Ichigo: Oy, sorry about the wait! My uploaders were on Reading Break!
Sakura-kun: No, just me!
Ichigo: Well whatever! Sorry all the same! I promise! No delays from now on!
Sakura-kun: **sniffle sniffle**
Ichigo: What's wrong with you?
Sakura-kun: *SOB SOB SOB* I'M A BAD BETA-READER!!! *SOB SOB SOB*
Ichigo: O_O **eep** It's ok, you try your best.
Sakura-kun: I'm horrible!!!! **hides in a corner and cries**
Ichigo: Umm, ok. Please forgive her, she blames herself. **sigh** We try, really we do, but between the both of us we still manage to miss things. Sorry ^^, we'll try harder from now on!
Sakura-kun: *SOB SOB SOB*
You know, truthfully, I use this place as an excuse to do more free-form writing. I mean, I get so sick of structure and form in school - you know, sentence structure, fragments, comma use, that kind of stuff. It's not that I DON'T know how to do it right, it just that, most of the time I choose not too. Like, Sakura was asking me about my super short paragraph style the other day, and well - I just like it that way. Plus, I use "-'s" a lot, just cuz I wanna, and they don't let you in class! Hope my bad form doesn't piss people off TOO much. O_o; I mean, it's about the story right? As long as it reads fine it's not SO bad. **sigh** Anyway, whatever - if it bothers you that much just write me! ^^
Plot Summery (again, again, again) - The relationship between Sasuke and Naruto has changed a lot over the years, especially now that they both seem to have come to the same realizations. However, Sasuke finds himself unable too runaway from links to his past - especially those in the form of a strange, tragic, second generation, missing-nin. To find out more about himself, his brother, and to save a life, Sasuke has to decide just how far he's willing to go - as well as what, and who, he is willing to leave behind.
Now, about this FOURTH chapter - YAY! Finally a chapter that got longer instead of shorter! Only a little, but still, it's in the right direction! Only thing was, there comes to a part where I had to do a character description and MAN was it hard! Sakura kept damn well sending it back to me and telling me to re-do it! . But I'm glad she did I guess. Cuz it WAS a page long at first O_O. It's still not so good, but hey, what yah gonna do?
Chapter Summery -
Warnings - sasunaru shounen-ai a bit at the beginning, a little bit of language I think somewhere O_o, nothing major.
(Once again, this is my disclaimer: "not mine")
***
They hadn't seen a single person on the roads, and not so much as a squirrel in the underbrush, as they hiked their way through the difficult terrain of the thick forest outside of Konoha.
"God damn it!" Naruto shouted out of nowhere, "Where the hell are we going Kakashi-sensei?!" he ranted, finally asking the nagging question on all of their minds.
"I don't know." he shrugged, much to Naruto's dismay.
"Well then how the hell are we supposed to find her!?"
"I don't know." he shrugged again.
"Agg!" he shook his head in aggravation as he stuck his tongue out at him immaturely.
"Hey, give it a rest," Sasuke interjected, "could be worse." he pointed out, a little smirk on his face as he caught up to Naruto, squeezing his fingers as he passed him by.
If anyone had been looking at Naruto then, they would have seen him blushing horribly.
******
As night began to fall and the forest grew even more eerily silent, and the foursome stopped in a more-or-less bare clearing to set up camp for the night.
"You know, I'm really not seeing the point of this." Naruto yawned, as he unrolled his sleeping bag.
"I know, but I just have a feeling that this is going to work."
"What's gonna work?!" Naruto started to bicker again, "We haven't done anything but walk and walk and walk!" he grumbled.
"Well you see," Kakashi finally explained, "I'm sort of hopping she'll just come to us rather than us having to go to her."
"Huh?"
"I told you not to wear your uniforms so that we wouldn't stand out as ninjas, just more as average people."
"OH!" Sakura exclaimed, all of a sudden understanding his plan, "I get it!"
"Oh what?!? I DON'T get it!" Naruto whined.
"He's hoping she'll jump us." Sasuke said flatly, shaking his head at Naruto.
"Well why didn't you just say that in the first place!" Naruto continued to complain in his childish way.
