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A/N: As in the tradition of anything that comes out of my brain, I absolutely have to rewrite it, and its now or down the road where I totally screw up the plot and get stoned to death. Like I said before, AU, maybe OOC, and pardon me but I'm much too lazy to rewrite everything so, -cuts some bits out from previous A/N-:
"I may get the personalities of characters down wrongly, and as much as I wish to just say 'Come on! It's AU! Can't a girl be flexible with their personalities since they don't exactly live in Konoha?' that'll be stupid and irresponsible of me. Because, if I actually did so, they won't exactly be the Naruto characters all you guys/gals out there love, they'll be Original Characters or even worse, Mary Sues and if there is anything I hate more than life it'll be those Mary Sues."
And for those who had read the previous version of DoB, this will be quite different, as about 90 of it has been rewritten, some things stay the same most don't. Such as, Shikamaru and Ino for example, I decided to change their roles and where they shall appear, so well I'll advise reading this chapter fully anyway, because those parts I 'copied' from the previous version of DoB, are very little in number.
Lastly, I would like to apologize to anyone I have offended/made angry by not posting for so long, and further more for rewriting instead of updating.
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Pairing Warning(s): SasuxNaruxSasu, slight implied SasuSaku (Don't worry, Saku gets her happy ending eventually), one-sided LeeSaku. More pairings will be revealed when the Price is- I mean, Time Is Right!
Other Warning(s): Insanely long chapter, will blind people. Het, Small snippets of Boy Love –no jerk off scene this time bwahahaha-, 'God' Pov: mostly focused on Sasuke, inconsistent italics, I suck at that –sniff- you don't have to remind me.
"Lalapopo": Speech in demon form/ animal form
"Nyapapo": Speech in normal humanoid form/ human speech
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Notes to understand story better: (All questions regarding story in email/review will be answered here)
From what I understood from the previous version, you readers out there have trouble differentiating between the demon world and human world in my AU, so just let me explain briefly about it before you go on.
For me, souls are divided equally between the demon world and human world; they are somewhat like parallel dimensions. If one souls dies in the demon world, then it will be reborn in the human world, simple as that. For example: If the Sasuke in the demon world dies, then he would be reborn in the human world. Before though, the demon world and the human world was one and the same, all rebirths happened in only one world, but something later happened to split them up. So that is how they ended up as two worlds instead of one.
So now, the thing is that the Sasuke in the human world has somehow entered the demon world and he is now stuck there, ensue wacky hijinks and stuff.
Any other questions you have regarding the story will be answered here from now on.
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Debts of Blood
Chapter 1
-Insert: Uchiha Sasuke-
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Nine-tailed foxes are especially elusive demons, and even amongst their own fox-kind; they are rare to the point of almost-extinction.
Leaning against the headboard, Uchiha Sasuke, 'retired' Literary Lecturer at age 28, and soon to be head of Uchiha clan, flipped a page of the dog-eared book he was reading. Automatically, he pushed up the thin titanium frame of his reading glasses -which was starting to slip down the elegant bridge of his nose- without even blinking. It was a ritual affair of his, to be seen reading in bed after dinner, engrossed within one of his 'mythological nonsense', as it was referred to by his fiancée.
'Only two nine-tailed foxes have ever come close to becoming the closest things demons could ever be to gods within their demon world, these rare demons are known as Animal Spirits, and less than 50 are known to be in existence.'
Towelling silky strands of bubblegum pink dry, Haruno Sakura frowned at the solemn man propped up against their double bed. Sighing inwardly at the hopeless obsession her fiancé had towards mythology, she sat before her vanity and started brushing her mussed strands into some pretty order. She smiled coyly at her reflection, no doubt pleased by what she saw; full curves where they should be, the lacy silk nightgown covering up only her essentials with a teasing translucency. If things went her way, Sasuke wouldn't even have time to look at that nonsensical book.
'Coincidentally, these two foxes are presumed to be father and son. However, with the new discovery of an elaborate tomb, it is assumed that one of them have passed away. Evidence points towards the father who had died, instead of the son.'
Firmly ignoring the attempts at seduction from Sakura, Sasuke picked up the laminated piece of leaf he kept as a bookmark and slipped it between the pages he was reading, before flipping it close with a hollow 'thump'. He glanced at the woman who had pressed herself warmly against his side, in an obvious offering of pleasure, and made a small sound of irritation, pulling off his reading glasses to place it upon his bedside table, folded under the soft orange light from the dimmed lamp.
"I'm going to be quite busy tomorrow, Sakura. And I'd appreciate it if I had the energy to walk. So lets just sleep, and when I come back next week, we'll do anything you want. But for now, sleep comes first."
With that said, Sasuke flipped the switch to the only light source in the room, plunging everything into varying shades of grey. Rejected and frustrated, Sakura laid quietly in the darkness as Sasuke settled down to sleep, mind already locked within his 'dead-to-the-world' mode. She really did not want their night together before he went on his last trip out to be so…dead, but she knew better than to try to excite him. It never worked, and the aftermath was always worse; she spoke from experience after all.
Huffing mutedly, in a show of temper –she may love him, but that did not mean that she would not be angry at him, no matter how adorable he was-, she snuggled obediently underneath the blankets to her soon-to-be husband, green eyes glaring expressively at the side of his face, which he of course, ignored in favour of sleep. It took only a few minutes before she fell asleep, cuddling her living bolster in an unconscious action of neediness.
'But, there may not have been a son at all, as there has been extremely little evidence of the son's existence. And the current amount of information we have on the son is extremely limited. Perhaps someone was trying to erase his existence? Or maybe there was no son in the first place? This mystery will only be concluded with more information and evidence.'
Smirking smugly at the shadowed ceiling, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at an imaginary goal, half-hooded ebony focusing with a glittering determination that burnt fierce and strong within their seemingly bottomless depths.
I'll find you. And I'll drag you into the light, even if it takes me all my life. I'll do it.
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Checking his stuffed backpack for the fifth time in the last hour, Sasuke mentally ticked off the items in the unwritten list he had compiled within his mind.
Clothes to last at least five days? Check.
Food to last him for a week or two? Check.
Equipment? Check.
Notes and Reference books? Check.
One whining and worrying fiancée pacing around? …Check.
Casting one questioning eye at the fidgeting woman behind him, Sasuke straightened up from his bent position and turned fully to face the pacing woman. Sighing inwardly, he waited for her to approach him before he caught her by her shoulder, and pulled her close so that he could cup her frowning face, forcing her to look into his eyes, black gems boring deep into her own green ones without hesitation or reservation, as Sasuke stripped her down to her very soul with his cold, shrewd stare.
"I told you, this is my last trip out there. You don't have to worry." He insistently tightened his hold on her, fingers digging gently into her baby-soft skin. She was starting to make him feel guilty, and he did not want to spend the next week wallowing in regret and despair due to the guilt. It was stupid, and Uchiha Sasuke was not that.
Nibbling her lip hesitantly, Sakura tried to keep out the tinny little voice that was telling her something would happen out there and Sasuke would not return to her. She did not even want to think about the possibility of there being some beautiful lady stranger whisking her Sasuke away, or about the time when he fell into that well, and was left there for 5 days, unknown to anyone and half-dead. A future without Sasuke was simply too frightening a possibility for her to consider.
"Please, just promise me one last time. I don't want to lose you…" She trembled in fear, surging forward from his hold to clutch the thick black sweater he wore tightly.
Catching himself before he rolled his eyes unconsciously, Sasuke grumbled inwardly within the safety of his mind. What was it with women and petty promises that meant absolutely nothing to anyone but them? It wasn't like a promise was going to have the power to stop destiny or death should they want to take him away… However, he decided with a heavy sigh, that telling Sakura that would do nothing but entangle them both into a quarrel, and for the sake of his schedule and sanity, it would do him well for him to just obey her this once and make that silly promise she wanted.
"I promise." In a half-hearted show of defiance, he stubbornly said nothing more beyond 'I promise'. He was not promising anything, he was just simply saying 'I promise' to satisfy her unneeded worry, she could interpret it any way she wanted, he had promised her and that was it.
Sakura bit her lip, glittering emeralds shifting undecidedly between the stubborn ebony of her fiancé's eyes to the unresponsive backpack sitting innocently upon their bed. Should she press him for more? Or should she leave him as it is? Her reasoning strayed towards leaving him alone, experience already flashing her past incidents of a similar nature when she had pressed him too hard and too far. Things had gotten ugly between them real fast, and in the end, Sakura had to swallow her pride to make up with him; it was a torturous and gruelling process she would prefer not to repeat ever again. However, her heart was crying out for her to press him on, to get a concrete promise of faithfulness.
