Disclaimer: I OWN THE CASTLE AND THE TOWN!!!! NEENER NEENER NEENER!!!
Title: Welcome to Dead House
Chapter Title: Reluctance
Rating: PG-13, rating may go up
Pairing: SasuNaru
Warnings: None
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-Hospital, Sunrise, Normal Pov-
Sasuke had just woken up and decided to watch the sunrise. He was still very shaken after last night's fiasco. Why did he keep seeing these images? Were the hallucinations? He didn't think so. True, that... place had left him scarred for life, but he didn't think he was insane... yet.
Sasuke looked at the coming sun. With such a small town, there was no pollution or tall buildings to obscure the few. It was beautiful. It reminded Sasuke of a morning when he and Naruto had woken up at the training grounds because they had been sparring late into the night. Naruto had been curled up against him. He had looked so cute...
Gah! Why did he keep think Naruto was cute?!
Sasuke returned his attention to the window. He also remembered another time when there had been a sunrise like this. It had been the morning before... everyone died. He had gone out with Itachi to look at the sunrise. He and his brother had talked for a while. They had planned to do it again the next morning. But...
Sasuke shivered as the images came again. The flames, the skeletons, his brother dying, falling to the ground...
Sasuke felt like vomiting. He didn't know what caused him to think of these things that he wished never to see again.
"Hello..."
Sasuke looked behind him.
There was a girl there, with hay colored hair, big blue eyes, and a smile on her face. She was holding a basket that looked like it was filled with home baked goods. And there was...
Blood. Dripping down her wrists. Sasuke's mouth opened in horror.
"I've never met one who could see the dead before," she said.
Sasuke screamed. He screamed like crazy. He scrambled out of the bed only to be met with...
"Hello Sasuke."
Sasuke screamed, his heart wrenching from his throat as the burned image of Tenten touched his face. He scrambled back against the bed, mouth open, screaming. His head felt heavy. Good, just go away! Why won't you leave me alone?!
Sasuke fainted again.
----------
-Dream-
Sasuke made his way to the docks of the Konoha River, where a boat was to pick them up and take them down the river to the town of Akio. It was the closest town to Ishiyama castle. In fact, it was only about a mile from there. They would be able to see it once they got there.
"Sasuke-kun!" a high pitched voice called.
Sasuke groaned as Ino run up beside him. "So, Sasuke-kun, how do you feel about this trip?"
Sasuke gulped. In all honesty, not too good. He had not forgotten that his brother would be coming with, even though they would be picking him up later along the river.
"Fine," he said. Ino smiled.
"Of course! After all Sasuke-kun, what could harm you on this trip?"
'Lots of thing' thought Sasuke bitterly.
The reached the docks were some of the other genin were waiting for them. Sakura immediately went over and began yelling at Ino fro flirting with Sasuke. Sasuke rolled his eyes. AS if Sakura didn't flirt with him every day.
"Sasuke-kun!" The voice that called him this time was not feminine. If Sasuke had to guess...
"Lee-san," he said to the other boy. Lee grinned.
"Are you excited about this trip?" he asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "I guess," he said coolly.
'I'm gonna die... Itachi's gonna kill me...'
"Don't worry too much about that Itachi character. He promised us that he wouldn't kill you," Lee said with a smile.
Sasuke choked. "You mean he's already here?!" he gasped.
"He's been here since about 7:00 a.m. The boat went and picked him up first instead of last."
Sasuke had to work very hard not to run away screaming. "Where is he?" he managed to choke out.
"In his cabin. It's going to be a two day journey to Akio, so we have to spend the night on the ship. Come on, I'll show you your cabin. You're going to have to share, though. There's not enough room for us all," Lee grabbed Sasuke and lead him aboard the ship. Sasuke reluctantly let himself go.
The lower deck of the ship was actually fairly nice. It wasn't very fancy, just wood, but it was very clean. It was obvious that this ship was well taken care of. Sasuke counted three bathrooms and eleven bedrooms, not including the captains. That meant that they would have to double up. But who was going to share a room with Itachi. Sasuke thought. There were twenty of them. That meant that two people could have his or her own bedroom. So Itachi would probably be one... And the other they would have to decide later.