""Brilliant idea sensei!"Sakura commended him.
"Yeah, I know." he grinned.
******
Late into the night, and approaching morning, it was Sasuke's turn to sit watch over his fellow teammates. It had been too hot to bother with a camp fire so Sasuke just sat alone in the dark, leaning against a tree, listening quietly to the sounds of nothing. His teammates were all fast asleep and he sat, calmly, watching Naruto, sleeping soundly at his feet.
It was so strange to him, the feeling he felt as he watched him lying there, a kind of anxious - but pleasant - uneasiness in his stomach. He never would have guessed in a million years that it would come to this - to him, feeling this way about Naruto. And Naruto of all people. The one person other then his brother who he'd ever thought of, truly, hating.
His brother - that's when he thought of it, and groping at his neck inside the wide collar of his shirt he felt the cold metal of the strange necklace he'd receive, from the person identifying him as the brother of Uchiha Itachi. He wondered who it was, and what connection they had with him, it was funny how one little thing could evoke so many questions.
"That's a pretty necklace." he jumped at the sound of Naruto's voice, and looked down to see him laying their, his head propped up with his arm, watching him intently.
"Yeah."
"Who'd you get it from?" Naruto inquired, being sure to whisper as he got up and came to sit next to Sasuke.
"I don't know." Sasuke shrugged, "It didn't say."
"Sure is beautiful." Naruto awed, taking the pendent from Sasuke's hand and examining it; forcing Sasuke to lean over, as it was still around his neck.
"I kinda' wanna know who it was." Sasuke sighed.
"Yeah, she must really like you."
"What makes you think it's a she?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Come on, no boy has this good a taste." He smiled.
"Really? I happen to think you have a very good taste." Sasuke grinned, looking up into his bright blue eyes.
"I know." he smiled.
Both thinking the same thing, they leaned in slowly, allowing their lips to touch one anothers gently - that same electric surge as before running down both of their spines.
"Wait." Sasuke sighed, breaking their kiss prematurely. "Now's not good."
"Um, uh huh." Naruto nodded, looking a little rejected.
Sasuke kissed him on the cheek for assurance and took his hand in his own - their fingers seeming to fit so nicely together.
Naruto looked up at Sasuke, his black eyes even darker then normal in the deep shadows of the night. He examined his face closely as he watched him stare off into space. His eyes lingered for a long time on his soft, pale, lips - the key to the emotionless demeanor which he'd always known him to wear.
"You know, I waited a long time to be aloud to kiss you." Naruto whispered quietly.
"I didn't know you wanted to." Sasuke murmured back, never turning his eyes down to him.
"I didn't either." he smirked, shaking his head.
So the two sat there together in the failing darkness, their finger affectionately teasing at each others palms and wrists as the motionless night began to fade around them.
******
Naruto had long since fallen back to sleep, his head resting on Sasuke's shoulder, but Sasuke was still wide awake. A few bright rays of light were beginning to filter through the leaves over head, indicating that it was early sunrise.
Naruto still look like a sweet little kid despite his age - with his long eye lashes and the cute whisker-like marks on his cheeks - and Sasuke couldn't help but lean down and kiss him softly on the head. It felt good to have someone around to want to look after again.
Just then, a subtle rustling sound in the trees above caught Sasuke off guard and made him jump.
"Mahh." Naruto groaned, being jarred partially awake.
"Naruto, wake up," Sasuke hissed, shaking him, "someone's here."
Naruto sat bolt upright at those words.
"Huh? Where?"
"I'm not sure."
Sasuke and Naruto back off from the tree and stood back to back defensively, kunai pulled from the pockets, scanning the trees.
His sharp eyes searched the dark shadows of the trees as he tried to sense the direction of whomever it was watching them, but they were concealing themself too well. Yet, a tiny movement gave away their position as he caught a glimpse of someone retreating, quickly, into the cover of the forest.
"It's her." Sasuke said through gritted teeth, "Naruto, wake up Sakura and Kakashi, I'm going after her!"
"What?!"
But before Naruto could do anything Sasuke had already jumped up into the trees, and he could barely catch a glimpse as two dark figures disappeared into the foliage.
