~Warning/Disclaimer~
Naruto and the characters don't belong to me; they belong to Kishimoto. *sigh* I want a demon fox. ^_^ anyhoo—started a new fic that spawned on me one morning. It's a welcome change to the other Naruto fic and will help me keep focus.
Rated R for dark themes, future…situations and the usual yaoi-ness. ^_^
Side note – this takes place after the Chuunin exam, but Sasuke never leaves, and the two never fight, and Kakashi still trains the three of them.
Think age 15!! If you've got questions, I'll try to answer them as best as possible.
Enjoy!
Division
~two~
"Do you understand me, Sasuke?"
For a long breathless moment Sasuke can only stare at the woman across from him, the Hokage, in an effort to believe that he heard her wrong.
"Sasuke?" her voice is cool, warning coated in ice.
"Yes," Sasuke rasps and can't hide the shudder that courses through him. "But I can't do something like that. I can't just…just bow down like that…"
The woman's gaze is unreadable. Sasuke would like to think she feels sympathy for him, even pity is something he'll accept—but he can't read any emotion whatsoever on her face. He turns his head away from her, and listens numbly.
"To keep the situation stable you will do whatever is necessary. He is kitsune, Sasuke. He is demon. He has a body that he can roam freely in for the first time in years and if you can't keep him placid…For Naruto's sake, at least…"
She doesn't have to say what could happen; Sasuke knows this already. It's imprinted upon his mind like finely-scratched wounds. He nods slowly.
"I should go back," he whispers.
"Understood," Tsunade replies. "I'll stop by in a few days. I trust you will inform them of the story we're spreading around the village?"
"Yes," Sasuke says. "I'll summon you if there's a problem."
~@~
Naruto rises to the surface of his mind from a dreamless sleep. Although he doesn't know it, he has been asleep for over twelve hours; his body is loose and feels the slightly numb sensation of much needed rest. Almost of their own accord, his eyes open to the light streaming through a window.
The first thing he sees, to his confusion, is Sasuke's face. Apparently, as he stares with sleepy curiosity, Sasuke has fallen asleep kneeling next to his bed with his cheek pillowed on his arms. His breathing is slow, his face smooth and covered by the wild uncombed strands of fine black hair.
Naruto feels his mouth twitch. The last thing he remembers, as his mind flits randomly to thoughts of the boy and other memories, is Sasuke. Sasuke looking down at him, asking him something. A worried Sasuke. Naruto frowns a tiny bit and blinks slowly.
Hadn't something…happened?
But it's early, and Naruto is less than coherent in his thoughts when he's waking. All he can focus on, understandably, is the dull pressure of his bladder.
He mumbles something and pushes towards the edge of the bed, carefully skirting the sleeping Sasuke—which surprises him because Sasuke rarely sleeps so deeply—and leaves the warmth of the bed. He stands wobbly, rubbing his eyes, and stumbles towards the door. He is dressed in a clean pair of blue pajamas that obviously didn't belong to him, but he doesn't notice this until he locates the bathroom.
The blond frowns as his mind clears slightly because the floor is icy and old habits keep him at least aware of where he's aiming, and rubs a finger against the hem of his blue shirt. He doesn't remember changing into this; and his skin is lightly scented with some soapy smell. Did he take a bath before bed? He can't place it, and doesn't try.
Naruto passes it off with indifference, shakes, and pulls up the waistline. He turns, yawning, to wash his hands at the sink and splash his face. Even the cold water does little to wake him further—it would take a good hour and a hot bowl of ramen to wake him up.
Naruto looks into the mirror out of habit as he reaches for the towel to his right, and suddenly stops.
What happened…to my face? is his first coherent thought. His eyes—same shade as the sky—widen until he can see the whites around the iris. His face is wet and dripping, his hair damp at the edges and mussed, flat on one side from the pillow; there are sleep-marks on his cheek—
But they aren't the marks he's looking for—
Naruto makes a strangled sound, and gently touches his cheek. It's like staring into a stranger wearing his face; slight differences in the bone structure and the lack of the triple scars—
Naruto tries to suck in a breath and fails. He remembers, as he stands there frozen, what happened.
