Author's Note: Okay, so that was definitely longer than two weeks. I'M SORRY! I'd bake you all cookies to express my most sincere apologies, but the postage to send one to each of you individually would be a bit pricey. So you'll just have to accept my wholly unworthy Times New Roman.
As far as this chapter goes: It in itself wasn't really such a pain in the ass to write as was the first half of the chapter after it, which I typically write before posting so I have something to put in the preview. Also, I'd originally planned to make this chapter span more time and events, but my writing is so damn loquacious that I had to cut it off early. And it's still the longest chapter yet. Enjoy.
Warnings for this chapter: Vague shady people and bitchy Uchihas.
Everything else: See first chapter. -laziness-
Ch. 4: Receiving the Rain
"Enter, Itachi-kun." Bright, dangerous eyes watched as the door opened silently and Itachi's figure made its way into the lightless room. "You've come bearing your report, I presume."
"You probably know, working in the dark like this will make you go blind."
A barely audible scoff. "You should be more respectful, Uchiha. Now, the whereabouts of the boy."
"Ishikawa¹ Dojo."
"Ah. With Uchiha Sasuke?
Itachi felt those malevolent eyes burning through him. "Yes."
"With one of those legendary hybrids so near our grasp, perhaps it would be prudent to snatch the boy before he has the chance to move away. What do you think, Itachi-kun?"
Itachi could practically feel the smirk spread across his superior's face. Like a disease. "If my theory is correct, the boy in question will not move far from us any time soon. It may be wiser to continue searching for other targets than to rest on our laurels and allow one of the others to escape us."
"Such as? Have you sensed any others nearby?"
"Yes. The Badger. It will be approximately two weeks until it arrives here, and I estimate a window of just a few days in which we will be able to capture it."
"I see." The man's voice was low and deliberate, indicating that he was considering his options. "However, two weeks should be more than enough time to capture the blonde one. Which is it?"
"The Fox."
For a moment, all movement in the room stopped. Even the air that had been being disturbed by the twirl of a pen stilled. This confused Itachi -- why should this news evoke such a reaction?
A dark chuckle resounded and quickly fell. When the man spoke, he sounded almost amused. "Is that so? Then his heredity heralds him as the strongest and most cunning of the nine."
"He seems quite young."
"His power is still underdeveloped and poorly understood." The aura of the room suddenly turned business-like. "The others will be gathered. We'll meet to discuss what will become of these two creatures. Most likely, you will recieve orders to either capture or test the strength of the Fox, so I personally advise you to prepare yourself."
Within the safety of his mind, Itachi frowned. Assuming he'd been dismissed, he turned to leave, but was stopped short by the now ominous voice of his leader.
"Itachi-kun, as the only one among us with such a crucial ability, I rely on you more than I like. If you were to betray me, there would be consequences." He paused, as if to let his words hang a moment in the air for full effect, before adding almost mockingly, "Just a warning."
Itachi nodded as loosely as he could, and left.
"What makes you say that?" Naruto asked bemusedly, peering over his companion's shoulder. "Do you know that picture means?"
Sasuke nodded, lightly brushing his already dust-coated fingers over the wall scroll once more before removing his hand entirely. The bottom again began its slow curl upward. "It's an old clan symbol. It hasn't been used in almost ten years, though, since the family itself was almost completely wiped out in a massacre." He looked back to the desecrated altar. "This must've been a memorial to the clan. I'm guessing whoever used to live here must've known someone who was killed that day."
The blond was momentarily stunned as he took in the information. A whole clan, annihilated in one day? Who could've done such a thing? And why? "I still don't get it. What clan was it? Why would someone want to trash a shrine to it?"
Sighing irritably, Sasuke turned away from the dark corner of the room and began walking toward the back doors, through which the moonlight had suddenly seemed dampened. "Once again, how the hell would I know why it was destroyed? You ask too many questions, idiot."