"I…accept your promise." She managed to mumble out at last, standing upon the tip of her toes to kiss him chastely upon his lips. It would not do for her to show him her neediness with his current mood, it would only serve to make him guiltier and that would only bring about his frustration along with his eventual silent wrath.
Quietly disentangling from the harsh grip he had upon her face, she hardly had a second to choke back a gasp of air before she was snapped back into his arms, an overtly passionate kiss bruising her lips. She could barely keep from melting within his arms with the heated passion he was transmitting through the contact between them, the moments when he acted like a poet in deep love rare and far between. It was simply with a heated kiss that her worries and uneasiness melted away, to the pride and satisfaction of the determined Sasuke, who had aimed to dispel her worries and thus his guilt with that kiss.
Dazed and rather flattered by his sudden kiss, Sakura mumbled something about sandwiches before stumbling out of their bedroom, a scarlet blush dusting her cheekbones, leaving Sasuke standing behind her, staring at her disappearing back with an aura of conceited smugness surrounding him. He stared at the open doorway for a few more prideful seconds before he picked up his readied backpack to follow her out of the door.
Deftly picking up his woollen scarf and thick velveteen coat hanging upon a peg along the hallway, he walked with the practiced ease of someone familiar to his surroundings as he quickly and snugly wore his coat and wound his scarf protectively around his pale neck, to ward off the expected cold he would meet while on his investigative retreat. Once done, he heaved his backpack into a proper position upon his back, hand already stretched out to the knob of the main door he stood before.
The first thing that struck him upon his first step the outside was the frigid blast of autumn air that hit him full in the face, eating away the comfortable heat he had been encased in before he opened the door. Furrowing his brow in an expression of slight irritation at the empty driveway, he took the moment to reflect briefly on his life as he waited for his fiancée and the 'driver' she had arranged to pick him up to arrive.
They were childhood friends turned lovers, the Harunos and Uchihas living side by side for as long as Sasuke could remember. With the Uchihas possessing a larger and grander piece of land while the Harunos lived in a modest house, not too shabby but not as grand as the Uchiha property either. Sakura had always been the sweet girl next door, who dazzled her neighbours with her magnetic charisma and unrelenting determination, while Sasuke was the icy prince who no one else dared to touch, whether in fear or awe.
Their romance was by no doubt, of a fairy tale sort. With Sasuke almost constantly deflecting her unending advances until they entered secondary school, and through the pressuring from his clan, took Sakura as his lover of sorts at last. It was also during this time, that their status as the 'perfect couple' was cemented, no matter how one-sided their love was. She being the only person who actually knew him, knew how to react to him, knew how to read his 'expressionless' face, knew his birth date, his favourite food, his everything and Sakura took pride in being that only person who knew Sasuke that well. However, if there was one thing she never could pin down despite all their years spent together, it would be his heart.
Throughout all their life together, Sasuke had never once truly felt right with Sakura, however he did not see the need to experiment with his choice of a life mate, he was not a picky person by nature after all, just as long as he had a wife, a home and a satisfied clan, he was content. Not happy, content. That was all he wanted, contentment. Besides, with his marriage to Sakura, he would finally be able to inherit his position as clan head of the Uchiha clan.
As a child, Sasuke had always been a lonely boy, with his father dying from cancer when he was just a toddler, and his mother already dead at childbirth. He had grown up a bitterly introverted orphan, watched constantly by the strict eyes of his relatives. He almost felt like a prized pedigree dog, bred simply as a figurehead or, if worse, a stud. Yes, upon marriage, it would be he who would inherit the title and wealth that his father possessed while alive, but still, he was just simply a puppet in the politics within the Uchiha clan, nothing more nothing less.
However Sasuke was not going to complain, it was after all, a practice of the Uchihas to breed figureheads, especially when said head was not only young enough to be influenced by them, but was an orphan as well. He had no interest in the affairs of the Uchiha clan anyway, and would gladly leave all matters concerning it to his relatives, just as long as they left him the title and wealth, that he as the direct descendent of their great ancestor 'Uchiha Sasuke' whom he was named after, was entitled to.
He would have gladly died celibate and alone, if it were not for that last rule they pressured onto him.
You can't die childless, as the Head of our clan; you'll have to provide us with a descendent.
And that was where Sakura came in.
He had chosen Sakura simply because he felt most at ease with her, he was not in love with her though. To him marriage did not require love, just the ability to be able to withstand the other's presence. He was trained to think like that, to feel like that, to be the perfect Clan head for the Uchiha clan. And clan heads like him did not marry for love, or personal reasons, they married whomever they were supposed to marry.
But after a few months spent with Sakura in their newly established relationship, Sasuke supposed it could have turned out worse. Compared to the other girls his clan had tried to force him to marry before they met her, Sakura was a pretty good companion. Understanding, meek and quite obedient if he pressured, would she be the perfect wife to him? Well, she would be if she could keep her mouth shut and her intruding head out of his affairs. At the very least, she knew when to stop pressing after the first few quarrels they had, the other girls his clan had forced onto him did not.
When he finally decided that both sides were ready to meet each other, he had brought Sakura back home for inspection, which went surprisingly well. Sakura taking to her place as his wife, and future mother to the next head of the Uchiha clan, like a duckling to water. It could have been her obsession with him that enabled her to perform this well though, but Sasuke wasn't about to go thinking about that. The clan liked her and that was all he needed to know.
Frowning angrily at a nicely browned leaf that flapped suddenly into his face with an overly excited twirl, he instinctively slapped it away in one lightning quick motion. The leaf fluttered away, seemingly unperturbed by the vicious slap it had received, and went on to flutter out from under the porch and into the shadows of the yellowing trees surrounding the Uchiha mansion. It was Autumn again. One year ago he had 'so-called', retired from his job as a Literary professor and instead concentrated on the wedding plans –to satisfy Sakura, who wanted his views on it- and on his hobby, mythology… or more specifically, nine-tailed foxes.
He always had an unexplainable obsession with foxes, which had been there ever since he could remember. Memories of his father and his childhood were always so blurred and unfocused while the memory of the very first fox he had seen, a handsome red thing, with a thick glossy pelt, was still so fresh in his mind that he was almost convinced that he had seen the fox just a few seconds ago, instead of the years it was supposed to have been. If you had asked him how many foxes he had seen, he would have confidently told you 46, and would even describe every single fox down to its last atomic structure if you caught him in the right mood, which… was never.
However none possessed nine tails.
And that was why he was taking this trip now, a trip that cost him many months of detestable sugar-coated flattery to just be able to convince Sakura that one week out at some desolate, unknown place was not going to kill him –like it almost did on his last trip-. His previous trip out to another one of those abandoned houses, where he ended up trapped at the bottom of the dried out old well behind the destitute dwelling for five days, unknown to anyone and half-dead, definitely did not help in convincing her.
It started first with a business-like email from his ex-colleague and current information-provider, Hyuuga Neji. The man having a similar obsession as he with mythology, and it was only with this common trait that they managed to tolerate each other's presence, with Hyuuga grudgingly giving him the information he needed on the rumoured 'haunted' sites while he, with his many free days after he left his job, went to check it out and collect information to trade with Hyuuga for more demon-infested sites.
Sakura of course, knew of the partnership he had with Hyuuga. –Sakura being a somewhat-close friend of his cousin, Hyuuga Hinata- She was always vexed by the way Neji and Sasuke acted around each other, somewhat like a pair of horribly arrogant roosters crowded into a small pen, strutting angrily with a vengeful pride, sharpened claws and beaks just waiting to dig through feathers and tear through flesh. However, knowing that it would be rather rude and unreasonable of her to demand from Hyuuga some respect and common politeness for her and her fiancé, she chose instead to try and boss Sasuke into submitting and bowing out from their ever-growing not-quite rivalry towards each other. –Something his pride would never allow- He brushed her off as always, but toned down his pride slightly anyway, the Hyuuga clan held a higher position in the government after all, and it would do for him to show some respect to a Hyuuga, even though Hyuuga Neji was in all truthfulness, a branch member.
He chose not to underestimate Hyuuga Neji anyway, despite the unflattering title of being a branch member, for the man had a brilliant mind and an even craftier cunning, Sasuke would not have been much surprised if he was the one pulling the strings behind Hinata, the next –rather useless, in his opinion- clan head in the Hyuuga clan.
Desperation did strange things to people though. And Sasuke was very surprised when he found an irritated Hyuuga Neji sitting by his bedside after awakening from his brief coma from his almost-fatal trip, sulking moodily beside the drip, glowering rather angrily at him.