And then he screams, hands over his face and backpedaling until his back hits the wall. He slides down with a shudder and fights back tears, ashamed at his screaming and frightened at his own face—
Sasuke bursts into the small bathroom, wild-eyed and kunai in hand. "Naruto—" is all he can seem to say at first and stares at him. "What—what's wrong?"
Horribly startled, Naruto wants to yell at him for barging into the bathroom like that, for being such a weirdo, but then he remembers that Sasuke had been there when the people had started throwing things him and wipes at his eyes. "I…" he clears his throat. "I saw…" he gestures towards the mirror and the still-running faucet. "My face," he finishes lamely. "It's…wrong."
It seems that his words trigger the pause of Sasuke's attack mode. Naruto watches with tiny glances as Sasuke rubs at his face and sets the kunai on the edge of the sink. Then he yawns—which makes Naruto cover his mouth in a yawn of his own—and lowers himself to the tile across from him. Ebon eyes that still look blurry with sleep examine him and Naruto ducks his head.
"Do you remember what happened?" Sasuke asks. "Yesterday, I mean."
Naruto nods slowly. A part of him is puzzled by the way Sasuke's acting—it doesn't seem normal, but then, nothing can be normal today. But this is Sasuke—
"Are you…" Sasuke clears his throat. "Are you okay?"
The blond shrugs and keeps his eyes on the floor just in front of him; he can see Sasuke's feet, narrow and pale like the rest of him and his hands as they rub thumb to finger nervously. Interesting. He never knew Sasuke had a nervous quirk.
"Tsunade was going to talk to you about this," Sasuke says after the silence thickens. "But…she told me to stay and keep an eye on you or something…"
"…what did they do to me?" Naruto breathes in a tiny voice. "Those men. What did they do?"
Where's the other one? he wants to ask but fears the answer.
Unconsciously, Sasuke straightens, his eyes flickering as his face smoothes. Naruto can tell by that motion alone that the boy is filtering through his memory so he darts his eyes to Sasuke's face.
"The Hokage said they used a forbidden jutsu on you for practice and it split you into two people, instead of splitting your mind up," Sasuke sums it up quickly.
"Oh…" Naruto pushes his cheek against his shoulder, mind working slowly. "So…why do I look like this?"
Sasuke glances down at his hands and frowns. "It's…the person you would have been, if things were different for you." A pause while Sasuke searches for the words. "If you didn't have the seal."
Naruto is silent for a long time as his mind works this over, relief and shame at the thought He knows about the demon fox, sliding it into the jumbled mess he's got to sort out from the last few days. "If I didn't have the seal?" he repeats slowly.
I'm…not…
His blue eyes widen. "What—what about—"
"There are two of you now. The demon has one body, and you have the other but the he can't do anything because the seal is still whole—he's just got a body to use. That's all."
He's out, Naruto thinks. He's not inside me.
But he can't decide if that's a good thing or not…
Sasuke seems desperate to convince him that things are okay, watching him with his customary blank mask; his eyes blaze in worry. For a moment Naruto wants to think he's joking. That it's just some prank that Sasuke could never think of, but at the same time he feels the ache inside of him. The strangeness and the not-him.
And if he tries really hard, he can sense exactly where the other…half…of him is.
"Can…they fix me?" Naruto asks.
Sasuke bites his lip and looks away. "…I don't know."
~@~
Fifteen minutes pass before Sasuke can convince Naruto to get up and leave the bathroom with him for breakfast; it's his private thought that the only reason Naruto agreed at all was because Sasuke gave his word to cook a real breakfast.
His second thought is that he's glad that he shut the bedroom door in his wild instinctive passing—Although Naruto is quiet and relatively calm, he doesn't know what would happen if the blond looked inside and saw himself—what looked like himself—still curled up on the bed.
If he knew that he had been curled up next to the creature…
"Sasuke?" Naruto says, peering back over his shoulder.
"I'll be right there, I'm going to put this away," he tells him and waves the kunai lazily.
Naruto nods. "Okay." He gives Sasuke a hesitant look before he disappears down the corner of the hallway.
Sasuke watches him, thinking to himself that it feels disturbing to have Naruto mildly agree to half of his statements, that he'd rather have contradictions and the wild spirit. Naruto is the least of your worries, Sasuke thinks and makes a face to himself as he pushes open the door.