******
Sasuke fallowed closely behind the shadowy figure as it bounded its way from tree to tree. Sasuke was fast but he was still having a hard time keeping up to someone who was so obviously used to this kind of terrain.
All of a sudden they stopped, causing Sasuke to pass by them in his hurry. Turning back quickly he saw it was, in fact, a girl - standing, calmly, in the shadows watching him silently.
"Who are you!" Sasuke called to her.
She didn't respond.
"Well? You just gonna stand there?!"
"Maybe." she said quietly, her gaze becoming stern at the tone of his voice.
"Are you the missing-nin girl?"
"If I am?"
"Then I'm here to take you back with me." he smiled matter-of-factly.
"And just how do you intend to do that Uchiha Sasuke-sama?"
"What? How do you know my name!?" he demanded, holding up his kunai threateningly.
"Are you not wearing the symbol of the Uchiha?" she inquired.
"Sure, but there's no way you could have seen it when I was sitting there."
"True." she nodded, "But it really isn't hard to tell," she shook her head at him, "cuz you look too much like your brother."
"What about my brother!?" Sasuke shouted at her, caught off guard at the mention of him.
"Would you quit yelling!" she shouted back at him.
Seething, Sasuke watch watched her cautiously, unsure of what she'd do - after all, this girl had supposedly put Anbu into the hospital, so he wasn't about to let his guard down.
She was so strange to look at though, tall, thin, and almost frail looking, hardly someone formidable in appearance; but you learn quickly as a shinobi that the look of someone hardly has anything to do with their strength.
However, she didn't attack him, or even threaten him, she just stood there watching him - which (not that he'd admit it) was making him more uneasy then if she'd just come at him. As she tucked the lengths of her long, raven colored, hair, behind her ear, Sasuke could see through her long bangs that she wore a head protector the same as his own, only, the metal was so scratched away that it no longer bore any symbol.
Her tight, black and mesh, top however, did. Across her ample chest was a design composed of two large circles: a white one, and within it, a smaller deep-green one - off set in such a way that they formed an inverted crescent moon.
"Wait -" Sasuke stopped, as he realized what the picture on here chest was, lowering his hands and fishing around inside his shirt, "You were the one in my house the other day! This was from you!" he shouted holding out the crescent necklace.
"Maybe." she said vaguely, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Why?! What for!?"
"Do you not accept gifts?"
"I said WHAT FOR?!"
"Wasn't it your brithday?"
"How the hell would you know!?"
"Would you please stop yelling!"
"Why the hell should I? You break into my house! You talk about my brother! You sneak up on me in the middle of the night! You run off without so much as a word and you expect me to stop yelling!?"
"Yes, actually." she said flatly.
"I," he just stopped - he didn't even know what to bother saying.
"Are you done now?" she asked.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked again, this time more calmly.
She didn't answer him again.
"WHO ARE YOU!" He yelled at her more forcefully, evidently aggravated by her reluctance.
She cringed at his voice, as though it hurt her ears, and then shaking her head looked up at him sternly.
"Why don't you find out for yourself." she muttered.
Launching herself at him, pulling shurikens from her leg pouch and throwing them at his head she told him, without words, that she wouldn't give in to him so easily.
Jumping aside to avoid her attack he smirked and shook his head.
"Fine then, have it your way."
***
To be continued -
******
Ichigo: Hmmm... well, that didn't go SO badly, not so well either. O_o;
Sakura-kun: Well it's better then before!
Ichigo: **grrrrr**
Sakura-kun: **cowers in fear**
Ichigo: Anyway, the fight's to fallow, so I hope you're all holdin' in there!
Sakura-kun: WAIII! ^__^
We're getting closer and closer towards my favorite part of the story! I just love knowing what's gonna happen - makes me feel special! DHAHAHA! Oy - never mind. Anyway! Thanx again to everyone who's reviewed! I should have the next chapter up before the end of the week!
What to expect in later chapters - The fight to bring the missing-nin girl back to Konoha heats up, and Sasuke finds himself presented with a strange set of circumstances which leave him questioning everything. The strange girls situation makes things difficult for more people then just herself, and her past proves trouble some to more people then just Sasuke.
