Author's Opening Rant- Yes, yes. I am an evil little thing, aren't I? As the ancient Japanese saying goes: "Never trust a smiling fox"!
To begin with, as always, a big Thank You to all my readers and reviewers! Thank you guys so much for supporting the lunacy of my fanfictions!
So I'd expect you all are waiting to see how things are going to turn out, ne? Let's jump in then, shall we?
Chapter 3- Heart"…well…if it isn't my foolish little brother…" the voice hissed like a venomous snake about to strike.
Sasuke was utterly petrified with a mix of emotion. Anger clashed with shock, and even fear as he stood there, not daring to turn around right away. His lips parted, moving soundlessly a few times before he could think enough to speak, "I…Itachi…"
Sakura felt her stomach drop. She hadn't immediately recognized the man who had jumped in between her and her teammate, but hearing the word 'Itachi' sent shivers straight down her spine. She knew well enough the bloody history of Sasuke's brother, and now, there he was right in front of her. Sakura couldn't think clearly enough to even blink.
Itachi leaned back, a hand lightly lifting his wide hat to reveal his cruel crimson eyes, "Why so shocked, Sasuke? Families ought to be together for the holidays, shouldn't they?" Sasuke forced a strangled noise out between clenched teeth, both hands balling into uncertain fists at his side. His brother remained deadly calm, eyeing the reaction he had caused in his younger sibling, "Look at you. Falling from trees like some novice." There was a pause, and Itachi's lips curled into a wicked smirk, "What would father think of you now?"
That was the breaking point. Sasuke's fists clenched so tightly that he would have drawn blood if he were not wearing gloves. "Don't…you dare…" he felt himself shaking with anger, "…mention our father…" Without thinking, Sasuke whirled around, loathing shining behind his perfectly onyx eyes, "…YOU MURDERER!!!!!!!"
It wasn't even funny how quickly the fight was over. Itachi easily dodged the enraged punch, only loosing his wide-brimmed straw hat with the motion, and quickly bringing his fist around into the side of the younger Uchiha's head. Sasuke went flying backwards, slamming so hard into a tree that, not only did the snow tumble down from its branches, but a section of the bark came peeling up from the force of the impact.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura went immediately on the defensive. Despite the glaring danger, she pulled a kunai knife from her pouch and readied herself to attack.
"Wouldn't do that if I were you…" without detection, the second shadowy figure had snuck up behind the pink-haired kunoichi, brandishing his large, scaly sword at her. Kisame chuckled forebodingly, lifting his own hat from his head, "Hey, Itachi! Let's not play around here too long! I say we just kill them off real quick and get moving."
Itachi sent his partner a dark look, then very slowly crunched through the snow and lifted his brother by his neck. Choking, Sasuke was slammed back against the tree again, held firmly in place by his older brother. Itachi glared up at his squirming captive, "Foolish little brother. You should have stayed away. We are only here to capture the Uzumaki brat…but I find that when you are around, you tend to complicate things for me."
"Naruto…?" Sakura eyed the older Uchiha. He had confirmed her deeper fears over her blonde teammate, but it seemed that there wasn't much neither she nor Sasuke could do to save Naruto from this man.
Sasuke gasped for air, struggling against his brother's grip, both eyes seizing him with a deathly glare, "I-Itachi…don't you dare…"
"Ohhh?" Itachi's eyes went from his brother to Sakura. The girl flinched, nearly breaking into tears just from the gaze, and Sasuke squirmed like crazy.
"Don't…!!"
"Do you still have a soft spot in your heart, brother?" Itachi hissed, "Well…allow me to cure you of that." He then turned back to Kisame, nodding softly as he spoke, his voice monotone and sinister, "Kill her."
"Don't you dare!!!" Sasuke began to protest, but stopped as Itachi's grip tightened, effectively cutting off his air.
Itachi regarded his brother, both Sharingan coldly staring up at the weaker sibling, "You are going to watch, Sasuke. Watch as she dies for your foolishness…and then know that there is nothing you can do to save Uzumaki…you are too weak to stop me."