He later found out, after receiving a strained threat from the man never to ever do this 'kind of shit ever again' –Hyuuga found it quite uncouth to curse, and usually he would never ever be caught cursing by anyone, especially before Uchiha Sasuke of all people-, that after he had been sent to the hospital - Sakura panicking away like there was no more tomorrow with Sasuke, which…at that moment was rather true-, she had searched through his book of contacts, found Hyuuga Neji's number and had called and cursed him for a full hour on her cell phone –he had hung up before she managed to finish her rather colourful description of how she was going to 'de-man' him-, made her way over to the Hyuuga branch residence, and had made such a big scene there that Hyuuga had no choice but to submit to her will or face expulsion from his terribly embarrassed clan.
He had been forced to kneel before his ancestral hall, and to swear to every god there ever was, never to ever send Sasuke any of that rubbish ever again, or she would make it her personal goal to turn him into a gibbering mass of ex-Hyuuga brain-dead eunuch.
Sasuke found it quite disbelieving, but the murderous expression on Hyuuga's face told otherwise… that and the later visit made by Hyuuga's uncle, Hyuuga Hisashi on an official apology to the soon-to-be head of the Uchiha clan and his poor distraught engaged. These events of course made him see Sakura in a slightly different light, but his eventual conclusion on the matter was: 'If it isn't me, then I could care less."
Not that anything could ever prevent Hyuuga from getting whatever he wanted, short of an atomic bomb. And true to their partnership, Sasuke found another one of those 'rubbish' in his inbox not two days after he was discharged. Being the rather wise man he was, he chose not to reveal it to Sakura right away. Rather, he dropped little hints and comments to her, to get her used to the idea that he was going to be continuing his self-appointed task soon. -He considered skipping the whole troublesome affair of telling her, to simply leave on his task and return when he felt like it, but the later realization of the chaos it would cause when she panicked made him scrap it disappointedly- It was of course met with some reluctance, but Sasuke dispelled it easily. Soon, Sakura had a full idea of what he was about to do, and despite her unwillingness to see him go through with it, there was nothing much she could do to convince him that staying at home like a good clan head should would be a better idea.
The mysteriously coincidental arrival of both his fiancée and that friend of hers whom she had arranged to pick him up and send him to his destination jolted Sasuke out of his musings. Although Sasuke could have very well chosen a chauffeur from the many chauffeurs the Uchiha clan had under their employment he chose not to instead. Mostly because of the possibility of his clan knowing about his 'eccentric' hobby, they would have been absolutely aghast at the knowledge that their much respected clan head spent most of his time chasing the tails of ghostly demons. This would of course raise some questions Sasuke had absolutely no desire in answering.
"Sakura-chan! Sasuke-kun!" A warm, friendly voice called out from the open car door, Rock Lee, colleague and good friend of Haruno Sakura stepped out of the slightly banged up car, dressed in a thick green turtleneck and a pair of strangely form-fitting sweat pants.
Waving jovially at the pair on the wooden porch, Rock Lee walked briskly past the bleached stone lions standing guard at the bottom of the porch steps to stand before the pair, hands in his pockets and caterpillar-eyebrows waggling nervously, his mouth spread open in a teeth-revealing grin.
Despite the cheerful expression on Lee's face, Sasuke could still clearly see the obvious heartbreak he was nursing, especially when Sakura turned her back towards him to kiss Sasuke tenderly on his lips, a box of lovingly made sandwiches warmly wrapped in her favourite pink handkerchief, to which she pressed gently into his hand. So Rock Lee had a crush on his fiancée? Big deal, Sasuke wasn't quite as worried as he should be, but he reasoned that Sakura's obsession with him was pretty much enough to make her blind to anyone else who still stood a chance with her.
Saying the briefest of goodbyes to his engaged, Sasuke strode from the shelter of the wooden porch and into the gentle storm of rotting leaves, not glancing back to see if Rock Lee was following or if Sakura was starting to cry at his disappearing back. They did not matter as much as this trip meant to him.
For years he had waited eagerly for Hyuuga to uncover any kind of information on his long-awaited obsession about nine-tailed foxes, and finally…after all these time, it had came to him. There was no way that he was going to waste it now that he finally gotten a hold on it.
Opening the door stiffly, he shifted his backpack onto one shoulder, fitting it into the empty back seat before getting in.
"You know, you could have said a better good bye…you won't be seeing her for some time after all." The bitterness in Lee's voice was –albeit poorly- muffled, Rock Lee clearly not knowing how transparent he was about his feelings towards Sakura, his useless attempt at hiding his feelings almost pitiful by Sasuke's standards. Grunting noncommittally in a nonchalant answer, Sasuke took to staring out of the window, ignoring the angry glare Rock Lee was sending him through the mirror.
The journey was not really long, but neither was it short. It took at least 6 hours by Sasuke's estimation, but he was too busy exciting himself within his mind about all the possibilities he had in the two weeks he was going to be at the site, to care much about measuring how long they took to reach it. Rock Lee, the ever friendly guy-next-door, tried to draw Sasuke into conversation during the duration, but the short and curt replies he received deterred even his undying friendliness soon enough.
Sighing as he tried not to unleash his flaying temper on the moody man sitting at the back of his car, Rock Lee quietly drove to the spot Sakura had pointed out previously to him, hands almost frozen solid with tension with their white-knuckled grip on the worn leather cover of the steering wheel. Sasuke's insistent silence coupled with his nervous thoughts about whether Sasuke had found out about his feelings towards Sakura, soon-to-be Mrs Uchiha, was driving him mad with fear and stress.
It was without doubt that when the car finally pulled into dirt road hidden amongst rows of slumbering trees, rumbling past a few potholes and a rotting wooden fence, before slowing down to a stop when it could go no further, Rock Lee breathed a small sigh of relief. His brief act as a chauffeur to a –particularly cold- Uchiha was finally over, and with it the stress of facing Sasuke without worrying about him finding out about his feelings towards Sakura.
Sasuke had hundreds of chances during the car ride to confront him about it, if he ever had found out, but the Uchiha had stayed silent, a small although stressful reassurance to the fretting Rock Lee.
Caught slightly off guard by the pale hand held out before him, Rock Lee laughed nervously and shook Sasuke's hand, the other man muttering a unfeeling thank you and goodbye before he got out of the car, and walked onto the narrow dirt path which lay before, not once turning back to see if Rock Lee was still there.
Rock Lee was still there though, sitting behind his wheel, staring vacantly at Sasuke's back until he could see no more of the strange out-of-place black of the Uchiha's coat, before revving up his engine and driving out of the dreary forest, a faint frown marring his features.
Unnoticed to both man, the box of still-warm sandwiches sat abandoned at the back of Rock Lee's car, bouncing ever so slightly when the car drove over a pit hole.
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Uchiha, New report on nine-tailed foxes. Villagers living in area complained of a big red castle, flickering repeatedly over forest. This castle has been matched to a painting on an uncovered tomb of one of the nine-tailed foxes. Feel free to search as much as you want, just don't die. If you do, feel reassured that I would be the first person to decimate your corpse.
-Hyuuga, directions to site listed below.
Holding up the tattered piece of paper to the weak beams of light filtering through the canopy of red coloured leaves, Sasuke read it once and again, before folding and stuffing it into one of the pockets that his coat contained. Setting his pack down on the forest floor, he began to set up camp. No sense in wasting time while waiting for the castle to appear.
By the time he managed to fully set up camp, the sun was close to the evening mark. Sasuke did not quite mind, his rather tattered tent stood proud and perfect amongst the identical chaos of brown leaves and soil, he still had at least one hour left of daylight time if he really wanted to go poking around the forest for clues to the next appearance of the house. It was an obvious decision. Rooting about his backpack for his portable digital camera and his tattered notebook, he placed it carefully into his coat pocket before standing up, the edges of his coat swishing gently around his thighs.
Now, the problem was simply finding a way to mark the spot on which he camped at.
This was solved simply by using a handy switchblade Sasuke kept in a pocket in his coat –at all times, just in case of an emergency-, to mark the trunks of trees as he passed, somewhat like what Theseus did in the Minotaur's maze, just that instead of using a ball of yarn as a guide, he used his knife to make two overlapping slashes on the trunk. The slashes were deep enough to stand out from the pockmarked bark and light enough not to cause any serious damage to the tree.
Wandering aimlessly through the forest, slashing the trees as he passed, Sasuke was almost disappointed by the lack of life he found in it. He was expecting to find some foxes, or wildlife to observe and pass the time with, but found himself increasingly disturbed by the lack of…anything but trees in his surroundings. There was hardly any sound and even less signs of life.