Sakura-kun: No, just me!
Ichigo: Well whatever! Sorry all the same! I promise! No delays from now on!
Sakura-kun: **sniffle sniffle**
Ichigo: What's wrong with you?
Sakura-kun: *SOB SOB SOB* I'M A BAD BETA-READER!!! *SOB SOB SOB*
Ichigo: O_O **eep** It's ok, you try your best.
Sakura-kun: I'm horrible!!!! **hides in a corner and cries**
Ichigo: Umm, ok. Please forgive her, she blames herself. **sigh** We try, really we do, but between the both of us we still manage to miss things. Sorry ^^, we'll try harder from now on!
Sakura-kun: *SOB SOB SOB*
You know, truthfully, I use this place as an excuse to do more free-form writing. I mean, I get so sick of structure and form in school - you know, sentence structure, fragments, comma use, that kind of stuff. It's not that I DON'T know how to do it right, it just that, most of the time I choose not too. Like, Sakura was asking me about my super short paragraph style the other day, and well - I just like it that way. Plus, I use "-'s" a lot, just cuz I wanna, and they don't let you in class! Hope my bad form doesn't piss people off TOO much. O_o; I mean, it's about the story right? As long as it reads fine it's not SO bad. **sigh** Anyway, whatever - if it bothers you that much just write me! ^^
Plot Summery (again, again, again) - The relationship between Sasuke and Naruto has changed a lot over the years, especially now that they both seem to have come to the same realizations. However, Sasuke finds himself unable too runaway from links to his past - especially those in the form of a strange, tragic, second generation, missing-nin. To find out more about himself, his brother, and to save a life, Sasuke has to decide just how far he's willing to go - as well as what, and who, he is willing to leave behind.
Now, about this FOURTH chapter - YAY! Finally a chapter that got longer instead of shorter! Only a little, but still, it's in the right direction! Only thing was, there comes to a part where I had to do a character description and MAN was it hard! Sakura kept damn well sending it back to me and telling me to re-do it! . But I'm glad she did I guess. Cuz it WAS a page long at first O_O. It's still not so good, but hey, what yah gonna do?
Chapter Summery -
Warnings - sasunaru shounen-ai a bit at the beginning, a little bit of language I think somewhere O_o, nothing major.
(Once again, this is my disclaimer: "not mine")
***
They hadn't seen a single person on the roads, and not so much as a squirrel in the underbrush, as they hiked their way through the difficult terrain of the thick forest outside of Konoha.
"God damn it!" Naruto shouted out of nowhere, "Where the hell are we going Kakashi-sensei?!" he ranted, finally asking the nagging question on all of their minds.
"I don't know." he shrugged, much to Naruto's dismay.
"Well then how the hell are we supposed to find her!?"
"I don't know." he shrugged again.
"Agg!" he shook his head in aggravation as he stuck his tongue out at him immaturely.
"Hey, give it a rest," Sasuke interjected, "could be worse." he pointed out, a little smirk on his face as he caught up to Naruto, squeezing his fingers as he passed him by.
If anyone had been looking at Naruto then, they would have seen him blushing horribly.
******
As night began to fall and the forest grew even more eerily silent, and the foursome stopped in a more-or-less bare clearing to set up camp for the night.
"You know, I'm really not seeing the point of this." Naruto yawned, as he unrolled his sleeping bag.
"I know, but I just have a feeling that this is going to work."
"What's gonna work?!" Naruto started to bicker again, "We haven't done anything but walk and walk and walk!" he grumbled.
"Well you see," Kakashi finally explained, "I'm sort of hopping she'll just come to us rather than us having to go to her."
"Huh?"
"I told you not to wear your uniforms so that we wouldn't stand out as ninjas, just more as average people."
"OH!" Sakura exclaimed, all of a sudden understanding his plan, "I get it!"
"Oh what?!? I DON'T get it!" Naruto whined.
"He's hoping she'll jump us." Sasuke said flatly, shaking his head at Naruto.
"Well why didn't you just say that in the first place!" Naruto continued to complain in his childish way.
""Brilliant idea sensei!"Sakura commended him.
