Are You Red and Gold, Sapphire?
OK! Don't hurt me! My beta-chan was in KentuckyU.U and I didn't know. But it's here now! And longer! See! See!
Thank you all so much for your encouraging and informative reviews-the paragraph trick works!^o^- I hope this chapter lives up to a few expectations~
Chapter warnings: damage reports, a threat, and Sasuke OOC a little (he just isn't calling Naruto and idiot, or dobe as much. You'll see the situation)
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"Na..... NANI!?!?![1]"
Previously closed ocean blue eyes were open and wide with shock and horror. He couldn't believe it-he didn't want to believe it! That door, smashed in with pink-tan strike marks and holes in it, hanging by its top hinge at a severe angle, was NOT his! It couldn't be! Ignoring the fact that his name was carved messily into the front with in his own handwriting. Ignoring the room number being the one he came to every evening and left every morning or afternoon.
Naruto took a step closer, almost stumbling. He could see beyond the door into the dark room, shapes out of place and his possessions askew from their proper places. Hesitantly, as one would approach something toxic or feral, Naruto took a step towards his hime, and reached out a hand.
There was no sound to describe the falling and crashing of his heart that matched the sound of his once perfect door coming completely off its last hinge- its last hold and support up-and hitting the ground with a loud bang.
There was nothing.
Pure silence greeted him, broken only in his own ears by the beating of his heart and the echo of his doors landing.
It seemed like minutes passed before Naruto could bring himself to move. Slowly, as if each step was laden with lead, he came before his fallen door, and with all his strength-physical and mental-stepped over it into his home.
Even in the dark, just being touched by the last fingers of moonlight and the first glow of the sun on the other side as she rose (as if to latch onto the moons hands and never let go), he could see the shapes or his table, his lamps-cheap as they were- pillows, feathers, books, chairs, pencils, pens, small but long cup shapes-probably his Ramen-Naruto thought sullenly. Everything he owned was torn and destroyed, squished, stepped on, cut... Even his scrolls-homeworks, white, and lessons-everything were dark black shapes against the dirty floor. Shaking, Naruto raised his hand and, fingers almost missing, flipped on the light.
He wished he hadn't.
For, there, on the wall facing him glaring in bright, red letters larger than his head each was:
"Leave Konoha, Kyuubi, before we kill you."
Naruto had never considered himself weak of heart or body, but with the strain of the nights training, and now this emotional attack to the one sanctuary he had from the world, the blond boy's sight became black, and he knew no more.
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Sakura was worried. The sun had risen long ago, and the Number One loudest ninja hadn't shown up. Naruto was never this late! Sure, he'd been an hour, a few minutes, an hour and a half late, but he'd never been later than their sensei! Kakashi had consented to waiting a few minutes for the boy, from he perch on the arch of the bridge.
Minutes passed, they all were watching the path to the bridge, the one Naruto comes up every morning. Even Sasuke was watching for the boy from the corner of his eye. Surely, if they watched hard enough, they could almost picture the baka, running up the path, waving his arm. His eyes would be closed and a wide grin would be on his face as he loudly apologized for being late.
But he wasn't. There was no hyper-active ninja boy hiding his pain behind a smile. There was no shout of, "Sorry I'm late!" Finally, the first of them snapped.
"Kakashi-sensei! Something must be wrong! Naruto is never this late!" Sakura cried, worry in her voice along with annoyance. Sasuke turned his eyes to Kakashi, to see what he would do. The cold boys arms were crossed, his leaning stance one of disinterest and apathy for the situation.
"..Hmm. Perhaps we should go see what's keeping him." That was all the "Go!" they needed, Sakura was off down the street almost before he finished his sentence. Sasuke unfolded his arms and regarded their teacher for another moment, before he, himself, turned and headed in a slightly quick in the direction of Naruto's home.
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It was silent. None of them knew what to say. The room was in ruins. The door, as they saw, was in two large pieces in the entranceway; the hinges twisted metal in grotesque mockery or their once simple and useful forms. Sakura's eyes were wide, and Sasuke couldn't help but stare at the destruction around him. The place was trashed! Broken mirrors, smashed Ramen cups as if they'd been stepped on, knocked over chairs and pillows with their stuffing ripped out. Gashes on the walls and big, bold letters were the background they found their smallest teammate in. For there they saw Naruto, curled in a ball, knees to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. His eyes stared blankly ahead and down at the floor, and he was rocking gently. Around him there was a small amount of clean area.
