Actually, the italicized words were from a song. Exactly what the songs' names are and who sings them are in the Notes of the last chapter. Psh, I'm not a poet.
I wanna do another one of these fairy tale retellings, but I don't know what pairing to do. Anyone want to suggest something?
Sorry for the delay. I got sidetracked with Bleach and LJ. xP
(x) means NOTE, which are below.
Title: White, Red, Black and Orange
Chapter: Three
Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Characters: major: Sasuke, Naruto, Itachi, Kisame,Kakashi, Iruka, Jiraiya minor: Tsunade, Gai, Asuma, Zabuza
Relationships: SasuNaru, ItachiKisame
Notes:
1. Remember, yellow (gold) is supposed to stand for the soul, so Sasuke unconsciously believes Naruto has a bright, powerful soul. Or something, heh.
2. Still the same song by Emiliana Torrini.
3. I don't know why I make the Itachi tidbits so odd. I think it's SELF-RELIANCE's fault. This is a reference to something my sister always goes around saying. She's silly.
The two of them look towards the door, and then at each other for a second, before Sasuke pulls the blonde off the bed and under it. "Stay quiet," he hisses viciously, and stands up again, ready to answer the door calmly.
"Pretty things to sell, very cheap, very cheap," calls a thickly accented, rasping female voice. Comforted by the fact that this could not be his brother, he pushes open the heavy oak door.
"Hello?" He greets warily to the old woman standing on the doorstep. She gives him a dry smile, as if she is unused to such a gesture. Sasuke is unused to receiving them, so he doesn't catch the falseness behind it.
"Oh, kind sir, you look the kind of boy sure to have a nice girl friend squirreled away. Would you be interested in buying her a nice gift? Or perhaps you, yourself would like to adorn yourself?" She brings her basket out before he can interrupt her and say he's not interested. Once she's uncovered it to show her items, Sasuke finds he can't say a thing.
Their cord are all the same, dark brown leather, but the stones are each a different color. Yellow, red and blue. The first that comes into his head when he sees them is that the yellow stone would look amazing on Naruto (x).
He blushes immediately after, ashamed to be thinking something like that about another boy.
Even so . . . "How much for the yellow and blue ones?" He'll somehow find a subtle way to give it to Naruto, and he'll keep the blue one for himself. That way he won't be able to convince himself that he's doing this for Naruto. No, he's simply being thoughtful, is all.
The old peddler woman gives him a toothy smile and replies in a grating tone that for a boy so lovely as he, no price would be right. After all, a child deserves to look nice, and those stones will looks beautiful around his neck. Sasuke receives the two necklaces, gruffly relaying his thanks. Closing the door tightly behind him, he glances at the stones in his hands. The yellow one is bright and it shines like the devil.
It's as if it were made for Naruto.
The said blonde shoves his head out from under the bed, his cerulean eyes gazing at the white-skinned boy curiously. "Who was she? What'd ya get, what'd ya get?" He scrambles out from the cover of the bed's underside, and Sasuke quickly shoves the hand with the necklaces clutched in its fingers behind his back.
"Wait! Close your eyes." Naruto's mouth spreads into a happy grin, glad to be included in a game, in a mystery. Sasuke, on the other hand, wonders forlornly how to hand the blonde his gift without looking like a fool. "Don't peek," Sasuke warns gently, taking careful, light steps towards the smaller boy. An idea is forming in his head, and he wonders how the other boy will react.
He carefully places the leather cord around Naruto's tanned neck, and ties it tenderly in the back.
The blue-eyed blonde feels the cool touch of white on brown, and he feels a chill run down his spine, like the first snowflake in the winter falling onto his bared skin. He doesn't even think about opening his eyes—he's enjoying the feeling of closeness too much.
We'll sail on the sun; we'll ride on the rain; we'll talk to the trees and worship the wind.(x)
Sasuke steps back to inspect his handiwork—only to watch helplessly as the cord keeps tightening . . . of its own accord.
"Sasuke . . ." Naruto's voice gasps out as his eyes flash open. "It's too ti—" His wide-eyed expression doesn't seem to understand the fact that Sasuke isn't even touching the necklace anymore. . .
"Naruto!" As the blonde falls onto his knees, the black-haired boy tries to pull the cord away from the tanned skin which it had imbedded itself into. His bare fingers didn't stand a chance against the enchanted material.
Still, he pries, and keeps trying, and trying, even when the last breath has passed through Naruto's lips.
And so the seven dwarves find Sasuke kneeling over a breathless body, small sobs escaping his lips in sharp hiccups.
Tsunade immediately rushes to the small body lying on the ground, not even taking the time to ask who he is, or what he is doing in their home. His life is at stake, and there will be time for answers later.
Asuma's brow furrows, and he lights another cigarette. There are a good number of questions running through his head, but like Tsunade, he knows now is not the time.
Iruka, for obvious reasons, recognizes the blonde immediately, and cries out in surprise. He, too, dashes towards them.
Gai inquires what a good number of them are wondering. Who is this boy?
