A/N: Okay, so I've actually got good news and bad news here. Good news is that I have enough chapters behind me that I can upload a new chapter consistently now. I'm thinking about 1 per month at this point, which I know is still slow but other parts in my life shouldn't interfere with editing at that rate. And that's kind of important because the bad news is Ashimodo has been busy lately. He won't be able to beta-read and edit the chapters in this new arc. That is not to say there isn't Ashimodo's input in it somewhere. Actually, he helped me a lot in solving knots in the plot and brainstorming ideas even before the first word of this arc is even written. Hopefully, his situation will improve and he'll be back to join us again soon. I'll do my best with editing in the meantime, but if anything looks weird, that's me right there.
Warning for excessive use of creative license. Basically, I world-build for Kishimoto because he didn't have time to do it. Don't hate me.
Chapter 38: No Rest For the Wicked
Sasuke wasn't told where they were heading, but he could guess that they were moving northwest towards the sea, which is an odd escape route from a country that half was a peninsula. He only knew why when they arrived. Their destination was a port town, not a very big place, but big enough to have ships and ferries coming in and out daily from within Rice and its neighboring countries. The piers were constantly busy with people arriving and departing, and crates upon crates of goods hauled this way and that. There was barely a place to stand without them blocking someone's path or getting in the way of someone's work.
It was in this crazy crowd that Saya left them to secure a place on a ship departing from Rice. Sasuke was slightly surprised by her decision since shinobi rarely used public transportations. Not only were they able to travel faster than most civilian system, being trapped with a large number of strangers also had its risk. No one in the Scums seemed to mind that very much, though. By the look of it, they had been travelling this way regularly.
Sasuke stole a glance at Naruto, who was standing with his back against the wall rather relaxed in the buzzling environment. Given the number of years he had stayed off the radar, the raven had thought he had become a recluse, forgoing people and public places altogether. That didn't seem to be the case at all. The blond comfortably blended into the crowd, letting them shield him, becoming just one of the many faces. No wonder Leaf never caught wind of him. They probably weren't looking where he was at all.
It took longer than he had anticipated, but the kunoichi came back with tickets in her hands to Earth Country. "We have a few hours before boarding time," she said as her eyes drifted from the setting sun to the large clock on the deck. "The trip takes five days. We'll need to get supplies."
Five days. Sasuke was surprised a boat ride between Rice and Earth could be that long. He was sure there were faster boats somewhere that Saya didn't choose. No one objected, though. The Scums were taking notes of who was doing what before the boarding. Karin was responsible for medical supplies, Suigetsu for weapon supply and maintenance, and Naruto and Juugo for food and basic provisions with strict order of only six packs of instant ramen. Naruto grumbled but complied nonetheless.
As time went on, the list dwindled, and just before Saya could get to Sasuke, she said, "We'll meet here in two hours for dinner. You're dismissed." The raven blinked. The rest of them were gone almost immediately, leaving only Saya and himself standing on the dock. She turned his way, her lips curved into a warm smiled, and said, "Let's go buy some supplies for you."
The raven nodded, unsure how he should take the situation or how they stood with each other. Their past interactions had been less than ideal to put it mildly, but he also knew that Saya was reasonable and pragmatic. It was hard to imagine her acting on hard feelings when the team dynamic was at stake.
If Saya noticed his unease, she didn't comment on it. She just led them into a thrift shop. Unlike other thrift shops, the store front had a display of an old armour and military banners, clearly suggesting that the merchandises weren't just simple clothes or furniture. In fact, the first thing that greeted them were tables of weapons. It only took him a glance, though, to realize that all of them were useless. If they weren't too old and uncared for, then they were just ornaments to begin with.
And Saya clearly knew this. She didn't even spare a glance at the war relics as she headed inside to the shopkeeper's desk. The man had his nose buried in a newspaper, too preoccupied to look up until Saya cleared her throat and said, "Good evening."
The chubby man finally put the paper down and, upon seeing the woman in front of him, gave her a once over. Sasuke nearly snorted. "How can I help the fine lady today?" He didn't exactly smile, but he sounded jolly.
"I'll need some clothes for the gentleman over here," the kunoichi replied, gesturing to Sasuke. "And something he can hand over at the border."
Sasuke would have to admit that he didn't think about his travelling document until then. He never had a problem using the one from Konoha, but that was out of the question now. In truth, he was surprised that Saya didn't burn it with the rest of his stuffs considering it was the most incriminating document of them all.
The shop owner turned to him then and gave him the same once-over that made Sasuke froze. So that was what the look meant. He was assessing which type of person his customer was and how he should serve them. It made Sasuke wonder the kind of people actually walked through this door on a daily basis.
"I have a few that should work for him," replied the man after a pause. "Will he be choosing them or will you?"
"I'll have a look first," replied the kunoichi.