"Oiy," he says quietly while a part of him winces in the disbelief that he can talk so calmly to a demon. "I'm making breakfast. Are you going to join us?"
Kyubi cracks open one red eye and glares at him without answering. Then the eye closes and Sasuke watches him twist around until he's curled tight like a cat with the intention of sleeping.
How much of Naruto was Naruto? Sasuke has to wonder. He sighs and tosses the kunai to the small pile of containers, his things, and closes the door again.
When he makes his way to the kitchen, Naruto is already seated at the table with his head on his arms. Sasuke enters rubbing the back of his neck, hating the cold floor, and starts looking through the cupboards.
"Whose place is this?" Naruto asks absently.
"The Hokage rented out a house—I guess she plans to have us all here with some sense of privacy, instead of an apartment." Sasuke finds the cupboard housing the pots and pulls out the largest he can find. A hunt through the shelves in the small pantry offers up a box of instant rice while the small fridge has a set of eggs. Sasuke isn't particularly fond of instant, but there's little to choose from.
As he fills the pot with water, he says quietly, "I don't think anyone's supposed to know what really happened, and it's safer if you're in a different place…"
"Yeah, that makes sense," Naruto says.
I'm cooking for him, Sasuke thinks to himself, mind occupied with insignificant things like not turning around and wondering if the milk is sour and if Naruto likes bean paste— It's…weird.
And what about…that?
Sasuke doesn't know what to do about the demon. He sets the pot onto the stove to boil, and measures out the rice, occupying his hands to try and clear his mind, if possible.
But flickering red eyes won't leave his thoughts, and a low raspy voice, Naruto's voice with malice and hate won't leave his memory.
"Naruto?" he says after the water boils and the small pan is heating up.
"Yeah?"
"You know he's here too, right?" Sasuke winces at the sound of his voice so hushed and fearful. He cracks open the two eggs and whisks them around briskly.
"…yeah," Naruto whispers, voice muffled as if he finally hid his face behind his arms. "I know."
Sasuke dumps in the rice and stirs it slowly, watching it devoutly to keep himself from turning around and revealing his useless fear. "What…what do we do? About him…is he going to…I mean, is he safe? Do you think he's safe?"
Because—because I—
"I don't know," Naruto says simply. "He feels…strange. I don't think he likes this either, but…" the blond doesn't have to say the concern that lines his voice. But I don't know what he'll do.
Sasuke deftly scoops portions of the rice into two small bowls, using a spoon for the scrambled eggs to cover the rice. Then he turns and sets one down for Naruto, and sits himself down in the next seat. For a while there's nothing but the sound of their chopsticks clinking on the bowls, and the soft chewing sounds. Not even the usual sounds of the village around them invade the kitchen.
For a moment Sasuke feels ethereal, as if he was witness to a dream that wouldn't remember in the morning. He pauses with his chopsticks half-way to his mouth, struck with a sudden thought.
What if he doesn't want to go back?
Sasuke places his utensils across his nearly empty bowl and frowns. That doesn't matter, he thinks. He can't—
"Aren't you hungry?" Naruto asks around a mouthful.
Sasuke shakes his head, feeling slightly sick on more levels than the physical, and pushes his bowl away. "I'm full," he responds calmly. He can see with a glance that Naruto's own dish is nearly spotless.
He can't, the words echo hollowly in his mind as he rises from the table to stand at the window, staring out. The Hokage said he can't survive like this…
So what do we do if he doesn't want to go back to the way things were?
Naruto flinches without warning in the corner of his eye, breaking his thoughts. With a fleeting look Sasuke frowns automatically and watches the blond duck his head to push his chopsticks around, toying with them.
The next thing Sasuke sees is yawning Naruto in black pajamas—Kyubi! his mind reminds him—shuffle around the table and into his line of sight. Sasuke darts an uncomfortable glance at Naruto—who's watching the half-conscious demon with wide eyes.
"Thought you weren't getting up this early," Sasuke hears himself say with apparent irritation. Stop talking to him! his mind yells. He's dangerous!
Kyubi slumps into a chair and sprawls across the table. "Mugh." he says. "Hungry. Stupid kit."
