Author's Note: Ah... I'm sorry for taking so long with this chapter! The standard excuses apply: busy, stressed, uncertain, etc. This stupid chapter had to be rewritten 3 or 4 times, for the sole reason that I could never seem to get it right. It would either be too fast, too slow, too irrelevant, or just not at all in the direction that I want the fic to go... Anyway, I did eventually get out a chapter that I could live with and possibly even like. So let's repond to some reviews! (for both ch. 1 and 2)
eyes0nme19: Thanks, I'm glad you find it interesting so far!
me: Your reviews absolutely made my day! TwT I'm always so paranoid about the quality of the writing, it's terrific to know you like it! And yeah, I've seen way too many fics with that whole "oh my gawd Naruto I missed you I love you" thing going on... -exasperated sigh-
Yit-Ha: I'm happy you like the story so far! And you're right, but shhh Naruto-chan doesn't know that yet.
rubie: Your analysis is pretty well correct, sans the jutsu thing. But Sasuke's definitely mentally unstable. And I can tell you already that he'll drive our poor little blonde protagonist in many more circles before they do find each others' boundaries. -cackles madly-
Thank you all for your terrific reviews! You really help keep the story going.
Disclaimer and everything else: See the first two chapters, because I'm not going to bother stating all that stuff again. :P
I watched it all come crashing down
On the verge of a world profound
Standing on unstable ground
Adding insult to irony
I think it's really gonna happen this time
All our calls are on the company dime
Reluctance ties up the line
With irresponsibility...
I'm still waiting for you to get over this
The Company Dime
The Get Up Kids
Locked Crimsons
Unit three: The Company Dime
After leaving the Uchiha residence, Naruto felt considerably more wing-clipped and considerably less clear-headed. Despite his own assurances, he couldn't help but be a bit worried for the wayward Uchiha. And what was worse was the feeling of helplessness swelling inside his chest.
I might not be the brightest kid around, but even I can tell that there's something abnormal about the Sasuke I met with tonight...
Helplessness was one of the worst things for Naruto - really any shinobi - to feel. In the blond's case, however, the dread was amplified by his previous dealings with lack of control, mostly in the area of one Nine-tailed Demon Fox. During his training with Jiraiya, control was one of their main focuses. In order to not only bring himself to his highest potential but also to ensure the safety of Konoha, control was a necessity.
Not that he had full control over Kyuubi. A beast as rabid as that which lurked within him would never be fully controlled, a fact that several times the demon had rammed into his mind disastrously.
If Naruto were to be quite honest, he would tell the Hokage that the fox demon wasn't even a threat at the moment. Even if Kyuubi did have any intention of breaking loose and attacking Fire Country, she wouldn't get very far. The seal that Yondaime gave his life for still rested firmly in place, restraining her from breaking out of her confines. Even the small fractures that had accumulated in the seal during his three years of training had been virtually immediately patched up when he returned.
Nope, Nine-tails was no cause for worry. Uchiha Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed to be causing a great deal more worry than he should have been.
I wonder if 'baa-chan would know what's the matter with him?
About a block away from his tiny apartment, Naruto abruptly halted his steps, catching heel and turning back around. As freezing as it was and as flimsy and worn-out as his coat was and as ironic as it was that the first snowflake of what was sure to be many decided at that moment to land on his up-turned nose, the blonde teenager made up his mind that he wouldn't return to the warmth and comfort of his apartment complex until he'd worked a fashionable amount of the confusion and stress he'd built up with the last hour or so out of his system.
He would visit Tsunade first thing in the morning.
Of course, morning meant getting up, and getting up meant having to move, which Naruto was more than reluctant to do when 6:00 rolled around. The buzz on his alarm clock rang noisily, causing the barely conscious boy to cringe in irritation. Grappling blindly for the kunai he always kept underneath his pillow, he decided sleepily how to take care of the annoyance.
The alarm clock never even stood a chance.
(Well come on: inanimate piece of defenseless plastic with an obnoxious beep versus armed and groggy jerk of a demon-harboring ninja wearing a disruptively silly-looking night cap? I know you didn't think it did.)
At the mild crash resulting from his action, Naruto opened his eyes and attempted to become fully cognizant of his surroundings.
"Crap," he grumbled irritably to himself, "I've gotta stop doing that." He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes and hair, letting his legs swing around the side of the bed to confront the cold air of morning in the Uzumaki 'home'. He continued talking to the world around him for the sole reason of persuading himself not to crawl back under the blankets and go back to sleep. "Even as a chuunin, I don't make enough money to buy myself a new one every time I get pissed and break it."
Hell, he wasn't even sure why he was up so damn early. The thought registered vaguely in the far recesses of his mind that there was a good reason; he had something to do, someone to see, someplace to be.
After a minute or so of shameless pondering, he remembered.
Tsunade-'baachan! I've gotta go see her about Sasuke-bastard's weird behavior!
And, being the curious little beast he was even after all these years, that realization motivated him enough to hop off the bed and even hurry to the bathroom to take a shower, ranting to himself and his houseplants all the while about Sasuke being a terrible bastard, making him worry enough to get up that early in the morning.