"Well forgive me for being curious, bastard!" the Uzumaki huffed. He immediately made his way over to the bags the dark-haired boy had discarded earlier (more carefully this time so he didn't trip over the overlapping mats). Though he wouldn't admit it in a thousand years, he didn't like being anywhere in the place without Sasuke at his side. The aura, especially around the ruined shrine, was ridiculously creepy, and kept making him feel like he needed to put on more layers of clothing. Frankly, it was bugging the hell out of him. It's just for one night... Just for one night...
He slipped Sasuke's backpack off his shoulders. As he set it onto the floor with the other bags, he couldn't help but notice how much lighter he felt. The lack of physical heaviness on his shoulders almost seemed to lessen the emotional heaviness he'd been subjected to upon entering the dojo, and he almost felt like he was floating as he moved to join the Uchiha near the doors.
Sasuke was standing remarkably still, as if he were entranced. Catching sight of his face, Naruto was slightly shocked to see his expression. He was staring out, up at the sky, his inky eyes held more emotion than Naruto would've guessed possible judging by the first impression he was presented with. The usually impassive boy now seemed almost sad, the way his eyebrows furrowed, but turned up near the middle and his eyes seemed a little more moist (maybe it was the dim light?). His lips turned down just slightly in a way that couldn't even be described as a frown, and stuck out just short of a light pout.
That's not an expression of sadness, really, Naruto realized absently. It's more like one of rememberance. Something about the shrine must've jogged his memory.
The last wisps of moonlight began to fade as the thinly transparent clouds that had puddled the sky became thicker and more foreboding. And suddenly, Sasuke seemed to sense Naruto's presence.
"What are you staring at?" the former barked, his solemn look retreating abruptly into the recesses of his body.
"N-Nothing! Damn, can't a guy even look out into the backyard?" Naruto rolled his eyes, more out of nerves and inability to look the elder boy in the eye than actual agitation. Sure, he had every right to be pissy toward the guy for having such an edgy, stuck-up attitude and most certainly exploited that right, but the treatment was nothing that he was unfamiliar with. And besides, Sasuke's bitchiness seemed to be inherent, not solely directed at him.
Running a hand through his dark mop of hair, the said bitchy human heaved a light sigh, feeling his stress level rocket. He didn't want to remember right then. What he wanted was to go to sleep, wake up, and find that his whole life had been a bad dream. "It looks like it's going to rain later. Closing these doors should keep most of the wind out, but we'll need to patch up the hole in the roof, too, unless we want to wake up lying in a half a foot of water."
Naruto agreed wholeheartedly, the prospect of an overnight swim not really settling well with him.
So together they scrounged up some cleaning and repair items from a closet in one of the smaller adjoined buildings (which presumably comprised the actual living apartment of the dojo). Luckily, the steps leading out the back seemed to be in fair condition, so getting in and out was no problem. The discussion as to who would do what was brief -- Sasuke looked at Naruto and pointed to the roof, while Naruto shook his head and laughed nervously, saying he'd just sweep out some of the dust and try to fit the tatami back in place so they'd have room to lay down comfortably. Sasuke mumbled that Naruto was an idiot and went off with the flashlight to find a ladder. Naruto mumbled that Sasuke was a jerk for taking the flashlight, scrounged up the candles from the shrine that were still usable, and went off to find some matches.
Soon enough, they were both hard at work. Sasuke was trying to nail a piece of broken wood to the roof while simultaneously holding the flashlight in the crook between his ear and shoulder and trying not to either slip on the slimy roof tiles or smash the roof itself in such a way that it would give out and send him straight through the hole in the rafters to the floor of the dojo, where Naruto was using a dilapidated old broom to sweep the dust into a pile by the back door. The blonde was coming up with a digustingly monstrous pile that almost seemed to have legs and arms and teeth, and kept getting partially scattered again every time a breeze from the oncoming shower came through the room.
Sasuke was on the last nail when he felt the first droplet of water hit his back. The one drop quickly turned into a few more, and a few more, and before he had finished a soft drizzle was already falling. He knew immediately that the rain would complicate things, namely his getting down. He was pretty far up on the roof, away from the ladder, and it was hard enough not to slip on the shingles when they weren't being rained on. He'd need to be even more careful, if that was possible.
