Are You Red and Gold, Sapphire?
Ok, I'm sorry I made everyone wait so long, I really really am. I've been having problems with my wrists, nerve damage and all..bah. I've been barely able to draw/write, and my computer use was limited to almost nothing.
But, since my wrists are …relatively un-pained today, I'm gonna finish the fic.
THAT'S RIGHT. This is the last chapter! Also, this will probably be my only Naruto fic, and I'm eager to finish it.
*Bows to everyone* you are all such wonderful people. I love you all.*glomps everyone*
Replies:
Kazle: Thank you for your compliment, I hope I do not dissapoint you with this chapter.
Skye Dragon: Ahh… but I did stop there didn't I? oh and I made you wait so long for this chapter too… I'm so bad^^;;
Chels-Dawg: I apologize-no, they're not doing anything. I didn't mean to give that impression if I did~
Riyue: Ah-thank you~ You're too kind^^~
dark vampire : heeheee~^^*hugs back* *glomps back~* thank you^^
Foxgrl: No, Naruto ain't dead^^. And yes, he went back for the piano keys~
CrazyAce & Co.: aah! I feel proud now~ thank you much~
Ramen (biams88@yahoo.com): thank you. I'm sorry for the wait~
Hitomi No Ryu : *sighs in relief* it would've made me sad if it was the fic… yeah, poor Naru-chan ne? I guess you hurt the oens you love~
Psycho Rooster/Beta 4 Hire: heheh, true^^. I'm glad you enjoy this fic^^
Bishiehuggler: wow…my work has never been called poetic before…Ah..about the deaths..well..you'll see~ and yes, there is bloodyness~3
Meruru: heheh! You're intresting I hope you don't mind me saying. I like ramblers actually~ and it's vandalized^^. Okaeri nasai was spelled right yes^^. And, wow… you said a lot and every word made me very happy~ I hope this chapter doesn't dissapoint you~ Ah! And, it's good I depressed you? I hope I don't fail in that in this chapter either3. I love angst~
ninetails2: I'm sorry, I tend to use yaoi as a generic for yaoi or shonen-ai, as while I write I'm nto sure if it'll change or not. It's shounen ai, I'll be more careful I promise.
DarkPheonix365: I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm glad none of your friends/family got hurt. Miracles I guess… O.O;;; wow… you're both very strange^^;; Please enjoy this chapter^^~
Inuyasha's Kitty: hehe^^
NOTES: YAAAAAAAAAY! SO COOL! Lady Geuna and Silver Foxglove have me on their author alert watch! And I have 14 people listing me as a favorite author! I feel so luckyT^T~ And of course there Kami-chan~
Enjoy~…and don't kill me ok?^-^;;;
Length: 10 pages
Chapter Six: Melodious Walking Away
No one had been allowed in. No one had borne witness to the two boys sitting together in the fading gloom of the eternal night.
But like all precious things, this moment had to shatter. With the sun breaking through the cracks and holes with its light, the two were roused from their sleep.
Blue eyes like the ocean blinked open slowly, mere seconds after granite met the sky. Wincing in pain, Naruto rubbed his head against Sasuke's shoulder, over all wishing he could go back to sleep. A long fingered hand came and gently laid against the smaller boy's back, holding him still. Naruto stiffened.
"S-Sasuke?"
"Yeah."
Naruto didn't make any responses after that acknowledgement. What could he do, at that moment? His body hurt in ways it hadn't hurt before. Though, it seemed to be healing already. In his mind he understood why, but it wasn't important.
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"Naruto!! Sasauke!!" The loud yell was followed by crashes and the clanking of metal on metal. Looking up from where they were dozing again, still in an almost unconscious embrace, the two genin saw a panicked looking Iruka, followed by Sakura and Kakashi, who themselves looked very distressed. Upon seeing them, Iruka let out a dramatic sigh of relief, clutching his heart and bending over slightly. The tension eased a bit.
"You had us all scared to DEATH!" the irate teacher cried, suddenly changing his moods. Glaring as his two former students, Iruka stalked up to them and eyed them both. No one seemed to be taking much in their close proximity. No one seemed to really care that the two boys were holding each other so intimately.
No one except Sakura, who stood behind Kakashi, not venturing forward even when she was bade to. Her face was shocked and saddened at the same time, reflecting darkness on this happy relief.
She watched them all smile to each other, laughing and trying to ignore the tragedies for now. She saw something there, that hadn't been before--no, it was there, it just wasn't confirmed. But it was now. There was nothing less then sure in how even the reserved, anti-social Sasuke had not released Naruto from his hold, had not pushed him away from where he was practically in his lap. And neither had Naruto.