Sasuke got a good at one of the bedrooms. There was a top and bottom bunk, and a small end table in each one. It wasn't the most extravagant lodgings, but it would do.
'The beds are comfortable, anyway' Sasuke thought as he tested one. The mattress was firm, yet soft at the same time. There was a pillow and blanket for each bed. Sasuke actually liked the way everything was set up. He just hoped he wouldn't have to bunk with a girl that night.
"So, do you like it?" Lee asked as he and Sasuke walked back onto the deck.
"Yeah. It's nice without being too fancy. Plain and simple, if you will," Sasuke replied.
"Sasuke-kun! Where were you?" a frantic voice from the docks called out.
Sasuke groaned as Sakura came running towards him. She almost threw her arms around him before deciding against it.
"I was so worried! I thought that your brother might have killed you or something!" she cried. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"I'm fine, Sakura. Besides, the contract said that if Itachi hurt me, he'd lose the million dollars."
'Honestly, are all girls this stupid?' he thought. 'It's not like Itachi would try anything in the middle of Konoha, anyway. I hope...'
"Sakura smiled. "I'm glad you're okay," she said happily.
Sasuke resisted the urge to snort.
"Oi! Sasuke! Lee! Sakura! Get down here! The two gentlemen that gave us this offer need to talk to us!"
The three genins got off the boat and made their way towards he others. Sasuke noted that Jiraiya and Tsunade were there now. So was Iruka. He turned his attention towards the fat man, who was about to speak.
"Thank you all for coming. We thought that some of you would bail," he said with a little laugh. When no one else followed suit, he stopped.
"Well, anyway, I just want to say have a good trip and if there are any problems, let us know by calling from town. Good day." And with that, he left.
"All right, get on the ship! I'm not waiting for you all!" the ship captain said. Everyone followed him to the boat.
"Now, I only have eleven bedrooms, so some of you are going to have to double up. Two bedrooms contain only one bed, and one of those bedrooms has already been taken by the boy that got on the ship earlier. So one other person can have a room to themselves," the ship's captain said. The shinobi looked at each other.
"How do we decide who gets the one person bedroom?" asked Naruto.
"We'll draw names from a hat. Ten of us will draw names and pair up with the person that they pick. One person will have a slip that's blank. That's the person who gets the one person bedroom. Sound fair?" Tsunade said. Everyone nodded.
"Hey, Captain! Do you have a pencil and paper we could use?" Kakashi called to the captain. The captain nodded and pulled a notepad and pen out of his pocket, then threw them at Kakashi.
"Arigatou!" Kakashi said. Then he wrote down the names of nine people and one blank strip. "Anyone got a hat?" he asked.
Sakura pulled a hat out of her bag. "For the sun," she explained when everyone looked at her.
Kakashi took the hat and put the names in. He shook them around a little. Then he told Naruto, Iruka, Hinata, Neji, Asuma, Tsunade, Kiba, Sakura, Chouji and Jiraiya to take a slip. The outcome was lass than pleasant.
"WHAT THE FUCK?! I HAVE TO SHARE WITH SASUKE?!" Naruto screamed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!! NOT INO-PIG" Sakura yelled.
"I have to share a room with LEE?!" demanded Neji.
"GAI?!?!?! WHY GAI OF ALL PEOPLE?!?! WHY DOES GOD TORTURE ME SO?!?!" Asuma looked on the verge of tears.
Kakashi sweatdropped. Poor, poor Asuma... "Does anyone else have any objections?" Kakashi asked. Tsunade, Chouji, Iruka, Kiba, Hinata and Jiraiya all shook their heads.
"I get my own room!" Jiraiya said cheerfully.
"I'm fine sharing with Kurenai," Tsunade said pleasantly.
"Hinata's fine," Tenten said, giving Hinata a smile.
"I don't mind sharing with Shikamaru," Chouji said happily.