The shop owner nodded again, got up from his chair, and disappeared into the back of the shop. A moment later, he came back with a cardboard box. "You can have a look through these," he said to Saya before turning to Sasuke. "If you'd kindly follow me, please." Sasuke stole a quick glance at the kunoichi, but she was already flipping through the booklets in the box. She didn't seem tense, and so he guessed this was a normal procedure somehow. He followed the owner to a corner where the man pulled out an old camera from underneath one of the many boxes and showed him where to stand. A couple of snaps later, the man declared that it was done, and that Sasuke could proceed on choosing his booklet.
Sasuke quietly thanked him before turning back to Saya. By this time, the kunoichi had a small stack of booklets by her side. Seeing that he was done, she gestured to the pile, and Sasuke took that as a cue for him to have a look. The books in there are all issued from the Land of Sound. All of them for a male. The some names are already filled in, some were left blank, but the photos and biometric information were all missing. He flipped to the back of one of the books and noticed that it had already been stamped. There was a set showing a crossing from the Land of Sound to Rice and Fire Country. The details were elaborated, so elaborated in fact that it looked real.
He took a look at another book and found a whole herd of stamps inside. This one had ones from Rice, Fire, Lighting, Sound, and Earth. All the stamps were dated and signed in different hands. It dawned on him then that these pages weren't faked. They were too elaborated, too detailed, too complicated. While the ID page was definitely made up, these pages were real, taken from some books someone left behind. He had to wonder where the shop owner got these books from and under what circumstances. What kind of customer would have wanted such a thing?
Missing nins, his mind supplied, criminals, someone running from the eyes of the law and from shinobi, Akatsuki.
The backdoor opened and closed again as the owner walked up to them. "Have you chosen one that you like?" Sasuke closed the book in his hand and handed the first one to the man. "And yours?"
Sasuke blinked. Saya nudged him. "Your book," she said.
The raven quickly handed it over to the owner, who nodded politely as he took it. "It will take an hour or so. Please feel free to look around and let me know if you'd like to have anything."
An hour was surprisingly quick in Sasuke's opinion, but on the second thought, he didn't actually know how long it was supposed to take to conjure up a false identification. He wondered if Jiraiya knew. The sannin might played it by the book most of the time, but Sasuke had long suspected that he knew more than he let on. Maybe he also had these booklets lying around for the missions that he couldn't take Sasuke with him.
The raven let out a breath. That question would not be answered now. There was no turning back for him at this point, and Jiraiya was out there somewhere where he couldn't be found. He did regret not having a chance to say goodbye, but he didn't think Jiraiya would understand. He never did.
"Don't expect to get your booklet back," said Saya as she led them to the clothing section to get something else for him to wear aside from the one shirt he had on his back. "This kind of travel documents need raw authentic material to make, so your book has to be traded in."
"Hnn," was Sasuke's reply. He knew this the moment the book slipped from his hand. He was sure many of the booklets were from dead ninja, but those were not easy to obtain. Taking unused ones from willing customers would have been a safer option.
There was a pause in Saya's movement as her hand ran through the cloak rack. She said, "You're not talkative, are you?"
Sasuke didn't know why she had to state the obvious, so he didn't reply.
At that, the kunoichi sighed. "I'm sure you know that good communication is the key to a good teamwork," she said, her hand resumed pushing the hangers along the rack.
Sasuke let out a breath. "What do you want me to say then?" That was one thing Sasuke had never understood. Why do people have to constantly say something even when there was nothing important to be said?
Saya handed him a light-grey travel cloak. He took one look at it, deemed it good enough, and put it on his arm. "How about you ask me what you want to know? Anything that's on your mind."
Sasuke stared at her. Was that a genuine suggestion or a tactic to get him to talk? If so, what was it that she really wanted to know? Was this why she engineered it so they were alone? Looking at her, he found the possibility rather preposterous. She seemed to know the rope of this underworld well enough to guide him. That was probably all it was. Maybe that was why, despite Naruto being the de facto leader of the Scums, Saya was still the mission commander and why Naruto trusted her in running the team.
For a moment, he wondered how the two of them met, but it felt too much like prying, so instead he asked the other thing that had been nagging him, "How did you break my genjutsu?"
Saya lifted an eyebrow, clearly expecting something different, and said, "If your question really is 'what was wrong with my genjutsu technique', I can tell you that nothing's wrong. Your genjutsu is good. The best I've seen actually."
Sasuke frowned, not really trusting that assessment. He had tried to develop his own genjutsu to compete with Itachi's, but obviously he couldn't be that good since she managed to break his hold.
"The problem is more in your choice of the genjutsu world," continued Saya. "That is not to say that your choice wasn't an intelligent one. With genjutsu, you always want something that incite a primal response, something that even if the person knows it can't be real, they can't help but react." She paused a little, a small pause really, but Sasuke noticed it nonetheless. "That was why you chose my father, wasn't it?"
Sasuke swallowed a lump he didn't realize he had in his throat. There was nothing personal about that genjutsu, and yet he couldn't help but feel a pang sympathy for her. His father was also an intimidating man, someone who demanded that his children fulfill his expectation and the expectation of the clan. And all Sasuke had ever managed was try.
"I haven't seen or heard from my father for ten years now," Saya carried on evenly. "He disowned me."