Knowing he'd need both hands, he left the flashlight nestled in its little crook and concentrated on using the shingles as handholds without pulling them out. It was difficult with them overlapping downward, since it meant his feet had nothing to hold on to. It made his hands the most important part of his body.
Of course, when the first really heavy drop landed on the back of his head, the jolt dislodged the flashlight. And his first reflex was to catch it before it fell. With his hands.
Naruto had finally deigned the room as dust-free as it was going to get for the night, having not only swept the floor, but run the broom over the walls and doors as well. He'd managed to get it all consolidated into a pile beside the backdoor, waiting to be swept across the threshold and into the grass to later become dirt. It was probably originally dirt in the first place, having gone dry during the hot summer and been kicked up by animals or the occassional audacious child.
I bet it's pretty here in the spring and summer, he thought, even with all the damage. After all, the area is surrounded by trees, and with all the plants that grew out of control, I bet there'd be a lot of flowers. It wouldn't look so much like a graveyard, just... old, like 'antique' old.
Suddenly, he heard a loud clattering, coming from above him.
The roof? That bastard is up there.
According to what he'd seen so far of the Uchiha, he seemed graceful, skilled, and annoyingly overconfident, perfectly able to nail a plank of wood in place. There was no need to worry. Right?
A yell.
Wrong! Oh crap, he'd better not have done anything stupid!
As soon as he threw himself out the door and gasped, he almost wished he hadn't. After all, he'd hoped to see that Sasuke was still sitting on the roof, maybe having dropped the hammer or something (because then Naruto could toss it back up the him and make fun of how clumsy the jerk was) -- definitely not that the dark-haired boy was hanging over 15 feet in the air by nothing but a few fingers on a slippery shingles.
Uh-oh, I've gotta do something! "Uchiha!"
At the sound of his name, Sasuke snapped his head downward, only to result in him losing what little grip on the roof he'd had left.
Oh shit, wrong thing to do! Naruto began panicking as the other boy's fingers gave way and sent him falling. Something, something, please I've gotta- the dust!
A sweep of his forearm, quick as lightning. A mumbled incantation. A prayer that Oh Heaven please let my power work...!
Sasuke's mind had practically blanked out. As far as he was concerned, he was going to die. Or be seriously injured. Neither of which were very pleasant nor what he'd planned to do when he'd woken up that morning. Not that it really mattered. He was dying. Right here. Right now. He was--
...Floating.
He looked to see what the hell had happened, why there were no broken bones yet. He found that he was floating on something, but it wasn't very thick, or very visible. It was... dust? It was dust. He was literally floating on a cloud. Talk about cliché.
And then he was falling again. It wasn't dangerous anymore, only a few feet from the ground. In fact, the only damage incurred was that his pants got dirty. Getting to his feet, he brushed himself off and turned to face the only possible explanation for such a phenomenon.
The blond was standing on the steps just outside the back doors of the dojo, both hands extended, as if his body was frozen in position. Sasuke couldn't tell whether it was sweat or rain that coated the boy's brow, but he was pretty sure that the reason Naruto was shaking like a leaf wasn't because of the cold.
"Uzumaki?"
Blue eyes suddenly seemed to flicker back to life. Naruto's arms dropped back to his sides and he was immediately jogging toward his companion still standing under the rain. "Uchiha! Are you okay?"
The worry on the blond's face was plain as day, and Sasuke suddenly realized that he'd been rescued, like some weak little girl who couldn't take care of herself. He found himself getting angry. After all, how was he supposed to face up to his brother if people were saving him all the time? And deep down, what made him angriest was that he'd actually needed to be saved.
Naruto noticed the abrupt change in Sasuke's mood. He'd gone from slightly confused to blindingly furious in a matter of moments, and even though he'd just gotten to the Uchiha, he almost felt the need to step back. What the hell is he on about? "Uchiha?"