Kisame lifted his sword high in the air over the terrified Sakura, "Alright! Let's stain this boring snow bright red!" The fish-faced shinobi cackled at the thought, and swiftly brought his weapon downwards. Sakura could do nothing more than stare in horror as the weapon descended at her, her hands trembling so badly that she dropped her kunai limply in the snow. But to her great relief, the sword halted about an inch from her face. Kisame's entire body now refused to move of it's own will, frozen by some unseen force, "Wha…what the hell?! I can't…"
"Tr-Troublesome…" reinforcements had arrived. Just behind the large former Mist shinobi, Nara Shikamaru stood, focusing every ounce of his chakra into his shadow just to hold Kisame in place. He leaned his head over a little, and Kisame mirrored the movement, "Sakura!! Don't just stand there, troublesome girl! Move it!" Sighing with relief at the sight of her fellow Konoha ninja, Sakura regained herself, gritting her teeth to alleviate her nervous shaking. She quickly scooped up her kunai and ran…right at Itachi. "NO, stupid woman!" Shikamaru howled at her recklessness, "I meant run AWAY!"
Itachi glanced at her with mild interest, "…pitiful." He reached into his brother's side pouch, borrowing one of Sasuke's kunai before releasing the younger Uchiha into a snow bank. In a flash of black, Itachi rushed at Sakura. It was so fast; the pink-haired kunoichi scarcely had time to react other than squeezing her eyes shut in fear.
A loud clang of metal against metal echoed in the snowy forest. Sakura glanced back up, finding that, much to her surprise, she was still in one piece and now staring at her Sensei's back. Kakashi parried Itachi's kunai with one of his own, the Jounin struggling to keep the elder Uchiha at bay, "Ahh…Sakura, Sasuke. A good thing…we caught up with you in time…"
Itachi scowled at the single Sharingan staring heatedly back at him, raising his voice to his still captive partner, "Kisame. The boy."
"R-right!" Kisame tried once more to break free by brute force, but found that the younger Chuunin's Shadow Imitate Technique was formidable. He quickly gathered a portion of his chakra and forced it back against the shadow binding him. Shikamaru's technique almost instantly gave way to the stronger shinobi's power. Kisame turned, again smirking viciously as he eyed the shadow-wielding ninja, "Heh Heh…Weakling! Here's a parting gift for you!" That massive sword swiped across Shikamaru's arm, scraping the skin into a bloody mess. The Chuunin fell, grasping his injured arm as the fish-faced ninja took off to find Naruto.
Kakashi glanced to the side, knowing full well where Kisame was headed. But the instant that the Jounin's gaze was preoccupied, Itachi made his move to escape. He threw all of his weight back, allowing Kakashi to fall forward, then brought his knee forcefully into Kakashi's gut. Itachi sent one last glare of hatred at his brother, still panting for breath in the snow, then bounded up into the tree's branches and out of sight. Kakashi reeled from the blow, staggering slightly, and wondering if a few of his ribs weren't cracked. He eventually regained his breath, tugging his headband back into place over his left eye as he spoke, "Well then…this is certainly a mess. Is everybody okay?"
Sakura nodded her head, but Shikamaru glared daggers up at the Jounin. Sasuke hadn't paid much attention to Kakashi's words; his attention was directly focused on the path of Itachi's retreat. Forgetting the whole reason why he had even come out this far, Sasuke leapt to his feet and began to give chase, "ITACHI! Come back here!"
He was stopped suddenly when his sensei grabbed him by the back of his jacket, "Sasuke, this isn't the time. We have to go find Naruto. Now." Sasuke flailed to free himself, but Kakashi wasn't about to let him go. Sakura, meantime, had bent down next to Shikamaru to see just how badly his arm was torn up.
