The Beginning Of The End (of the beginning): {Act II}
Summary of the chapter:
"Take a guess."
"Did Orochimaru send you here to take the Kyuubi from me?"
"Take another guess."
"Did you come here to get rid of me and have the Kyuubi all to yourself?"
"You're kind of reaching a little, don't you think?"
"...Oh God. Are you here to get rid of me and take my place as the new me instead?"
"Okay, here's a wild guess, maybe you should just stop guessing now?"
. . .
The surrounding darkness is overwhelming him in the worst kind of way.
A thick, vivid veil of coal black is slowly engulfing him in its claws; he tries to part his lips, to scream, but he's paralyzed. Sizzling panic settles into the depth of his bones. He thrashes in its suffocating hold, struggling to break free of unseen chains—until he sees something—
No. It's someone.
Sharpness pierces him, at the height of his chest. In the deepest recess of his mind he knows exactly what this feeling is.
Fierce, unbridled guilt roars to life inside of him like the first spark to a raging fire. It sets him alight with burning unforgiveness.
He knows exactly who this someone is.
In the distance he can only catch a glimpse of a half lit face and the distorted reflection of glowing crimson. But it gives way to an innocent, dull shade of gray, reminding him of what he thought were better days, at least for him.
Frightened, he gives another, frantic shot at freeing himself, but when he finally manages to extricate his hand, to reach with trembling fingers into the cloaked distance...
He's already gone.
Waves of darkness cascade upon him, asphyxiating, robbing him of his last breath—
"Sasuke!"
.
.
.
Naruto startles himself awake with a scream.
His heart is pounding somewhere deep in his throat and his body is trembling ever so slightly, feverishly, the lightest of tremors running through his fingertips. Beads of sweat line his brow and his breath comes out in rapid spurts, ragged and heavy exhales, as he tries to get a gist of what just happened.
Almost as if only remembering to, he quickly scans the room. Seeing his bed, the furniture, the floor lined in few scrolls and clothes, the sunlight streaming in through the half-shut blinds. Letting himself let out a shaky breath, he wills his tense muscles to unwind. He's currently in his apartment, where everything is as monotonously familiar as usual...everything is fine.
It was just a dream.
Only a bad dream.
Team Seven is once again busy with the chores of the day, which had involved another mission that Naruto started referring to as 'time-wasting', and yes, he has yet to come up with an original name for them. Although this particular 'waste' only took away most of their morning, so they allowed themselves a break by lunching in the shade of a broad oak tree.
The grass feels crispy under him, and there is a distinct earthy smell surrounding them. It looks like the sky might give in to a pour any minute now, like yesterday, and the combination keeps him somehow focused and at ease. It's enough to take his mind off as he pretends to lend a ear to Sakura's one-sided conversation, while Sai is...well, he doesn't really know what Sai is up to, but who cares, Sai is weird anyway. He lets her euphonious chatter fill up the empty nooks inside his mind, wall to wall, and it's quite soothing, actually.
It doesn't fly over his head how Sakura keeps throwing subtle glances at the amount of food he's taking with each bite. But he pretends to go unaware.
When there is a lull in conversation, they end up focusing on their own meals and enjoying the breather. Naruto alternates between looking at a sandy anthill not far off from where he's sat, quietly scraping his chopsticks against the bottom of a lunchbox containing food he won't actually partake in, and searching for the last glimpses of glimmering blue in a sky slowly being engulfed by gray wisps of clouds.
As he stares above at the unrushed mesh of indigo and silver, he's reminded of something that bounces right off his grasp. Unable to conjure the energy to keep up the remembrance, he chooses to simply disregard the notion altogether. At one point he's so sluggish with relaxation, he's about to tip into the easy nothingness of slumber right there on the spot.
Sakura breaks the hush befallen over their trio with a hesitant laden timbre and inquiry Naruto doesn't quite catch.
"What?" He asks back absent-minded.