"Idiot," Sasuke seethed, "Don't ever do that again!"
What! Well, of all the stupid, arrogant, asshole, stubborn...! Naruto's attitude suddenly mirrored the other boy's, and he clenched his fists in an effort to hold back his temper. "Hey! I just saved your ungrateful ass! The least you could do is say-"
"I didn't ask you to!" Sasuke cut him off, his dark eyes sparking with... something. "If you hadn't come along, my 'ungrateful ass' wouldn't have needed saving in the first place!"
That was partially true, Naruto realized. After all, if he hadn't gotten the two of them kicked out of Sasuke's dormitory, they wouldn't have had to come to such a run-down old place to stay the night, and no one would've had to be put in danger. But then again... "Well, if you hadn't made such a stupid wish, I wouldn't have had to come along!"
Sasuke's teeth immediately stopped grinding. After all, that fact was completely unavoidable. Even Sasuke must've realized by then that Naruto had been telling the truth, that he really was exactly what he'd said he was. And with that epiphany probably came the one about the blond actually having to stay with Sasuke forever, as per his disbelieving wish. Not to mention that if Uzumaki was anything like him, being tied to his polar opposite for all of time wasn't his cup of tea, either.
"...Whatever. Sorry."
Rain poured down all around them, the droplets multiplying by the minute. The two boys were getting completely soaked. The water was becoming cold and heavy, and their clothes weren't much defense against it, although Sasuke's leather jacket was doing a much better job than Naruto's hoodie. Their hair was stuck to their faces, and rainwater dripped across the skin of their faces in small rivers. The breeze had turned into a light, but freezing wind.
The deity sighed. In a way, he figured, the agitating firmness of that moment was sort of like finalizing the contract.
There was a listless rustling in the air, from the trees whose branches were jostled against each other. It was a calming sound, almost like the rushing of ocean waves upon sand. The wind seemed to form a sort of melody as it blew, stronger here, just barely there, and then strong again. During powerful gusts, the dojo itself creaked uneasily, adding a new instrument to the little symphony. Pitter patter swish, swoosh drip creak, swoosh creeeak...
"That shrine," Sasuke quietly added to the song. His voice was above the rain, but below the creaking; it sort of seemed to complete the harmony. "That family."
Naruto lifted his gaze to the other teen's face only to see it looking toward the wet earth solemnly, damp raven hair clinging the sides of Sasuke's jaw and cheeks. As if sensing his attention, however, coal-colored eyes looked up to meet his levelly and Naruto was suddenly accosted with the emptiest expression he'd ever seen.
"It was mine."
Naruto's brain took a minute to register what had been said. Did that mean... Sasuke's whole family was dead? Except him and his older brother? His eyes widened as the realization his him full force, and the loneliness he'd felt buried inside the Uchiha the first time they'd met made perfect sense.
"It's an old clan symbol. It hasn't been used in almost ten years, though, since the family itself was almost completely wiped out in a massacre."
"After Itachi, there's nothing."
Sasuke had no one. He was virtually all alone in the world.
Sasuke was just like him.
After a few moments, Naruto was able to gather his wits about him and feel the cold rain on his head and back again. He tried to block thoughts of Sasuke's family from his mind, figuring that the dark-eyed boy wouldn't want him to think too much on it. Just forget about it. He didn't tell me so he could be pitied. Hell, pity was the last thing I wanted. I just wanted... someone by my side.
Heaving a sigh, the blond made his way over to a darker part of grass, where the fallen flashlight glinted softly. The Uchiha's eyes remained downcast while Naruto retrieved the now wet device, and only journeyed upward again when the shorter boy reappeared before him, a dirty hand outstretched and the metal cylinder grasped within it.
"Here's your flashlight."
And now, he's got me.
Sasuke accepted the proffered item wordlessly, then watched as the Uzumaki boy turned to walk back to the dojo, his arms folded behind his head, face tilted up to receive the rain. The young god was proving to be such an enigma. How could someone who wore his heart on his sleeve be so difficult to read? One minute, he was stupid, obnoxious, and klutzy, and the next he was gentle, tactful, and uncannily perceptive.
