenly letting go of the back of my dress. I wasn't steady enough on my feet to anchor myself with my chakra and stop from falling.
"Hikari! NO!"
It felt as though everything was happening in slow motion: the wind suddenly picked up and started rushing passed me, and I watched as Naruto rushed forward and made a desperate swipe to catch me before I could fall. But Sasuke body slammed into him, pulling him out of reach. The last thing I saw as I fell helplessly to the lake below, was Naruto's outstretched hand and a look of complete horror on his tear-streaked face. I screamed in pain as my body hit the rushing water, and then sucked in a mouthful of water as I sank beneath the surface.
I struggled.
I didn't want to die.
But most of all, I was shocked that Sasuke had done this.
I couldn't breathe ... I'm scared...
Everything was getting dark...
A/N: Hope that makes you want to know what happens next. :3 Also, while I'm aware that I'm following along the lines of the canon, I'm doing that because I have plans for after they confront Sasuke once again in Orochimaru's lair. After that, it'll be from my imagination. Stay tuned for the next chapter! xx