NARUTO © Kishimoto Masashi • Shueisha • Studio Pierrot • TV Tokyo. All rights reserved. Non-profit fun ahead!
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Against the Tide
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Chapter Eight
"What's that flashing thing on the bottom?" Naruto's eyes widened with curiosity. After arriving at Sasuke's house, they had gone into the study room immediately to consult the computer and whatever notes Sasuke had taken from their trip to the library.
Said Sasuke was currently chewing on the tip of his pencil and frowning slightly - partly because of the lack of information on their current case, and partly because of Naruto's grating voice. "It means I have new mail from somebody I know," he muttered blandly, reaching out for the mouse and clicking on the flashing icon. The computer inbox jumped to life and quickly displayed the incoming message. "It's from Kakashi."
"Wow!" Naruto was excited, though not for the same reasons Sasuke was. "I've heard all about computers but I've never seen them in action before! Talk about cool!"
"Kakashi says..." Sasuke droned on, pleased that he had mastered the rare art of tuning one Uzumaki Naruto out entirely. "... that after pulling some strings and breaking some firewalls - he has confirmed that the Mizu-Youma is from the Hidden Mist. It was bound to an S-class criminal prisoner because water demons are known to occupy the memories of their hosts for survival." The Uchiha frowned. "A botched brainwashing operation... Reasons for its arrival on Konoha are still unknown. Kakashi says he needs more information to work with. Naruto," Sasuke paused in his monologue to address his suddenly calmed partner, "pass me the notebook. I need to send some stuff to Kakashi."
Wordlessly, Naruto complied.
Sasuke stared at the quiet blond. He sighed, grabbed the book Naruto was offering him and swiped once at his head.
"HEY!" There was an instant response. "What'd you do that for?!"
"Idiot," Sasuke had turned back to looking at the monitor screen. "Your brain wasn't designed for thinking deep things, so don't try so hard."
"It was too!" Naruto looked affronted. "What else could it be for, you know-it-all, self-righteous jerk?!"
"Eating, breathing, sleeping, moronic things like that," Sasuke shot back calmly. He had already begun typing information into the computer.
Naruto turned red in the face from anger and screeched with hands upraised, "Your stupid brain does all of that too and I don't hear you calling yourself a moron!! Do you want another slash across your pretty face?! Huh?"
The sound of typing immediately stopped. Sasuke spun around on his creaky, rotating chair, glaring darkly at Naruto. The blond gulped slightly and started to regret shooting his mouth off. The room was deathly silent. Naruto was sure Sasuke was going to yell at him that he was dismissed and could go back to whatever gutter he had come from. It was unsettling, therefore, to see a smirk slowly surface on Sasuke's face.
"Moron." He stated, loudly and clearly. A vein in Naruto's head literally popped. He had his explosive response all ready, until Sasuke's voice cut his thoughts cleanly into two. "Go out and turn right, all the way down the corridor. There's a room on the left that has all the books in the house about Youma and Younin. Grab the blue one on the third row that's on the shelf nearest to the window. It may have something useful." He arched an eyebrow at Naruto, who had wide eyes and a slack jaw - obviously confounded. He smirked again. "Well? What're you waiting for? Come on. Show me how much brains you really have. Or do I need to repeat the instructions?"
Immediately, Naruto's face dissolved into anger. "Grr!" He growled loudly at Sasuke. He turned tail and stormed dramatically out of the room, throwing one last glare across his shoulder at the simpering Uchiha.
Sasuke afforded himself a small quirk of lips. He wheeled back to his workstation and was about to continue with his data entry when he noticed another mail that had the unread flag. Blinking at the strange sender, he wondered who it could be. Few knew his address, and even fewer cared to use it.
Just as he was about to trash it, something caught his eye.
He stared.
It came from the Hokage's office.
Bearing the subject, "Kyuubi no Youko".
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Pacing up and down the corridor of Sasuke's house, Naruto surprised himself by finding the stipulated room with almost no problems whatsoever. And it wasn't that he had Sasuke's instructions clear in his mind either - he had sort of forgotten whatever he was to follow after the 'make a right turn' part. He had chosen to rely on his instincts instead, following the only route in the house that was lined with the slightest signs of life. The lonely lights from the streetlamps poured onto the hallways through the windows, illuminating it with an eerie glow. Naruto peered curiously at the luminaries as he made his way towards the library - grinning at them.
It was almost as if they were leading him there.
Naruto knew that Sasuke lived alone - that much Iruka had told him. And as soon as he found out that the Uchiha was the curse-bearer of the Hebi-Youma's seal, he could more or less figure out why he lived alone. He was saddened. He knew he was prone to extreme feelings, but the sudden sadness surprised even himself. He snorted to himself, clearing his thoughts and quickly entering into the house library. No way was he going to let himself feel sorry over an asshole like Sasuke!
The library was simple - books, a desk, a few chairs, and a lot of shelves with even more books. Naruto glanced around for a blue book near the window, and found it quickly. There were very few other books that were vaguely blue in colour, after all.
As he tucked the book safely under his arm, he noticed the mess that was on the table. Notes were scattered about, and opened books were stacked, one atop the other. A niggling feeling at the back of his mind told him that he had better get back to Sasuke as soon as possible. The consequences would undoubtedly be dire if Sasuke found him poking about his belongings. But on the other hand, his curiosity screamed at him.
Screamed loudly at him to find out more about what Sasuke had been researching in this room.
Blue eyes darted about the room. Then Naruto tiptoed closer to the table. It wouldn't hurt to peek, just a little, was his reasoning. After all, he could probably find out something about Sasuke that he could later use as blackmail material! With that thought set, he grinned widely to himself and descended upon the desk with full force.
The first thing Naruto did was to shuffle through the notes. Notes were shorter and summarised versions of the books. And books were things he did not like to read - not even if he could help it.
None of what had been written on the notes struck him as anything blackmail-able, once Naruto had sifted through a huge pile of it. They were standard, clinical, /boring/ investigation things - talking about the psyche of known demons, the status of Younin research, the various skills and abilities of Youma, etcetera. The blond sighed, deciding that he had been wasting his time. He was about to give up and go after he ruffled through the last stack, when he caught something scribbled in a much messier scrawl at a lonely corner of the final page with entries on the notepaper.
Picking the paper up, he squinted at it.
Although messy, the scribbling was readable. It looked like it had been done only in a moment of impulse, for it had been struck out several times vehemently by coarse, black ink. Still, the strokes had not been able to hide all the letters from view. Naruto could make out a few words, and from there, piece together entire sentences.
There were only two sentences written in that corner.
/...still can't find cure for curse.../
Naruto's hand clasped the piece of paper tighter.
/...don't want him to die too.../
And he could hear something inside shattering into a thousand pieces.
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When Naruto re-entered the study room, Sasuke was already finished with the email from the Hokage's office. His eyes were glazed over with something like concentration, and his eyebrows knitted tightly together. He heard the other boy's footsteps, looking up briefly to shoot him a quick glance of acknowledgement.