"As long as you don't read that awful Icha Icha Paradise book I'm fine sharing a room with you Kakashi," Iruka said. Kakashi swore under his breath.
"And as for those of you who don't like your arrangements, too bad!" Kakashi laughed and went to bring his things to his cabin.
----------
-Hospital, Sasuke's Pov-
I woke up with a throbbing headache. Stupid hallucinations... Oh who was I kidding? Those weren't hallucinations and I knew it. But till, what WERE they? Ghosts maybe? Well, that seemed like a good explanation...
I sighed and turned my head to look at Naruto. He was still sleeping. But he wasn't snoring and drooling like he had done before they went on that stupid trip. Stupid castle, stupid people, stupid million dollar promise that made the offer impossible to resist.
'Although,' I thought suddenly, 'Itachi HAD been I bit reluctant to go....'
----------
-Flashback, Normal Pov-
Sasuke was leaning against the railing of the ship, looking out into the forest. It was peaceful now, although they had seen a couple of missing- nins and some Anbu earlier. None had bothered to attack, though, and a few even said hi to the captain of the ship.
The Uchiha's glance was cast over to the doors that lead to the lower deck and cabins. Itachi had not come out of his room all day. The captain had brought him lunch. Sasuke knew he should be thankful for this but he couldn't help wondering what his brother was doing.
"Sasuke-kun?" a tentative voice asked from behind him.
"What is it, Sakura?" he said irritably. Sakura gulped.
"Umm... I was wondering if, uh, you wanted to, uh... Oh, never mind," she said and quickly walked away.
Sasuke gave her an odd look before returning his attention to the landscape.
A few hours later, everyone but Sasuke and the captain had gone to bed. Sasuke was sitting against the railing, pondering nothing when a sound caught his attention. He turned to look at the doors leading to the lower deck. He swore.
Itachi had finally come out. But Sasuke had to admit, this was not the manner he had expected to see his brother. Itachi was wearing black jeans and a navy blue t-shirt that had a picture of a skull on it. On his right wrist was a wrist band that had Happy Bunny on it. Sasuke was too far away to see what it said.
He gulped when Itachi's eye's turned towards him. He shot a half hearted glare at his brother. He really wasn't in the mood to see Itachi right now. So when the older Uchiha walked over to him and sat on the railing he just about screamed.
"Everyone else had gone to bed. Why are you still up?" Itachi asked.
"The captain hasn't gone to bed," Sasuke pointed out through gritted teeth. He really, REALLY didn't want to be near Itachi right now....
"The captain has to steer the ship, Sasuke. He can't sleep. At least, not now," Itachi said with a tone of one reminding a child something. Sasuke growled.
"Shut up," he grumbled. Itachi smirked.
"So why are you on this trip," Sasuke asked his older brother.
Itachi frowned. "Well, one million U.S. dollars is a huge chunk of money, and it seemed like a good idea to come. Although now I'm not so sure...." He trailed off.
Sasuke snorted. "What Are you afraid of something?" he teased then snickered. A quick glare from Itachi shut him up right away.
"Does it really make sense that we're getting one million dollars for going to spend a month in an old castle?" Itachi questioned.
"Not... really...," Sasuke answered. And it didn't make sense.
"Exactly. There's obviously more to this offer than meets the eye. And I did some research on Ishiyama Castle. It doesn't sound like the world's best place," Itachi said.
"So them why would they send us there?" Sasuke asked.
Itachi shrugged. "I admit, I am a bit reluctant to carry through with this. However..." he stopped. Sasuke couldn't figure out why Itachi looked at him suddenly.
The older Uchiha yawned. "I'm going to bed," he said and went back to the lower deck.
Sasuke stared after him. He could have sworn that he had seen a look of concern for himself on Itachi's face.
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Pyro: Sorry for not updating quicker... I have changed the formatting of the other chapters to fit this chapter so... yeah...
Sakura: (turning green) I feel sea sick....
Pyro: And we could all care less. Besides, it brings out your eyes!