Sasuke's head jerked up at that confession. While he knew that family breaking apart was not something new in this world, he still couldn't quite believe that someone would deliberately break such a bond. Disavowing one's children was considered a crime in the Uchiha clan, one of the worst in fact. Family was sacred and precious. If they were born an Uchiha, they stayed an Uchiha through thick and thin.
But Saya didn't seem bothered. She looked rather at peace. "If you ask me now, I'd say it was for the best. I was nothing that he wanted and couldn't be. But I didn't always feel this way about my father. Ten years, five years, or three years ago your genjutsu would have worked." She sighed. "That's the hard part of a genjutsu. You never really know what works and what not unless you know your enemy very well. And we never have that luxury, do we?"
Sasuke quietly conceded to her assessment with a 'Hnn'. She had made a good point that he didn't know how to address. How could he know his enemy? He only had his own mind, his own experience, and his own thoughts to go with. And people varied. Saya used to crave for her father's approval if not affection, but now she needed neither. Her father and her family was nothing more than a shadow in her past. To be honest, he didn't know how she could have gone from feeling so much to feeling nothing. Ten years wasn't long enough in Sasuke's experience to erase such a connection.
"How?"
She blinked at him. "How what?"
"How can you forget about him? How do you not feel anything for him anymore?"
The kunoichi let of a breath. He didn't know if that was a snort or a sigh. "I didn't say I don't feel anything for him, Sasuke. He's still my father, for good or for ill. But I owe nothing to him now. The fact that I don't have to see him definitely helps." Then, with a small smile, she added, "It also helps to have someone else to focus on."
"Like Naruto."
A stretch of silence followed. Saya seemed to be lost in her thoughts as her hand aimlessly wandered through the jacket rack. When she finally turned to him, she said, "Naruto asked me once if I wanted to be an Uzumaki."
Sasuke wasn't prepared for the sudden tightness in his chest that made him lose his breath. He didn't know why he was so surprised. He knew Naruto cared deeply about her. He just didn't suspect how deep that affection truly lay.
Saya chuckled but to herself rather than anyone else. The memory seemed to amuse her. "I told him that he probably didn't mean it the way I thought it meant. You should've seen how he reacted when I explained that he had just proposed to me. He was so flustered he could barely talk in full sentences."
Sasuke blinked. A part of him was afraid to believe what she just said in case he misunderstood. "So he didn't?" He hated how his voice cracked slightly. He cleared his throat.
Saya shook her head, mirth still on her lips. "No. He's just too straightforward to understand the connotation." Then she took a deep breath. "Family is important to him, so when I told him about mine, he became upset and wanted to help." Again, a wistful look flitted across her face. "It's amazing how innocent he could be sometimes."
Sasuke didn't know how to react to that comment. He had never thought of Naruto, or any other shinobi children, to be innocent. They were trained to fight, to kill, to hurt, and there was nothing innocent about it. And yet, he could almost see in his mind's eye how Naruto would have looked saying those word — his eyes wide and earnest in the most beautiful shade of blue.
He was shaken out of his thoughts when Saya pushed something into his arm. He grabbed it on instinct and had to look down at the unexpected feeling between his fingers. It didn't feel like fabric. The weight was also too heavy for just a shirt. He looked up at Saya, and she smiled back. "Thought you might like that," she said.
/***/
It was five minutes before meeting time, and Naruto was already at the dock, bags full of food in both hands. Getting provisions usually had the largest amount of work, but despite that Naruto and Juugo were the first to arrive at their meeting place. They had to stand on the side and out of the way as the crew lugged cargo after cargo up the vessel. These people were mostly men in their twenties and thirties, born into relative poverty and hard work, but Naruto admired every one of them. They used their own strength to earn their ways through life. They didn't hurt, steal, or kill anybody for their fortune. That alone, Naruto thought, made them better people than any general or courtier in this country.
But he was in no illusion that they didn't have their vices. Otherwise, it was unlikely that Saya would be able to get a quarter for them in one of the cargo ships heading out of Rice. While not strictly illegal, quarters in cargo ships were meant for crewman's use, not for taking passengers along. Nonetheless, if one knew whom to ask, sometimes there would be a room available with some charges.
Naruto let his gaze lingered on the ship. It was a shabby old thing, on the outside at least. For Naruto, it was his way out of Rice Country and the mess he got tangled with. He could only hope that everything went well and would continue to go well for this country, but he had been out and about long enough to know that people couldn't be trusted with fragile things like stability and peace. It was not his job, though. Right now he just needed to get on that boat and go hunt Uchiha Itachi.
He wouldn't lie that the thought of coming face to face with Itachi and Kisame unnerved him. He still remembered looking into Itachi's red pinwheel eyes and seeing the coldest, blackest pit of hell. Naruto didn't know a person like that could possibly exist until that moment. Quite frankly, Orochimaru was nothing compared to that man. The Snake at least had some soul left in him no matter how tainted and twisted it was, but Itachi... Naruto could see nothing in him but darkness.