Naruto glanced back.
For a while, neither spoke. Sasuke was frowning like he had something to ask Naruto, and Naruto simply stared at Sasuke with a pair of sad-looking eyes.
It reminded Sasuke of the day when they first saw each other in the Laboratory.
Startled at the sudden memory, Sasuke coughed into his fist and looked away. "Got the book?" He tried to sound as casual as he could. He spun around on his chair. "Kakashi's working on the notes I just sent over, but I need to forward him more information..."
Sasuke had trailed off, because Naruto quietly gave him the book, then moved to sit on another chair nearby, staring at his toes, very very quietly. His mind was obviously on something else.
Perplexed, Sasuke turned back to the computer to finish up his work, wondering about the situation but not curious enough to ask. The silence was awkward after a while - especially since the blond he had come to associate with energy was sitting just beside him. Sasuke was therefore not quite surprised that he chose to break the silence.
"Kakashi's collated some information - it appears that the demon only assaults sixteen year old girls. There is a pattern to his attack that we can't quite catch yet - since some of the girls were discovered only a few days after the actual attack. The girls he picks are usually the more unpopular ones - for some reason. He's issued the order for us to visit Sakura at the hospital again tomorrow to see if she remembers anything. In the meantime, he wants us to get more familiar with the skills and Jutsus of the Mizu-Youma. There's going to be an inevitable showdown when push comes to shove..."
Sasuke hesitated somewhat. He glanced once at Naruto, whose head had been bowed from his re-entrance, and was still bowed. The blond was also twiddling his thumbs, meaning he was not paying attention, and Sasuke could feel a vein throbbing in his head. "... dead-last! Are you listening or not?!"
"...yeah... sort of..." Naruto responded after a short silence, still twiddling his thumbs, oblivious that his answer made Sasuke more frustrated. "... I mean... yeah, you know... I know what you mean but I don't know why you mean it and... you know, stuff like that..."
Sasuke's annoyance was slowly taken over by curious confusion. "/What?/" He found himself unable to stop the question from slipping out of his mouth.
"I mean!" Naruto suddenly raised his voice and stood up, eyes blazing with determination. "... Why?"
"..." Sasuke turned his head to a side to stare at Naruto sidelong. "... why what?"
"Why didn't you tell me about your curse!" Naruto shouted again, back to his normal, boisterous self. "I could be of some help! I may be Younin and you may be my signatory, but I might as well be just an accessory if you don't trust me to watch your back! I don't care what you've been through in the past to make you such an asshole, because you're not the only one with problems, okay?" Naruto huffed, then glanced away before mumbling his last sentence. "And I'm not gonna lose to a stupid curse! I'm not gonna let you predict my future for me, and I'm most certainly not going to die, you got that?!" He returned his slightly embarrassed eyes to Sasuke.
Who was gaping like a goldfish. And completely dumb-struck to boot.
Until the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
"You saw that note in the library," Sasuke's voice was quiet, serious, and demanding. He stared hard at Naruto.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. "You never asked me not to!"
The Uchiha sighed noisily. He put his face into his hand and shook his head. "Nevermind..." he mumbled, looking up to regard Naruto warily. "Looks like you know my little secret. Guess that makes us even, huh?"
"Even?" Naruto blinked.
"Wanna see?" Sasuke nonchalantly pointed towards the monitor screen, where the mail about the Kyuubi from the Hokage was still on display. Naruto frowned, then slowly advanced towards the apparatus, staring at the screen for a while. His eyes widened in surprise upon catching a few keywords in the document, then reared towards Sasuke accusingly. "Where did you get this?!"
Sasuke shrugged. "From the Hokage's office, although I'm sure Kakashi had something to do with it." He smirked at the blond, who was still staring at slight shock at the screen. "I always thought Youma-Ningen had demons /combined/ with them. You're the only one I've heard of who has a demon /sealed/ inside instead. I don't know if it means anything, but you're just a normal human after all, aren't you?" He snorted. "And I always thought you were some special nutcase with some really exceptional circumstances, to be able to give such loud declarations that I wasn't the only special one in the world. Hmph." He paused, continuing no further, choosing instead to watch Naruto carefully for a reaction.
Naruto slowly turned to look at Sasuke in the eye.
"Kyuubi no Youko wiped out a third of the village's power sixteen years ago," he said, in a tone that didn't quite sound like he was the one speaking. "Anybody who's had to live through that war bore a grudge against the demon fox for the countless atrocities he had done. The demon was too strong to be destroyed, so instead the Fourth Hokage had to seal it into a newborn baby. They feared the child so much they chained him up in the name of science and security, scorning him, mocking him, ridiculing him, wishing that he were better off dead."
Sasuke frowned, just as Naruto turned to look away.
"I am that child, as you know. I grew up lonely, Sasuke. I grew up thinking the world had no need for me, but!" He turned around again, grinning with his entire set of teeth visible. "I'm not like you! I won't allow them to dictate the way I live! And I won't lose to a stupid fox, or a stupid seal, or anybody stupid enough to think that I don't matter! I'll show them that I'm stronger than they are! I'm gonna be the next Hokage for sure!" He heaved a fist into the air. "That's how my Nindou goes!" He grinned at the stunned Uchiha.
After glowering for a while, Sasuke griped, "Your Nindou is stupid and impractical. Stop trying to rub it off other people!" He turned away to quickly avert Naruto's eyes, using the time instead to type quickly and furiously on the keyboard of the computer. Naruto had indeed fumed and wanted to protest. "But," Sasuke added softly, his typing speed slowly down, successfully diverting Naruto's thoughts, "I'll admit. You are strong. Stronger than those other idiots who've never had to face solitude. Never knew how it felt to be truly alone..."
Naruto knew he had something to say to that. But for some reason, he opened his mouth, but could not force the words to be spoken.
Minutes passed in silence, Sasuke typing away on the computer and Naruto frowning away at his toes.
"But we're not alone anymore," it seemed logical, entirely too logical that it would be Naruto who would break the silence, "right?"
And it seemed logical, entirely too logical too, that Sasuke would actually give serious thought to that question. He took a slow spin on his chair around to catch Naruto's bright, questioning eyes in his own. "No," he answered, rather begrudgingly, "not now, at least."
Naruto's next grin was so bright, Sasuke thought it would light up the darkened room entirely.
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The next day, the two boys literally crashed headlong into the usual meeting room, pooling into a heap before Kakashi's feet. In the background, Iruka stopped arranging some documents into files and stared openly at the scuffling duo, who were still struggling against each other with much shouting and insulting, on the ground. Kakashi calmly raised an eyebrow. He reached over, picked both teenagers up by their collars and separated them.
"Give it back!" Sasuke made one final swipe at Naruto's face, before relaxing into Kakashi's firm grip. He did not, however, stop growling at the blond.