The three got the impression it was much worse before they came.
"N..Naruto?" the girl asked softly approaching the shorter boy. She was firmly ignoring the tears that slipped down his whiskered cheeks now and then, nor did she acknowledge the big red words behind him on his wall till she must.
Ocean blue eyes met hers slowly, and he seemed to just notice her being in his house.
"Oh.. Sakura-chan.. It's dirty.." Instinctively Sakura took a step back from the softly speaking boy. "I tried to clean it." He continued, slowly uncurling till he was kneeling. "But every time I tried I started crying."[2]
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**Sasuke POV**
I could feel myself flinch, and I could feel the others do so as well. I wanted to turn away, I wanted to leave. This was not our Naruto! Not-"I'm gonna be Hokage!"- Uzumaki Naruto! Not the one who would make everyone acknowledge who he was. I couldn't look at him, so I focused my gaze around me. Words were crudely carved into his walls-perhaps with a kunai. It could also have been a wide point knife. I could barely read them.. one said.. the sign was for "shine" or, "die". Another was roughly "go to hell!", and "Leave!" and other such comments. Inevitably my eyes fell on the words behind Naruto. His body was blocking part of it, so I stepped closer, mindful of the glass shards tinted red.
Naruto flinched as I came closer, and he seemed to be holding his breath when I looked behind him, reading the large simple words:
"Leave Konoha, Kyuubi, before we kill you".
Leave Konoha.. Kyuubi?' I throw a glance at Kakashi. I want to know what that means. I open my mouth to ask, but..
"Ne... Sensei.. do we have a mission today?" the boy said slowly. Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment, face tilted up, but I saw his eyes drift to the message again.
"Hmmm.. aa." Was the confirmation. Slowly, almost jerkily, the idiot brought himself to his feet. His legs were spread a little wider than normal, head slightly down. There were blood stains on his knees and fingerprints on the vibrant orange jumpsuit. I remember suddenly the red- stained glass.
He must have cut himself on it.
"Oi, dobe." I say, hoping to egg him back to being the Naruto we all know. His eyes close for a long second, before he opens them and they set on me. The bags under his eyes! They're darker than the night that passed! He looks like he's been awake all night. Oh wait, he has. We had enough time though to sleep. We all got home somewhere around five to seven AM[3]. And we weren't to meet till noon. He must've been trying to clean this all up.
I can't continue what I was gonna say-in fact, I forgot it. Besides, Kakashi said something I'm sure was very different from what I was gonna say.
"Mm.. today's missions.. will be to help you clean this place up." I watch the idiot for his reaction. For a moment it looks like he doesn't care or is unhappy with the decision. I can Sakura glaring-waiting to smack him for being rude-but she's cut off by the smile that forms on the baka's face.
His eyes are brighter, his face almost glowing and with some emotion.. I cannot name.. I see him itch to jump at our sensei like he's done to Iruka before.
I look away, 'baka.'
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Clean up went relatively well. Naruto fainted about two hours in, and Kakashi reassured us that it was just stress and lack of sleep. Stress indeed-the idiot needs a new door-in fact, he needs a new everything.
We were assigned areas after the initial panic over Naruto's sudden falling in the middle of sweeping some glass and wood chips. Wait-I didn't panic! I didn't! You cannot count raising an eyebrow and walking over quickly to poke at him with my shoe as panicking. You just can't. So there.
...No.... I'm not sticking my tongue out at you-what, am I? Five?
Shaking my head a bit I start moving my work (I have to clean up all the feathers and straighten the chairs at the moment) closer to sensei. If he noticed until I was almost next to him (which I'm sure he did) he didn't make any move of it.
I guess he realized I would act when I was ready. And I'm ready, I am. I want to know, what the hell did they mean by Kyuubi[4]? I want to know, I *will* know. I remain silent, working next to him. I allow myself to grumble a bit at the fact that we have to clean up for the dobe, but it can't be helped-it's a mission.