Naruto had walked a good distance since leaving Sasuke and Sakura, hands buried in his pockets as he thought over what they had said. After replaying the discussion in his head a few more times, he just huffed and straightened, "nahhh…they don't know what they're talking about. This is just something…I gotta do, that's all. Being Hokage will come after that." He pondered a little while longer, eyes on the undisturbed snow in front of him. All of a sudden, he could hear Sasuke and Sakura screaming—faintly because of the distance, but clearly their voices. The blonde was immediately alerted. He turned, backtracking over his footsteps and hurrying back towards them.
He was stopped dead when Kisame appeared out of nowhere, smirking in the younger shinobi's face, "Gotcha."
"What the-!?" Naruto jumped back in shock, tripping over his own boots and sprawling to the floor.
"Come here, you little brat!" Kisame reached a hand down to grab at Naruto. The fox-boy scampered backwards across the snowy ground, unfortunately finding himself at the edge of a slope. As he moved back to keep out of the fish-faced shinobi's grasp, Naruto slipped and slid down the length of the hill. He tumbled head over heels down the embankment, kicking up so much snow that Kisame almost instantly lost sight of him. Kisame hesitated, watching the pure white snow envelope the Gennin. That certainly looked like a painful way down the hill, and besides, no one had followed him, so Kisame decided to find an alternate route down the slope, one that wouldn't end in a concussion. His eyes scanned the area, quickly finding a path that seemed to lead in the blonde's general direction. Kisame took off through the snow, his sword held ready just incase anyone else felt brave today.
After what felt like forever, Naruto finally reached the bottom of the snow-covered hill and stopped rolling when he slammed into a thin sapling. The bushy branches shook from the impact, and mounds of snow cascaded down on the stunned shinobi. He shook out his bright blonde hair, pausing to see if his attacker had followed him. The slope and the surrounding forest were dead silent. Naruto gradually stood back up, patting his clothing as he muttered to himself, "Geez. What the hell was that all about?" His face scrunched, knowing he'd seen that man before but…well, at the moment, he didn't care enough to remember. He pushed the whole thing out of his mind and started forward again, choosing a random direction based on the brightness of the snow.
It wasn't very long at all before the little ninja wandered across another town. This one was at least twice as big as the last one, with towering buildings shadowing homely little cottages. This village, Naruto thought to himself as he broke out into a smile, looked almost like Konoha, though it held it's obvious differences. But more importantly, the streets were flooded with people. This time, he'd get it right! Naruto began rushing forward, but stopped himself long enough to pull off his headband and tuck it into his jacket pocket. Naruto hurried over to the first person he came across, a thin looking woman holding a basket of fruit, "Hey, hey! Lady! Excuse me!"
"Oh." The woman glanced down at him, "Can I help you, young man?"
Naruto's grin widened; he was already off to a better start than last time, "Uhhh, do you have any kids?"
"Why, no. I don't." she examined him curiously, wondering if there was a point to this inquiry.
"Great!" Naruto reached over and tugged gently at her long jacket sleeve, "Can I borrow you? Just for Christmas!"
The woman blinked, surprised at the unusual request. After a moment, she just smiled, gently prying Naruto's hand away before giving him a kind pat on the head, "My, aren't you an adorable thing." The woman walked away, giggling to herself over the encounter.
A disappointed look crossed Naruto's face for a moment as he watched her leave. It vanished quickly enough as his bright eyes spied a man lugging an arm full of festively wrapped gifts through the street. Naruto ran up to him, following closely at his side, "Hey, Mister, who're all those presents for, huh?"
The man glanced over his packages at the boy, staring down through thin-rimmed glasses, "These? Oh, just some last minute presents for my children."
The blonde shinobi smiled wider, easily keeping pace with the man, "Hey! Could I come home with you?! I need a family for Christmas!"
"Excuse me?" the man arched a slender eyebrow.
"You don't got to buy me presents or anything like that!" Naruto's arms went out to the side, offering to carry some of the man's packages, "Please?"
