Chapter 3: Release

I was stuck for a long, long, long time without ideas and was planning to discontinue. But then, inspiration came at 2am in the morning so here I am with my best. As usual, comments or conducive flaming is welcome. Just click on the cute, lil review button.

Notes: 'Love Laws' is credited to Arundhati Roy from her stunning debut novel, The God of Small Things.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters.

Sasuke

She was asleep now, wrapped up snugly, bright pink hair scattered across the pillow, small elfin face still contorted in a delicate expression of worry and concern.

For whom?

Sasuke could not tell. The Uchiha blood and the Sharingan had enabled him to penetrate the thickest human body, to understand the most complicated jutsus and replicate them in an instant and decipher movements that would stump most ninjas. It had helped him to manipulate, maim and murder. Yet, it was useless in the face of real human emotion.

Here, he was on his own, where he was no longer the elite ninja placed on a pedestal by his peers.

He was just himself, Uchiha Sasuke, orphaned at 6, balking at love and emotion, awkward and anti-social.

Leaning back in the hard wooden seat by the window, he inhaled deeply on the cigarette between his fingers and blew out two perfect smoke rings. His breath misted on the cold, rain-stained glass panes and evaporated. Naruto had been missing for a total of 2 days, 7 hours, 24 minutes and 6 seconds. 7… 8… 9…

Kakashi had been around the village, mostly making inquiries but nothing else could be done until the storm stopped. Until then, rain-beads washed away precious tracks in mud and rubbed clean Naruto's distinctive Kyuubi smell that Kakashi's dogs would have been able to pick up. The silver-haired ninja had not spoken to Sasuke ever since Naruto left, avoiding him studiously during mealtimes. Sasuke could see the bottled-up, unspoken rage and disappointment in the Jounin's eyes but he was too tired to deal with his Sensei right now.

All that could wait.

Sasuke finished his cigarette and lit another one. He hated smoking but he could not help himself especially when he felt threatened or stressed, he needed nicotine. It was a habit cultivated since his parents were killed.

Dark, miserable, Avenger's eyes lurched around the room and came to rest on the small sleeping figure on the bed. Sakura. She meant so many things to him.

He watched her sleep like a boy watching a girl, like a friend watching a teammate, like a lover watching an untouchable prize. Sasuke flew these several kites at once.

He had seen the expression in her eyes when she was with Naruto.

There was happiness, he did not deny it, but he also saw emptiness. A vast, immeasurable space that stretched like a flat, low valley across the plains and deltas of her beautiful face. He had seen Naruto try to reach across it and feel the woman lying across that valley; with tender words, kisses, devotion, at first. Then later, with his anger, his increasingly frequent spirals out of control and attention-seeking antics.

And he had seen Naruto fail. It was as if there was someone else in her eyes. A stranger, someone who watched hauntingly from the mist under a hat, staring out at sea, drifting in a boat on a landless sea. Like a passer-by on the sidelines, watching curiously as two lovers kissed and whispered.

Sasuke wondered about the emptiness in bed at night, dissected it like a lizard would an ant, bothered and confused by it. Yet he could not figure it out. What exactly was it that took a part of Sakura, carving her soul from her eyes and flattening it into an un-crossable valley?

It took three weeks of sleepless nights before Sasuke got his answer.

On a cold, windy night, Sakura knocked on his door and wordlessly wrapped her arms around his waist. Sasuke opened his mouth to speak but was cut off as Sakura took his face in her hands and kissed him. Her mouth was on his but her hands were already lifted to the collar of her gown, an unspoken willingness.

They did not speak that night, burdened by the millstones of Guilt, Betrayal and Passion.

But when he looked into her eyes, he did not see that stranger that occupied her eyes. Instead, they were alive now, vibrant and moving, wet with tears and languid with a volatile mix of emotions he did not quite understand. Yet the happiness they experienced as they held each other close, skin slick with sweat and tears, melted away silently as Quietness and Pain came into the room, stacked like spoons in a dusty kitchen cabinet.

For they had broken the Love Laws. The ones that dictated who should be loved. And how. And how much.

Kakashi

There was nothing else he could do, Kakashi was acutely aware of that as he lurched through the rain, still searching, still looking. A rare umbrella bobbed past quickly as villagers hurried home to avoid the rainstorms. His dogs went in front of him, snots turned up as they sniffed the ground intently, diligently following trails that were quickly wearing thin. The rain streaked his hair and fell into his eyes and Kakashi knew how increasingly difficult it would be to find Naruto once the rain stopped.

He thought about going back to Konoha without Naruto. He thought about how stricken and worried the Godaime and Iruka would be if he told them. He thought about Naruto becoming a Missing-nin, how he would be hunted down and killed by Hunter-nins when the truth about his disappearance was known.

It was all too clear to Kakashi. No matter how for what reason left the village, they had to be hunted down. Kakashi had been the hunter ever since he was 7 years old. Until now, the memories of the men he had killed haunted him.

The clean, cold way his blade sliced their throat as he closed down easily on them. The fear in their eyes as they realised that there was no way out, that the only path left was Death. The frightening way they pleaded and screamed for help even as he overtook them effortlessly. In his head, Kakashi substituted those memories with Naruto's face and a bitter cocktail of emotions rose in his throat.