Sakura: O.O (barfs and faints)
Title: Welcome to Dead House
Chapter Title: Reluctance
Rating: PG-13, rating may go up
Pairing: SasuNaru
Warnings: None
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
-Hospital, Sunrise, Normal Pov-
Sasuke had just woken up and decided to watch the sunrise. He was still very shaken after last night's fiasco. Why did he keep seeing these images? Were the hallucinations? He didn't think so. True, that... place had left him scarred for life, but he didn't think he was insane... yet.
Sasuke looked at the coming sun. With such a small town, there was no pollution or tall buildings to obscure the few. It was beautiful. It reminded Sasuke of a morning when he and Naruto had woken up at the training grounds because they had been sparring late into the night. Naruto had been curled up against him. He had looked so cute...
Gah! Why did he keep think Naruto was cute?!
Sasuke returned his attention to the window. He also remembered another time when there had been a sunrise like this. It had been the morning before... everyone died. He had gone out with Itachi to look at the sunrise. He and his brother had talked for a while. They had planned to do it again the next morning. But...
Sasuke shivered as the images came again. The flames, the skeletons, his brother dying, falling to the ground...
Sasuke felt like vomiting. He didn't know what caused him to think of these things that he wished never to see again.
"Hello..."
Sasuke looked behind him.
There was a girl there, with hay colored hair, big blue eyes, and a smile on her face. She was holding a basket that looked like it was filled with home baked goods. And there was...
Blood. Dripping down her wrists. Sasuke's mouth opened in horror.
"I've never met one who could see the dead before," she said.
Sasuke screamed. He screamed like crazy. He scrambled out of the bed only to be met with...
"Hello Sasuke."
Sasuke screamed, his heart wrenching from his throat as the burned image of Tenten touched his face. He scrambled back against the bed, mouth open, screaming. His head felt heavy. Good, just go away! Why won't you leave me alone?!
Sasuke fainted again.
----------
-Dream-
Sasuke made his way to the docks of the Konoha River, where a boat was to pick them up and take them down the river to the town of Akio. It was the closest town to Ishiyama castle. In fact, it was only about a mile from there. They would be able to see it once they got there.
"Sasuke-kun!" a high pitched voice called.
Sasuke groaned as Ino run up beside him. "So, Sasuke-kun, how do you feel about this trip?"
Sasuke gulped. In all honesty, not too good. He had not forgotten that his brother would be coming with, even though they would be picking him up later along the river.
"Fine," he said. Ino smiled.
"Of course! After all Sasuke-kun, what could harm you on this trip?"
'Lots of thing' thought Sasuke bitterly.
The reached the docks were some of the other genin were waiting for them. Sakura immediately went over and began yelling at Ino fro flirting with Sasuke. Sasuke rolled his eyes. AS if Sakura didn't flirt with him every day.
"Sasuke-kun!" The voice that called him this time was not feminine. If Sasuke had to guess...
"Lee-san," he said to the other boy. Lee grinned.
"Are you excited about this trip?" he asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "I guess," he said coolly.
'I'm gonna die... Itachi's gonna kill me...'
"Don't worry too much about that Itachi character. He promised us that he wouldn't kill you," Lee said with a smile.
Sasuke choked. "You mean he's already here?!" he gasped.
"He's been here since about 7:00 a.m. The boat went and picked him up first instead of last."
Sasuke had to work very hard not to run away screaming. "Where is he?" he managed to choke out.
"In his cabin. It's going to be a two day journey to Akio, so we have to spend the night on the ship. Come on, I'll show you your cabin. You're going to have to share, though. There's not enough room for us all," Lee grabbed Sasuke and lead him aboard the ship. Sasuke reluctantly let himself go.
The lower deck of the ship was actually fairly nice. It wasn't very fancy, just wood, but it was very clean. It was obvious that this ship was well taken care of. Sasuke counted three bathrooms and eleven bedrooms, not including the captains. That meant that they would have to double up. But who was going to share a room with Itachi. Sasuke thought. There were twenty of them. That meant that two people could have his or her own bedroom. So Itachi would probably be one... And the other they would have to decide later.