That was why Naruto had his reservation about letting Sasuke join them. The raven might be an Uchiha, might posses Sharingan, might be a genius in his own right, but he was, for a lack of a better word, naive. He was inexperienced in a way that Itachi wasn't. How many kill had Sasuke made over the last three years? The blond would venture none. Konoha, in its strange attempt to infuse morality into their largely immoral way of living, had it in the heads that the shinobi should not be introduced to the true nature of the shinobi business too early, unless they were useful to the village, of course. What a two-faced, self-serving bunch of malfeasants.
But as Naruto looked for someone to back him up, he was in for a surprise. Kurama, despite his hatred towards the Uchiha clan, agreed for Sasuke to stay. The Nine-tails had reasoned that even if Sasuke didn't manage to kill Itachi, he should at least tire Itachi out, and the Scums would have a good chance of finishing the job. Naruto could hardly make himself agree with that kind of strategy, but he couldn't find a way to counter the Old Fox, either. He had to give in to the plan that he was sure was set for failure.
"Oi," a voice brought him out of his thought. He turned and found Suigetsu and Karin walking their way, supplies in hand. The swordsman was looking around before he said, "Where's senpai?"
Naruto shrugged. "Don't know, but there's still time. Just put your stuffs down while we wait."
At that moment, Saya turned the corner and came into their view. Behind her was Sasuke carrying the things they had bought. Naruto noticed right away the light-grey travel cloak he was wearing. Underneath the cloak, he was wearing a strange looking vest. It looked almost like a dark-blue sleeveless haori if not for the fact that the fabric didn't fall quite right on Sasuke's body. The garment curved in around the waist, clinging to the torso with strips that must have been fortified underneath for protection. The vest was held together by a belt that threaded underneath the strips with only the belt bucket showing in the front. He couldn't help but getting the impression that the vest was a battle gear of sort, but not quite of the shinobi kind.
It was Suigetsu who identified it, like the weapon nerd that he was. "Woah," the blue man exclaimed as he moved quickly towards Sasuke, his eyes fixed on the same item of clothing Naruto had been looking at. "Is this an old ninja vest? Where did you find it?" Sasuke frowned at him, absolutely confused and taken aback by the unconcealed enthusiasm. Suigetsu looked like he wanted to pounce. "What? You seriously don't know what this is?"
"I don't think he does," said Saya. "It's a rare item, but it fits him well. Don't you think?"
Naruto didn't know why Saya had to turn to him at that. She might just be looking for someone to give the approval and her eyes landed on him, but she might as well plan it so that Naruto would be extending a friendly gesture to Sasuke. He couldn't really tell with her sometimes. "Yeah, it does," he muttered. And very well, too. It was a change given that Sasuke seemed to like loose clothing. That vest brought out the contour of his body in a way the white haori did not. In that constraint, Sasuke looked like a caged predator, all deadly grace and power. It was hard to tell whether it was the vest or Naruto only noticed the posture then, but Sasuke's movement seemed more refined, more matured somehow.
Naruto's eyes move up and locked with the raven. Sasuke held his gaze for a moment, like he was searching for something, questioning. Naruto tilted his head a little but didn't let his eyes leave that pale face. It was Sasuke who finally looked away. On his face was a similar scowl Naruto spotted beside the pond, a look of embarrassment perhaps. It made the raven almost bashful.
Naruto frowned at that odd thought. He must be hungry enough for his mind to find weird meanings in a simple look like that. "I'm starving. Dinner?" he asked, looking around for anyone to back him up. Thankfully, Karin and Juugo did, because now Suigetsu's attention was on that vest.
"You can say it's a proto-proto ninja vest," the swordsman went on as he followed behind Naruto. "This got to be a pretty old design. See that row of pockets around the waist? Those are made for flying daggers. Not a lot of people use those stuffs anymore because they're too light. If you want something to throw, shuriken and kunai are way better momentum-wise. But flying daggers were actually in use a long time ago when clan were just warring with each other and everybody was trying to come up with the ultimate weapon. They are best used with poison because they don't penetrate very deeply, but they're cheap and easy to make, so you can rain them on your enemy like crazy. One scratch from that thing and you're a goner."
"But that's back in the Warring States period, isn't it? This can't possibly be that old," Sasuke interjected, thankfully, because Suigetsu could spend a long time just describing the many creative uses of those goddamn daggers.
"No, it's not. This thing can't be more than ten-years old. Everything still looks very good." Naruto could almost see Suigetsu leaning close to Sasuke in his mind's eye, touching here and there and making small scratching noises as he did. "The standard shinobi tools emerged from the Warring States period because survival of the fittest basically, but that didn't mean some other designs didn't survive as well. Each hidden village has its own quirks, you know." Then Naruto heard tapping, probably on the fortified waistline. "This, though, might not even be from a hidden village because most of them would have adopted the current design of the vest by now. This has to be from an old clan that turned mercenary and has been keeping their practice all this time. And that is why it's so rare."