However that did nothing to waver his resolve in staying though, he had seen –and experienced- much more disturbing things before. A lifeless forest was not going to frighten him any more than a fluffy baby rabbit did.
Trudging silently through the undergrowth, one hand hidden in his pocket while his other kept on slashing the trees, Sasuke found the time passing rather quickly, despite the boredom and the slight feeling of uneasiness he felt. He was almost surprised to find himself still walking forwards, towards an unknown destination, when the little pieces of sky he could see peeking through the thick canopy had already been stained with a vibrant pink characteristic of a beautiful sunset.
Cursing softly at his lapse of attention, Sasuke quickly whirled around on his heel and started speedily making his way back to his camp. The light steadily darkened as he hurriedly jogged through the forest, the bubblegum pink a sign of the start of the evening darkening to a thick rose red by the time he managed to catch sight of the stark white of the nylon used to make his tent.
It was just as well that he managed to reach his destination before it became too dark for him to see his fingers even if he waved them millimetres before his eyes. He had neglected to bring his flashlight with him on his short exploration after all, and it would surely be quite an inconvenience if he were not to make it back to camp in time before all light was gone. Sasuke had assumed that he would have been able to keep track of time, but well, he thought wrong.
Berating himself silently for his absentmindedness, Sasuke made his way into his little tent and sat down in the middle of it. With deft hands, he unbuckled his digital watch from his wrist with memory and pressed the button to activate the pre-set alarm at 6am the next day. Placing it carefully beside the 'head' of his sleeping bag, he sat back on his heels and began to empty his coat of all items, stacking up the resulting pile neatly at the nearest corner of the tent.
Wrapping the thick material snugly around his body, Sasuke did not even shiver at the frigid bite of the autumn night's cold, slowly eating its way under his layers of clothing and nylon as he inched his way into his sleeping bag, laying his head down on the surprisingly soft floor, he raised his head questioningly and patted his 'pillow' before he shook his head and laid down upon it again. Must be the leaves, he thought, brushing away the thought to the back of his head.
Sleep soon claimed Sasuke, what with his busy day and all it was only natural that his body strongly felt the need to rest despite the unknown environment. Perhaps it was his familiarity with sleeping away from home, in good beds and bad beds, but whatever reason it was, the soft grunts of a relaxed body and mind were soon uttered from thin lips, spread just a millimetre apart in sleep.
Above his small tent, the image of the red forest flickered like a dying firefly, the majestic crowns of the many ancient trees moulding together in a single instant to form a golden tiled roof, just as much gold as it was burnished rust red. And Sasuke slept unknowingly under the moving shadows of trees and houses, as he left a plane and entered another. The luck of the worst kind granting him his wish, yet knowing full well that he was ignorant of the results it brought with it. A sadistic kind of luck, who would gladly grant his innermost wishes if only to watch him squirm and curse it later, demanding regretfully why did it not ignore his stupidity.
Perched upon the highest point of the mansion, a golden figure, blinding in his radiance grinned a dark grin as he looked down upon the small tent pitched right in the middle of the courtyard.
"You've returned…haven't you?"
- + - + - + - +
There were many ways Sasuke envisioned himself entering the mansion in. But he never quite thought of the possibility of him actually pitching a tent dead on upon the very spot the mansion materialized on. So it was quite natural, that it came as a shock to him, when he found himself waking up next morning, in the leaf-strewn courtyard of the very mansion he was trying to find.
Holding up his digital camera, he took several shots of the faded fox statues standing guard upon the roof, it was carved into a strange substance of the colour gold and bronze, which produced a rather attractive shade now that it had faded enough not to blind anyone stupid enough to look at it while the sun was still in the sky. Checking the small view screen on his camera, he screened through the pictures he had taken intensely, deleting those he found less than satisfactory and keeping those that were.
Finally satisfied with his small, but steadily growing collection of photos, Sasuke debated momentarily on whether he should check the mansion, or the surrounding forest –picking up from where he left yesterday- for more traces of the nine-tailed fox. He had wanted to check the mansion first, half-worried that it would disappear the moment he left its confines, but after reasoning with himself that since it did not disappear while he was sleeping, he could probably take the risk, and go off in the forest while there was still good sunlight. The mansion could wait until the night, he would use his torchlight then, since it was in a confined space, there wasn't much likelihood of him getting lost inside it.
His plan for the day decided, Sasuke took a quick stroll around the courtyard to find a gate –or something interesting-, which would allow him to enter the forest. He stood quietly at the front of the courtyard, and stared at the blank wall that faced him. It was like any other wall that suffered through long times, grime-stained, weed-covered, and less-than-perfect, but unlike most walls, it did not have a gate or a door leading outside, or to let guests in. Somehow Sasuke got the feeling that this house wasn't meant to welcome anyone…or him for that matter, but he wasn't one to be bothered by details like this.
Taking a few shots of the gateless wall, he quickly left it; it wasn't much of an interesting find after all. Slightly threatening perhaps, but just as long as it did not try to run after him and eat him up; Sasuke could care less about it.
His walk to the backyard was entirely uneventful; all he found was the skeleton of a dead bird, more leaves and a small pit-hole in the ground that he carefully sidestepped. Scanning the path he walked in hope that he may have missed something interesting, Sasuke let out a small huff of frustration when he found nothing that may prick his interest.
Now that he was in the mansion, it lost some of its previous magnificence in his mind, especially since it was so…plain boring. There was nothing to get his blood pumping, nothing to make him breathe faster in anticipation, nothing to excite him. Thoroughly disappointed by the courtyard, Sasuke slowly walked to the backyard with slow languid steps, an easy and graceful rhythm that was familiar to his body.
Pulling his scarf closer around his face, his pale cheeks flushed cherry with the cold of the morning, Sasuke turned a bend around the mansion, and just at the edge of the vision, he could see-
-the gateway to his –secret- home stood before you in all its magnificence, its strange red painted gates shimmering in a thousand shades that it should not be able to shimmer in: ranging from the sky-blue of his eyes, to the fiery vermilion of his fox-side, and lastly to the strange obscure purple that appeared sometimes. It was so much like how his chakra would look, you think to yourself, when you would lie together amongst the leaves and you would probe deep into him, while he lay on his side and nuzzled trustingly into your touch. Returning to reality, you blink slowly as he smiles jovially at you, one hand tugging on your fingers, clasped within his warmer palm. "Come, don't be afraid," he says, and you blindly follow him, like a moth to a flame. But you know, deep within your heart that…he would never burn you.
-a pair of red gates, boarded up with rotting planks, it was covered in a healthy amount of weeds and moss, which would definitely make it tougher for him to remove the boards.
Gasping in shock, Sasuke stumbled from the force of the scene…no, memory -his mind corrected without much thought- that flashed through his mind even before he could think. Catching himself before he managed to kiss the ground, he stumbled a few steps forward in a drunkard's slouch before straightening his spine, swaying gently on his feet from the vertigo that threatened to unbalance him.
"What…was that?" Sasuke murmured, half-stumbling to the nearest stable surface. He leaned heavily upon the courtyard wall he had somehow found himself against as he stared with wide eyes at the boarded up gates, which seemed to half-linger in the form it had in his memory, shining with a faint unearthly luminance before fading back into the lifeless red wood it was in reality.
With shaking hands he lifted his digital camera to take a few pictures of the gates, his eyes almost watering as he tried to focus them enough to aim the camera. Even through the digital screen, the gates shone with a magical life, and Sasuke had to resist with all the will power he had, the thought of throwing the camera at it. As if hoping that somehow, if he flung a projectile at it, it would stop shining so damn much.
After tucking his camera back into his coat, the glow still refused to leave, and Sasuke settled for shaking his head vigorously to clear the last –irritating- lingering remainder of that unexpected memo-no, scene, he decided with much effort, that it was just simply a hallucination his overexcitement had caused. There was no way after all, that gates could shimmer in that colour, and there was even less chances of him actually being there when it did.
Taking deep breaths to calm himself, he steadily walked towards the boarded up gates, hands rising up to the brittle wood, aged with time and decay. His breaths were even and slow, as he tugged hard on the planks, finding with some surprise, that they were quite durable and resistant to his efforts. However Sasuke was no coward by nature, and he stubbornly tugged harder on the planks, refusing to give up, stiff muscles stretching quite painfully with his efforts.
It was with no small amount of satisfaction that he threw the broken boards upon the leaf-strewn floor. Smugly he smirked at the pile of wood he had collected, as he pushed open the freed gates with one hand forcefully, almost abusive in his force.