Her intention comes out quieter, just a tad more indecisive. "...The therapy."
If he had had his mouth full at the moment, he might have choked.
Now this is a can of worms he's not very keen to open.
Another change overtaking his life was...this. After recent events, people around him had apparently deemed hooking him into therapy sessions a wise choice. Tsunade had brought it up first, Kakashi was never one for objections and with how concerned Sakura was about it all she had practically shoved him into going as soon as the opportunity arised.
Of course what they also deemed to be good enough was taking this decision for him without exactly thinking of consulting with him first, but, whatever, it wasn't like he would put up a fight anyway.
(He's too worn for that.)
It ended with his reluctant acceptance, convincing himself, hoping, the sooner it started the sooner it would all be over.
Naruto takes a sip out of his water because the inside of his mouth feels sticky all of a sudden, dry with the aftertaste of bitterness. "It's fine."
Sakura's eyes brim with surprise. "Really?"
No. Not really.
Naruto thinks about the first meeting with the therapist, about the office stuffed in books titled in the weirdest of ways, the uncomfortable chair he couldn't stand up from for an hour almost, the blandness of the walls he found himself pointedly staring at because he couldn't even hold eye contact for longer than two seconds.
Almost unconsciously, his gaze falls back down to his barely consumed meal, he plays with the chopsticks between his fingers, before lifting his head again. He starts eating just to buy himself an excuse to not elaborate further. "Really."
"That's good, Naruto. That's really good." Sakura's voice comes soft, hopeful, a genuine gleam of relief sinks into her features.
Naruto never liked lying, in any of its forms. But what he has come to loathe is seeing the disappointment reflected in the eyes of the people he cares about the most.
So, he forces out of himself the lie in the shape of a smile. "Yeah..."
Because what else can he do, when he sees her sheer relief from the news alone? She needs it, she needs to be happy and focus on her own life. What she certainly doesn't need is getting weighed down by his issues. This is for the better, he tells himself. He never wants to worry her...he never wanted to worry anyone...
"Wait, let's get down to brass tacks, shall we? You and therapy belong in the same sentence now?"
Aaaand Naruto ends up actually choking now.
The mouthful of rice goes down the wrong pipe, drawing a loud, panicky cough out of him, he beats on his chest to try to get a breath in. Sakura is by his side almost immediately, and he would appreciate the help, really he would, if only her 'pats' weren't hits to his back. And Sai, of course, doesn't lift a finger. But simply watches like he's studying what is it that's happening in front of him to apply it later in life, in most probably the wrong kind of way, if someone were to choke right in front of him.
Naruto would have half a mind to complain about it, but he doesn't have time to think much, or at all, when the voice floats over his clearing senses once again.
"An unexpected development, wouldn't you say."
He freezes up.
Because that's not a new voice, and it's not just a random one either. And it's definitely not the voice of a stranger. Ever so slowly, Naruto cranes his neck enough to see behind him, dread beating dull into his fingertips.
The sight alone is a blow to the stomach, lips parting of their own volition as if in a pained gasp.
'Sasuke.'
There he is.
Leaning against a tree bark with crossed arms, one foot down, the other planted on the trunk. Looking the epitome of nonchalance while Naruto feels like his world just twisted downside up.
"C'mon, you can go right ahead and ask them if it will put you at ease." Sasuke nods towards Sakura and Sai, a self-assured smirk stretching the corners of his lips. "Ask if they can see me."
Naruto manages to unfreeze for a moment, which is strange considering his mind and body are at once prickling with the icy shards of shock. He chances a look at Sakura, however, if not for the sudden concern writren into her eyes, intended for him, she appears normal. Unfazed. The same goes for Sai, too.
Naruto might be possibly going out of his head.
Why isn't Sakura freaking out as she ought to? Why isn't Sai on the brink of a defensive attack? Why are they not so much as looking over at him?