Jiraiya doesn't move, nor does his expression change. He also recognizes Naruto, but he's not so intent on saving him. If the boy will die so easily, then Jiraiya doesn't want anything to do with him to begin with.
Zabuza's serious expression doesn't change either. His form crowds the small doorway, and he watches the scene unfurl stoically.
Kakashi glances at Sasuke severely, and manages to pull him away from the cobalt-eyed child.
If you go away, as I know you must, there'll be nothing left of the world to trust.
Sasuke barely notices Kakashi, or any of the other dwarves. It's clear now, in his mind, what must have occurred. It was Itachi, of course. Sasuke had allowed himself to grow weak and careless, and Naruto has suffered for it. And now Naruto isn't breathing.
Just an empty room, full of empty space, like the empty look I see on your face.
Iruka and Tsunade are trying desperately to rip the cord away from Naruto's throat, but even they find themselves as powerless as Sasuke did. Tsunade turns her eyes to face Jiraiya, and the look she gives his is unreadable for Sasuke. Jiraiya on the other hand, seems to understand it without effort. "Move aside," he says condescendingly, rolling his eyes are the scarred man and the big-breasted woman.
Whatever the dwarf with the white hair does, Sasuke does not catch it. Could his eyes not adjust to the speed in which he did it? Did the man do anything? He wasn't sure, and no one ever really answered him.
All he knows at that moment is that Naruto's eyes are open wide, his pupils large and dilated, and a shallow breath escaping his parted lips.
"Naruto!" He cries, and ripping his arms away from Kakashi.
I'll be dying slowly 'til the next hello.
Naruto's eyes are unfocused, and Iruka's trying to check him over, although Naruto looks fine in Zabuza's eyes. Sasuke tries to say something to him—he wants to ask Naruto's forgiveness; how could he let this happen to Naruto?—but Iruka shushes him.
"I'll take him home," Iruka announces, ignoring the looks he gets from all the other dwarves. How is it he knows where this blonde boy lives? Actually, two dwarves don't have this reaction. Jiraiya, for one, because he always knows why, and Zabuza, for another, because he doesn't care in the slightest.
As Iruka picks up the blue-eyed boy from the ground, and heads for the open door, Sasuke follows in a dream, only stopped by Kakashi's outstretched hand. "No. You've got answers to give us, boy."
The black haired glares at his teacher angrily but doesn't say anything. He understand that after what he's done he doesn't have the right to argue. "Go ahead and ask, then," he replies in his nastiest voice.
"Don't you get snippy," Zabuza warns in a low, dangerous voice, his hands traveling to his belt, where Sasuke knows he keeps his knife. "It's bad enough that you've practically put up a sign to light up to the path to us. If you start acting high and might now, I'll slit your throat right through without even thinking twice."
Sasuke knows the threat can very much so be backed up, and wisely keeps his mouth shut.
"So, then, what happened?" Tsunade asks gently, as if trying to make up for the other's rough actions.
Sasuke grunts and tells them a shortened version of the story, not willing to admit the fact he had stupidly accepted a gift from a stranger.
"So you put it on that other boy to see if it was safe to wear?" Asuma mutters gruffly, and takes another drag on his cigarette. "That's pretty pathetic, kid."
"No!" Sasuke cries, "I only wanted to give it to him!" He blushes immediately after, and looks down at the floor. He feels like a fool.
"So you have a crush on the boy, now do you?" This time Kakashi speaks up. Sasuke's cheek only flush a deeper red, and a few of the dwarves chuckle at this.
If only that could have been the end to it, Naruto saved by opportune timing and Sasuke spared some ridicule and punishment because of overly soft hearts. But no, Itachi soon heard that his stupid younger brother had not shared the fate of so many others that crossed his path.
"Damn it all to hell and the four corners of the earth!" he curses, tossing his goblet angrily out the window.
"Stop wasting good wine, you child," Kisame responds curtly, taking another bite of his banana nut bread. Itachi ignores the fish-like man completely, and stomps out of the room. This only backs up Kisame's claim that Itachi is oddly perpetually trapped in the mindset of an angry six year old.
Itachi heads into his bedroom where he faces the truthful mirror squarely.
Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall, Who in this land is the—"Goddamn it, Itachi! Stop asking the mirror questions and figure out an answer to your own stupid problems on your own! You're so fucking dependent!"
"And you leave a rank odor in every room you step in! We've all got our faults, so shut up!" Itachi slams the door to shut out any more of the Kisame commentary, but he still doesn't finish his question, and throws a red cloth over the mirror to cover its reflective surface. Damn. Okay, then.
He'll just attack Sasuke with something. That shouldn't be too hard. Now, it can't be an obvious attack, or else the boy will have a chance to run away, and prolonged battles are irritating. Itachi wants to win, and he wants to win now.
Hmm, after a short break to steal of the banana nut bread he forgot to taste, he sits down in his comfortable chair, and has a good thinking. He finally stumbles upon a pleasing solution, which he brings to Kisame immediately. Kisame agrees to bring him what he needs . . . after dinner. "It's your turn today, Itachi."
Itachi grumbles his way back to his room. "Goddamn it, I don't get any respect." (x)