He's waiting. I can tell. Kakashi-sensei knows I want to ask/say something, and he's waiting for me to. Resolved already to do this, I turn to face the man fully, and he raises and eyebrow in question. I wouldn't call this a now or never situation, I don't think that way. Narrowing my eyes, I turn slightly, still facing him, and extend my arm, pointing my finger directly at the bold red words.
"Kakashi-sensei, what do they mean by Kyuubi?" There, I asked. He better answer me straight. He looks at me for a moment, no real expression on his mostly covered face. In fact, if anything, he's smiling. And it's not a smirk, or a full fledged grin. It's not much of anything but a quirk of the lips and a slight scrunching of the eyes.
"Hou.. Don't you know of the Kyuubi?" Did he think I was an idiot? What child, adult-what person in this village (and probably many others) hasn't heard the story of the horrifying Nine-Tailed fox demon and its defeat by our beloved Hokage the Fourth? I give him my best bored and annoyed look and he smiles a little wider.
"Naruto will have to tell you that himself." Was his simple ending and I turned away, knowing there was no more. Sakura apparently got that message too, and went back to work from her poorly hidden attempt to eve's drop without us noticing.
I bend down, and shovel a large pile of soft and fluffy white feathers into a bag with my hand, the other being used to keep it open.
'Naruto.. will have to tell me that himself.. is what he said. And Naruto, WILL tell me.'
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WAI! I finished another one! ^o^~~ I never realised how much longer it was than the other b/c it was pre-written b4 I posted chapter 1~
[1]-ok, it wasn't that in the last chapter, but because, though the explanation was rather detailed, I'm stilla little confused, so I wont be using any special endings or anything till I really get it. Sorry.
[2] = Yeah, Naruto's not a crybaby, but wouldn't you cry if your home was trashed like that and there was such an ultimatum on your wall? Besides, he IS 12 years old.
[3] = I assume they live in different places and so get home at different times.
[4] = Nine-Tails Demons fox. ya know, that thing. The demon poor Naruto is host too. I don't think Sasuke knows about it, I really don't. Makes for fun writing/reading situations to see how authors interpret it tho!^-^
Review please~~!
OK! Don't hurt me! My beta-chan was in KentuckyU.U and I didn't know. But it's here now! And longer! See! See!
Thank you all so much for your encouraging and informative reviews-the paragraph trick works!^o^- I hope this chapter lives up to a few expectations~
Chapter warnings: damage reports, a threat, and Sasuke OOC a little (he just isn't calling Naruto and idiot, or dobe as much. You'll see the situation)
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"Na..... NANI!?!?![1]"
Previously closed ocean blue eyes were open and wide with shock and horror. He couldn't believe it-he didn't want to believe it! That door, smashed in with pink-tan strike marks and holes in it, hanging by its top hinge at a severe angle, was NOT his! It couldn't be! Ignoring the fact that his name was carved messily into the front with in his own handwriting. Ignoring the room number being the one he came to every evening and left every morning or afternoon.
Naruto took a step closer, almost stumbling. He could see beyond the door into the dark room, shapes out of place and his possessions askew from their proper places. Hesitantly, as one would approach something toxic or feral, Naruto took a step towards his hime, and reached out a hand.
There was no sound to describe the falling and crashing of his heart that matched the sound of his once perfect door coming completely off its last hinge- its last hold and support up-and hitting the ground with a loud bang.
There was nothing.
Pure silence greeted him, broken only in his own ears by the beating of his heart and the echo of his doors landing.
It seemed like minutes passed before Naruto could bring himself to move. Slowly, as if each step was laden with lead, he came before his fallen door, and with all his strength-physical and mental-stepped over it into his home.
Even in the dark, just being touched by the last fingers of moonlight and the first glow of the sun on the other side as she rose (as if to latch onto the moons hands and never let go), he could see the shapes or his table, his lamps-cheap as they were- pillows, feathers, books, chairs, pencils, pens, small but long cup shapes-probably his Ramen-Naruto thought sullenly. Everything he owned was torn and destroyed, squished, stepped on, cut... Even his scrolls-homeworks, white, and lessons-everything were dark black shapes against the dirty floor. Shaking, Naruto raised his hand and, fingers almost missing, flipped on the light.