Sasuke got a good at one of the bedrooms. There was a top and bottom bunk, and a small end table in each one. It wasn't the most extravagant lodgings, but it would do.
'The beds are comfortable, anyway' Sasuke thought as he tested one. The mattress was firm, yet soft at the same time. There was a pillow and blanket for each bed. Sasuke actually liked the way everything was set up. He just hoped he wouldn't have to bunk with a girl that night.
"So, do you like it?" Lee asked as he and Sasuke walked back onto the deck.
"Yeah. It's nice without being too fancy. Plain and simple, if you will," Sasuke replied.
"Sasuke-kun! Where were you?" a frantic voice from the docks called out.
Sasuke groaned as Sakura came running towards him. She almost threw her arms around him before deciding against it.
"I was so worried! I thought that your brother might have killed you or something!" she cried. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"I'm fine, Sakura. Besides, the contract said that if Itachi hurt me, he'd lose the million dollars."
'Honestly, are all girls this stupid?' he thought. 'It's not like Itachi would try anything in the middle of Konoha, anyway. I hope...'
"Sakura smiled. "I'm glad you're okay," she said happily.
Sasuke resisted the urge to snort.
"Oi! Sasuke! Lee! Sakura! Get down here! The two gentlemen that gave us this offer need to talk to us!"
The three genins got off the boat and made their way towards he others. Sasuke noted that Jiraiya and Tsunade were there now. So was Iruka. He turned his attention towards the fat man, who was about to speak.
"Thank you all for coming. We thought that some of you would bail," he said with a little laugh. When no one else followed suit, he stopped.
"Well, anyway, I just want to say have a good trip and if there are any problems, let us know by calling from town. Good day." And with that, he left.
"All right, get on the ship! I'm not waiting for you all!" the ship captain said. Everyone followed him to the boat.
"Now, I only have eleven bedrooms, so some of you are going to have to double up. Two bedrooms contain only one bed, and one of those bedrooms has already been taken by the boy that got on the ship earlier. So one other person can have a room to themselves," the ship's captain said. The shinobi looked at each other.
"How do we decide who gets the one person bedroom?" asked Naruto.
"We'll draw names from a hat. Ten of us will draw names and pair up with the person that they pick. One person will have a slip that's blank. That's the person who gets the one person bedroom. Sound fair?" Tsunade said. Everyone nodded.
"Hey, Captain! Do you have a pencil and paper we could use?" Kakashi called to the captain. The captain nodded and pulled a notepad and pen out of his pocket, then threw them at Kakashi.
"Arigatou!" Kakashi said. Then he wrote down the names of nine people and one blank strip. "Anyone got a hat?" he asked.
Sakura pulled a hat out of her bag. "For the sun," she explained when everyone looked at her.
Kakashi took the hat and put the names in. He shook them around a little. Then he told Naruto, Iruka, Hinata, Neji, Asuma, Tsunade, Kiba, Sakura, Chouji and Jiraiya to take a slip. The outcome was lass than pleasant.
"WHAT THE FUCK?! I HAVE TO SHARE WITH SASUKE?!" Naruto screamed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!! NOT INO-PIG" Sakura yelled.
"I have to share a room with LEE?!" demanded Neji.
"GAI?!?!?! WHY GAI OF ALL PEOPLE?!?! WHY DOES GOD TORTURE ME SO?!?!" Asuma looked on the verge of tears.
Kakashi sweatdropped. Poor, poor Asuma... "Does anyone else have any objections?" Kakashi asked. Tsunade, Chouji, Iruka, Kiba, Hinata and Jiraiya all shook their heads.
"I get my own room!" Jiraiya said cheerfully.
"I'm fine sharing with Kurenai," Tsunade said pleasantly.
"Hinata's fine," Tenten said, giving Hinata a smile.
"I don't mind sharing with Shikamaru," Chouji said happily.