The two teachers seemed to take it in stride--no, they looked happier, because of it.
'This must be the feeling,' she realized, 'when you discover that you have no chance, when you see how happy the one you love is without you.' Slowly, she smiled, despite her new pain upon rejection. 'But that's just how it is. Sasuke-kun looks… content. I never thought I would see him so relaxed, especially around Naruto. That baka! Making us worry like that!'
"Naruto~!" she growled loudly. Startled, they all turned to her. Sasuke gave her a 'What~? Sorry, I wasn't listening' look. Naruto looked almost frightened. Walking over to them, she stood straight, pulled back her hand, and whapped the blond over the head.
"BAKA!
You had everyone so worried! Did you even think before you did such reckless
thing?" she demanded. Little sighs of relief were tension busters and Naruto
smiled goofily, rubbing the back of his head before saying,
"Thinking hurts my head--so I
don't do it often." Needless to say, Naruto effectively made people laugh,
which isn't that bad at all.
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Soon the laughter died down, and the serious subject of where Naruto would be staying arose.
"I think he should stay with me--he's like family, and you talk care of family." Iruka offered, from where he had taken a seat on the charcoal floor.
Kakashi shook his head. "That wont work. You're always out at school teaching all day. Plus, we don't know how strong these people are, or how many of them there are. If they have access to bombs, we have to assume pretty strong. You're only a chuunin, Iruka, as well as you mean, I don't think you could sufficiently watch Naruto when you're not there." Iruka sighed, seeing the logic in that.
"Well, he can't stay with me," Sakura said, looking at her hands in her lap. "my parents don't like Naruto for some reason, and if I brought him home…." No one made any real reply to this. Naruto just looked away, and Sasuke looked at him, confused.
"Well, he can't stay with me…" Kakashi began softly, rubbing his chin. I don't have a very… young--orientated apartment." Blank stares all reached him.
"So he'll stay with me then." Sasuke said, concluding the subject.
'How is he any safer with Sasuke than with me?' Iruka whispered to Kakashi. The jounin smiled.
"Because we all know how Sasuke is with his precious things." He said back, just a little louder.
"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed, remembering something triggered by that statement. Shuffling into her pocket under the gaze of those around her, her fingers curled around something hard, and pulled it out.
"Sasuke-kun dropped this." She explained, holding it out.
Naruto picked it out of her hands. "It's the fox-cut out that I was trying to find."
Kakashi nodded, "So that's where it went."
"Yeah. You kept it?" the blue eyes boy asked, turning to Sasuke. The other boy didn't answer, but his face did grow a little red.
"You kept something too, dobe." Naruto nodded, and smiled softly.
"The piano keys. They reminded me of you." He blushed. Iruka was squeezing Kakashi's arm in a half-delighted, half-excited manner. His face was split by a large smile.
"Well, in any case, I think we should get out of here, before the place collapses." There were nods, and Naruto was aided in standing, and in leaving. The burns hurt his body but he didn't pay attention to them, only to Sasuke's white hand clasped around his own.
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For weeks, there was no activity. If the assailants had thought that Naruto was dead--all the better. But eventually they would find out that he was indeed, still in Konoha. Team seven was on constant alert, and the Hokage had been alerted. There was a watch up for the arsonists, but no one was caught.
It was hoped that that would be the last tragedy, that they could live peacefully from then on.
It was on the Wednesday Sasuke asked Naruto out on their first official date that it happened.
Naruto was glowing with joy and he bounced around like he used to, holding Sasuke's hand, playfully fighting with him, and conning the other boy to buy him Ramen. They headed back to Sasuke's large home for the night, walking amongst the fireflies and night lamps glowing brightly along the tree-lined path. Taking out his key, Naruto stopped Sasuke.
"What?" Naruto blushed, but gave him a challenging look.
"Aren't you supposed to kiss me goodnight?" Sasuke smirked at his smaller boyfriend.
"That would be the tradition." Naruto pouted.
"So so? You gonna kiss me or not?"
"Baka." More pouting. Smirking still, Sasuke leaned down closer to Naruto, who looked surprised and blushed--as if he hadn't actually expected Sasuke to do it. Pale lips brushed against the ones below them, connecting the two boys together. It was magic, it was perfect. Their lips fit like two missing links, so soft and warm to each other. Sasuke cupped Naruto's face in his hands, rubbing his thumb over the shorter boy's whisker marks.
The streetlamps glowed above them, the stars looked down in grace, and the moon shined extra bight--just for them.
Perfect.
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The sun was bright the next day. And the heat was sticky and thick. Naruto woke up from where he lay next to Sasuke on the futons on the floor. The black haired boy was looking at the ceiling, eyes narrowed but relaxed. It appeared he'd only woken up moments before Naruto himself did.
