9 : Sasuke
By: Kokoro Kakera HP ^^
Disclaimer: Naruto, (Manga, anime, products, etc.), belongs to Kishimoto Masashi
Author's Notes:
Rejoice! Today's a great day! (Why wouldn't it be, I updated!) ^^ To those who read this, may the rest of the day be so good that you forget about anything bad that may have happened! ::In a good mood:: If nothing bad happened and the day was great... Let it stay great! ^___^
Okay, forget what I said before. This chapter sucks. Like hell. The ending is so hokey! ::Beats self with keyboard::
Sorry to make the author's notes longer, (I'm not just doing it because Sasuke's part is too short), but I need to explain something. ^^ The mood in this part fluctuated greatly from the last. Expect it to happen in future chapters as well. Angst is great, but it becomes so mundane if dragged out too much. Ditto for everything else.
Sorry, sorry, but I just noticed that Kakashi's parts always come in with Sasuke's... It's NOT a way of extending the chapter, really. It's coincidence.
Yep.
::Resumes beating self with keyboard::
Kawarimi - Body switching, (replacement)
Kunai - dagger
Three hours and still, there was no sign of Kakashi at the reporting office. Sasuke sighed with annoyance. There were times when he wished dismissal from a teacher wasn't so important.
"Where the hell is Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto yelled.
"Who ordered you to come here?" Ibiki's voice sounded loud in the small interrogation room.
"No one. We're alone." The ninja's voice rasped painfully through the carefully placed burred needles in his throat. Only his voice box had been left untouched.
"If you don't start telling the truth, it will become much, much worse for you." Kakashi said lightly.
The two remained silent, unpent hatred visible in their glares.
Ibiki reached for another pin.
So there they were. Standing beside each other.
Naruto crossed his arms.
Sasuke glanced at the door.
Naruto sighed.
Sasuke watched a fly crawl up a wall.
Naruto grumbled.
Sasuke stared at the wall.
Naruto tapped his foot.
Sasuke stared at the tapping foot.
Tension was building up and it was far from sexual.
"What makes you think we're lying?" One of the chained up ninja howled. All of his fingers were broken and hanging at precarious angles. The pins forced through his fingertips seemed to weigh them down.
"Lies only work when there's nothing to disprove them." Kakashi held up one of their weapons. "Ninja's like you couldn't have used such a complicated jutsu. This is the work of someone much stronger. Theft couldn't be an option either. If these were originally cursed with such power, then they would have been guarded accordingly." The prisoners quieted and trapped expressions appeared upon their faces.
"Perhaps you need more persuasion. If I press this through your head and into your brain, you'll feel every single movement it makes. One touch will feel like a heated iron was shoved through your head. Another like a shard of ice. Those sensitive nerves will respond until they pop." The ninja had begun to sweat. Ibiki grinned. "And I'll make sure they survive long enough for you to scream. If that area becomes unresponsive, I'll just find another place to put some more. You won't die from it either. You'll continue to feel every single needle, rip through the soft tissues of your brain - rip through every single part of you - and every second will feel like 400 years." Ibiki flexed his hand. "I can drag it out for quite a long time. Think about it. You won't sleep, think or breathe without hurting. And after that, there's more if you continue to be difficult."
"Okay! I'll tell you whatever you want! Just... no more!" A ninja screamed.
'Another victim of Ibiki's mind torture.' Kakashi mused.
"Shut up!" His accomplice bellowed, bringing his captor's attentions to him. "SHUT UP!"
"NO! The one you're looking for, he's-" The man wasn't given a chance to finish. Before Kakashi and Ibiki, both prisoners literally blew open. A spray of blood and unrecognizable red globs hit their clothes.
'A jutsu to ensure their silence.' Kakashi frowned, agitation touching his insides.
"Ibiki! We almost got the information but- ...oh." The newly arrived, also drenched, interrogation officer backed away, realizing that he didn't need to say anything.
"Stop that." Sasuke murmured, still staring at Naruto's foot.
"Stop what?" The tapping ceased as Naruto faced him and Sasuke sighed with relief.
"Nothing." The blond gave him a speculative look.
"What?"
"Nothing."
What?"
"I said it's nothing, idiot, so drop it."