"Ngeeeeeeeh!" Naruto stuck his tongue out and wagged a finger, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was now dangling a feet above the ground. "Serves you right for being such a petty miser! No miser crosses the path of Uzumaki Naruto and leaves still a miser!"
"Why you!!" Sasuke struggled against Kakashi, flailing about pathetically, looking his age for once, instead of a seasoned, well-trained fighting machine. "When I get my hands on you you'll regret ever--"
"Hey hey, boys! Boys!" Kakashi finally intercepted, partly out of annoyance and partly out of curiosity. For the first time since they had tumbled messily into the room, Naruto and Sasuke tore their glances away from each other and looked instead at their current superior. Recognition only set in after a while, and both boys widened their eyes in slight surprise and embarrassment. They quickly tried to look away, mumbling excuses for their unbelievably bad behaviour. Kakashi shook them slightly in his grip, forcing them to look at him in the eye again.
Once he was sure he had their full attention, the Jounin continued, "It's becoming a routine for both of you to come to meetings kicking up a storm, and I must say I am quite highly amused. Before I return you to your dramatics, would you like to explain what exactly is going on here, or should I fill in the holes and make up an excuse for you?"
"No!!" Sasuke immediately shouted. "No! No you will not!" He gritted his teeth and shook his head. Evidently, he had yet to be able to forget what was the excuse Kakashi had made for him the last time he came about five minutes later to the meeting than Kakashi. It involved many things that a 16-year-old boy like him should not and was not yet legal to know. Naruto stared at him inquisitively.
"Well," Kakashi shrugged, "then make yourself useful and start explaining."
"He stole my stuff!" Sasuke immediately accused, pointing at Naruto.
"He was being a miser!" Naruto pointed right back. "I wasn't going to steal all his money! I was just going to grab enough to buy ramen at Ichiraku. If he hadn't shouted at me and started chasing me, I would've returned the remaining money to him! Hmph!" Naruto grounded out huffily.
"That wasn't all you stole, Naruto..." Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
"I already told you I only took the photo album by mistake!" Naruto pouted, folded his arms across his chest, and looked away with a leer. Then a look of dark mischief passed over him and he grinned evilly at Sasuke, "Though, come to think of it, since you're being such an asshole about it, maybe I should take that picture of baby Sasuke in a bathtub to the bookstore and make copies of it for distribution around the entire village...-"
"That's the whole point about you and my album!!" Sasuke angrily tried to stomp a foot, but couldn't since he was still dangling from Kakashi's hold. "If you were anyone else - Iruka-sensei, Shikamaru, Chouji, oh hell even Sakura! I wouldn't give a rat's ass deal about them with my photo album! But you! You with anything! Anything of mine to boot! It's going to spell nothing but trouble! That's why I want it back, you total moron! Dead-last of dead-lasts! Dim-witted, mindless twit of a--"
At that particular point in time, Kakashi released his hold on the two fuming boys, and allowed them to crash unceremoniously to the ground. Iruka was by Naruto's side in an instance, while the silver-haired Jounin himself bent down to face Sasuke levelly. Once he was sure the boy had not sustained any unexpected injuries, he rose to full height and shook his head.
"Listen. I'm not running a nursery here. It looks like you were both at fault somehow. Stand up." He commanded, and both Naruto and Sasuke did as told. "Naruto, return what you stole from Sasuke. If you want something from him, ask nicely next time. If he still insists on being a miser, well," he scratched his head, "you can always come ask me to slap him into un-misery. Trust me, I've perfected that art a long time time ago," he winked at Naruto, who pouted but nodded.
"Sasuke," Kakashi continued, "you owe Naruto an apology. Even if he was wrong to have taken things from you, knowing someone like /you/, you very likely did something to trigger it off in the first place. Now then!" Kakashi took both boys by a shoulder and set them so that they faced each other. "We're all good and settled. In order to not let this ruin our teamwork, you're going to shake hands with each other in a silent promise that nothing like this will happen again! Come on," he frowned slightly, when both Naruto and Sasuke looked absolutely disgust at the idea of hand-shaking, "no fighting back with your superior."
There was a pause. Nothing happened.
"Do it now," Kakashi chirped, sounding very happy all of a sudden. A chill immediately went up both boys' spines. "Or I'm going to order you to kiss and make up instea--"
The words alone were enough. Two hands shot out, one each from the boy, and gripped each other in a tight embrace. After about three seconds exactly, they broke contact and quickly turned away, cheeks tinted with humiliation and embarrassment. Kakashi smiled.
"Very good. Now sit down and this'll be over in a jiffy," he pointed at the table in the centre of the room. Not waiting to see if they had done as he had commanded, he rounded the table to the front and pulled down a screen. Iruka automatically moved to handle the projector already seated on the table facing the screen. Sasuke noted that he had never seen the projector before. He frowned, just as the lights were turned off.
"Aaah" Kakashi gave a nostalgic sigh. "How long has it been since we last used this piece of junk for a photo demonstration?"
"Just shut up and hurry up," Sasuke's unhappy voice came out from the darkness. There was the sound of some movement, then the projector churned into life, projecting a bolt of coloured image onto the screen, and filling the other parts of the room with a soft, white glow.
"Always as impatient to get to the action as ever, that he is," Kakashi was more amused than offended at Sasuke's disrespect. He smacked a teacher's rod against the screen, immediately directing everybody's attention there. "What we're going to see, are the pictures of the girls who have been assaulted, taken immediately after they were discovered with a special chakra-detecting camera. Tell me what you notice."
For the next couple of minutes, only the clicking of the shutters of the projector fill the room.
"I get it!" Naruto suddenly jumped out of his chair and slammed his palms on the table, just as the last picture flashed by. "Their heads! Their heads all have this strange, chakra cloud over it!"
"I'm sure we all /saw/ that, dead-last," Sasuke rebutted, holding his ear from mock pain. "Keep your voice down for once, idiot."
"I have a name!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke in indignation.
"Both of you, quiet!" Kakashi reprimanded. "Naruto, sit down!" He further compounded.
"But-" Naruto began to protest. Only when Iruka tugged at the hem of Naruto's jacket and shook his head fiercely, did he eventually succumb and sat back down without a further word.
Seeing that the situation was under control, Kakashi turned to his protege and sighed inwardly, like he had to every time he needed to deal with the boy. "Since you're all so clever and smart, Sasuke," the Jounin began, "why don't you tell us what else you could see from the pictures that Naruto hasn't already pointed out?"
Sasuke frowned at Kakashi, questioning the man's motive in asking the question at all. What he had observed, he was sure that Kakashi already knew as well. "If you must know," Sasuke mimicked his guardian's soothing, almost condescending tone, "what I have observed is that the chakra cloud seems most prominently visible over the victims that are immediately found, rather than those that are found a few days later. The clouds have more or less dissipated for those.