Naruto thought the 'Hnn' that followed sounded rather impressed. Well, Naruto was impressed himself. He never knew when Suigetsu found time to learn these things. The man didn't act like he particularly cared or wanted to work for anything. But once that switch in his head flipped, Suigetsu basically became a walking, talking weapon encyclopedia. He might not bother learning to use anything else but the broadsword, but that didn't mean his knowledge or interest stopped there.
Before Suigetsu could ramble on about other weapons from the period, they thankfully arrived at a donburi restaurant. This country really was named Rice for a reason. Naruto would have lobbied for a ramen shop if there was one along the way, but sadly there wasn't a single banner in sight. So, grudgingly, he followed Karin inside. The place was packed with people, but they somehow managed to get a table in the corner where they could squeezed in. Naruto wedged himself between the wall and Karin, while Juugo took the opposite seat followed by Suigetsu. Sasuke and Saya was squeezing at the end to make themselves fit into the small space.
"Man, I don't think I have a decent meal like this in weeks!" Suigetsu exclaimed as he flipped through the menu. Juugo just looked at the swordsman and shook his head, clearly seeing the wild meal they'd been having as superior food.
Karin seemed excited as well. "Well, we haven't eaten together like this in a long time, have we, Saya-senpai?"
"Yes, and it's good to be eating food cooked by a chef for a change." At that she looked at Naruto, humour in her eyes.
He pouted. "I'm not that bad!"
Saya fixed him with a gaze and said, "When you don't just leave the meat to dry on the skewer, no."
Naruto's eyes flitted to Sasuke before he could help it, but the raven was too interested in the menu to notice. The blond sighed. Okay, he didn't sort it out with Sasuke per se, but they had been civil with each other all day. There was no reason for Saya to bring last night up again.
A waitress swung by them a moment later, and they made the order. Sasuke excused himself to the washroom right after, probably knowing that the sky was going to fall down on Naruto soon.
"Did you apologize to him?" Saya asked as soon as Sasuke's back was out of view.
"You said nothing about apologizing," he said, knowing that he sounded like a five-year-old. Even Sasuke didn't mention the night before, so why should anyone else cared?
He heard Karin sighed. "I thought I taught you better manner than this. Honestly, Naruto, what's the matter between you and Sasuke?" the redhead asked. Her brows furrowed in disapproval.
He looked at Saya and knew she didn't tell the others about their conversation last night. She'd rather he tell everyone himself, but he didn't want to go into his history with the Uchiha. If he could have his way, there wouldn't be a constant reminder of that said past travelling with them at all. "We were teammates," he began, "but we never got along. He was the number one, and I was the dead-last. He was the genius, I was the moron. He's an arrogant son-of-a-bitch who couldn't be bothered with other people's feelings. Putting us on the same team was a mistake, really. It was probably better if we hadn't known each other at all." The atmosphere was heavy in the silence that followed, and Naruto kept his gaze down. He had already spoke more than he was comfortable with, so he was going to let the topic go. Hopefully no one would pick it up.
But someone did. "I don't think Sasuke is that ignorant of other people." They all looked up in surprise, because, of all people, it was Juugo who spoke. "I think he's just very focused. He didn't care much about the rest of us, but he certainly cares about you. You seem to inspire in him a lot of emotions."
"Wait, how the hell do you know all this?" Suigetsu asked with a frown. "That guy barely shows anything but annoyance on that pretty face of his." Naruto was about to ask the same. For all he cared, Sasuke looked bored.
"Well, there is something I've noticed recently," began the giant. "Since I've started training on my chakra control, I've begun to sense emotions from people around me." All of them kept staring, encouraging Juugo to go on. "I don't think this is something new, though, since you've told me that chakra can influence emotions. I think that I'm only able to sense it now because I've only recently managed to differentiate my own emotion from others."
Suigetsu looked confused, but Karin's eyes were the size of a lemon. "What? You mean your chakra sensing is that sensitive?"
Naruto frowned then. "So you can't?" he asked her and she shook her head. And she was the most sensitive sensing type Naruto had known.
"No, I can tell the general state of somebody by their chakra," Karin explained, "but I can't sense more than that. It's like the details got blurred. That's why I can't sense your chakra pathways very well, but I can tell if something is wrong with your system."
Naruto nodded. Suigetsu snorted. "Well, you've always had problem with resolution," he said and made a gesture to her glasses. She glared at him. Naruto sucked on the inside of his cheek as he thought about it. Karin made a good point. Sensitivity in chakra sensing can come at the cause of being overwhelmed, but Juugo clearly wasn't.
Then something clicked in his head. He looked at Juugo. "Could it be that absorbing the chakra made you amplify the emotions?" Juugo looked back at him, puzzled, and Naruto scrambled to form a more concrete thought. "I mean, you absorb chakra from the environment, which is affected by the people around you, right? If emotions affect chakra, then there has to be a small signal of me, Suigetsu, and Karin in the chakra you've absorbed. I'm just thinking that maybe you aren't as sensitive as Karin, but somehow by absorbing the signal of our emotions you boost them, so you feel what we're feeling."
"Could it be that Juugo's killing urges are actually other people's?" Saya asked after a brief silence, her eyes wide with excitement.