Naruto glowers at him over the edge of the table. "Sasuke's not stupid. Stop saying stuff like that."
"Is too," Kyubi mumbles, opening his crimson eyes to glare blearily at Sasuke. "Feed me before I eat you, stupid one."
Naruto says a quiet "Is not," and sticks out his tongue when the fox props his head onto his arms.
"Fo~od," Kyubi repeats to the table.
Sasuke sighs with a wondering thought if it's going to be as strange as this every day. He scowls to himself and turns away from the window. He grabs a clean bowl and dishes out a heaping pile of rice, then slaps the remainder of the eggs on top. They wobble dangerously as Sasuke sets the bowl down on the table.
Kyubi opens his eyes. "Your presentation sucks," the demon says straight-faced and sly.
"Too bad," Sasuke responds coolly. "It's all you're gonna get."
"Bastard…" Kyubi mutters, the rest of his words too quiet to hear.
Naruto sucks on his chopsticks absently as he watches the demon, his physical twin in all appearances. He looks far more aware of the world than the demon and bounces the wooden utensils with his tongue. "No, you can't bite him," Naruto says reproachfully. "You should behave."
"Fuck the behave," the demon growls at his bowl and tentatively samples the eggs. "Behaving isn't any fun."
They're like children, Sasuke thinks incredulous. Foul-mouthed and hyperactive fifteen year old children that have the ability to kick major ass.
Sasuke knows, in that moment—with Kyubi flicking eggs at Naruto and smirking—that this will be the weirdest thing that's ever happened to him. But unable to do anything about it, he deflects a stray shot of rice and wonders, not for the first time, what the hell he's getting himself into.
~@~
The moonlight wakes him like an unheard chime of music brushing against his face. Naruto stirs, turning his face towards the window, towards Kyubi curled between him and the wall.
It is not surprising to find the half-open red gaze upon him in the darkness.
"…problems?" Kyubi says too low for anyone to hear.
Naruto knows Sasuke is in the room, and while the thought comforts him, it's restricting him as well. He curls up on his side facing the demon with his face, pulling close to peer in the half-moonlight, half-darkness. "Kyubi…" he breathes. "Do you hate me? Because of the seal?"
Kyubi's face is relaxed and open, a contemplative curiosity that allows this questioning of his inner thoughts. "Perhaps," he replies with a small smirk. "But not really."
"…so what do we do about this?" Naruto stretches out a hand and carefully presses it against the other's chest in something like a caress. It's strange to feel a heart thumping slowly under his fingertips, like reaching through a mirror. Kyubi allows the touch and merely shrugs.
"Nothing," the demon replies after a moment. "I like it like this. For a little while," he amends carefully as Naruto's face darkens. "It's dangerous like this…"
"I know," Naruto says as his eyes flicker away from the face. "Do you think we can get fixed?"
"Perhaps. In my years, kit, I've never heard of this happening. I don't understand it. I like it, because I—" the other pauses, and his tone takes on a tinge of warning. "It's been a long time since I could move freely. Do you understand, kit?"
Naruto nods. "And what about Sasuke? You won't hurt him?"
"Not unless he wants to be hurt."
"Kyubi," Naruto whines, frowning. "You can't! The Hokage said you can't hurt anyone, remember?" A wry smile flits across his mirror image, and Naruto shivers at the strange excitement.
"I would protect you, kit," the demon growls faintly, almost hissing his words. "Because I have no choice! I do nothing I don't choose to do, and that includes following that bitch's rule about harming the people of this village."
"You don't make sense," Naruto sticks his tongue out. "I don't know if I can trust you."
"You can't," the Kyubi replies in all seriousness. "I'm a fickle creature. Go back to sleep."
"Are you gonna behave?"
"Sure, whatever." Kyubi mutters and closes his eyes.
Naruto watches him for a moment, convinced that the half-promise would have to do, and rolls onto his back. He turns his head to glance at Sasuke sleeping on a pallet near the door, his face milky and smooth in the night. He smiles without realizing it, switching onto his opposite side to face the door, and scoots back. It's easy to ignore the half-growl from the demon when an arm curls around his waist and a forehead bumps into his shoulder.