"That is probably the cause of the victim's coma - a constant mental attack on them via a chakra residue. Also, if they should ever wake, like Sakura did, then their memories will be too jumbled for them to be helpful to identifying the demon. This is a very intelligent, scheming demon we're dealing with, to be sure," Sasuke frowned, "leaving the girls alive when he could have simply killed them means he wants something that only the humans can give him. He's leaving clues behind for us to pick up. Although what exactly he wants, I have no idea..."
"Good enough," Kakashi nodded, and gestured to Iruka, who nodded back and quietly slid the next slide into the projector. The picture flashed onto the screen. Both Naruto and Sasuke tensed visibly. "Now this," Kakashi ploughed on, nonchalant, "is Sakura's picture - taken immediately upon discovery. Sakura, as you probably can tell, is the odd one of the lot. Unlike the previous victims, she was found almost immediately - attacked in a crowded park near the police headquarters during a festival, to be precise. Unlike the other victims, who were unpopular, lonely girls of one way or the other, Haruno Sakura is rather well-known and well-liked among the masses. Add that to the fact that..."
"...that the Chakra used on her was strong enough to make her forget... but not strong enough to knock her out completely..." Naruto was the one interrupting, a blank look of revelation on his face. This time, Sasuke did not make a jibe.
"Is it a challenge?" The Uchiha asked, looking straight at Kakashi.
"Hm?" The Jounin tilted his head to a side, smiling under his mask.
"Is the Mizu-Youma challenging us?" Sasuke repeated.
Kakashi closed his eye and strode across the screen. "You are probably right. Before the case was referred to us, it was just a normal B-rank mission for general Ninja. It was the demon's latest attack of Sakura in the park so near the police that made the council reconsider the weight and classification of its rank. That was why we were given this mission instead. All things considered, then, yes," the single eye crinkled into an obvious grin, "the water demon /is/ challenging us."
Naruto giggled, standing up and cracking his knuckles. "All righty," he said in a low grumble, grinning away, "that ol' watery thing obviously has no idea who he just issued the challenge to. Don't worry, sensei! I'll kick his ass and save Sasuke's while I'm at it! Just sit back and--woaaah!?" He was suddenly pushed aside and spun around and around on his rotating chair. The culprit, none other than Sasuke, gave the revolving chair one last offended kick, and sent it towards the door, where it came to a stop with a loud thumping sound that was followed by a muffled groan.
His task accomplished, Sasuke stood up from his own chair, hands stuffed casually into his pockets. "If that's all we need to know, then we'll go interrogate Sakura again now."
The lights were switched on as soon as those words left his mouth, Iruka having powered down the projector. The Chuunin quickly passed a folder to Sasuke and said, "Some more updated information and images for you guys to look through at your own leisure. Don't forget, if you learn of anything new, come back and inform us right away. I'll be at the office at the top floor as usual, though I don't know where Kakashi-san will disappear to, as he always does half the day," the last part of the sentence was whispered privately. Sasuke nodded tersely, trying to hide the twitch in his lip that was a smile threatening to burst out. Giving Sasuke a reassuring pat on the shoulder, Iruka smiled and turned to walk away.
"Ah, my children are leaving me for the big, bad world out there," Kakashi did not indicate whether he heard Iruka's words, merely wiping a theatrical tear away. "Please return home alive and in one piece, my darlings!"
Naruto gaped at Kakashi, his face crossed between amazement and disgust. Sasuke just threw his guardian an threatening glare. It soon simmered into slight curiosity, however, when the boy asked, "How did you get those Chakra photos anyway? They're supposed to be classified stuff even the Taiyoubu couldn't touch without having to go through at least ten days of paperwork..."
The sudden question forced Kakashi back to normal mode. He appeared to be genuinely considering a reply. He eventually shrugged and said, "Rest assured that it came from an official, internal source in the police department, and that I didn't get this through bribe or corruption, if that's what you're concerned about," he smiled at Sasuke, who sulked. "Who am I to reject the kindness of someone who wants to help?" The Jounin rubbed his hands gleefully. "Now then, shoo! You have work to do, and I have things to read!" He hadn't waited for any response at all, pulling out his porn without batting an eyelid, earning him two disgusted glares and one curious tilt of head. With a quick hand seal, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Argh!" Sasuke threw his hands up in surrender. "How can I ever grow up normal with a guardian like /that/?!"
Naruto bounced about around him. "You mean you read porn too?"
The whack across Naruto's head could be heard from the other end of the corridor.
"No I don't!" Sasuke almost screeched. He slammed the door open rather loudly and stormed out in a rage.
"What the hell are you so angry about!" Naruto screeched right back, holding the lump on his head. "Oh, see you later, Iruka-sensei!" He grinned at the Chuunin, then turned to follow Sasuke out of the room.
Iruka smiled thinly at the door that slid shut. He then sat down on the chair, and sighed the longest sigh he had ever sighed in a long, long time.
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"-and you really should learn some manners, coz you know nothing, absolutely /nothing/ about holding a normal, civil conversation-"
"I can hold normal, civil conversations, stupid."
"-with me; don't call me that!; and thus your social circle is failing! Absolutely failing! Non-existent, if you asked me! Your taste in words is as bad as your taste in girls! I can't believe why you're not even the slightest bit of interested in Sakura-chan-"
"She is an injured /victim/ who we are supposed to question, not date!"
"-since she's so beautiful and everything and okay okay, that part of the deal aside; you can't deny that she's pretty! And nice! And sweet! And-"
"Will you just shut up before I clobber you with a splintered coffee table already?!"
"-so /cute/ when she smiles and... hah! I'd like to see you try! Come on!"
"Oh, for crying out loud, will there ever come a day when the two of you will walk this stretch of hallway without trying to murder each other?" A new voice pierced lazily into the duo's engaging conversation. Two pairs of eyes turned in the direction of the voice and saw that it was just Shikamaru, with his coffee, leaning against the wall. The boy gave his friends a two-finger salute, making Naruto and Sasuke step backwards instinctively, not trying to tear each other's heads off anymore.
"He started it!" Naruto immediately accused. Sasuke snorted and looked away, refusing to deign that with a response.
Shikamaru shrugged, lifting himself away from the wall and yawning. "Whatever... the both of you are so damned troublesome... made me stay up the whole night..." He yawned again, and mumbled something else unintelligible.
"Shikamaru, you stayed up the whole of last night?" Naruto asked in disbelief, peering at him suspiciously. "Are you really Shikamaru?!"
"This morning I wondered the same thing, staring at the ceiling of my bedroom," Shikamaru sighed into his coffee. He turned around and lifted a hand over his shoulder. "Hope you guys enjoyed the nice movie slideshow. See ya..."
Shikamaru's footsteps soon echoed into nothing. And while Naruto's expression turned from slight to full blown confusion, Sasuke kept frowning in the direction Shikamaru had last moved into. After a few moments of hesitation, he finally called out into the empty corridor, "Hey, thanks... You really helped us lots there..." - much to Naruto's bemusement.
Silence was his only response, but Sasuke smiled slightly and continued to drag Naruto out of the building.
Shikamaru probably thought it was too troublesome to shout a response back.
