Uchiha Sasuke opened his eyes. It was dark, wherever he was. He wordlessly activated the Sharingan and was abruptly knocked flat to the ground, his red eyes wide but unseeing. He was looking at the image seared into his brain: the Kyuubi Kitsune--it was everywhere. From his past experience with his former master, Orochimaru, Sasuke knew the aura of hatred, anger, and fear. This took all those emotions and braided them together into solid walls of rage and the feeling of indignation, bordered thinly by pain and overwhelming sorrow. This was Naruto's mind.
Abruptly, Yamanaka Ino stumbled and hit the floor, landing hard on her back. She stared at the ceiling, dazed. Tsunande knelt beside the young ninja and checked her for any mental damage; there was none, just the lingering remnants of Sasuke's aura in her body. The last of it leaked away and into Naruto at her guidance, and Ino's hazy eyes blinked once and returned to normal. She sat up, rubbing the back of her head.
"Ugh… Hokage-sama? What happened?" she mumbled.
"Maybe Sasuke got a good look at exactly what Naruto has in that little body of his," the older woman answered grimly before helping the other to her feet. "Thanks for your help, Ino, but I can supervise it from here. If anything like that happens to you again, come back here and let me know, okay?"
With a nod, the long-haired girl was off and Tsunande sat heavily on the edge of the hospital bed, by Naruto's feet.
"Be careful, you two…" she whispered to the empty room.
Sasuke rose groggily, turning off his Sharingan in fear of getting blown away again. He looked around dizzily, taking in slow, deep breaths as he analyzed the area and his situation.
"Okay," he said out loud. "I'm inside Naruto's head, the Kyuubi is definitely here too, I can't see or sense a damn thing, and I don't exactly know how I'm going to find him or the fox, or what I'm going to do when I do find them." He sighed. "Some rescue mission."
…Sasuke?
He blinked, startled. "Naruto?" he called back to the darkness around him.
Sasuke, what the hell are you doing here?
"I'm here to help you!" he called back, a little miffed that he had to explain himself to the blond even after all their years of knowing one another.
That's not what I meant. What I meant was, how did you get here?
Sasuke blinked again: "Since when could you read minds?"
You idiot, you are in my head.
"Oh." He took a moment to get over the feeling of stupidity. "Tsunande sent me here to help you."
That old hag? I don't need any help. I'm fine.
"Naruto!" Sasuke felt his temper flaring and tried to control it. "This is no time to act tough! If we don't do something about that fox, it's going to break free and wreak havoc over Konoha, just like before!" Silence. He took a deep breath and continued. "Look, I'm not saying you're weak and can't do anything on your own. In fact, you've been keeping him at bay since you got injured last night, haven't you? You're exhausted." Sasuke lowered his head, his voice calming and the corners of his mouth creasing into a frown. "I…would probably never be able to contain something that powerful for so long. But I want to help you! And Sakura does too," he held up the hand with the small teal orb in it. It glowed reassuringly in the blackness around him. "Naruto, let me help. Let us help. We're your friends."
"…Sasuke?"
Tsunande and Jiraiya jumped and looked over at the bed, the scroll clattering loudly from the man's huge hands as he gaped at his student, who had spoken.
"Naruto…?" he called tentatively.
"Sasuke, what the hell are you doing here?" came the young man's voice again, and Jiraiya's eyebrows pulled together in frustration.
"Is he delusional?" he looked over at his former teammate.
"No, wait," Tsunande held up a hand, leaning forward in anticipation.
"That's not what I meant," he spoke up again, his dark eyes still blank and unaware. "What I meant was, how did you get here?" Then, after a beat: "You idiot, you are in my head."
"Is he actually conversing with Sasuke?" Jiraiya blinked.
"That old hag? I don't need any help. I'm fine."
The silver-haired man quickly turned his eyes back down to his work, hiding a chuckle by rustling a few papers together loudly. Tsunande's eyebrow twitched once, impatiently.
"See if I send anyone in to help him next time," she snarled.
"Let's hope there's not a 'next time', hmm?" Jiraiya tried to smooth it over quickly. It worked: her hazel eyes lost their hard flare and she nodded, pulling another scroll closer to her and started scanning through Yondaime's notes again.
It was as if the air around him had suddenly turned into water. He could still breathe, but now his movements were heavier and slower, as if being restricted by an invisible force. The darkness itself began to collect noiselessly, and Sasuke could feel it gathering somewhere beyond him. And like a long and flowing drape being pulled away to uncover something, the blackness swirled aside and he saw the entrance to a dark stone hallway, runes carved all the way up along the sides, across the ceiling, and beneath his feet. He passed under the archway and started down the hall, clutching Sakura's orb tightly in one hand again. Down at the end of the hall, a silhouette was waiting for him. One hand extended into the blackness of the tunnel, lit by an aura of red-orange flames, beckoning to him. He followed it, stepped out from the hallway, and stood blinking at the edge of a huge square chamber lit by the red hue of flaming torches mounted in brackets periodically along the stone walls. A hand brushed his shoulder and he turned, careful not to betray an emotion on his face, but his own mind sighing in relief.
Uzumaki Naruto grinned at his best friend, his blue eyes sparkling teasingly. "Miss me?"
Nara Shikamaru unceremoniously tumbled into the hospital room and looked about wildly, his eyes landing on Naruto's half-sitting figure and his black eyes going wide. Hurrying in after him was his best friend, Akimichi Chouji, and one of the nurses that was insisting that they could not be in there.