Again, another one of his students would be killed.

Again, he would be helpless, unable to do anything.

Again, he was the last to find out.

Kakashi slammed his foot against the wet mud. The mud splashed up onto his clothes and stained them.

Naruto

He felt like vomiting, a nauseating, sea-weedy pit that lurched and swayed at the bottom of his stomach. The heat in his body unbearable, excruciating, mutinying like defiant soldiers, spreading wantonly through his limbs and his chest, expanding horribly in his throat.

Darkness stretched in front of him, enveloping him in its slimy warmth. He stumbled uncertainly forward and his feet squelched in a disgusting soup of mud and water. He could not see or hear as if his senses were suddenly muted, clotted with cotton candy. Fear mixed with a prick of anticipation rose in his blood.

Where was he?

He could faintly hear voices, coming from a faraway place, barely making out what they were saying.

" Weak… loss of blood… possibly attacked on his way… will call for medical help…"

He felt unbearably weak, the power that emanated from the Kyuubi was dying out slowly, he could feel it. The heat in his chest was increasing and the pain stretched like a taut rubber band through his body. At that moment, Naruto knew he was going to die. Funny how he used to be in fear of dying and death, fear of being separated from the ones he loved, hating the moment when he was torn away from them. Now he lay in a foreign, unknown land and he was dying. With no one he knew or loved by his side.

Fate must be having a field day up there, he muttered to himself.

"Still pitying yourself, stupid boy?"

Shut up, Naruto told the Kyuubi curtly. There is nothing you can do about this.

The Kyuubi laughed, a deep and rich laugh that shook Naruto in his bones and chilled him.

As I expected, you're nothing but a weak, useless fool. I can't believe you're going to take me with you. One of the Nine Monsters, the one who possesses the most lethal chakra, meets his end at the hands of a foolish Chunnin!

I have nothing left to live for, Naruto faced down the Kyuubi, simmering in his fiery coat of scarlet, the colour of fire. The Kyuubi was a magnificent monster to behold even behind the bars that separated them. His eyes were coal black and had no pupils, tongues of fire leapt from his body and heat curled down burning Naruto's eyes and skin whenever the Kyuubi spoke.

And you don't want revenge?

Revenge. The word spewed forth from the Kyuubi and slammed hard and painful into Naruto's chest. For a moment, he forgot the pain and revelled in the pleasure of revenge. No, I cannot, Naruto forced himself to turn away from the Kyuubi.

And why is that?

Sakura will be sad, he said quietly, thinking of her crying over Sasuke's body.

Excuses! The Kyuubi thundered, his voice like a wind, pulling at Naruto, grabbing him tightly and slamming his against the metal bars of the cage. You're just afraid, the Kyuubi snarled, afraid of losing to Uchiha Sasuke, afraid that you're not his opponent, afraid because he can pick you up and finish you off in one move.

That's how weak you are!

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Naruto screamed.

Because you know you can never face up to that Sharingan that can see straight through you and read your every movement! Because you will die if you fight with him! Torn apart limb to limb! To the end, the real genius was Uchiha Sasuke! You were never anything but a loser!

LOSER!

Something snapped inside Naruto and red heat poured forth from his chest as he screamed. "I WILL NOT LOSE TO HIM! I WILL NOT!" Bitterness and hate rose up from inside him and seeped into his skin.

I will give you the power and the talent to defeat him. Like he has the Sharingan, I will share my full power with you. Power that you have never experienced before. In return, you will become the strongest ninja ever to walk this earth.

As the Kyuubi said those words, Naruto felt his chest tear apart as an unknown sensation bubbled up inside his torso. It was as if a great bubble of power was growing and expanding inside of him, growing bigger and bigger as it gorged on his body, gobbling up his innards, his ribs, his intestines. His body was too small to hold all that power. Sooner or later, he would burst apart.

Naruto screamed in pain as the bubble forced itself from his throat and exploded outside of his body. Bright light filled his sensations as the pain in his body was replaced by strength and power. The last thing he saw before he passed out again was the sarcastic smile on the lips of the Kyuubi.

Then he sawsomething he should not have.

He saw Sakura kissing Sasuke, her hands on the collar of her nightgown.

Sand Village

The Kazekage watched the rainfall from his office on the highest mountain of the country, right next to the famed sand dunes of the Sand Village. Four ninjas dressed entirely in black with the crest of the Sand Village hidden cleverly in the long sleeves of their costumes knelt in front of him, water dripping from their hair, waiting patiently for his orders.

"Have you confirmed the identity of the boy who was found on our borders?"

"Yes, Kazekage," their leader, the tallest man answered, his mouth covered with a veil.

"And he is the one?"

"We are certain of that." The leader said as he proceeded to report what had happened at the Rain Village's hospital.

"Good, good," the Kazekage stroked his chin and nodded at the leader, "Have your men move him into the secret rooms by tonight. Make sure no harm comes to him. He will be an important pawn."

"We understand." The ninjas bowed low and disappeared from the room, leaving behind only a faint cloud that indicated their presence in the room. Walking to the map that hung on the right wall of the office, the Kazekage ran his fingers across the area of land marked out with the words 'Konoha'.

Laughing silently to himself, he said softly, "Yes, yes, all the pieces are falling into place nicely."

TBC.