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15/9/2004
Part 9 of 16
(email XD!) XD (at) tougenkyou (dot) net
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Against the Tide
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Chapter Eight
"What's that flashing thing on the bottom?" Naruto's eyes widened with curiosity. After arriving at Sasuke's house, they had gone into the study room immediately to consult the computer and whatever notes Sasuke had taken from their trip to the library.
Said Sasuke was currently chewing on the tip of his pencil and frowning slightly - partly because of the lack of information on their current case, and partly because of Naruto's grating voice. "It means I have new mail from somebody I know," he muttered blandly, reaching out for the mouse and clicking on the flashing icon. The computer inbox jumped to life and quickly displayed the incoming message. "It's from Kakashi."
"Wow!" Naruto was excited, though not for the same reasons Sasuke was. "I've heard all about computers but I've never seen them in action before! Talk about cool!"
"Kakashi says..." Sasuke droned on, pleased that he had mastered the rare art of tuning one Uzumaki Naruto out entirely. "... that after pulling some strings and breaking some firewalls - he has confirmed that the Mizu-Youma is from the Hidden Mist. It was bound to an S-class criminal prisoner because water demons are known to occupy the memories of their hosts for survival." The Uchiha frowned. "A botched brainwashing operation... Reasons for its arrival on Konoha are still unknown. Kakashi says he needs more information to work with. Naruto," Sasuke paused in his monologue to address his suddenly calmed partner, "pass me the notebook. I need to send some stuff to Kakashi."
Wordlessly, Naruto complied.
Sasuke stared at the quiet blond. He sighed, grabbed the book Naruto was offering him and swiped once at his head.
"HEY!" There was an instant response. "What'd you do that for?!"
"Idiot," Sasuke had turned back to looking at the monitor screen. "Your brain wasn't designed for thinking deep things, so don't try so hard."
"It was too!" Naruto looked affronted. "What else could it be for, you know-it-all, self-righteous jerk?!"
"Eating, breathing, sleeping, moronic things like that," Sasuke shot back calmly. He had already begun typing information into the computer.
Naruto turned red in the face from anger and screeched with hands upraised, "Your stupid brain does all of that too and I don't hear you calling yourself a moron!! Do you want another slash across your pretty face?! Huh?"
The sound of typing immediately stopped. Sasuke spun around on his creaky, rotating chair, glaring darkly at Naruto. The blond gulped slightly and started to regret shooting his mouth off. The room was deathly silent. Naruto was sure Sasuke was going to yell at him that he was dismissed and could go back to whatever gutter he had come from. It was unsettling, therefore, to see a smirk slowly surface on Sasuke's face.
"Moron." He stated, loudly and clearly. A vein in Naruto's head literally popped. He had his explosive response all ready, until Sasuke's voice cut his thoughts cleanly into two. "Go out and turn right, all the way down the corridor. There's a room on the left that has all the books in the house about Youma and Younin. Grab the blue one on the third row that's on the shelf nearest to the window. It may have something useful." He arched an eyebrow at Naruto, who had wide eyes and a slack jaw - obviously confounded. He smirked again. "Well? What're you waiting for? Come on. Show me how much brains you really have. Or do I need to repeat the instructions?"
Immediately, Naruto's face dissolved into anger. "Grr!" He growled loudly at Sasuke. He turned tail and stormed dramatically out of the room, throwing one last glare across his shoulder at the simpering Uchiha.
Sasuke afforded himself a small quirk of lips. He wheeled back to his workstation and was about to continue with his data entry when he noticed another mail that had the unread flag. Blinking at the strange sender, he wondered who it could be. Few knew his address, and even fewer cared to use it.
Just as he was about to trash it, something caught his eye.
He stared.
It came from the Hokage's office.
Bearing the subject, "Kyuubi no Youko".
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Pacing up and down the corridor of Sasuke's house, Naruto surprised himself by finding the stipulated room with almost no problems whatsoever. And it wasn't that he had Sasuke's instructions clear in his mind either - he had sort of forgotten whatever he was to follow after the 'make a right turn' part. He had chosen to rely on his instincts instead, following the only route in the house that was lined with the slightest signs of life. The lonely lights from the streetlamps poured onto the hallways through the windows, illuminating it with an eerie glow. Naruto peered curiously at the luminaries as he made his way towards the library - grinning at them.
It was almost as if they were leading him there.
Naruto knew that Sasuke lived alone - that much Iruka had told him. And as soon as he found out that the Uchiha was the curse-bearer of the Hebi-Youma's seal, he could more or less figure out why he lived alone. He was saddened. He knew he was prone to extreme feelings, but the sudden sadness surprised even himself. He snorted to himself, clearing his thoughts and quickly entering into the house library. No way was he going to let himself feel sorry over an asshole like Sasuke!
The library was simple - books, a desk, a few chairs, and a lot of shelves with even more books. Naruto glanced around for a blue book near the window, and found it quickly. There were very few other books that were vaguely blue in colour, after all.
As he tucked the book safely under his arm, he noticed the mess that was on the table. Notes were scattered about, and opened books were stacked, one atop the other. A niggling feeling at the back of his mind told him that he had better get back to Sasuke as soon as possible. The consequences would undoubtedly be dire if Sasuke found him poking about his belongings. But on the other hand, his curiosity screamed at him.
Screamed loudly at him to find out more about what Sasuke had been researching in this room.
Blue eyes darted about the room. Then Naruto tiptoed closer to the table. It wouldn't hurt to peek, just a little, was his reasoning. After all, he could probably find out something about Sasuke that he could later use as blackmail material! With that thought set, he grinned widely to himself and descended upon the desk with full force.
The first thing Naruto did was to shuffle through the notes. Notes were shorter and summarised versions of the books. And books were things he did not like to read - not even if he could help it.
None of what had been written on the notes struck him as anything blackmail-able, once Naruto had sifted through a huge pile of it. They were standard, clinical, /boring/ investigation things - talking about the psyche of known demons, the status of Younin research, the various skills and abilities of Youma, etcetera. The blond sighed, deciding that he had been wasting his time. He was about to give up and go after he ruffled through the last stack, when he caught something scribbled in a much messier scrawl at a lonely corner of the final page with entries on the notepaper.
Picking the paper up, he squinted at it.
Although messy, the scribbling was readable. It looked like it had been done only in a moment of impulse, for it had been struck out several times vehemently by coarse, black ink. Still, the strokes had not been able to hide all the letters from view. Naruto could make out a few words, and from there, piece together entire sentences.
There were only two sentences written in that corner.
/...still can't find cure for curse.../
Naruto's hand clasped the piece of paper tighter.
/...don't want him to die too.../
And he could hear something inside shattering into a thousand pieces.
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When Naruto re-entered the study room, Sasuke was already finished with the email from the Hokage's office. His eyes were glazed over with something like concentration, and his eyebrows knitted tightly together. He heard the other boy's footsteps, looking up briefly to shoot him a quick glance of acknowledgement.