"As long as you don't read that awful Icha Icha Paradise book I'm fine sharing a room with you Kakashi," Iruka said. Kakashi swore under his breath.
"And as for those of you who don't like your arrangements, too bad!" Kakashi laughed and went to bring his things to his cabin.
----------
-Hospital, Sasuke's Pov-
I woke up with a throbbing headache. Stupid hallucinations... Oh who was I kidding? Those weren't hallucinations and I knew it. But till, what WERE they? Ghosts maybe? Well, that seemed like a good explanation...
I sighed and turned my head to look at Naruto. He was still sleeping. But he wasn't snoring and drooling like he had done before they went on that stupid trip. Stupid castle, stupid people, stupid million dollar promise that made the offer impossible to resist.
'Although,' I thought suddenly, 'Itachi HAD been I bit reluctant to go....'
----------
-Flashback, Normal Pov-
Sasuke was leaning against the railing of the ship, looking out into the forest. It was peaceful now, although they had seen a couple of missing- nins and some Anbu earlier. None had bothered to attack, though, and a few even said hi to the captain of the ship.
The Uchiha's glance was cast over to the doors that lead to the lower deck and cabins. Itachi had not come out of his room all day. The captain had brought him lunch. Sasuke knew he should be thankful for this but he couldn't help wondering what his brother was doing.
"Sasuke-kun?" a tentative voice asked from behind him.
"What is it, Sakura?" he said irritably. Sakura gulped.
"Umm... I was wondering if, uh, you wanted to, uh... Oh, never mind," she said and quickly walked away.
Sasuke gave her an odd look before returning his attention to the landscape.
A few hours later, everyone but Sasuke and the captain had gone to bed. Sasuke was sitting against the railing, pondering nothing when a sound caught his attention. He turned to look at the doors leading to the lower deck. He swore.
Itachi had finally come out. But Sasuke had to admit, this was not the manner he had expected to see his brother. Itachi was wearing black jeans and a navy blue t-shirt that had a picture of a skull on it. On his right wrist was a wrist band that had Happy Bunny on it. Sasuke was too far away to see what it said.
He gulped when Itachi's eye's turned towards him. He shot a half hearted glare at his brother. He really wasn't in the mood to see Itachi right now. So when the older Uchiha walked over to him and sat on the railing he just about screamed.
"Everyone else had gone to bed. Why are you still up?" Itachi asked.
"The captain hasn't gone to bed," Sasuke pointed out through gritted teeth. He really, REALLY didn't want to be near Itachi right now....
"The captain has to steer the ship, Sasuke. He can't sleep. At least, not now," Itachi said with a tone of one reminding a child something. Sasuke growled.
"Shut up," he grumbled. Itachi smirked.
"So why are you on this trip," Sasuke asked his older brother.
Itachi frowned. "Well, one million U.S. dollars is a huge chunk of money, and it seemed like a good idea to come. Although now I'm not so sure...." He trailed off.
Sasuke snorted. "What Are you afraid of something?" he teased then snickered. A quick glare from Itachi shut him up right away.
"Does it really make sense that we're getting one million dollars for going to spend a month in an old castle?" Itachi questioned.
"Not... really...," Sasuke answered. And it didn't make sense.
"Exactly. There's obviously more to this offer than meets the eye. And I did some research on Ishiyama Castle. It doesn't sound like the world's best place," Itachi said.
"So them why would they send us there?" Sasuke asked.
Itachi shrugged. "I admit, I am a bit reluctant to carry through with this. However..." he stopped. Sasuke couldn't figure out why Itachi looked at him suddenly.
The older Uchiha yawned. "I'm going to bed," he said and went back to the lower deck.
Sasuke stared after him. He could have sworn that he had seen a look of concern for himself on Itachi's face.
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Pyro: Sorry for not updating quicker... I have changed the formatting of the other chapters to fit this chapter so... yeah...
Sakura: (turning green) I feel sea sick....
Pyro: And we could all care less. Besides, it brings out your eyes!
Sakura: O.O (barfs and faints)