He wished he hadn't.
For, there, on the wall facing him glaring in bright, red letters larger than his head each was:
"Leave Konoha, Kyuubi, before we kill you."
Naruto had never considered himself weak of heart or body, but with the strain of the nights training, and now this emotional attack to the one sanctuary he had from the world, the blond boy's sight became black, and he knew no more.
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Sakura was worried. The sun had risen long ago, and the Number One loudest ninja hadn't shown up. Naruto was never this late! Sure, he'd been an hour, a few minutes, an hour and a half late, but he'd never been later than their sensei! Kakashi had consented to waiting a few minutes for the boy, from he perch on the arch of the bridge.
Minutes passed, they all were watching the path to the bridge, the one Naruto comes up every morning. Even Sasuke was watching for the boy from the corner of his eye. Surely, if they watched hard enough, they could almost picture the baka, running up the path, waving his arm. His eyes would be closed and a wide grin would be on his face as he loudly apologized for being late.
But he wasn't. There was no hyper-active ninja boy hiding his pain behind a smile. There was no shout of, "Sorry I'm late!" Finally, the first of them snapped.
"Kakashi-sensei! Something must be wrong! Naruto is never this late!" Sakura cried, worry in her voice along with annoyance. Sasuke turned his eyes to Kakashi, to see what he would do. The cold boys arms were crossed, his leaning stance one of disinterest and apathy for the situation.
"..Hmm. Perhaps we should go see what's keeping him." That was all the "Go!" they needed, Sakura was off down the street almost before he finished his sentence. Sasuke unfolded his arms and regarded their teacher for another moment, before he, himself, turned and headed in a slightly quick in the direction of Naruto's home.
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It was silent. None of them knew what to say. The room was in ruins. The door, as they saw, was in two large pieces in the entranceway; the hinges twisted metal in grotesque mockery or their once simple and useful forms. Sakura's eyes were wide, and Sasuke couldn't help but stare at the destruction around him. The place was trashed! Broken mirrors, smashed Ramen cups as if they'd been stepped on, knocked over chairs and pillows with their stuffing ripped out. Gashes on the walls and big, bold letters were the background they found their smallest teammate in. For there they saw Naruto, curled in a ball, knees to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. His eyes stared blankly ahead and down at the floor, and he was rocking gently. Around him there was a small amount of clean area.
The three got the impression it was much worse before they came.
"N..Naruto?" the girl asked softly approaching the shorter boy. She was firmly ignoring the tears that slipped down his whiskered cheeks now and then, nor did she acknowledge the big red words behind him on his wall till she must.
Ocean blue eyes met hers slowly, and he seemed to just notice her being in his house.
"Oh.. Sakura-chan.. It's dirty.." Instinctively Sakura took a step back from the softly speaking boy. "I tried to clean it." He continued, slowly uncurling till he was kneeling. "But every time I tried I started crying."[2]
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**Sasuke POV**
I could feel myself flinch, and I could feel the others do so as well. I wanted to turn away, I wanted to leave. This was not our Naruto! Not-"I'm gonna be Hokage!"- Uzumaki Naruto! Not the one who would make everyone acknowledge who he was. I couldn't look at him, so I focused my gaze around me. Words were crudely carved into his walls-perhaps with a kunai. It could also have been a wide point knife. I could barely read them.. one said.. the sign was for "shine" or, "die". Another was roughly "go to hell!", and "Leave!" and other such comments. Inevitably my eyes fell on the words behind Naruto. His body was blocking part of it, so I stepped closer, mindful of the glass shards tinted red.
Naruto flinched as I came closer, and he seemed to be holding his breath when I looked behind him, reading the large simple words:
"Leave Konoha, Kyuubi, before we kill you".
Leave Konoha.. Kyuubi?' I throw a glance at Kakashi. I want to know what that means. I open my mouth to ask, but..
"Ne... Sensei.. do we have a mission today?" the boy said slowly. Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment, face tilted up, but I saw his eyes drift to the message again.
"Hmmm.. aa." Was the confirmation. Slowly, almost jerkily, the idiot brought himself to his feet. His legs were spread a little wider than normal, head slightly down. There were blood stains on his knees and fingerprints on the vibrant orange jumpsuit. I remember suddenly the red- stained glass.