Was he himself so obvious? Did his preferences show on his face? Sasuke had already allowed himself to be convinced of the goose tale that such an irritating, immature boy was really a deity. There was no way he could be persuaded into believing that the boy was intuitive as well.
"Uzumaki."
At the sound of his name, Naruto twisted to face the other boy once more.
"Have you been reading my mind?"
The blond seemed stunned for a moment, as if wondering why the hell Sasuke would ask such a thing. Suddenly, however, a glint of some kind of understanding dawned in his eyes and a grin spread across his face. "No," he replied easily. "I mean, you told me not to before, and, well, it's not like you're my master or anything, but I'm not an asshole."
Sasuke really wanted to believe that, for his privacy's sake if nothing else, but that would require acknowledging the possibility that Naruto was a much more complex person that he'd initially been lead to believe. He might not be able to hate him so much after all.
"Yo, you should probably come inside, before you get all sick and stuff. I won't take care of your stupid ass if you catch a cold from standing out there too long!"
...On the other hand, he'd better not assume anything.
Rolling his eyes petulantly and regaining some of his usual attitude, Sasuke followed his blue-eyed companion into the dojo.
They found that the board they'd used to seal the hole in the roof worked rather well; the room stayed as dry as they'd first found it, with the exception of the water their shoes ushered in from the wet grass outside. The room wasn't really comfortable, per se, but it worked well enough.
After settling in for the night (which consisted of dragging out the thin blanket that Sasuke had brought and spreading it onto the floor while Naruto set up a few more candles and whined about being hungry), the two boys were finally able to relax before hitting the sac.
"Where do you suppose we'll go tomorrow?" Naruto wondered from atop the blanket.
Sasuke shifted uneasily, facing anwhere but toward the ruins of the shrine. In truth, he hated how uncertain the situation made him. He didn't know where they could stay, he didn't know how they were going to keep food in their stomachs... hell, he didn't even know how they were going to accomplish bathing. Survival was their new mission, first and foremost.
"Well, first, we should probably get something to eat," he decided. "I have enough money to last us for probably a week or so -- assuming you don't eat like a pig -- but after that, we'll be in the red. Which means that one or both of us is going to need to get a job. And tomorrow I'll talk to Kakashi-sensei and see if he can get us someplace to stay that at least has running water."
Naruto attempted to process all this, but his mind was still stuck on the word 'job'. He'd never had a job before in his life, even in Heaven. Sure, coming down to grant the Uchiha's wish was sort of like work, but that was an unexpected gig that he only agreed to because Sakura-chan asked it of him. He wasn't even a god of First Class rank.
Sasuke watched Naruto's internal struggle with amusement. "What's with the face, idiot? Never worked before?"
Blushing faintly, the blond sputtered an embarrassed response. "I-It's not that, no! I've worked plenty! In fact, I'm the hardest worker you'll ever find!"
The dark-haired boy tried to smother a sarcastic chuckle and failed, a smirk stretching across his features. "I bet gods don't even have jobs in Heaven."
"They do so! Sakura-chan works as an Yggdrasil system maintainer, and Iruka-sensei is the head of the Earth Assistance Center! Even Konohamaru has a job!"
Although the other names struck no bells, Sasuke did remember the name 'Sakura' from Naruto's earlier babblings, and he couldn't deny that he was just a little curious about the way Heaven operated. "And what about you? You grant wishes?"
"I..." Naruto halted his words, contemplating what he should really say. After all, he was going to be with the other boy for a while. It would probably be a bad idea to start off their relationship by lying. On the other hand, though, he really didn't want to divulge his circumstances if he didn't absolutely have to. And so, with a wide grin, he gushed ostentatiously, "Actually, I have a top secret job in Heaven, and it's the best one there is!"