Naruto glanced back.
For a while, neither spoke. Sasuke was frowning like he had something to ask Naruto, and Naruto simply stared at Sasuke with a pair of sad-looking eyes.
It reminded Sasuke of the day when they first saw each other in the Laboratory.
Startled at the sudden memory, Sasuke coughed into his fist and looked away. "Got the book?" He tried to sound as casual as he could. He spun around on his chair. "Kakashi's working on the notes I just sent over, but I need to forward him more information..."
Sasuke had trailed off, because Naruto quietly gave him the book, then moved to sit on another chair nearby, staring at his toes, very very quietly. His mind was obviously on something else.
Perplexed, Sasuke turned back to the computer to finish up his work, wondering about the situation but not curious enough to ask. The silence was awkward after a while - especially since the blond he had come to associate with energy was sitting just beside him. Sasuke was therefore not quite surprised that he chose to break the silence.
"Kakashi's collated some information - it appears that the demon only assaults sixteen year old girls. There is a pattern to his attack that we can't quite catch yet - since some of the girls were discovered only a few days after the actual attack. The girls he picks are usually the more unpopular ones - for some reason. He's issued the order for us to visit Sakura at the hospital again tomorrow to see if she remembers anything. In the meantime, he wants us to get more familiar with the skills and Jutsus of the Mizu-Youma. There's going to be an inevitable showdown when push comes to shove..."
Sasuke hesitated somewhat. He glanced once at Naruto, whose head had been bowed from his re-entrance, and was still bowed. The blond was also twiddling his thumbs, meaning he was not paying attention, and Sasuke could feel a vein throbbing in his head. "... dead-last! Are you listening or not?!"
"...yeah... sort of..." Naruto responded after a short silence, still twiddling his thumbs, oblivious that his answer made Sasuke more frustrated. "... I mean... yeah, you know... I know what you mean but I don't know why you mean it and... you know, stuff like that..."
Sasuke's annoyance was slowly taken over by curious confusion. "/What?/" He found himself unable to stop the question from slipping out of his mouth.
"I mean!" Naruto suddenly raised his voice and stood up, eyes blazing with determination. "... Why?"
"..." Sasuke turned his head to a side to stare at Naruto sidelong. "... why what?"
"Why didn't you tell me about your curse!" Naruto shouted again, back to his normal, boisterous self. "I could be of some help! I may be Younin and you may be my signatory, but I might as well be just an accessory if you don't trust me to watch your back! I don't care what you've been through in the past to make you such an asshole, because you're not the only one with problems, okay?" Naruto huffed, then glanced away before mumbling his last sentence. "And I'm not gonna lose to a stupid curse! I'm not gonna let you predict my future for me, and I'm most certainly not going to die, you got that?!" He returned his slightly embarrassed eyes to Sasuke.
Who was gaping like a goldfish. And completely dumb-struck to boot.
Until the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
"You saw that note in the library," Sasuke's voice was quiet, serious, and demanding. He stared hard at Naruto.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. "You never asked me not to!"
The Uchiha sighed noisily. He put his face into his hand and shook his head. "Nevermind..." he mumbled, looking up to regard Naruto warily. "Looks like you know my little secret. Guess that makes us even, huh?"
"Even?" Naruto blinked.
"Wanna see?" Sasuke nonchalantly pointed towards the monitor screen, where the mail about the Kyuubi from the Hokage was still on display. Naruto frowned, then slowly advanced towards the apparatus, staring at the screen for a while. His eyes widened in surprise upon catching a few keywords in the document, then reared towards Sasuke accusingly. "Where did you get this?!"
Sasuke shrugged. "From the Hokage's office, although I'm sure Kakashi had something to do with it." He smirked at the blond, who was still staring at slight shock at the screen. "I always thought Youma-Ningen had demons /combined/ with them. You're the only one I've heard of who has a demon /sealed/ inside instead. I don't know if it means anything, but you're just a normal human after all, aren't you?" He snorted. "And I always thought you were some special nutcase with some really exceptional circumstances, to be able to give such loud declarations that I wasn't the only special one in the world. Hmph." He paused, continuing no further, choosing instead to watch Naruto carefully for a reaction.
Naruto slowly turned to look at Sasuke in the eye.
"Kyuubi no Youko wiped out a third of the village's power sixteen years ago," he said, in a tone that didn't quite sound like he was the one speaking. "Anybody who's had to live through that war bore a grudge against the demon fox for the countless atrocities he had done. The demon was too strong to be destroyed, so instead the Fourth Hokage had to seal it into a newborn baby. They feared the child so much they chained him up in the name of science and security, scorning him, mocking him, ridiculing him, wishing that he were better off dead."
Sasuke frowned, just as Naruto turned to look away.
"I am that child, as you know. I grew up lonely, Sasuke. I grew up thinking the world had no need for me, but!" He turned around again, grinning with his entire set of teeth visible. "I'm not like you! I won't allow them to dictate the way I live! And I won't lose to a stupid fox, or a stupid seal, or anybody stupid enough to think that I don't matter! I'll show them that I'm stronger than they are! I'm gonna be the next Hokage for sure!" He heaved a fist into the air. "That's how my Nindou goes!" He grinned at the stunned Uchiha.
After glowering for a while, Sasuke griped, "Your Nindou is stupid and impractical. Stop trying to rub it off other people!" He turned away to quickly avert Naruto's eyes, using the time instead to type quickly and furiously on the keyboard of the computer. Naruto had indeed fumed and wanted to protest. "But," Sasuke added softly, his typing speed slowly down, successfully diverting Naruto's thoughts, "I'll admit. You are strong. Stronger than those other idiots who've never had to face solitude. Never knew how it felt to be truly alone..."
Naruto knew he had something to say to that. But for some reason, he opened his mouth, but could not force the words to be spoken.
Minutes passed in silence, Sasuke typing away on the computer and Naruto frowning away at his toes.
"But we're not alone anymore," it seemed logical, entirely too logical that it would be Naruto who would break the silence, "right?"
And it seemed logical, entirely too logical too, that Sasuke would actually give serious thought to that question. He took a slow spin on his chair around to catch Naruto's bright, questioning eyes in his own. "No," he answered, rather begrudgingly, "not now, at least."
Naruto's next grin was so bright, Sasuke thought it would light up the darkened room entirely.
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The next day, the two boys literally crashed headlong into the usual meeting room, pooling into a heap before Kakashi's feet. In the background, Iruka stopped arranging some documents into files and stared openly at the scuffling duo, who were still struggling against each other with much shouting and insulting, on the ground. Kakashi calmly raised an eyebrow. He reached over, picked both teenagers up by their collars and separated them.
"Give it back!" Sasuke made one final swipe at Naruto's face, before relaxing into Kakashi's firm grip. He did not, however, stop growling at the blond.
"Ngeeeeeeeh!" Naruto stuck his tongue out and wagged a finger, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was now dangling a feet above the ground. "Serves you right for being such a petty miser! No miser crosses the path of Uzumaki Naruto and leaves still a miser!"