Sasuke ended up feeling almost regretful for his abuse, as he clutched the brittle frame of the wooden gates in half-panic, barely catching himself before he rolled down the steep valley of gnarled old trees that his push revealed. The gates creaked ominously as they swung on their ancient hinges, perhaps laughing at his foolishness.
Taking a moment to calm his beating heart as he grimaced down at the bowl-like valley, Sasuke released the tight hold he had on the frame of the much-abused gate. Steadily taking a few steps over its boundaries, he peered downwards, estimating its height and angle of slope. It wasn't too high, nor was its angle too sharp; he supposed he could easily walk down it, provided he didn't lean forwards too much.
Shifting his weight so that it lay mostly on the balls of his feet –should he fall, at the very least he wouldn't break his neck- Sasuke started down the slope of the valley, looking very much like a casual jogger taking a slow jog round the park, instead of the rather steep fall-and-die-or-get-blue-and-black valley he was currently making his way down upon. But despite his relaxed expression, within his mind, the various little jigsaw pieces he had picked up from the mansion began to fall in place.
This Mansion wasn't a welcoming place –that was quite obvious, thank you gateless wall-, its owner did not intend for people to visit, let alone come near –judging by the steep valley at the back gate, hell to climb up, death to fall down and the utter lack of life around it- and well, Sasuke supposed he was rather lucky to have survived till now, but he wasn't about to leave just like that.
It took more that a stupid valley and a gateless wall to make him leave. However there was one more question left to answer: "Why was there a back gate if it was really that unwelcoming? Shouldn't there be no entrances at all?" This question he turned over in his mind, and repeatedly poked it, however his efforts garnered no reasonable answers –to him at least-, and he filed it away instead for later inspection.
Stopping at the bottom, barely panting, Sasuke surveyed the forest that now surrounded him. Untidy rows of identical trees frozen in the shade of autumn greeted him no matter which way he looked, none were completely leaf-less and already he couldn't see the ground due to the thick sea of leaves that covered it. Patting the ground experimentally with his feet, Sasuke raised one foot and plunged it into the leafy cushion, raising both eyebrows questioningly as his foot sunk down deep into the leaf litter, it almost reached his knee-cap, and that was how deep it was.
How long have the trees been shedding their leaves? It was impossible for trees to collect so many leaves…or was it? Questions about the strangeness of the forest ran circles in his mind, asking and answering yet doubting the answers it received.
Sasuke made a soft noise of irritation, as he realised that all he was doing was aggravating the building frustration from all the unanswered mysteries that surrounded him. Taking a deep breath to calm his mind, he pushed it all away, and focused on his task: The Nine-Tailed Fox.
Shaking away the last clinging remainders from his plunge into the sea of leaves, Sasuke flipped open his switchblade and made one bold diagonal slash upon the trunk of the nearest tree. The blade gleamed weakly in the hazy filtered sunlight, but it was still enough to let him see where he was going. Pulling back his sleeve, Sasuke held up his wrist so that the face of his watch was turned towards him.
12.40pm. The Arabic numerals blinked up at him innocently, Sasuke frowned down at it, he did not know that the time had passed so quickly, he had about six hours left of daylight time if he decided to push his luck, five if he did not. To push or not to push, his mind queried, wanting to know at least, whether he wanted to risk being caught in the forest after it became too dark to see, or to play it safe and return to his rather safe camp.
In the end, Sasuke decided to forget about how much time he had left, and just return to camp when the beginning of night spread its many fingers over the sky, like a revolting dark disease, which clawed at the living and ate savagely whatever it touched without remorse or hurt.
Letting the switchblade dangle almost loosely in his grip, Sasuke slashed half-heartedly at the trees as he walked past them, noting distractedly as the amount of leaves reduced ever so slightly with each tree that he passed, and it wasn't long before he started seeing roots –that which previously had been buried deep in the leaf litter of those trees in the closer vicinity of the Mansion- it wasn't enough to make him curious, but he still filed it away in his mind all the same.
Rubbing his neck, -and half dislodging his scarf in the process- Sasuke came to the sudden realization that he was being watched. By who he had no idea, but it was hard to mistake the feeling of your nerves straining thin and long, almost anticipative of someone, something, anything to happen, to burst out or to come crying bloody murder with a butcher's knife in hand. It wasn't so gradual as much as it was sudden, his instincts had been telling him he was being watched for some time already, but Sasuke wasn't much for listening to them, it was only with a sudden groaning in the air that he realized he wasn't exactly alone.
Clutching the switchblade tighter, Sasuke settled in a defensive crouch.
"Come out you bastard." He growled out threateningly, anticipating some crazed cannibal or something remotely human.
But…he never did expect the tree he had just slashed –and was currently facing-, to grow a sightless face -as ugly as it was revolting in all its unnaturalness- and bare its fangs at him, groaning inhumanly as a branch snaked down, to gesture at the wound it now sported almost angrily.
Most humans would turn tail and run back home by now, but Sasuke wasn't most people.
Taking out his camera, he proceeded to take some pictures of it, in all its ugly groaning glory. Once satisfied with his newly acquired additions, Sasuke kept away his switchblade, and stared at the tree, hand almost itching to touch it, to dissect it, to take it apart, to know it. Taking slow careful steps forward, eyes focused intensely upon the writhing tree before him he never quite expected to be bashed in the back by a something hard, long and undeniably branch-like –how the hell did the tree manage to sneak behind him, he would never know-, his yell of shock barely escaping as he choked on his own spit, the force of the blow pushing him irrevocably forwards.
It was only expected that his skull would connect painfully with the trunk of the tree first before he fell backwards to hit his head again upon the hard unforgiving floor that had not yet been covered in enough leaves or grass to be considered soft. Drowsily, Sasuke watched as his technicolor world blacked out, almost like a 80's film reel gone bad, the groaning tree being the last thing he saw as his vision faded to black.
When Sasuke came to, he didn't have to think much to know that he was bleeding from he head –he could feel the tell-tale warmth and stickiness running a slick ticklish trail from his forehead down behind his ear to drip off into the ground with soft 'plip plip' sound- and that he was very very late for the schedule he had set for himself, the sky spoke enough with its rosy pink complexion casting light where it could through the foliage and shadowed branches.
Rolling onto his side, so that the blood didn't end up dripping on his nice clean coat instead, Sasuke pulled his scarf away from his neck to clumsily wrap it around his forehead in a makeshift bandage. Once done, he flattens both his hands upon the forest floor, and pushes himself up forcefully, his leaden feet instinctively supporting his suddenly heavy weight, as he tries valiantly not to surrender to the vertigo that threatened to drown him.
For the second time that day, Sasuke found himself stumbling to the nearest stable surface, and this time, his support wasn't harmless.
He starts when he feels a vine curl tightly around his arm, and before he could wrench his hand away and flee from the tree, it curls further up his arm to pull him closer, a thin strength wrapping around his neck in a vice-like noose. At this Sasuke stops moving away, and tries instead to loosen the loop the tree had around his neck. It wasn't worth escaping when you would only get strangled if you tried so.
Taking advantage of his distraction, the tree continues wrapping its spindly fingers around him. Rough bark scratches his skin, as vines and speedily growing branches curl around him, suppressing, suffocating and strangling the life out of his body with their unforgiving strength. Sasuke tries to open his mouth, to fight back, but his earlier concussion left his mind spinning and his limbs weak, his moans are muffled by the increasing number of vines, and his eyes widen as he feels one prick his skin, a sudden suction at that area tells him that this tree, while immobile, was vampiric and quite possibly fatal to him –not that it wasn't already- and his blood if he didn't get out soon.
Weakly he pushed against his bonds, eyes narrowed through the remaining gap of his coffin of vines, as he glared at nothing and everything in particular. His soon-to-be coffin did not even budge, to his increasing horror, and with the desperation borne out of someone who knew that 'this was it', Sasuke struggled with all his might, pushing forwards and backwards against his painful bonds.
However he was only human, and the tree, no matter how tree-like it was, was undeniably demonic, and already Sasuke could picture the newspaper headlines, "YOUNG HEIR OF UCHIHA NAME DIES IN FOREST DUE TO BLOOD SUCKING TREE" or "HYUUGA NEJI CASTRATED BY DEVASTATED FIANCEE OF LATE YOUNG UCHIHA CLAN HEIR" but still he struggled, while flashes of ludicrous new paper headlines proclaiming his death kept on flitting through his mind.
'At least I won't have to hear Sakura anymore…' was Sasuke's last thought, as a blinding beam of light shines through his little peephole out of his bloodsucking coffin, before another vine curls over the hole and he was thus, engulfed in utter darkness, helpless and doomed.