"I..." Naruto's heart is shifting gears into overdrive, pumping so hard he fears it will jump right out, leave a gaping hole behind the cage of his skin. He tries to grasp at Sakura's forearm, tries to get her attention in the ways he can think of, because for any number of reasons even his words seem to have frozen under his throat and he can't seem to swallow past their stuttering confinment. "–h–he...h–how...c–c–can y–you...I–"
"What's wrong, Naruto? Talk to me." Sakura tries, laced in equal amounts of kindness and alarm, rubs gentle circles over his back, not taking her eyes off of him.
Which is seriously worrying him because Sasuke Uchiha is standing just a few feet away and instead she's acting like—
That's when his words hit with their full weight.
...like she can't even see him.
Naruto's eyes snap back to Sasuke's figure in astonishment. The racing of his heart increases impossibly, yet it feels like a puzzle piece starting to click into place.
"That enough of an answer for you?" Sasuke gives voice to the gears switching over Naruto's speculations, but doesn't stop there, only adding more to his plate by letting him fill in the glaring gaps. "Which brings forth..."
...Naruto seems to be the only one who currently can.
To say Naruto is in shock would be the most pointlessly pointed out understatement of the year. At the moment, his thoughts sum all up into a singular, explicative question:
'What the actual fuck is going on?'
A sudden breeze rushes past them and his attention flickers elsewhere without him being aware, distracted by the newcomer. It's one of the shinobi dropping in to relieve them of their shift in today's mission.
It takes a few seconds for the exchange to sink in, and for Naruto to get to his feet, but almost immediately he berates himself for getting caught up in the sudden interruption, and quickly spins back around.
Sasuke is nowhere to be seen.
Sakura and Sai stare after their teammate once they part ways. Naruto declines the offer of making later plans, waves off their concern—well, mostly Sakura's, Sai doesn't seem perturbed at all, or maybe that's just his default facial expression?—saying he feels a little under the weather and intends to go home and sleep it off.
"Today he...how do they say it?" Sai mumbles to himself as he takes out a book and flicks over a few pages, finally settling on one, and reading out loud. "'He looks like he has just seen a ghost.'"
Sakura sighs quietly in apprehension.
Naruto might be going crazy.
...It can't be anything but this, right? Two days in a row...it's just not happening...how even—
Similar thoughts wrap around his head like gauze patch as he makes his way back to his apartment, feeling more than just a little paranoid.
His eyes linger over the streets he crosses, the people he passes, torn between thinking it's all the byproduct of a nightmare he can't wake out of, or that he'll see Sasuke materialize behind the corner any minute now. But the second option sounds far less appealing, so he speeds up his pace.
In fact, once he is behind the safety of his door, everything is back to normal.
That is, until he turns around.
"Yo." Sasuke greets. Once again sat on his bed, once again looking so at ease. "Took you long enough to trek your way back."
Naruto almost loses his balance standing upright from the sheer shock of the sight. "...Y–You!"
"Me?" Sasuke asks back, half confused half rhetoric.
"–Wha... n–no..." He shakes his head, adamant, plastering himself to the door and hoping to fuse with it somehow, wishing the ground would just open up beneath him and swallow him whole already. "How...no. No, no, no, no, no. This is not happening."
"Talking to yourself over there?" Sasuke tilts his head in his direction, his tone suggesting Naruto is being somewhat mocked. "I hear it's one way to sort through the thoughts. Don't know anything about it actually being effective, though."
Naruto decides to ignore whatever it is that's spewing out of his mouth, opting to continue shaking his head in disbelief. In a brief moment of panic, he even shuts his eyes close, as if that will make this whole ordeal disappear.
When he opens them again...he still finds Sasuke exactly where he was last. Of course.
Sasuke lifts a brow in the slightest hint of teasing, as if conveying, and well, how'd that work out for ya?
...and well, to be frank his poorly devised plan of having people disappear by simply closing his eyes never seems to quite work out, perhaps he should start thinking of more effective ways.