"Why you!!" Sasuke struggled against Kakashi, flailing about pathetically, looking his age for once, instead of a seasoned, well-trained fighting machine. "When I get my hands on you you'll regret ever--"
"Hey hey, boys! Boys!" Kakashi finally intercepted, partly out of annoyance and partly out of curiosity. For the first time since they had tumbled messily into the room, Naruto and Sasuke tore their glances away from each other and looked instead at their current superior. Recognition only set in after a while, and both boys widened their eyes in slight surprise and embarrassment. They quickly tried to look away, mumbling excuses for their unbelievably bad behaviour. Kakashi shook them slightly in his grip, forcing them to look at him in the eye again.
Once he was sure he had their full attention, the Jounin continued, "It's becoming a routine for both of you to come to meetings kicking up a storm, and I must say I am quite highly amused. Before I return you to your dramatics, would you like to explain what exactly is going on here, or should I fill in the holes and make up an excuse for you?"
"No!!" Sasuke immediately shouted. "No! No you will not!" He gritted his teeth and shook his head. Evidently, he had yet to be able to forget what was the excuse Kakashi had made for him the last time he came about five minutes later to the meeting than Kakashi. It involved many things that a 16-year-old boy like him should not and was not yet legal to know. Naruto stared at him inquisitively.
"Well," Kakashi shrugged, "then make yourself useful and start explaining."
"He stole my stuff!" Sasuke immediately accused, pointing at Naruto.
"He was being a miser!" Naruto pointed right back. "I wasn't going to steal all his money! I was just going to grab enough to buy ramen at Ichiraku. If he hadn't shouted at me and started chasing me, I would've returned the remaining money to him! Hmph!" Naruto grounded out huffily.
"That wasn't all you stole, Naruto..." Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
"I already told you I only took the photo album by mistake!" Naruto pouted, folded his arms across his chest, and looked away with a leer. Then a look of dark mischief passed over him and he grinned evilly at Sasuke, "Though, come to think of it, since you're being such an asshole about it, maybe I should take that picture of baby Sasuke in a bathtub to the bookstore and make copies of it for distribution around the entire village...-"
"That's the whole point about you and my album!!" Sasuke angrily tried to stomp a foot, but couldn't since he was still dangling from Kakashi's hold. "If you were anyone else - Iruka-sensei, Shikamaru, Chouji, oh hell even Sakura! I wouldn't give a rat's ass deal about them with my photo album! But you! You with anything! Anything of mine to boot! It's going to spell nothing but trouble! That's why I want it back, you total moron! Dead-last of dead-lasts! Dim-witted, mindless twit of a--"
At that particular point in time, Kakashi released his hold on the two fuming boys, and allowed them to crash unceremoniously to the ground. Iruka was by Naruto's side in an instance, while the silver-haired Jounin himself bent down to face Sasuke levelly. Once he was sure the boy had not sustained any unexpected injuries, he rose to full height and shook his head.
"Listen. I'm not running a nursery here. It looks like you were both at fault somehow. Stand up." He commanded, and both Naruto and Sasuke did as told. "Naruto, return what you stole from Sasuke. If you want something from him, ask nicely next time. If he still insists on being a miser, well," he scratched his head, "you can always come ask me to slap him into un-misery. Trust me, I've perfected that art a long time time ago," he winked at Naruto, who pouted but nodded.
"Sasuke," Kakashi continued, "you owe Naruto an apology. Even if he was wrong to have taken things from you, knowing someone like /you/, you very likely did something to trigger it off in the first place. Now then!" Kakashi took both boys by a shoulder and set them so that they faced each other. "We're all good and settled. In order to not let this ruin our teamwork, you're going to shake hands with each other in a silent promise that nothing like this will happen again! Come on," he frowned slightly, when both Naruto and Sasuke looked absolutely disgust at the idea of hand-shaking, "no fighting back with your superior."
There was a pause. Nothing happened.
"Do it now," Kakashi chirped, sounding very happy all of a sudden. A chill immediately went up both boys' spines. "Or I'm going to order you to kiss and make up instea--"
The words alone were enough. Two hands shot out, one each from the boy, and gripped each other in a tight embrace. After about three seconds exactly, they broke contact and quickly turned away, cheeks tinted with humiliation and embarrassment. Kakashi smiled.
"Very good. Now sit down and this'll be over in a jiffy," he pointed at the table in the centre of the room. Not waiting to see if they had done as he had commanded, he rounded the table to the front and pulled down a screen. Iruka automatically moved to handle the projector already seated on the table facing the screen. Sasuke noted that he had never seen the projector before. He frowned, just as the lights were turned off.
"Aaah" Kakashi gave a nostalgic sigh. "How long has it been since we last used this piece of junk for a photo demonstration?"
"Just shut up and hurry up," Sasuke's unhappy voice came out from the darkness. There was the sound of some movement, then the projector churned into life, projecting a bolt of coloured image onto the screen, and filling the other parts of the room with a soft, white glow.
"Always as impatient to get to the action as ever, that he is," Kakashi was more amused than offended at Sasuke's disrespect. He smacked a teacher's rod against the screen, immediately directing everybody's attention there. "What we're going to see, are the pictures of the girls who have been assaulted, taken immediately after they were discovered with a special chakra-detecting camera. Tell me what you notice."
For the next couple of minutes, only the clicking of the shutters of the projector fill the room.
"I get it!" Naruto suddenly jumped out of his chair and slammed his palms on the table, just as the last picture flashed by. "Their heads! Their heads all have this strange, chakra cloud over it!"
"I'm sure we all /saw/ that, dead-last," Sasuke rebutted, holding his ear from mock pain. "Keep your voice down for once, idiot."
"I have a name!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke in indignation.
"Both of you, quiet!" Kakashi reprimanded. "Naruto, sit down!" He further compounded.
"But-" Naruto began to protest. Only when Iruka tugged at the hem of Naruto's jacket and shook his head fiercely, did he eventually succumb and sat back down without a further word.
Seeing that the situation was under control, Kakashi turned to his protege and sighed inwardly, like he had to every time he needed to deal with the boy. "Since you're all so clever and smart, Sasuke," the Jounin began, "why don't you tell us what else you could see from the pictures that Naruto hasn't already pointed out?"
Sasuke frowned at Kakashi, questioning the man's motive in asking the question at all. What he had observed, he was sure that Kakashi already knew as well. "If you must know," Sasuke mimicked his guardian's soothing, almost condescending tone, "what I have observed is that the chakra cloud seems most prominently visible over the victims that are immediately found, rather than those that are found a few days later. The clouds have more or less dissipated for those.
"That is probably the cause of the victim's coma - a constant mental attack on them via a chakra residue. Also, if they should ever wake, like Sakura did, then their memories will be too jumbled for them to be helpful to identifying the demon. This is a very intelligent, scheming demon we're dealing with, to be sure," Sasuke frowned, "leaving the girls alive when he could have simply killed them means he wants something that only the humans can give him. He's leaving clues behind for us to pick up. Although what exactly he wants, I have no idea..."