Or was he?
- + - + - + - +
"You dead, you dead, you dead, you dead! Hey! Zombie wake up! Your food is hereee!"
At the very edge of his consciousness, Sasuke felt something extremely vile and evil poke him repeatedly at his ribs, garbled noise echoing over and over beside his ear like a broken alarm ringing at 3 in the morning. He growled unhappily, and wriggled away from the disturbance like a caterpillar gorged on a full healthy green cabbage, mumbling a muffled, "Go away" as he half-heartedly batted at the disturbance.
The disturbance however, did not quite stop after his little escapade, it merely laughed –and Sasuke wished that thing utter doom for disturbing the sleep of a man deprived- and continued its assault on his sensitive side. This time, fuelled by frustration and half awake-fury, Sasuke leapt out of his bed with an animalistic snarl and tackled the disturbance like a starved man upon seeing a whole roasted pig.
Narrowed black glaring into smiling blue, Sasuke gritted his teeth as his vision swam madly, the pain in his head thudding louder than ever, as the amused blue blinked and somehow diffused into a messy blue smear which seemed to make whatever he caught look quite like an alien from a really very bad Sci-Fi movie. Pulling away one leaden hand from where it had been trapped between his chest and the "alien's" chest, he brought it up to grip his forehead, which felt like it was in danger of breaking apart and spilling his brain juice everywhere any minute now.
Despite being raised as a 'super' nobility, it didn't make Sasuke's manners any better when he was in enough brain-pain that he could care less about what came out of his mouth and more on what to make his pain or in this case the disturbing alien, go away. So as he gritted his teeth, gripped his head and glared down at the messy mishmash of something irritating that was before him, he didn't really try to be polite…much.
"Who the fucking hell are you?" Snapping angrily at the face –he assumed it was one- which seemed to be smiling at him, Sasuke almost growled, and decided against it when he felt his stomach lurch uneasily at the sudden exertion of his diaphragm –not that diaphragm you perverts-.
Unable to resist the pain any longer, Sasuke let his head drop, and made himself very comfortable on one warm, not-too-soft and not-too-hard pillow, as the face turned to look at him. The blue smear was now looking quite crescent shaped, mirrored by another wider, slightly out of shape white crescent, and that irked him for some reason.
"Your bed I guess." There was something extremely infuriating about that sentence, and Sasuke tried to get his mental processes working to get it figured out so that he would have a reason to pummel the bastard…later, when his brain wasn't threatening to self-destruct.
After a few minutes of useless staring, Sasuke decided to give up on his thought processes and instead turned to his interrogation. Hmm, what should he be asking next? The bed was awfully comfortable today… if only the stupid fucking alien could go and die and leave him be.
"What the fuck do I have to do to make you leave?" Sasuke rumbled out drowsily, feeling quite pleased that his brain was –kind of- working. Since it managed to ask the very question he –thinks he- wanted to ask.
"I dunno…maybe get off me? I can't really move with you blanketing me, but its not like I'm complaining or anything…just accommodating my dear hime-sama, you know…"
Sasuke's bed vibrated strangely at that, and there it was again, near his ear, that annoying chuckle. Grimacing at the sound, Sasuke once again attempted to process whatever it was that the alien had just said.
Get off…blanket…hime-sama… that couldn't be him could it? Hime-sama! Uchiha Sasuke was no pissy princess! This bastard needed a good beating!
Growling in anger, Sasuke pushed himself up onto his haunches, dizziness and pain forgotten in favour of indignant fury, and pulls back his fisted hand to propel it forwards, only to find it caught in a surprisingly strong grip. The alien seemed to smile at this, and Sasuke felt muscles and tendons shift below him as the alien sat up to look him in his eyes, the blue smear gradually clearing up as he came closer, until Sasuke found himself glaring into two amused cerulean eyes, piercing and almost animal-like in their intensity.
"Nu uh hime-sama, no punching me in my house." The alien pulled his fist between their bodies, shifting his grip on Sasuke's hand so that he didn't end up spraining either one of their wrists. "Now, if you don't wish to eat, I'll have to put you back to sleep before you open your wounds again."
Sasuke was barely given time to comprehend what the alien said, before soft silky lips were pressed upon his knuckles, and his world went black once again.
Naruto smiled lovingly as Sasuke's eyeballs rolled backwards into his head, his upper body held up only by an arm around his lower back, the only thing saving him from another painful crash to the ground. Tightening his hold on Sasuke, Naruto pulled the unconscious brunette forwards, letting the deadweight in his arms rest completely upon his own body, before he slowly laid back down, Sasuke once again back in the position he was in before he tried to punch Naruto.
"Ah, I lied you know, you can punch me if you wish…but not now, Sasuke, not now."
- + - + - + - +
When Sasuke awoke for the second time –he wasn't sure if he had managed to sleep through the day-, he found himself alone, and not exactly where he should be.
Making a bewildered expression, he stared quizzically at the warm futon he was lying in. Perhaps a little moth-eaten and stained but still quite adequate for sleeping in without the little extra baggage's like skin cancer, skin rash, bed bugs and what not that old unused futons usually had. But then again…why was he in one? Wasn't he supposed to be in his tent sleeping off his disastrous trip into the forest?
And then that was when he remembered his little 'meeting' with the alien. Finally feeling well enough to be curious about the alien, Sasuke wondered who that blond was…maybe he was the caretaker of this place? But wait a minute…this was a supernatural Mansion…why would there be caretakers!
At this moment, his mind poses to him another idea, much more ludicrous than the last, but after all that he had seen, it didn't seem to be too far off from the truth, and he carefully keeps it in his mind, waiting for another piece of the jigsaw puzzle to fall into his hands, and help him make more sense of the idea he had.
Holding a hand to his head –which was still thumping, but gently now- Sasuke sits up, and catches sight of a warm insulated tumbler of ramen sitting quite innocently beside his messily folded coat and his thick woolly scarf, which was a little damp-looking but clean of all blood. He stares first at the scarf, wondering how in the world did the blond manage to get rid of the blood stains, one of the most obnoxious stains to ever grace the world with its presence, then his eyes move towards the container of ramen, bypassing his coat completely.
Well, he was kind of hungry now that he didn't feel like emptying his stomach, and besides food was still food, even if an alien-or-something-not-too-human cooked it. Eyeing the container for a few more seconds –perhaps Sasuke had thought that if he stared at it for a little while more, it would suddenly divulge the secrets of the Universe to him and thus help him gain Enlightenment… Just Kidding-, he stretched out with one hand to grab a hold of its handle and pull it closer.
Using one hand to keep it steady, Sasuke unscrewed its top awkwardly with his other sore hand, which was still tingling slightly from the light bruises he received from the demonic tree. Making sure that not one drop was spilled, Sasuke lifted it to his face and sniffed at the familiar aroma rising from the broth. It was lukewarm now, the perfect temperature for the perfect taste of ramen.
Without a single suspicion that the broth may have been poisoned –well, if the alien had been kind enough to save him, it wasn't likely that he would try to kill him…right?-, Sasuke tilted his head back and drank it noodles and all in one long gulp. Plonking the container back onto the ground, he screwed the top back on and pushed the container aside, to pick up his coat and pull it on, shivering a little as the cold from the material seeped under his sweater and into his bones.
Picking up his scarf, Sasuke pulled it around his neck, winding it once to let one end dangle loosely over his back, more to make sure it stays on then for keeping warm. Flattening one palm on the futon, Sasuke carefully pushed himself up, swaying a little as a mild dizzy spell lingers. When his world finally decided to stop moving, Sasuke took the opportunity to find his boots, which he noticed, were not on his feet.
Two steps away from the futon, Sasuke barely had the chance to look around the musty old room he had been resting in when the doors suddenly slid open with a loud 'clack' and well, the alien bounced through, carrying not only a very familiar looking saucepan filled with water but also Sasuke's heavy backpack, moving with such energy and speed that he made it seem like it weighed no more than air, which was quite possibly the understatement of the year.
"Hey! Awake now aren't you?" Without a drop spilt from the saucepan, the alien easily shifted the backpack off his shoulders, setting it down lightly upon the floor at his feet.
Not that Sasuke was looking at the little displays of strength, he had better things to look at after all, like… how much the pair of boots the alien had on looked like his, especially since the black leathery boots clashed fantastically with the vibrant yellow yukata, really for such a pair of expensive footwear, the alien should know better than to put black with yellow of all colours –though Sasuke said a small prayer that it wasn't orange…which was a thousand times worse-.