Knock, knock, knock!
Oh what the hell could it be now? It had better not be any more trouble... I've had enough of that within the last two hours to last me a lifetime.
"Get your ass in here!" Tsunade already knew who was on the other side of the door. She could sense that unmistakable presence a mile away. "I don't have all day, brat!"
The door to the Hokage's office burst open. "'Baachan!" Naruto squealed excitedly, happily dodging the shuriken (formerly paperweight) that embedded itself in the wall, a direct line from Tsunade through the spot in which the blonde chuunin had just stood. "Hm," he hummed out, more calmly. "Bad morning?"
"Terrible. You have no idea." Tsunade wasn't even looking at Naruto. Her gaze was focused intently on the jumbled stack of papers before her, her usually neat blonde hair messily tangled between fingers of the hand whose palm her head rested on. It was obvious she was stressed.
"You look like you could use a whole 'nother night's sleep, 'baachan."
"Don't you call me that, brat!"
Naruto just threw a small grin in her direction, though he knew she was too engrossed in her work to notice it. Allowing a bit of compassion for the old hag to seep through his persona, he made his way to stand behind her chair and placed his hands gently along the curve between the neck and shoulders. Massaging lightly, he asked, "Do you want some help?"
Tsunade allowed herself to pause in the oversight of the document she'd been evaluating to relish in the feeling of the tension being worked out of her collar. "Sorry, but this stuff's confidential. You can classify those mission requests, though," she amended, gesturing to another pile on her desk. "It's been so hectic this morning that I only got the time to scan and sign them."
Storing that information to be put to use in a few minutes, Naruto continued. "What is it that's taking up so much time and energy, then?"
"I can't tell you. I told you, this stuff is confidential until it's confirmed."
"Well sorry, how was I supposed to know the stuff you're working on now is the same shit?"
"Watch your language," came the automatic chastise, which went practically unnoticed by the energetic boy as he continued his rant.
"If it's really that important, wouldn't it be better to work on it when you're not so fatigued and all? I mean, even the Hokage needs a decent amount of rest, right?"
"Sometimes, the situation isn't so forgiving, brat."
Naruto deflated slightly. "Wow, you must really have a gift for making the Hokage title seem so unappealing. Especially to me."
Growing dissatisfied with the approaching topic, the younger ninja ceased his ministrations (a "Nnn" of protest from Tsunade accompanying) and made for the pile the woman had mentioned earlier. He took himself and the stack, sat down in the chair across from the Hokage's desk, and proceeded with his - or rather, Tsunade's - work.
After a little while of comfortable silence, through most of which Tsunade had half the mind to thank Naruto for helping her, the silence was broken by Naruto's voice. "There was something else I came to talk to you about..."
The woman raised her head. "Yeah, I had something to discuss with you as well."
"You go first, by rank default."
"Fine... It's regarding the reinstatement of Cell 7."
Naruto froze mid character, his eyes jolting up to meet Tsunade's. "Reinstatement? You don't mean..." he trailed off.
"What's wrong with that?" She asked, genuinely confused as to the boy's bewilderment. "You can't keep working solo and continue advancing, Naruto. Sakura needs the opportunity to practice more of her medical jutsu in the heat of battle, and Sasuke's been legally readmitted as a Konoha shinobi for over six months."
After taking all this information in and verifying it to be theoretically, hypothetically, and literally correct (respectively), Naruto bit his lower lip lightly and chuckled. "Actually, you know, I wanted to talk about Sasuke."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow curiously. "What about him?"
"He's been acting weird lately, I was wondering if you might know why."
"Weird how? Did something happen between you two?"
Naruto paused, unsure at first how to relay his bizzare experience, but then decided to just let it flow as it happened. "Well," he began, "I stopped by his house yesterday to drop off an invitation to the Christmas party. He seemed okay for a little while, other than maybe kinda depressed and antisocial, but hey, everyone's got a right to be a little moody once in a while, right?" Here he paused again, casting his eyes back to the scrolls in his hands and wondering how exactly he should word the next phase of his tale. "Then he started spacing out. I tried just about everything short of dumping water on him to wake him up. I even hit him!" His voice became quieter as he finished. "But when I said the word 'Uchiha,' he just sorta... snapped."
Quiet rang throughout the room, even the scratching of pen-on-paper absent as both inhabitants had quit writing long ago. The drawn out silence lasted a good minute or so before Tsunade spoke again. "You fought then?"
"Mm... more like brawled. Other than the punch I gave him while he was spacing out, I think the only injury incurred was some nasty nail marks on my shoulders from when I was pinned to the floor."
"Well that's good, that you're both alright." The woman paused again, setting her pen to her desk. She brought the other elbow to join the first in resting on the surface and laced her fingers together in front of her chin. "You say it was the word 'Uchiha' that set him off?" Naruto nodded. "Did he say why?"
"Something about he stopped being an Uchiha a while ago or something. He wasn't too specific."