"Could be," Naruto replied. "That would explain why Juugo usually would have it when there are people around. And the more people the more risk." Then he suddenly realized where they were and turned abruptly to the giant. "You are alright now, aren't you?"
"I am," Juugo replied. "Although, if we could be done with this quickly, that would help."
"Roger that," Naruto said just as their order came. He turned to Suigetsu. "Go get Sasuke. We're leaving as soon as we finish this."
Suigetsu glared at him but got up anyway.
/***/
When Suigetsu found him, Sasuke was bending over the sink, contemplating whether he should wash his face for the fourth time.
"You don't look so hot," was the first thing the blue-haired man said. Sasuke snorted. Of course, he wasn't. Karin wasn't kidding when she said he wouldn't feel well. It really was her pills that had kept him going during the day, and even then he could only follow at the back of the pack, Karin never far away. Now that the effect of the strength pill was gone, he was ready to just drop onto the floor.
Suigetsu gave him a sympathetic look, probably knowing what he was going through, before slapping him on the shoulder. "The food's here. Eat what you can, and we'll be on the boat soon enough."
Sasuke followed that suggestion to the letter. He ate, not bothered with any conversation. Then once they were shown to their quarter on a cargo ship, he chose a bunk and just dropped onto it. It didn't matter to him that the room was tiny or that he had no privacy by sharing it with five other people. He was too far gone to care.
He didn't know how many hours he slept - one of the deepest sleep he had in ages - before he finally surfaced from a thud. Then he heard quick succession of footsteps and the sound of the door being opened and closed. There was no other noise. He couldn't make out what time it was. The room was dark with only the light from hallway coming through the small window on the door. It might be the middle of the night, might be early in the morning, since everyone seemed to be dead to the world. Some shinobi they were. He sighed, turned on his stomach and slid out off his bunk, landing quietly on the floor.
Gravity seemed to want to pull him onto the ground, but he felt strong enough now to fight it. He slid his feet into his sandals, zipped up the shafts, and realized that the bunk below him was empty. He looked around, accounting everybody in the room and realizing then that it was Naruto. The shoes, though, were still there. Frowning, he quietly left the room. Where did the idiot go on this ship alone and in such a hurry?
The morning light was beginning to show from the portholes as the sun poised to rise over the horizon. The sea was calm, surprisingly so. There was barely a perceptible rocking on the large, heavy ship. He walked down the hall, listening to signs of people and sensing the chakra around him. The crew seemed to be preparing for a shift change as doors were opened and closed, and chatters could be heard bouncing off the walls. There was no unusual chakra signature from that side of the ship. The biggest signature seemed to come from the deck above, and Sasuke took the closest stair upwards to be greeted by an open door and the sound of somebody retching.
He walked past the door and just a few steps away was Naruto, his head hung over the ship's side and his body convulsing. The smell of vomit and sea water hit Sasuke, and he went into a little panic. He tried to tell himself that it was just simple motion sickness and it would have gone away on its own, although that explanation didn't quite make sense to him. If Naruto was woken up by motion sickness, it was probably not on a calm day like this one. Another part of him thought that Naruto was clearly sick and that he should go back in and wake Karin up. But he didn't want to leave Naruto like this, half dangling off the deck.
His legs made the decision before he could consciously put it into thought. He put a tentative hand on Naruto's back, feeling the muscles tensed slightly, and gently slid it down the spine. He brought his hand back up and repeated the motion again and again, pausing at times to rubbed the back of Naruto's neck. The blond hair slid through his fingers from time to time, and Sasuke couldn't help but feel nostalgic. He used to touch Naruto like this to make himself feel as if he had done something for the blond, but it was usually when Naruto was unconscious. Otherwise, they would be bickering rather than doing anything productive. Sometimes he had felt that it was better if they didn't have to talk. At least, there was peace between them.
It took a while before Naruto finally stopped throwing up. By the time, the blond was covered in sweats and breathing heavily, too tired to even stand up straight. "Do you want to go lie down?" Sasuke asked. He didn't know if Naruto wanted to move at that point but leaning awkwardly like this certainly wasn't helping.
Naruto shook his head and finally straightened himself up, much to Sasuke's concern. "I'm fine," he muttered, but his eyes were red, face flushed, and lips wet with saliva. He looked sick.
"Let's find somewhere you can sit, and I'll get Karin," Sasuke offered, his eyes darting for a bench of some kind. Naruto squeezed his arm, and Sasuke's eyes went back to the blond's face.
"It's fine. Don't get Karin," he said in what sounded like a hiss, and Sasuke frowned.
"But you're sick."
"I'm not."
"Dope, don't be stupid-"
"I. Am. Not. Sick!" Naruto nearly growled, and Sasuke was taken aback by the vehemence in his voice. The blond let out a long breath. His posture shifted, and the anger seemed to seep away. "It's over now, so don't worry about it, alright?" he said. The tone was so normal that Sasuke couldn't help but stare. "I'm not good with travelling on a boat, that's all. Thanks for your concern." At that, he patted Sasuke's shoulder and walked off like he didn't just snarled into Sasuke's face a moment earlier.