Without a second thought, Sasuke threw himself bodily at Naruto, fist already pulled back to deliver a punch as he snarled out a threatening, "You fucking thief!"
Naruto was of course required to reply in kind, and without further ado, he kicked away Sasuke's branded backpack with his branded boots –for Sasuke's good, really!- and grinned his special wide grin that made bullies everywhere stop and want to hit his face.
The duo crashed to the floor violently, Naruto's saucepan of water however, miraculously survived their fall and clattered over the floor to come to a rest at the edge of the room, not a drop spilled. Sasuke however did not notice the minor miracle that had just occurred, being too busy trying to pummel Naruto into the ground, who unfortunately for him, was being a particularly tough ass to beat.
It was only natural that he soon suffered a relapse from his concussion, and Sasuke panted heavily as he clutched his head in pain, half draped over the lean length of Naruto's body –whom he loathed to admit, was almost the same height as him, just short of a few measly centimetres-. Seeing this, Naruto smiled a stupid "You deserved it" grin and despite his reaction to Sasuke's pain, reached upwards to massage Sasuke's forehead with a firm but gentle pressure.
At this, Sasuke regarded Naruto with a wary, distrusting glare, but he didn't do anything else to discourage Naruto's surprisingly skilled hand. Wary obsidian met smiling cerulean and Naruto blinked innocently as Sasuke tried to figure out Naruto's intentions. Saving him from death, patching him up, feeding him –even though in all truthfulness, the ramen was his- and even massaging his forehead when he was in pain…what did the blond intend to gain out of this?
Fame, Fortune, what? It didn't seem likely to be fame or fortune, the idiot seemed happy enough on his own here, if it wasn't that, then what did he want?
"Ah! Look, you made your bandages bloody again!" Naruto didn't quite pout, as he fingered the thin bindings around Sasuke's head, carefully avoiding the bloody spot.
Blinking in surprise by the sudden exclamation, Sasuke frowned down at the blond, who frowned back at him. "Why did you help me?"
He wasn't prepared for the way Naruto's frown turned into a small gentle smile that felt too intimate for his liking, "You'll remember." He said, before wriggling out from under Sasuke, to pad over the backpack and pull out the first aid kit.
"Remember what?" Sasuke sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes following Naruto's every movement as he pulled out the roll of bandages and a few cotton wads.
Naruto grins stupidly at him again, and moves to sit before him, one hand already pulling off the stained bandages, which clung with a sticky persistence to his re-opened wound. "Uzumaki Naruto," He says, and Sasuke glowers as he realized that Naruto was changing the subject, "that's my name you know…but I don't think you'd care, since you're bent on being the ultimate jerk."
Sasuke opens his mouth to argue, to press for a real answer, but he then he stops. Uzumaki Naruto, the name…was surprisingly familiar to him, and he rethinks his views on the answer he had been given. Maybe, Naruto wanted him to remember him…but why? He was sure that he had never know anyone named Naruto in his entire life, and… Sasuke's eyes widens slightly as he remembers a little detail from the 'hallucination' he had from the red gates.
His sky blue eyes
"Stupid name." Sasuke wasn't even concentrating on what he was saying, it had just felt right to be a snappy jerk, and he did just that. His mind was too busy trying to match the pair of eyes in his supposed memory to the ones that were glued to his forehead, careful hands rewrapping the bindings.
"Trust you to say that, you jerk, after everything I did for you." Despite the resentment in his words, there wasn't any real feelings of dislike that Sasuke could detect in Naruto's voice, it felt like Naruto was just saying it because it felt right to be saying it. Somehow, it made Sasuke think of them as a pair of dancers in a dance. If Sasuke stepped to the right, then Naruto would step to the right, if Sasuke stepped to the left then Naruto would step to the left, it wasn't because they consciously thought they had to, but simply because they had been dancing like that for so long, that it had became second nature to do just so.
"Tch, idiot." Sasuke would have looked away from the strangely intense blue eyes staring into his own black ones that very second, if it wasn't for the careful hands still winding the bandage slowly and surely around his forehead, the concentrated gaze was starting to unnerve him in a strange way and he couldn't decide whether to dislike or to welcome it.
"Now that we've established that you're a jerk, would you like to tell me your name or would you rather like to be called hime-sama?"
Hissing automatically at the little nickname that Naruto had gave him, Sasuke glared heatedly at some point behind the blond's head as he snarled out, "Uchiha Sasuke and don't you dare call me hime-sama again you idiot."
Naruto gave Sasuke a sly foxy look, which had 'is this a dare I hear' written all over it, and Sasuke huffed indignantly in response as Naruto patted the side of his head, "All done…" Sasuke could almost hear the hime-sama, and his face became very black at that, "…Sasuke."
It still didn't make much difference in Sasuke's mind, because Naruto was teasing him all the same –and he had neglected to remember that proper manners were to address someone you didn't know very well by their surname-, and he glared anyway, daring Naruto to say hime-sama. But the idiot just grinned widely, and crossed his arms behind his head, looking very much like a cat that had gotten the cream.
"Whatever, I want to take a bath." Sasuke stiffly stood, looking down expectantly at the blond, who gave him an offended glare–what did he expect? That Sasuke probably had some kind of magical bathroom-sensor? Of course he needed directions and who else could he ask anyway-, and Sasuke could almost hear the righteous indignity coming from him.
"What? After all the trouble I took bandaging your head!"
"I don't have to wash my head you idiot."
"Eh?" Naruto faltered, pondering the wisdom of Sasuke's words, blinking once more as the reasoning set in, then scratched his head sheepishly as he laughed. "Yeah, I suppose you don't…heh, but do you want your boots back? They're kind of uncomfortable, I'll understand if you don't want them though." Wordlessly giving Naruto a dry, withering glare –he had just scuffled with Naruto over his boots, would he not want them?-, Sasuke squatted down on the ground and waited while Naruto took off his boots.
When finally, the pair of boots were on the correct feet, and Sasuke had a set of clean clothes to change into–freshly dug out from the slightly banged up backpack-, Naruto happily announced that: no, the bathroom wasn't conveniently built inside the mansion, and well look at your luck! There isn't even a bathroom for miles here! So we're just going to walk through the forest of blood-sucking trees to reach a pond –which must be freezing by now- and you're going to strip down naked with nothing to protect your modesty, and bath in the crystal clear water of the pond.
Somewhere between luck and strip, Sasuke had the sudden urge to punch Naruto's face into his thick, idiotic skull, or maybe invest in some good pepper spray meant only to blind the eyes of rabid bears. However he did neither, -punching would only result in more pain for him, and well you could easily figure out why he didn't quite consider the pepper spray- and chose instead to scowl angrily at the grinning blond.
"Lets just go, so I can get clean." Sasuke didn't mention his plans of exploring the Mansion after he managed to get a bath, there was no way though, that he would be going back to the forest, he may be unnaturally stubborn in some things, but he wasn't stupid nor suicidal enough to want to go back there again. It was only because of Naruto that he was going this time, because well, if anything bad happened at the very least he had a scapegoat. Besides, Naruto had been the one to rescue him and bring him back here, so if he went with the idiot, it shouldn't end up too bad.
Smiling at Sasuke, Naruto grabbed one of his arms firmly and tugged him out of the room. Closed doors and visions of half-opened windows flashed past in a dizzying blur, and the next thing he knew, he was standing before a pair of familiar red gates. Blinking a few times in disorientation, Sasuke stared at the revealed valley below his feet before eyeing Naruto, who was by no doubt the culprit of the unnatural acceleration.
Naruto blinked innocently at him, and pretended to not know what Sasuke was eyeing him for, as he scratched his head and looked bored. Although Sasuke itched to ask Naruto what the hell he had done this time, he decided that while, as good-natured as Naruto seemed to be towards him, he was still…something not quite human –after all who the heck normal wears a yukata in autumn?-, and there were still some lines he felt he could not cross.
This time, Sasuke was the one to take the first step, and the moment he stepped beyond the gates, he felt a strange tug on his person, and instinctively, he started down the slope, all the while doggedly following the strange feeling that tugged at him. Somehow, Sasuke knew that he wasn't the one leading, rather it was Naruto, however he done it, and under the towering trees they walked, Sasuke half ensnared in a trance while Naruto languidly followed behind, chattering loudly in a one-sided conversation to fill up the silence in the air.
The trees drew back their branches as they passed, bloody crowns bowed in respect especially to the golden one, who grinned at them as he past, blue eyes mere slits.
They do not dare touch him while he was looking, and his narrowed eyes warned them of their fate should they do so.