"Good enough," Kakashi nodded, and gestured to Iruka, who nodded back and quietly slid the next slide into the projector. The picture flashed onto the screen. Both Naruto and Sasuke tensed visibly. "Now this," Kakashi ploughed on, nonchalant, "is Sakura's picture - taken immediately upon discovery. Sakura, as you probably can tell, is the odd one of the lot. Unlike the previous victims, she was found almost immediately - attacked in a crowded park near the police headquarters during a festival, to be precise. Unlike the other victims, who were unpopular, lonely girls of one way or the other, Haruno Sakura is rather well-known and well-liked among the masses. Add that to the fact that..."
"...that the Chakra used on her was strong enough to make her forget... but not strong enough to knock her out completely..." Naruto was the one interrupting, a blank look of revelation on his face. This time, Sasuke did not make a jibe.
"Is it a challenge?" The Uchiha asked, looking straight at Kakashi.
"Hm?" The Jounin tilted his head to a side, smiling under his mask.
"Is the Mizu-Youma challenging us?" Sasuke repeated.
Kakashi closed his eye and strode across the screen. "You are probably right. Before the case was referred to us, it was just a normal B-rank mission for general Ninja. It was the demon's latest attack of Sakura in the park so near the police that made the council reconsider the weight and classification of its rank. That was why we were given this mission instead. All things considered, then, yes," the single eye crinkled into an obvious grin, "the water demon /is/ challenging us."
Naruto giggled, standing up and cracking his knuckles. "All righty," he said in a low grumble, grinning away, "that ol' watery thing obviously has no idea who he just issued the challenge to. Don't worry, sensei! I'll kick his ass and save Sasuke's while I'm at it! Just sit back and--woaaah!?" He was suddenly pushed aside and spun around and around on his rotating chair. The culprit, none other than Sasuke, gave the revolving chair one last offended kick, and sent it towards the door, where it came to a stop with a loud thumping sound that was followed by a muffled groan.
His task accomplished, Sasuke stood up from his own chair, hands stuffed casually into his pockets. "If that's all we need to know, then we'll go interrogate Sakura again now."
The lights were switched on as soon as those words left his mouth, Iruka having powered down the projector. The Chuunin quickly passed a folder to Sasuke and said, "Some more updated information and images for you guys to look through at your own leisure. Don't forget, if you learn of anything new, come back and inform us right away. I'll be at the office at the top floor as usual, though I don't know where Kakashi-san will disappear to, as he always does half the day," the last part of the sentence was whispered privately. Sasuke nodded tersely, trying to hide the twitch in his lip that was a smile threatening to burst out. Giving Sasuke a reassuring pat on the shoulder, Iruka smiled and turned to walk away.
"Ah, my children are leaving me for the big, bad world out there," Kakashi did not indicate whether he heard Iruka's words, merely wiping a theatrical tear away. "Please return home alive and in one piece, my darlings!"
Naruto gaped at Kakashi, his face crossed between amazement and disgust. Sasuke just threw his guardian an threatening glare. It soon simmered into slight curiosity, however, when the boy asked, "How did you get those Chakra photos anyway? They're supposed to be classified stuff even the Taiyoubu couldn't touch without having to go through at least ten days of paperwork..."
The sudden question forced Kakashi back to normal mode. He appeared to be genuinely considering a reply. He eventually shrugged and said, "Rest assured that it came from an official, internal source in the police department, and that I didn't get this through bribe or corruption, if that's what you're concerned about," he smiled at Sasuke, who sulked. "Who am I to reject the kindness of someone who wants to help?" The Jounin rubbed his hands gleefully. "Now then, shoo! You have work to do, and I have things to read!" He hadn't waited for any response at all, pulling out his porn without batting an eyelid, earning him two disgusted glares and one curious tilt of head. With a quick hand seal, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Argh!" Sasuke threw his hands up in surrender. "How can I ever grow up normal with a guardian like /that/?!"
Naruto bounced about around him. "You mean you read porn too?"
The whack across Naruto's head could be heard from the other end of the corridor.
"No I don't!" Sasuke almost screeched. He slammed the door open rather loudly and stormed out in a rage.
"What the hell are you so angry about!" Naruto screeched right back, holding the lump on his head. "Oh, see you later, Iruka-sensei!" He grinned at the Chuunin, then turned to follow Sasuke out of the room.
Iruka smiled thinly at the door that slid shut. He then sat down on the chair, and sighed the longest sigh he had ever sighed in a long, long time.
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"-and you really should learn some manners, coz you know nothing, absolutely /nothing/ about holding a normal, civil conversation-"
"I can hold normal, civil conversations, stupid."
"-with me; don't call me that!; and thus your social circle is failing! Absolutely failing! Non-existent, if you asked me! Your taste in words is as bad as your taste in girls! I can't believe why you're not even the slightest bit of interested in Sakura-chan-"
"She is an injured /victim/ who we are supposed to question, not date!"
"-since she's so beautiful and everything and okay okay, that part of the deal aside; you can't deny that she's pretty! And nice! And sweet! And-"
"Will you just shut up before I clobber you with a splintered coffee table already?!"
"-so /cute/ when she smiles and... hah! I'd like to see you try! Come on!"
"Oh, for crying out loud, will there ever come a day when the two of you will walk this stretch of hallway without trying to murder each other?" A new voice pierced lazily into the duo's engaging conversation. Two pairs of eyes turned in the direction of the voice and saw that it was just Shikamaru, with his coffee, leaning against the wall. The boy gave his friends a two-finger salute, making Naruto and Sasuke step backwards instinctively, not trying to tear each other's heads off anymore.
"He started it!" Naruto immediately accused. Sasuke snorted and looked away, refusing to deign that with a response.
Shikamaru shrugged, lifting himself away from the wall and yawning. "Whatever... the both of you are so damned troublesome... made me stay up the whole night..." He yawned again, and mumbled something else unintelligible.
"Shikamaru, you stayed up the whole of last night?" Naruto asked in disbelief, peering at him suspiciously. "Are you really Shikamaru?!"
"This morning I wondered the same thing, staring at the ceiling of my bedroom," Shikamaru sighed into his coffee. He turned around and lifted a hand over his shoulder. "Hope you guys enjoyed the nice movie slideshow. See ya..."
Shikamaru's footsteps soon echoed into nothing. And while Naruto's expression turned from slight to full blown confusion, Sasuke kept frowning in the direction Shikamaru had last moved into. After a few moments of hesitation, he finally called out into the empty corridor, "Hey, thanks... You really helped us lots there..." - much to Naruto's bemusement.
Silence was his only response, but Sasuke smiled slightly and continued to drag Naruto out of the building.
Shikamaru probably thought it was too troublesome to shout a response back.
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15/9/2004
Part 9 of 16
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