"Mmmm… Sasuke…" The quiet shinobi looked over at Naruto.
"Hm?"
"It's morning~" he stretched happily, sighing.
"Aa."
"I need to brush my teeth~" Bouncing up--insanely energetic for just waking up--he went right into the bathroom and shut the door. He came out a moment later with a toothbrush in his mouth, and a mug of water in hand.
"Safuke, Imf gongna go tuf the store svoon." He said around the brush, before pulling it out.
"Say that again--I don't speak idiot."
Naruto stuck his tongue out. "I said I'm gonna go to the store soon." And swished some water in his mouth before disappearing into the bathroom again.
"Riiiight."
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Naruto looked at his list again. 'Man, why does Sasuke need all this stuff? I could buy twenty packs of ramen and still spend less.' He stuffed it back in his pocket and pulled out some money.
He looked at the salesman behind the counter. "How can I convince you to sell that melon for a dollar* less?" He grinned. hoping his widest smile would help.
"How about you leave?" came the gruff reply. Naruto glared.
"Teme! That's not how you treat customers!"
"Only you, brat!"
"Say that again!?" By now it shouldn't have been surprising. Naruto was an unfavored guest to almost all the shops in the village. The only place that really respected him was the ramen stand. And that was probably because on him alone, they could have enough funds to run forever.
In the end, he ended paying twice as much as the original
offer.
"Lousy no-good corrupt salesperson…" The blond muttered darkly. He fished the list out again and peered at it. 'Hmm, that's about it. Only a couple things left. Ah, I can get them over there…'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only an hour or two had passed. Arms loaded with paper bags, Naruto began the slow trek back to his temporary home. He knew Sasuke was probably going to be upset that he ended up spending more than the budget because people didn't like him, but what could he do? Sasuke was rich, and got funds from the village. It's not like he could go poor any time soon. Just as he took out the spare key upon reaching he door, it glided open on its own. Blinking, Naruto pushed the door further open and walked inside. He set the groceries on the floor and moved to the second level.
"Tadaima! ……Sasuke?" he called, nervous. "Sasuke!?" he called a bit louder. There was a groan from one of the rooms, and some whispered voices.
"SASUKE?" Naruto cried slamming the door to the room open hard. He stopped short. Blue eyes became black pupils, everything else lost amongst the white of shock.
"…Kakashi-sensei? W-what are you doing here?" He walked quietly to Kakashi's side, where Sasuke was lying on a makeshift futon. Naruto closed his eyes tightly, shutting out the vision of Sasuke lying motionless on the floor, blood covering most of his chest and right arm, bruises marring his perfect white skin.
"K... Kakashi-sensei? W-what happened?!" the fox boy whimpered, and backed up a step.
"….You two were supposed to come to a meeting today. Neither of you showed up so I came to get you. It was only a minute or two ago. You weren't here…and Sasuke was already like this. I have to take him to the hospital now." The tall jounin slid his arms carefully under the boy's body and lifted him into the air.
"Kakashi-sensei…he's alive-he is isn't he?!" Kakashi's dark eyes considered Naruto wide ocean blue ones filled with worry and fear.
"He's alive, for now." With that, the teacher disappeared and left Naruto standing there by himself, tense and afraid. Thoughts rushed through his head, the seal on his stomach ached and it seemed as if the Kyubi was mocking him. Taunting him for not being able to protect his "mate".
It would be at least an hour before Naruto moved into the bedroom, and picked up his duffel bag.
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Naruto realized that day, that he was going to be hunted forever, down till the moment these people were caught, or he was killed. And the people around him were still going to be hurt.
Naruto stood at the gate of Konohakagure, the place he was raised, the home fell in love in, and the world where he wasn't welcome. He looked at his hands holding the striking black and white contrast of the piano keys, and the small fox-shaped cut out.
He clenched his fists at his side, tears burned his eyes and his whole body ached with tension. On his way out, he had heard that the Harunos house was vandalized, and the daughter had been taken away by a friend for protection.
On his way out, he had heard that Iruka-sensei's class had been disrupted by a shadow throwing shurikens into the room full of young children. Two of them died, and several others were injured, along with their teacher.
And it was the last straw. It was all he could take to know that everyone was hurting because of him, and that no one could stop it.
Turing away from his home, Naruto stepped out of Konohas borders, not looking back.
@~^~~
The four men who had been comminting these crimes were caught and put to death, but Naruto would never know.
And he never knew whether Sasuke, his rival, and his love, had lived.
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OWARI
Please review. Forgive me for my evilness~