Unknowing to the silent exchange between Naruto and the demonic trees, Sasuke soon found himself staring at a beautiful lake, glistening gently in the shade of the trees, strangely untainted by the leaves which floated down gently in the cold air. He blinked, and still didn't question the blond, as Naruto released his arm to take a few bouncing steps forward, still chattering all the way. Taking a deep breath, Naruto turned to him and grinned, "Welcome to my pond!" he said, throwing one arm wide to gesture at the shining liquid mirror behind him.
You walked forward, steps hesitant and skittish, were you supposed to be here? This secret spot of his, were you supposed to see, to know, to be allowed to share something that was wholly his? He smiles at you warmly, and takes your hand, pulling you forwards as he backed into the pond. Don't be afraid, that is all you know, I want you to share this with me that is all he says. And he pulls you close to his warmth, soft lips meeting yours before you feel yourself falling, and you feel no cold as you fall, only a startling ripple of pleasant warmth. You trust him, you love him, and you would follow him anywhere you realize, even if it was to the end of the world.
Surprisingly, this time Sasuke feels no ensuing bout of dizziness or vertigo, rather he feels nothing as all, as he stares at Naruto, watching everything yet seeing nothing, a blank bland mask shaped skilfully like a human face. Soon, he blinks once, then twice as he once again returns to reality.
Naruto watches it all with a slight, wistful smile, and slowly walks back to where Sasuke stood, half-lingering in the scene of his memory. Focus gradually returns to Sasuke's eyes, and he stares at Naruto with a strange recognition. I know him, Sasuke thinks; I know him and I love him? This he wonders, as a warm feeling spreads through his chest.
Rubbish, was his answer to himself, utter rubbish. Shaking his head to clear away the strange blossoming affection growing in his mind, Sasuke scowls at Naruto, walking past him to drop his bundle of clean clothes at the bank, pulling off his scarf to let it curl upon the top of the pile. By the time he managed to pull off half his coat, he turns to Naruto and if it were possible, scowls even more.
"You. Get out." There was no way he was going to let Naruto see him butt naked, there was no way he was letting anyone –maybe Sakura, but then again…she is a whole different case compared to Naruto- see him butt naked, period.
"W-What?" Naruto cries out in indignation, "I mean, we're both guys? What's so bad about bathing together? I want to bath too you know!"
There is a difference Sasuke thinks, I'm a noble –and something most undoubtedly human- and you're…something not-me, besides he wanted some peace and quiet to calm his mind, and push away anything that strange memory-hallucination dragged into it, Naruto would definitely be of no help to that, in fact, he would most probably aggravate it even more. Sasuke eyed Naruto, the blond didn't look perverted, but you could never tell with people who lived in forests, after all you'd never know how… repressed they were, any minute now they might just jump on your back and rape you.
"Get out before I kick your butt out." Human or not, there was no way in hell that Sasuke was going to let him see him in his birthday suit.
Naruto whined unhappily in response, dawdling away 5 minutes in Sasuke precious life by making up stupidly ridiculous reasons about why Sasuke wouldn't let him bathe with him –You have a beer belly don't you! Don't be embarrassed about that! Come on, we're all bound to get it one day-. In the end, Naruto still had to give in to Sasuke's cast iron will and amazing ability to make everything remotely funny that he asked completely and utterly cold, with his less than enthusiastic replies.
Giving Sasuke one long, puppy eyed look, which was returned with a venomous –get out now you fucking idiot- glare, Naruto turned away from the wary brunet and sulked harmlessly out of the clearing. His loud chattering and the rustling of leaves indicating to Sasuke his position, which really didn't help Sasuke much in achieving total and ultimate peace, but well, Sasuke took what he could, and it was much better than having the idiot here, staring at him.
Letting the rest of his coat fall off his shoulders, and onto the ground with a muffled thump, Sasuke proceeded to undress as fast as he could, not wanting to get frostbite, no matter how cold in nature he was, he wasn't made out of ice, but rather living flesh and blood, which could still freeze if exposed to the cold for prolonged periods of time.
Once completely naked, Sasuke slipped into the pond fluidly with a small, almost undetectable ripple, hissing quietly at the frigid cold which nipped ruthlessly at his bones, he stared into the clear lifeless depths, once again completely devoid of anything living other than him. Expected, but not exactly welcome, reaching back to the pile of clean clothes, he pulled out a small towel, and proceeded to scrub his skin clean.
By the time Sasuke regarded his body as 'acceptably hygienic', his feet felt like blocks of ice, and he himself, was shivering minutely with the cold. Trying not to dally so much lest he became a living iceberg, Sasuke climbed back out of the pond, and grabbed the dry terry towel he had prepared, towelling himself down as quickly as humanly possible before he pulled on some warm woolly clothes.
Sasuke couldn't resist the private little sigh of bliss as he finally felt some warmth return to his limbs. He always liked bathing in frigid water, the refreshing temperature always made him feel alert and aware, and that was something he liked, he only bathed in warm water during winter, when he wasn't feeling that suicidal enough to bath in cold water during such a cold season, or when he was in one of his rare lazy moods, and was planning to fall asleep in the bath tub.
Pulling on his scarf, he frowned at the goosebumps he felt, dotting the skin on the back of his neck. He could probably blame the goosebumps on the temperature, but the uneasy feeling of being watched was unmistakable, especially since the stare was so intense, and Sasuke sighed in his mind, already knowing whom it was. He was just about to start on his tirade about perverts, when Naruto called out, from an entirely different direction than he expected, "Sasuke! Are you ready? How much longer do I have to wait!"
This made him stop in his tracks and swallow his saliva, black eyes darting about the surrounding trees nervously, as he picked up his dirty clothes, wrapping it all into a tightly wadded ball of fabric before tucking it under his coat.
"Yeah, yeah you moron! You can bathe now so shut up!"
He yelled out into the forest, expecting a reply, or some kind of clumsy entrance from the blond, but only silence met his shout, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow questioningly, what happened? Did Naruto get trapped in one of the trees? Or had he somehow fallen and broke his neck? Or could have something else much more worse happened upon him?
Something deep inside Sasuke fidgeted agitatedly… there was a sense of foreboding in the air, something bad was going to happen, or could have already happened. Whatever it was, it was definitely not going to be anything good, and it was definitely not going to be anything he would like. He took a few steps backwards, as the silence previously so welcomed became ominous and heavy.
"SASUKE!"
Turning slightly towards the direction in which the shrill cry came from, Sasuke hardly had the chance to shout out in shock before he was tackled roughly to the ground, a heaving heavy mass of something most decidedly animal weighing him down. Intense black eyes stared into his face, as he glared into a grinning row of razor sharp teeth, the smell of something feral, wild and absolutely dangerous puffing into his face.
Dumbfounded with shock, Sasuke could only stare as the beast sniffed at him, long matted strands of earthy brown swaying as the canine panted, muzzle parted to show an enormous pink tongue, a trail of drool dangling from the edge of its jaw.
"Hello Uchiha Sasuke, we meet at last, I have long heard of your…might and hoped that one day we could meet."
Onyx eyes narrowed into glittering chips of ice. The freakish demonic dog actually sounded amused by his fright. Sasuke was starting to feel the tendrils of anger winding through his spine, melting the icy fear that froze it. Instincts took over, and he let his feelings fade away to nothing as he numbed his face, letting it freeze over in indifference.
"Inu no Ou, long time no see." A low growling bass called out, and Sasuke had to fight the urge to turn and see who had the audacity to disturb the demonic dog.
The dog demon froze at the gritty voice, slit pupils narrowing over the crimson triangles marked below its eyes, sharp teeth clashed together as a low growl rumbled from its throat. It slowly stepped away from Sasuke, just as something else walked into the clearing, trees bending away from its presence, as its dense, nearly solid chakra stifled the life around it.
"Hokage-sama." The dog demon bent down its head, shadowing its narrowed eyes as it glared intensely at the newest addition to the little gathering.
The famed demon fox, Kyuubi no Kitsune; the very animal spirit Sasuke had always, for his life, wanted to find –and half-suspected Naruto to be-, stepped into the clearing, nine tails waving angrily, an answering growl vibrating in the air. Sasuke stared speechlessly at the fiery wisps of red-tinged gold, as the fox stood before him in a protective stance, fur puffed out in irritation as it raised its hackles, its growl lowering to a snarl that spoke volumes about its anger.
His myths and wishes had finally come true, but he was no longer sure if he wanted them to be true. Not when two snarling oversized canines with teeth that could rip him apart in seconds were standing right before his eyes, living and livid.
- + - + - + - +
TBC
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