"Goodnight," Naruto murmurs without expecting a reply.
~@~
Two days after the first breakfast together—after Sasuke spent a good three hours hunting down all the fragmented eggs and scrubbing—the doorbell rings and the demon is the first to the door.
"Good morning!" he chirps, smiling widely as he opens the door. It is not, in fact, morning, but late afternoon. The sight of him is disturbing; white teeth and gleeful crimson eyes—and covered in dust.
Tsunade manages a small smile in response, but she doesn't get a chance to speak.
"Kyubi!" Naruto yells from somewhere. "Get back here and fix the bed!"
An arm pushes Kyubi out of the way of the door; Sasuke comes into view. "Get going," he says in a monotone. "You broke it, go fix it."
"Dammit!"
The demon scowls and stalks off, leaving Sasuke facing the Hokage with a strange expression of relief on his face. "Hokage-sama," he says respectfully.
"Sasuke-kun. How are things?" she steps inside and follows Sasuke to the small living room. "Have there been any problems?"
"Not really," Sasuke replies. "Naruto's not as loud as he used to be, and the fox likes to pull pranks—switched my toothpaste with mashed rice yesterday—but he and Naruto seem to get along as well as any other siblings. It's…creepy."
Tsunade nods. "That's good to hear; I thought they might have a problem coping with each other with Kyubi being bound and all."
"He does, and he doesn't. He has his moments," Sasuke says with a small smile.
"I heard that!" Kyubi yells from the back. "Stop talking shit about me, Sasuke!"
"Oh?" The Hokage murmurs as if nothing had happened and seats herself on the plain couch. She looks uncomfortable, but Sasuke isn't sure of the reason. The woman hides her thoughts too well.
"He's loud and rude and cruel," Sasuke states after a moment of thought, sounding almost surprised. "But he's…insanely protective of Naruto. It's something I don't…understand."
There's a sudden thump and a strange creaking sound as the Hokage blinks over his head, and Sasuke twists to see Kyubi dragging the cracked wooden bedframe down the hall.
Oh good lord.
The red-eyed boy glares at Sasuke as he passes. "I told you, stupid, if he's hurt, I'm hurt and that's all! I could care less about that little shit."
Sasuke turns back to the Hokage without answering the other, who doesn't seem to care either way and disappears with the bedframe. Sasuke shrugs at the Hokage. "He was bouncing on the bed," he says before she can ask.
The corner of her mouth twitches. "Is that so?"
"I can see why people refuse to have children," Sasuke says blandly. He smiles faintly and decides to state his point. "What would you like to discuss today, Hokage-sama?"
"You know that few people realize the truth of it, right?" she begins. "Most of the village knows of the two men that attacked Naruto—and they believe that something went wrong with his Kage-bunshin. I've gotten…" she pauses, smirking the tiniest bit before she finishes her sentence. "There's a group of people who are determined to seek you out and make sure you're alive." A pause. "Mostly women."
Sasuke refrains mightily from twitching. "You haven't…told them, have you?"
"No…why?"
"Because Kyubi seems to be territorial with certain things. I haven't figured out everything, yet…" Sasuke shrugs uncomfortably. "Mostly it's where he's going to sleep and what food he decides is his…but I'm not sure if I want a bunch of girls flocking over…"
"Girls?" a surprised voice asks. Naruto pokes his head around the corner. "What girls? Oh, hey Tsunade-san! When did you get here?" He bounces out, dragging a rumpled blanket and a pillow.
"Just now," the woman smiles more sincerely, something in her expression softening at the sight of Naruto. Sasuke doesn't know what makes her see Naruto in such a special way; what makes her so motherly, and he doesn't bother to ask because it seems too personal. "How've you been, Naruto?"
"I've been worse," he speaks honestly. "It's still…weird."
"He hasn't given you any problems?"
A funny smile flits across Naruto's face. "No…we've come to an agreement of sorts."
What? What kind of agreement? Sasuke thinks, puzzled. He raises a brow at Naruto as the Hokage speaks.
"That's good," she says simply. "Come and sit down; let me look at you."
Naruto does as she asks after piling the blanket and pillow into the corner and bounces down upon the couch next to her. "Okay!"