"Yeah, I know." he grinned.
******
Late into the night, and approaching morning, it was Sasuke's turn to sit watch over his fellow teammates. It had been too hot to bother with a camp fire so Sasuke just sat alone in the dark, leaning against a tree, listening quietly to the sounds of nothing. His teammates were all fast asleep and he sat, calmly, watching Naruto, sleeping soundly at his feet.
It was so strange to him, the feeling he felt as he watched him lying there, a kind of anxious - but pleasant - uneasiness in his stomach. He never would have guessed in a million years that it would come to this - to him, feeling this way about Naruto. And Naruto of all people. The one person other then his brother who he'd ever thought of, truly, hating.
His brother - that's when he thought of it, and groping at his neck inside the wide collar of his shirt he felt the cold metal of the strange necklace he'd receive, from the person identifying him as the brother of Uchiha Itachi. He wondered who it was, and what connection they had with him, it was funny how one little thing could evoke so many questions.
"That's a pretty necklace." he jumped at the sound of Naruto's voice, and looked down to see him laying their, his head propped up with his arm, watching him intently.
"Yeah."
"Who'd you get it from?" Naruto inquired, being sure to whisper as he got up and came to sit next to Sasuke.
"I don't know." Sasuke shrugged, "It didn't say."
"Sure is beautiful." Naruto awed, taking the pendent from Sasuke's hand and examining it; forcing Sasuke to lean over, as it was still around his neck.
"I kinda' wanna know who it was." Sasuke sighed.
"Yeah, she must really like you."
"What makes you think it's a she?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Come on, no boy has this good a taste." He smiled.
"Really? I happen to think you have a very good taste." Sasuke grinned, looking up into his bright blue eyes.
"I know." he smiled.
Both thinking the same thing, they leaned in slowly, allowing their lips to touch one anothers gently - that same electric surge as before running down both of their spines.
"Wait." Sasuke sighed, breaking their kiss prematurely. "Now's not good."
"Um, uh huh." Naruto nodded, looking a little rejected.
Sasuke kissed him on the cheek for assurance and took his hand in his own - their fingers seeming to fit so nicely together.
Naruto looked up at Sasuke, his black eyes even darker then normal in the deep shadows of the night. He examined his face closely as he watched him stare off into space. His eyes lingered for a long time on his soft, pale, lips - the key to the emotionless demeanor which he'd always known him to wear.
"You know, I waited a long time to be aloud to kiss you." Naruto whispered quietly.
"I didn't know you wanted to." Sasuke murmured back, never turning his eyes down to him.
"I didn't either." he smirked, shaking his head.
So the two sat there together in the failing darkness, their finger affectionately teasing at each others palms and wrists as the motionless night began to fade around them.
******
Naruto had long since fallen back to sleep, his head resting on Sasuke's shoulder, but Sasuke was still wide awake. A few bright rays of light were beginning to filter through the leaves over head, indicating that it was early sunrise.
Naruto still look like a sweet little kid despite his age - with his long eye lashes and the cute whisker-like marks on his cheeks - and Sasuke couldn't help but lean down and kiss him softly on the head. It felt good to have someone around to want to look after again.
Just then, a subtle rustling sound in the trees above caught Sasuke off guard and made him jump.
"Mahh." Naruto groaned, being jarred partially awake.
"Naruto, wake up," Sasuke hissed, shaking him, "someone's here."
Naruto sat bolt upright at those words.
"Huh? Where?"
"I'm not sure."
Sasuke and Naruto back off from the tree and stood back to back defensively, kunai pulled from the pockets, scanning the trees.
His sharp eyes searched the dark shadows of the trees as he tried to sense the direction of whomever it was watching them, but they were concealing themself too well. Yet, a tiny movement gave away their position as he caught a glimpse of someone retreating, quickly, into the cover of the forest.
"It's her." Sasuke said through gritted teeth, "Naruto, wake up Sakura and Kakashi, I'm going after her!"
"What?!"
But before Naruto could do anything Sasuke had already jumped up into the trees, and he could barely catch a glimpse as two dark figures disappeared into the foliage.