"And this is the first time you've seen him act this way?"
"Yeah. To be honest, it was the first time I'd talked to him for more than five seconds since he got back."
"Hm," Tsunade closed her eyes in thought for a moment, then reopened them to stare back into carefully blank blue eyes, only a hint of concern present there. "I'll think on it. It may have something to do with his little trip to Sound. If what we're talking about is really something to be concerned over, perhaps it would be best to delay the reconfiguration of Cell 7 for a little while longer. We can't put it off forever, though, should certain circumstances arise."
The boy nodded again, a grunt of acceptance escaping from the back of his throat. He didn't even bother to question the cryptic statement that was left hanging in the air.
The Godaime retrieved her pen from where it lay and reprimanded, "In the meantime, get back to those mission requests, brat."
Naruto grinned cheekily and did exactly as she said, satisfied for the moment with her consent to helping him figure out what was the matter with Sasuke. He hated to acknowledge any lack of faith in the old hag, but for a short time, he'd been nervous to talk to her about it, scared that she might blow it off and say he was overreacting.
"And thanks... for helping me."
Naruto's grin became even wider.
Sasuke awoke in a strange place.
Not 'strange' as in unfamiliar, but 'strange' as in he wasn't quite supposed to be there.
There was a hard floor beneath him, and the clothes on his body felt wrinkled and dirty. They also felt suspiciously like the same clothes he'd worn the day before.
The sunlight stretched mockingly through the wide windows of his dining room, piercing his closed eyelids. He had a headache.
Though his body ached from spending the night on the floor, he managed to persuade the arm that had been crumpled around his midsection to lift itself over his face and shade his eyes as they opened slowly to take in his surroundings, trying to remember why he was there instead of in his bed.
Naruto... yelling... I passed out...
And suddenly, his thought train hit the brakes.
Pause. Rewind. Play.
Passed out?
What the hell? He was a shinobi, and shinobi don't just pass out randomly. What could've made it happen? He didn't remember getting into any physical fight with Naruto, other than the enraged blond giving him a good whack to the cheek, which, now that he thought about it, still stung a bit.
It couldn't be that Naruto's lousy punch had knocked him out, could it? He knew he wasn't that weak...
And why would the other ninja just leave him there? He knew they hadn't been on wonderful terms lately or anything, but the Naruto he used to know probably would've freaked out and done everything short of lagging his ass to the Hokage to make sure that a.) Sasuke was alright and b.) that it wasn't his fault. And hell, if it was a particularly bad day, Naruto might've flung restraint out the window and actually gone for the old hag.
Well, perhaps Naruto had changed.
Sasuke stood up and headed toward the kitchen for some aspirin.
Or perhaps, the black-haired boy considered, noting once again that he was in his living room instead of the dining room where he remembered, albeit vaguely, blacking out, something happened that I just don't know about. And really, the only person that would know about it was none other than the blue-eyed boy who had either left him passed out on the floor of whichever room it was or...
He probably tried to drag me to the couch but got lazy half-way and left, was the story that he decided to go with, at least until he discovered otherwise. After all, that made it much easier to go about his daily tasks more-or-less unaffected.
After gulping down a few pain-killing pills and ascertaining the time (about ten in the morning), he made his plan for the day. Nothing abstract, the same thing he did every day, just shifted a bit to compensate for the two hours he'd apparently slept in.
Breakfast, train, lunch, nap, train, dinner, sleep. And somewhere in there, he ought to throw in 'go to store' since he'd finished off the last of his tea catering to Naruto the night before.
Speaking of...
Sasuke glanced to the table in the next room to see if the two cups were still there. They were, along with a white something else that contrasted easily against the dark mahogany of the wood it rested upon. Traversing the distance in a fluid few steps that betrayed none of his mental or physical discomforts, he cast a wary look to the envelope that sat with messy handwriting proudly proclaiming, "Uchiha Sasuke."
"Naruto must've left this. It's probably why he visited last night," the addressee mused aloud. Remembering that he still wore yesterday's clothing, including his weaponry, he reached down and extracted a kunai from the holster that hung from his waist. In one smooth motion, he'd used the makeshift letter-opener to tear through the top of the crisp, white stationery.
To: Uchiha Sasuke
Uzumaki Naruto cordially invites you to attend my awesome Christmas party! on Dec. 25th .
Blah blah blah... Sasuke didn't really bother reading the rest of it, not right then. He figured this was probably what Shikamaru had come asking him about the day before, which meant that it was at Iruka's house for some reason. His gears had already begun working, though, and he didn't really care about anything save that it was the perfect opportunity to see the blond and find out either exactly what happened, or (more feasibly) why Naruto had acted so strangely in just leaving him passed out cold on the floor.
Without wandering any further along that line of thought, Sasuke, deciding at the last minute to skip breakfast, tucked the kunai back in his weapons holster and made his way to the basement to practice his aim.
tbc!
By the way, not every chapter will begin with a song. I just thought it sort of fit with this one. There will be others, though, probably because I'm too lazy to think up my own chapter titles. :P
(edited 1x)