The man halted a moment. He grimaced down at the young boy, then quickened his pace as he took off for home, muttering to himself, "Crazy kid…" Naruto pouted again, but was certainly not going to give in that easily. He adjusted his scarf, and then strolled up to the next person he came across and made the same proposition.
For hours, Naruto darted back and forth between passersby, being rejected again and again. Eventually, the street began to empty, leaving the Konoha ninja standing with only a few other people left to ask. But his bright and cheery demeanor was being quickly dimmed with depression. He was beginning to think that there was simply no one on this earth who wanted him around.
His latest request was shot down with a harsh, "Get lost, punk! I ain't got time for this!"
Naruto stood there for a long time, hungry from not stopping to eat, tired from not having slept, cold from tromping around in the snow, and heart-broken from countless rejections. He stared down at his feet, watching the light slowly sink behind him as day gave way to night. Why…was this so hard? Konohagakure was one thing—everyone there saw him as the demon fox, so they at least had an excuse to isolate him. But this village, this village was ostracizing him for no good reason at all. Naruto felt as if he had swallowed a boulder, his stomach twisted into knots over the realization that he would be alone and far from everyone he knew when Christmas came the day after tomorrow. He should just be used to it by now, and if he wasn't, he should get used to it; because there was no one who was willing to show him even a token amount of affection for the holidays. Naruto gnawed at his chapped lips, wondering what his next course of action could be. Should he just go back home, or maybe keep going in hopes of finding another village with kinder people? He shivered, eyes closing against the chill in the wind that night had brought on.
After a few heavy moments of silence, his eyes snapped back open at the sound of crunching snow and a young girl's voice, "But daddy, it's so cold."
"I know, but I can't afford a new jacket for Christmas. You'll just have to sew up your old one again." A grizzled looking man and a little girl walked between two of the houses just in front of Naruto's vision. Naruto felt his breath catch in hope. He hadn't asked them yet, and the father's eyes looked so kind. The little shinobi hurried over, his boots kicking up so much snow that he nearly tripped.
"Hey! Hey, wait a sec!" Naruto panted, catching their attention just before they had slipped out of sight.
The older man looked over at him in irritation, "What is it you want?"
"I just…" Naruto faltered. He recognized that look, the one that just screamed 'go away', "I was…I mean, could I come home with you for Christmas?" Bright blue eyes awaited the oncoming answer, hopeful, but not foolish enough to think it might really be a 'yes.'
The man's eyes narrowed, and he stepped out into the lighted street, towering over Naruto, "Listen here, brat. It's hard enough looking after my own kid, I can't give hand-outs to every stubborn brat on the street."
"It's not a hand out!" Naruto's voice started off forcefully, but slowly slipped back into that uncharacteristically soft tone, "I don't want gifts or anything. I just…want somewhere to be and…"
"Get out of my sight." The man turned back to his daughter, whose innocent brown eyes had trained on the shinobi since he had called out to them. He gave the child a gentle push to start her walking.
There was suddenly a loud "HEY!" Before the man could turn around, a bright orange winter coat and red scarf went slamming into his head. Stunned, the man tore the garments from his face and whirled around. Naruto stood there in his orange slacks and a black fishnet shirt, his Konoha headband clutched in his hand. He sent the old man a soft glare, then straightened out despite the bitter cold he now felt, "She looks cold." He offered no further explination than that, and just turned to find somewhere to spend the night, tying his headband back into place over his forehead.
The man and his daughter stared at the overly charitable ninja as he sulked off in the biting winter cold, rubbing his arms in an attempt to keep himself warm.
That, Naruto thought bitterly to himself, was what people SHOULD act like around Christmas.
Author's Closing Rant- I do so love angst! n.n;
Yes, yes, Naruto is nice even when everyone's being a jerk to him! It just seemed like something he would do.
Again, another rushed chapter—I really hope it's not affecting this story. I'm thinking about one more chapter should finish it off! So we'll probably get to the finale next update! Tune in next time to see how everything ends out! n.n