******
Sasuke fallowed closely behind the shadowy figure as it bounded its way from tree to tree. Sasuke was fast but he was still having a hard time keeping up to someone who was so obviously used to this kind of terrain.
All of a sudden they stopped, causing Sasuke to pass by them in his hurry. Turning back quickly he saw it was, in fact, a girl - standing, calmly, in the shadows watching him silently.
"Who are you!" Sasuke called to her.
She didn't respond.
"Well? You just gonna stand there?!"
"Maybe." she said quietly, her gaze becoming stern at the tone of his voice.
"Are you the missing-nin girl?"
"If I am?"
"Then I'm here to take you back with me." he smiled matter-of-factly.
"And just how do you intend to do that Uchiha Sasuke-sama?"
"What? How do you know my name!?" he demanded, holding up his kunai threateningly.
"Are you not wearing the symbol of the Uchiha?" she inquired.
"Sure, but there's no way you could have seen it when I was sitting there."
"True." she nodded, "But it really isn't hard to tell," she shook her head at him, "cuz you look too much like your brother."
"What about my brother!?" Sasuke shouted at her, caught off guard at the mention of him.
"Would you quit yelling!" she shouted back at him.
Seething, Sasuke watch watched her cautiously, unsure of what she'd do - after all, this girl had supposedly put Anbu into the hospital, so he wasn't about to let his guard down.
She was so strange to look at though, tall, thin, and almost frail looking, hardly someone formidable in appearance; but you learn quickly as a shinobi that the look of someone hardly has anything to do with their strength.
However, she didn't attack him, or even threaten him, she just stood there watching him - which (not that he'd admit it) was making him more uneasy then if she'd just come at him. As she tucked the lengths of her long, raven colored, hair, behind her ear, Sasuke could see through her long bangs that she wore a head protector the same as his own, only, the metal was so scratched away that it no longer bore any symbol.
Her tight, black and mesh, top however, did. Across her ample chest was a design composed of two large circles: a white one, and within it, a smaller deep-green one - off set in such a way that they formed an inverted crescent moon.
"Wait -" Sasuke stopped, as he realized what the picture on here chest was, lowering his hands and fishing around inside his shirt, "You were the one in my house the other day! This was from you!" he shouted holding out the crescent necklace.
"Maybe." she said vaguely, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Why?! What for!?"
"Do you not accept gifts?"
"I said WHAT FOR?!"
"Wasn't it your brithday?"
"How the hell would you know!?"
"Would you please stop yelling!"
"Why the hell should I? You break into my house! You talk about my brother! You sneak up on me in the middle of the night! You run off without so much as a word and you expect me to stop yelling!?"
"Yes, actually." she said flatly.
"I," he just stopped - he didn't even know what to bother saying.
"Are you done now?" she asked.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked again, this time more calmly.
She didn't answer him again.
"WHO ARE YOU!" He yelled at her more forcefully, evidently aggravated by her reluctance.
She cringed at his voice, as though it hurt her ears, and then shaking her head looked up at him sternly.
"Why don't you find out for yourself." she muttered.
Launching herself at him, pulling shurikens from her leg pouch and throwing them at his head she told him, without words, that she wouldn't give in to him so easily.
Jumping aside to avoid her attack he smirked and shook his head.
"Fine then, have it your way."
***
To be continued -
******
Ichigo: Hmmm... well, that didn't go SO badly, not so well either. O_o;
Sakura-kun: Well it's better then before!
Ichigo: **grrrrr**
Sakura-kun: **cowers in fear**
Ichigo: Anyway, the fight's to fallow, so I hope you're all holdin' in there!
Sakura-kun: WAIII! ^__^
We're getting closer and closer towards my favorite part of the story! I just love knowing what's gonna happen - makes me feel special! DHAHAHA! Oy - never mind. Anyway! Thanx again to everyone who's reviewed! I should have the next chapter up before the end of the week!
What to expect in later chapters - The fight to bring the missing-nin girl back to Konoha heats up, and Sasuke finds himself presented with a strange set of circumstances which leave him questioning everything. The strange girls situation makes things difficult for more people then just herself, and her past proves trouble some to more people then just Sasuke.