Then Naruto suddenly stopped. In the doorway was Karin, looking back and forth between the two of them. "You're up early," she said to Naruto.
The blond shrugged. "I need to feed the fish. You know, motion sickness and all that."
Karin's eyes briefly darted to Sasuke, and he knew instantly that something was up. "I'll get you something for that later. Go wash your face and brush your teeth at least."
Naruto nodded and walked past Karin and back down the stairs. Karin, however, just stood there watching Sasuke as Sasuke watched her. The only sound they could hear was Naruto's footstep down the metal threads, onto the floor beneath them, and into the washroom.
As soon as they heard the bathroom door shut, Karin stepped onto the deck and shut the door behind her. She quickly motioned him to follow as she led them away, out of sight and earshot. "What did you see? What was he doing up here?"
The concern in her voice set him on high alert. "He was vomiting," replied Sasuke, "but I don't think it was motion sickness."
Karin let out a breath. "No, it wasn't," she muttered. There was a resignation there that alarmed Sasuke. So this was not something new to her. Sasuke didn't want to contemplate the possibility that Naruto might have been sick for quite some time now, and for some reason he had been keeping it from his teammates.
The anguish of the thought must have shown on his face because Karin said, "He's not dying, if that's what you are thinking. He's perfectly healthy and functioning and everything. It's just that... his mental state hasn't been well, so sometimes he... he has a bad reaction like that."
Sasuke's brows furrowed. His mind went through various possible scenarios that might have affected Naruto's mind. Did Orochimaru and his minions do something to him? Was it the Akatsuki they fought in Suna? How long has Naruto been suffering like this? "Does Saya know?" he asked.
Karin shook her head. She looked frustrated. "No. The thing is Naruto doesn't want to admit it's a problem." She sighed. "I think he knows that there's something wrong with his head. It's more like he doesn't want to put the blame where it's supposed to be. So if he admits to a problem then he's accepting the cause to it, and he doesn't want to do that. You know what I mean?"
"No, I don't know what you mean," Sasuke replied. He was getting more agitated by the minute. "You know what happened, don't you?"
Karin paused before she muttered, "Kind of."
"Kind of?" he snapped, his voice rising. "You either know it or you don't. What is 'kind of'?"
Karin's hands came up to her hip as she stared at him. "Kind of is kind of, alright? I know the circumstance. I know who did it. I don't know exactly what happened. Naruto doesn't talk to any of us about it." At that, she took a deep breath. "I hate to break it to you like this, Sasuke, but back when we were in Sound, Naruto had a girlfriend."
A sudden chill came over him. "Had?"
"She's dead," Karin continued. "She suffered from a genetic disorder that caused her chakra circulation to breakdown. She was one of Orochimaru's test subjects. I was involved in one of the projects set up around her, and that's how Naruto and her met. They hit it off in, like, five minutes of knowing each other, but I thought Naruto had more sense in him than to fall in love with a dying girl." She snorted. "Guess what? She had him wrapped around her little finger within the month."
Sasuke could hear her frustration. She was looking away him for a moment, gathering her thoughts, calming herself. It was as if a volcano had erupted and there was no going back. "I wanted to be happy for them, you know," she said, her voice thick, "but I couldn't. That girl was a mess. I'm not saying she was the most messed-up person in Sound, but knowing she was dying from the age of seven made her a little too obsessed with death, and, honestly, Naruto can live without her shit."
Sasuke's throat was becoming dry as she watched her flew into a little rage. A part of him was glad that Naruto had someone who cared and would look after him. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel like Naruto was slipping further away. "So that's what happened. Her obsession got to him."
Karin looked at him and shook her head. "I wouldn't say it was that simple, but I don't know anymore than that. In the last month of her life, Naruto shut us out. He was always by her side, catering to her needs, and he wouldn't let us help. I don't know what went on between them in that month, but I know they argued and I know he cried a lot. I was her doctor, so I was practically the only person who was allowed in the room to talk to them. Heck, I wasn't even a real doctor." She laughed bitterly. "He started having nightmares after she died. He would wake up and just puke his guts out like he'd been drinking the bad stuffs all night. I tried to get him to talk, but he wouldn't. At this stage, I'm just hoping it'll go away with time."
Then her voice trailed into silence. She looked drained, like someone who finally got her biggest, heaviest secret out of her chest after it had weighed her down for a long time. "How long has this been going on?" Sasuke asked.
"The nightmare? Over a year now," Karin replied. A sad smile curved up her lips. "You'd think any sensible person would get help by now."
Sasuke couldn't help but snort. "Naruto is never sensible, is he?"
Karin let out a breath in return. "Yeah, that brat," she muttered, sounding both endeared and exasperated at the same time. He guessed that was the kind of sentiment only people who knew Uzumaki Naruto could understand. In that moment, he felt a kind of camaraderie with this redhead girl that he didn't think could exist between them. It seemed that he wasn't going to be friendless in the Scums after all.