He must have cut himself on it.
"Oi, dobe." I say, hoping to egg him back to being the Naruto we all know. His eyes close for a long second, before he opens them and they set on me. The bags under his eyes! They're darker than the night that passed! He looks like he's been awake all night. Oh wait, he has. We had enough time though to sleep. We all got home somewhere around five to seven AM[3]. And we weren't to meet till noon. He must've been trying to clean this all up.
I can't continue what I was gonna say-in fact, I forgot it. Besides, Kakashi said something I'm sure was very different from what I was gonna say.
"Mm.. today's missions.. will be to help you clean this place up." I watch the idiot for his reaction. For a moment it looks like he doesn't care or is unhappy with the decision. I can Sakura glaring-waiting to smack him for being rude-but she's cut off by the smile that forms on the baka's face.
His eyes are brighter, his face almost glowing and with some emotion.. I cannot name.. I see him itch to jump at our sensei like he's done to Iruka before.
I look away, 'baka.'
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Clean up went relatively well. Naruto fainted about two hours in, and Kakashi reassured us that it was just stress and lack of sleep. Stress indeed-the idiot needs a new door-in fact, he needs a new everything.
We were assigned areas after the initial panic over Naruto's sudden falling in the middle of sweeping some glass and wood chips. Wait-I didn't panic! I didn't! You cannot count raising an eyebrow and walking over quickly to poke at him with my shoe as panicking. You just can't. So there.
...No.... I'm not sticking my tongue out at you-what, am I? Five?
Shaking my head a bit I start moving my work (I have to clean up all the feathers and straighten the chairs at the moment) closer to sensei. If he noticed until I was almost next to him (which I'm sure he did) he didn't make any move of it.
I guess he realized I would act when I was ready. And I'm ready, I am. I want to know, what the hell did they mean by Kyuubi[4]? I want to know, I *will* know. I remain silent, working next to him. I allow myself to grumble a bit at the fact that we have to clean up for the dobe, but it can't be helped-it's a mission.
He's waiting. I can tell. Kakashi-sensei knows I want to ask/say something, and he's waiting for me to. Resolved already to do this, I turn to face the man fully, and he raises and eyebrow in question. I wouldn't call this a now or never situation, I don't think that way. Narrowing my eyes, I turn slightly, still facing him, and extend my arm, pointing my finger directly at the bold red words.
"Kakashi-sensei, what do they mean by Kyuubi?" There, I asked. He better answer me straight. He looks at me for a moment, no real expression on his mostly covered face. In fact, if anything, he's smiling. And it's not a smirk, or a full fledged grin. It's not much of anything but a quirk of the lips and a slight scrunching of the eyes.
"Hou.. Don't you know of the Kyuubi?" Did he think I was an idiot? What child, adult-what person in this village (and probably many others) hasn't heard the story of the horrifying Nine-Tailed fox demon and its defeat by our beloved Hokage the Fourth? I give him my best bored and annoyed look and he smiles a little wider.
"Naruto will have to tell you that himself." Was his simple ending and I turned away, knowing there was no more. Sakura apparently got that message too, and went back to work from her poorly hidden attempt to eve's drop without us noticing.
I bend down, and shovel a large pile of soft and fluffy white feathers into a bag with my hand, the other being used to keep it open.
'Naruto.. will have to tell me that himself.. is what he said. And Naruto, WILL tell me.'
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WAI! I finished another one! ^o^~~ I never realised how much longer it was than the other b/c it was pre-written b4 I posted chapter 1~
[1]-ok, it wasn't that in the last chapter, but because, though the explanation was rather detailed, I'm stilla little confused, so I wont be using any special endings or anything till I really get it. Sorry.
[2] = Yeah, Naruto's not a crybaby, but wouldn't you cry if your home was trashed like that and there was such an ultimatum on your wall? Besides, he IS 12 years old.
[3] = I assume they live in different places and so get home at different times.
[4] = Nine-Tails Demons fox. ya know, that thing. The demon poor Naruto is host too. I don't think Sasuke knows about it, I really don't. Makes for fun writing/reading situations to see how authors interpret it tho!^-^
Review please~~!