"Shut up," Shikamaru whispered brokenly at the nurse's barrage of threats and he stumbled over to Tsunande and Jiraiya, who were giving him puzzled looks. "Naruto… Where's Sasuke?"
The urgency in his voice prompted the hokage to answer: "He's in that bed over there." She pointed to another bed that had been brought in and set up at the opposite end of the room, where Uchiha Sasuke's body lay unmoving, save the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
"And Sakura? Where's she?" he panted.
"Look, sir, I told you--" the nurse started and with a frustrated growl, Shikamaru flung a hand back at her. Something dark slapped across her mouth and she screamed wordlessly, trying to claw at the black strap of shadow that had suddenly stopped her nagging. Tsunande raised an eyebrow and Jiraiya whistled as the nurse ran out of the room in frantic tears. "Where?" he asked again, his voice low and dangerous.
"In a room a few doors down, sleeping," Jiraiya answered him. "Why--"
"Chouji!" Shikamaru turned to the large man that had not moved or flinched through this entire fiasco. "Get someone to help you wheel Sakura's bed in here. Now." He nodded his head and left wordlessly. Shikamaru turned back to the hokage and her partner, looking them dead in the eyes. "Those three can't be separated. Not right now. Not for this."
"How do you know…?" Jiraiya continued to look puzzled.
"You saw something, Shikamaru, didn't you?" Tsunande asked coolly. He nodded, his breathing still a little unsteady, but he was finally calming down.
"I was on the hill. I had a dream. In it, Naruto was fighting a shape engulfed in fire--I couldn't make it out--and then Sasuke was on his left and Sakura was on his right, and…" he shook his head again, rubbing the back of his neck impatiently. "Look, it's already too troublesome, and it'll be even more so if I have to explain it, but…I saw it. I know; those three can't be apart for whatever's happening right now."
Tsunande nodded. "I believe you. Jiraiya, help him move Sasuke's bed to the left side of Naruto's."
Still looking confused, the older man stood and he and Shikamaru rolled the cot across the room and to the left of the bed the blond was resting in. At the same time, Chouji came back with Rock Lee, and he was rolling in a folded up cot while Lee carried a sleeping Sakura in his arms.
"Right there," Shikamaru nodded at his friend, and Chouji unfolded the mattress to the right of Naruto's bed. Lee, not asking but looking almost as confused as Jiraiya, settled the younger woman down onto the mattress. Instantly, Naruto's hands slid from their position in his lap and fell to either side. From his left, Sasuke's right hand moved of its own violation and he rolled onto his side in his sleep as their hands clasped tightly. Sakura rolled onto her left side, facing Naruto, her hand groping. Her and Naruto's fingers met and entwined on the sheets. The people watching finally looked up at one another when the last movement settled.
"What…" Lee slowly shook his head. "Tsunande-sama, will Sakura be alright?"
"Yes," she nodded. "Thanks to Shikamaru."
"Nn," he shrugged and turned to go. "Let me know what happens. Are you staying, Chouji?"
"No," his best friend shook his head. "If you get another vision, I don't want you to be alone."
"If you do see something else, Shikamaru, please come back and let us know," Tsunande watched them go. "And take that shadow-sealing jitsu off that nurse!"
"Ah, yeah, okay," Shikamaru tossed back a lazy wave and he and Chouji were gone. Jiraiya shook his head after them.
"Someone with an IQ over two hundred and ten is bound to develop some kind of strange power," he shrugged. "But what a way for it to appear."
"Lee, she'll be fine," Tsunande promised the worried-looking chunin. "I'll make sure nothing happens to her. But, if you please, we have to continue our research."
"Mm…" Lee nodded and left the room, casting one last worried glance back at the pink-haired girl on the bed. Tsunande sighed and went back to the table where Jiraiya was scribbling down some notes off a thick scroll.
"Those two had better come back soon," she grumbled, rubbing the back of her sore neck impatiently.
"They'll come home soon enough," Jiraiya smiled at her softly and tapped her forehead with the end of his pen. "Just think, after this is over, you can request a vacation and put Naruto in your position for a week."
"After this," she looked over at the three figures, and gave the blond in the center a soft glance, "I think he deserves it for more than a week, don't you?"
"I'm biased, I can't answer that question," Jiraiya grinned back and continued working.
"Are you ready?" Naruto looked over at him.
"Here, before we go," Sasuke handed him the little orb. The blond took it, and blinked in surprise when the teal sphere unraveled and healing wisps of chakra swirled about him, all up and down her body. He waved his arms energetically.
"Wow! Was that from Sakura?" he beamed.
"Yeah, so don't go wasting it," the raven-haired man nudged his partner. "Let's go."
"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto's eyes went from excited to afraid. "If…If we can't beat the Kyuubi, I want you to--"
"Don't," Sasuke shook his head, nudging Naruto briefly with his shoulder. "We're going to fix the seal. You're going to be fine. And we're going home. Together."
The blond smiled softly, leaning over and laying his forehead against his partner's shoulder. "Sakura's waiting to welcome us back, right?"
"Right," Sasuke smiled in spite of his usual nature. "So let's end this quickly."
The blond straightened, his eyes once more strong and confident: "Okay," he nodded.
Sasuke nodded back and they broke into a run, speeding across the square room and to the opposite wall, where a wrought-iron cage door sat ajar, as if waiting for them to enter. Unhesitating, they bounded inside, and plunged forward into the darkness.