Sasuke fidgets the smallest bit, scrunching his shoulders to get comfortable, and watches the woman turn over thin wrists and examine the hands. Her thumbs are on Naruto's pulse-points, and he can sense twinges of chakra as she works. Naruto glances at him over her shoulder, and his mouth curves in a tiny smile.
"What are you looking for?" the blond asks as she turns his head to look into his ears one by one.
"Mmm, just checking your chakra and your body's health," she answers absently. "Open your mouth—"
After she moves her attention to somewhere else—fingertips over his heart—Naruto asks, "Are you gonna examine Kyubi too?"
"Don't need to; his kind maintain good health. That's why you're not healing as fast as you did before. You need to wash behind your ears, too. Otherwise," she ruffles his hair playfully. "You're looking fine so far."
"Great!" Naruto beams at her with the strange innocence only children can attain.
She smiles back with more of that pain in her eyes and pushes him away. "Go on, go find something to do."
"Yeah—gotta make the bed!" he exclaims and darts off, pausing only to gather the discarded blanket and pillow.
Sasuke watches him leave with a faint sense of relief and discards the emotion as foolish. He turns to the Hokage, who's watching him, and raises a brow. Instead of questioning her, he asks something that nags him at uncommon times. "Is it possible to fix him, Hokage-sama?"
"It…it should be," she amends. "But we have to find the means; the jutsu was made by a clan long dead to our history. They kept it a secret for centuries, like the way the Uchiha clan kept the sharingan. Sasuke…have you had problems in my instructions?"
Sasuke hates the fact that she seems to strike at the heart without even trying. "No," he says. "I have had no problem."
Except for the fact that I can't look at the demon without shivering, and he watches me with a funny look sometimes, and I'm totally creeping out over all of this—
"Good. I'll be going now. Keep me informed," she says, and before Sasuke can respond, she vanishes.
What a strange woman. Sasuke rubs at his eyes. Oh well. It's almost lunchtime.
The house is relatively quiet as Sasuke stands. He doesn't know where the demon is, but considering the behavior over the last few days, he doesn't think that the location would be a problem. Sasuke pushes open the door and steps through—
—and has a moment to regret not knowing the whereabouts of Kyubi as an arm takes him by the back of the jacket—so strong—and yanks him back. Sasuke gasps as a hand with sharp nails pats his neck
"Don't you smell nice," Kyubi purrs in his ear. "When's lunch?"
Dammit, Sasuke thinks. He has to clear his throat several times before he can speak. "I would make some if you'd let me go."
"Hmm…" the amusement in the low voice is a dark color, but Kyubi only scratches at him lightly. "Can we have chicken today?"
Sasuke shudders at the sensation of warm breath on his neck, the scent of wood and dust and a hint of sweat—as well as the musk that he's come to associate with the demon. "Let go," he says more forcefully, and wonders if he'll have time to shift his arm for a weapon before the demon kills him—
"You're not any fun," the demon makes a small sound of disappointment, and as his grips loosens, Sasuke pulls away with a jerk and a rough exhalation.
He turns to see the smile on the face of Naruto, a demon's smile with sharp teeth and mocking red eyes and a cunning. Anticipation. Sasuke forces himself into a calm he doesn't feel, and merely adjusts his clothing.
Don't show any fear. No fear and he won't do anything—
Kyubi's smile grows wider, as if the expressions on Sasuke's face give away everything he thinks, and tilts his head.
No, Sasuke thinks a moment later. I can't assume he'll do anything I expect. He's testing me. I know he is.
"Well," the demon says smoothly, still eying him with that funny look. "You can't cook me food if you just stare at me all day."
Sasuke narrows his eyes into a glare, pivots and stalks to the fridge. He misses the look the fox slides over him, the way his hands twitch and an expression other than hunger flits across his face.
By the time Sasuke turns around with a package of frozen chicken and some vegetables, Kyubi is gone.
~TBC~
There. Is Kyubi unpredictable enough? ^_^ he's not really that…Naruto-ish, really, but that'll be clear later on. Naruto is more or less himself, but with a few moody dispositions. Sasuke is…Sasuke. ^^;; There's not much to explain this chapter, just that Kyubi's ulterior motive vs Sasuke's motive. It's…fun. *wink*