/***/
End of Chapter 38
A/N: Sasuke's vest is based on the Misao's battle vest in Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Taika-hen. Despite all the misgivings of that movie, I have to admit that the ninja costumes have never looked better. (Except for Aoshi's, like, can't you just fit it on the guy a little better?)
Now the responses.
Guest Haha, it'd be interesting to see, isn't it?
smoleren Aww, thank you for much for your comment. You're too kind. I've been seeing quite a bit of canon diverging fic, too, but unfortunately I don't have enough time to both read a long fanfic and write a long fanfic. I think it's just that a lot of us recognize that there are brilliance in the setup of the characters (I think Kishimoto is a genius in character writing IF he has the time to do it properly) but the plot just sucks. So it's fix-it time!XD And yeah, Naruto's and Sasuke's relationship is not healthy right now, but I don't think theirs ever was especially in the canon because they are essentially child-soldiers who have never really experience a normal relationship before. (This is basically my excuse as to why this story is so long. I seriously cannot do these two in twelve chapters and not make it destructive in some way.) Kakashi is the guy who got the shortest end of all the sticks, really. And he and Saya will meet again from being tangled up in Naruto's and Sasuke's drama. About Naruto's parents, he didn't meet them in the seal in this story because the seal hasn't been opened at any point. It was worked around, kind of like having the the cage tampered with but not the lock if you will. So what he knows comes from either Orochimaru or Kurama, which you can imagine are super-reliable sources.
Bibi I do wish Sasuke and Itachi could make up, but that would require them talking honestly about what happened. I don't know if Itachi is going to do that. *bite lip* Sasuke and Naruto are going to be spending time together now, so no chasing is needed. :D
InvisibleNinja1234 Holy crap, dude! That's a fast read. I salute you. They'll have to learn to be friends again soon, don't worry. Otherwise, Saya is going to whip their scrawny asses. But, you know, being 'friends' for these two has always been a very blurred line. :P
Guest "I share the same sort of feelings about Naruto in this fic with how I felt about Sasuke during most of Shippuden."Mission accomplished! XD
Guest And here we are on the boat! The Scums didn't become pirates, though. Sorry for the disappointment. :P (Although, I must say I'd love to see that AU.) Actually, Saya knows about the note. And, yes, potential fall-outs await. The one who's blissfully unaware in all this is Sasuke who thinks he's just AWOL. (Argh, this boy.) Hinata seriously needs to sort her priorities out. Actually, I think Suigetsu and Karin could tag team to be the most unwanted wingmen of all times, and it would be hilarious. But we'll have to see how this goes. And, yes, I am so totally having Karin giving Sasuke the smack down. I like her brashness in the canon, but she was awfully one-dimensional there that I was like, fine, I'll do my own Karin who's more than just a girl who has a crush on Uchiha Sasuke. And, no, nobody else knows that Sasuke chidori'ed Naruto in the chest aside from the two of them. So that's a skeleton still firmly in the closet until a later date, or at least until Sasuke learns how to have an emotionally raw conversation without having destructive reactions. He's still taking baby-steps with normal convo right now.
anon Awww, anon. Thank you for your sympathy for Naruto. And thanks for such insightful analysis of the characters. I really can't comment on some of them (spoilers) but I'll touch on as much as I can.
To be honest, I think hating on Naruto right now is an appropriate reaction. Sasuke did hurt him big time, but should he hurt him back? I think it's in our instinct to hurt whoever hurts us, but it's also not necessarily a helpful instinct. (Montague and Capulet anyone?) I'm not saying it's easy to not hit back or you should never hit back. In fact, it's one of the hardest things to learn to do. That's why Saya needs to have that conversation with him. They're going to cause her so much headache before the team is functioning well again.
I'm quite surprise you don't hate Yu on sight. (She's a reader bait in some ways, so I was actually sniggering when she got so much hate the first time she popped up.) Also, nice catch on the fact that Naruto called the kiss with Yu his first kiss. Technically, I think Naruto's right since it was the one with intention and was reciprocated. The one with Sasuke was just an accident. But the most telling part is not whether it is or it isn't, but who thinks it is or it isn't.
I really love how you analyze the romance between these two because, yeah, Sasuke has no clue how to do this at all. (Does anybody when we start out?) It's going to be a steep learning curve for him. And if you think he's been digging into his emotions a lot for Naruto, my friend, wait until you read the next arc.
EmrysZ Oh, don't worry, darling. He WILL get a beat down. Maybe not along the line of what you're thinking, but, yeah, totally, definitely. Honestly, if that's my friend being treated like that, I'd just tell them to forget that guy and move on. But Sasuke's, you know, not normal. I don't think that advice is going to work.
SanctuaryoftheDead Thanks, mate. I wish someone picks up the plot bunny, too. I don't think I'd be able to write it because the premise is way out of my league.
Valm Thank you! It will take some time, but they'll get there eventually. :)
Killer-Sangwoo *pat the shoulder and sigh* A lot of things, my friend, but being a dick and breaking Naruto's fragile heart are the main ones.