The older boy didn't believe that for a second, of course. Not only did Naruto seem far too incompetent to perform any sort of high rank job, but he doubted that the garishly loud brat could be trusted to keep anything secret hidden for long. And furthermore, if he were truly as inexpendable as he claimed, his superiors most likely wouldn't allow him to come down here and risk losing his services should something like this happen.
His conclusions all pointed in one direction: Naruto didn't want to tell him. Sure, he was curious, but...
He was considerate toward me about my family. I'll just forget about it for now. He'll probably spill it eventually anyway.
"If you say so, idiot," Sasuke replied mockingly, though obviously conceding the topic as he lifted the edge of the blanket and slipped his body under it. "Just go to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."
The blue-eyed boy watched as Sasuke turned away from him and curled into the fabric (as best as he could with Naruto still sitting on half the blanket).
Though he knew that Sasuke was right and he should probably do as was suggested, he made no effort to join the other boy under the blanket. His head was too full of jibberish to even try to put it down. Though his body was still, save the rise and fall of his ribcage and the fingers that idly played with one hem of the cloth he sat on, his mind was running in frantic circles inside him.
What if I can never go back to Heaven again? I don't even think I've ever been on Earth this long for one trip, before. What if something happens to me? Or I screw something up?
Sure, he'd been to Earth in the past. Pretty often, actually, back when he was studying to be placed in the Relief Office. He'd worked hard to pass his exams and eventually did, though with far from flying colors. After that, he spent a sort of internship on Earth, where he studied the people and their troubles in order to get a feel for how they discovered their dreams and wishes, and what common ones were. More money, a better job. For so-and-so to get well soon, for so-and-so to give me a chance in a relationship. Someone even wished for a life's supply of ramen, once-- Wait, no, that was me.
Another thing his internship was supposed to teach was about how to distinguish between people who had good, pure hearts and those whose hearts were clouded by darkness. Supposedly, wishes were only successfully granted to those of the former category.
So how the hell was that bastard's wish approved? Maybe I'm just reading him wrong or something. After all, my senses really aren't that great. What if his heart really is more pure than it seems? Stupid, confusing, asshole, self-contradicting...
Yep, it was definitely a mistake to come down here. I mean, what good am I going to be for Mr. Bitchy over here? I can't even get past the fact that his wish was approved!
But then... I wasn't too useful in Heaven, anyway, really.
He'd been discharged from the Relief Office before even completing his first official job.
His class as a God dropped to a C and never went back up again. He went from desk job to desk job, trying to find someone who would keep him employed and failing miserably. The only ones that seemed to accept him, even as just a person, were Iruka-sensei, who'd been his teacher during his Earth-studying days before being promoted to head of the Office, and strangely enough, Sarutobi-sama, the third and present "king" of Heaven.
Though it would be nice if I could group Sakura in there. She sort of accepts me. If you consider "accepting" to be physically assaulting me every time she sees me and conning me into wearing that freakin' dress. And getting me stuck down here.
And suddenly, despite years of having the biggest crush on the pretty, pink-haired goddess, he was very, very peeved at her.
A tremendous pout erupting onto the boy's tanned face, Naruto fought the urge to bring his hands up to rip his own hair out. Instead, he looked back down to the quieted form of his "boyfriend," blanket-covered and evenly breathing. He doubted that the Uchiha was asleep yet, but he allowed himself a light sigh.
What's going to happen to me? And Uchiha? Am I going to ruin his life?
tbc...
Preview:
What the hell is going on out there?
Sasuke lifted himself from the floor silently, calling on well-practiced skills to keep his movements unnoticeable and inaudible, and began inching his way toward the entrance to the backyard. Once close enough, he leaned gently against the wall next to the door, and took a deep breath. Whatever was beyond that opening was going to be pretty weird, he knew. In fact, it seemed like since that afternoon, every second just got weirder.
Of course, he also knew that whatever it was, it was nothing he couldn't handle. Slowly, he craned his neck around to peer outside.
So, what the hell is going on out there? Why, the scene I'd originally promised to put in this chapter, of course! -cries-
¹ In homage to Ishikawa Goemon, both the legendary ninja and the legendary Lupin III character.