"SASUKE!" The hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck prickled as he sensed the growing magnitude of Naruto's anger. He shot him an annoyed look. It wasn't that hard now that Naruto's nose and forehead was nearly touching his.
Kakashi was more than a little irritated. The interrogation had gone... messily and there still were no leads to the one controlling the rogue ninjas. It wasn't impatience that was making him feel so annoyed. It was just the fact that time was running low-
"SASUKE!" Kakashi sighed as the furious yell echoed throughout the hall from the reporting room. And now Naruto and Sasuke were squabbling.
"Cut it out." The jounen instructor said calmly as he walked in. Naruto and Sasuke pulled back from each other, but the glares they'd exchanged were still present on their faces. "Where's Sakura?"
"She went home early." Sasuke said. He looked at Kakashi's expression carefully as he talked. "She said she was tired."
"I see." To his frustration, the man hardly reacted to the news. "Sasuke, Naruto... take a break for the rest of the week."
"WHAT!?" Naruto yelped. Sasuke looked just as shocked.
"There's nothing for you to do. Take a break for the rest of the week." Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
'Without having us around, that gives Kakashi some free time as well... That guy never talks straight.'
"But Kakashi-sensei-!"
"Forget about it Naruto." Sasuke murmered. "Let's go." Naruto looked back at the impassive white-haired teacher, then at Sasuke's retreating figure. He frowned, looking at Kakashi perplexedly, then left.
"What's with Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shook his head.
"You never know what's with him. He always misdirecting people if he doesn't want them to know something."
"That's stupid! We can handle those ninjas!" Naruto snorted. Sasuke frowned.
'That's not what he's trying to hide from us, is it?'
"You lied about Sakura...didn't you?" Kakashi's expression remained the same.
"She'll be fine. That's all you need to know. Go finish your mission." This subject is closed.
"Sakura?" He noticed her flinch. She folded her arm to her chest and as if ashamed of it's appearance, covered it with her other arm, hand clasped over the other.
"It's fine." She forced a smile. "I think... that I should go home. I'm feeling a little tired." Her eyes wouldn't meet his.
"Wanna train, Sasuke?" Naruto's voice broke his train of thought. He grinned competitively. "I promise not to make your defeat too humiliating." The dark haired boy returned the gesture, not realizing that his face had been twisted into one of great discontentment moments before.
"That's my line, idiot."
Sasuke quietly stood in the middle of the clearing, eyes closed.
'Knowing Naruto...'
A twig was shifted in the grass. 'A direct attack is what I should expect first.' He leaped as Naruto sped through where he'd just been standing, arm extended after a punch."That was an obvious move, idiot!" Sasuke called, grinning at Naruto's figure below. He frowned. 'Too obvious!' He blocked an overhead kick, meanwhile keeping track of the clone Naruto had made below.
"I'm not done!" Naruto jumped off of Sasuke's arms that had flown up to block. In the next second, he channeled his chakra through his feet to burn the air around his feet, creating enough friction for him to propel back towards him. He slammed his elbow into Sasuke's stomach and they both collided with the ground. "Sasuke?" Naruto coughed. He waved the clouds of dust away. "Sasuke, are you okay!?" He blinked. "...Sasuke?" He gave a cry of disbelief as he realized he'd been trying to talk to a stick. "-Kawarimi!?"
"Humph, too slow, dead last." Sasuke smirked from behind Naruto, his kunais crossed in front of the boy's neck. There was no sign of the clone he'd made earlier.
Naruto cursed.
"Hey, Sasuke?"
"What?"
The two were sitting more or less beside each other. The trees they were leaning against had two metres between them.
"There's something...wrong."
"What makes you say so?" If Naruto had noticed as well...
"Just a feeling!" He laughed. His eyes closed as he did. "But it doesn't make me worried! I can beat anything!" Sasuke scowled.
"Stop it."
"Huh?" He blinked.
'Be honest with me.'
"...Nothing." Naruto gave him a weird look and shrugged.
"There you go, acting weird again." He murmered. He stood up.
'You're still hiding.'
"I'm going home. See ya later, Sasuke." Naruto left.
'Still running.'
Sasuke's eyes stayed on him until the night's darkness swallowed his figure.'Still scared, Naruto.'
Then he got up and left.