Even so, in his mind he's still trying to rationalize the situation and draw up a possible explanation for...well, this.
"Take a guess." Sasuke offers, as if possessing mind-reading abilities all of a sudden, but, well, it's not hard to guess what Naruto is thinking from the surprise painting his face.
"Did Orochimaru send you here to take the Kyuubi from me?"
This is it. This is the rational explanation he comes up with.
Of all things to do in this scenario, Sasuke fucking snorts. "Take another guess."
"Did you come here to get rid of me and have the Kyuubi all to yourself?" But Naruto can't seem to stop drawing his own rational conclusions.
"You're kind of reaching a little, don't you think?" Sasuke tilts his head back to stare up at the ceiling, as if he's actually pondering over the crazy freefalling out of Naruto's mouth, and hums in contemplation. "Now, I'm no expert in the field, but you've got to admit that does sound like a poorly executed movie. It'd definitely end badly for one of us." His face scrunches up with the lightest frown. "Actually, maybe both."
Completely glossing over Sasuke, Naruto gasps. "...Oh God. Are you here to get rid of me and take my place as the new me instead?" He's practically gaping in horror at the outline.
And, okay, maybe he should've eaten something more substantial because he definitely feels lightheaded now, definitely not conscious enough to be aware of what keeps flying out of his mouth. And, okay, he's also definitely reaching by this point. But his brain is being pulled taut, turned upside down, twisted inside out, with currently a thousand synopsis—one more hysterical than the other—and can he really be blamed for it? Naruto doesn't think so.
Sasuke brings his palms together in a flat clap above the jut of his knees, says to him as if he's talking to a child. "Okay, here's a wild guess, maybe you should just stop guessing now?"
...yeah, maybe he should.
"But, you know what?" Sasuke keeps up with that same easy-going tone, as if it's no big deal at all and whatever Naruto is saying is actually too ridiculous to be granted an ounce of seriousness. "This one sounds like a comedy, there's definitely ground for jokes in such a scenario, don't you think?"
"Well, I'm glad you've kept your sense of humor intact at least." Naruto mutters, flat. Then metaphorically stops in his tracks, brows furrowing as he mulls it over in his head. "...actually, I don't think I've ever heard you crack a joke before. Do you even have a sense of humor?"
Sasuke rolls his eyes in a manner that almost draws him offended. "Of course I do, what am I, made of stone? You mostly just never got it."
Naruto deadpans. "Doubt that."
"You want an example? If you aren't the one using it, you have no idea what sarcasm even is."
Naruto scowls. "That's not true."
Sasuke huffs. "It actually is."
He's ready to rebuke—but stops short, because in the moment he starts taking notice of things he hadn't before.
For instance, the shortage of weapons on him, at least nothing visible. The absence of his imposing katana is unmissable.
He's wearing a different attire too from the outfit Naruto had last seen him in (when was that even? a year ago, two?), now clothed in plainclothes, navy pants, a short sleeve and unbuttoned cyan plaid with the collar brushing up the base of his neck, and a darker sleeveless shirt underneath. His hair too, a little shorter than Naruto can remember, downy, and pushed a bit to the sides, except for the fringe falling styled and messy over his eyes, replacing the bangs parted in the middle. Naruto thinks if they were to see Sasuke now, half the people in the village would be swooning all over him. Coupled with that playful smirk that seems to be glued to his every facial expression, everything about Sasuke's appearance screams casual.
It's strange, but it's almost as if Naruto being given the shock of his life by finding his ex-teammate in his room for two days in a row is nothing short of a casualty, a pure coincidence.
These, however, seem futile details compared to what comes to attention next, and how it should have probably been the initial focal point.
His chakra...or lack thereof.
No matter how much he's struggling to, Naruto can't sense any type of chakra coming from Sasuke, as if inexistent.
"How...your...chakra?" He gapes like an idiot, but can't help it, he feels like one. And he feels stumped, and uneasy, and small for some reason, like he can't handle what life's throwing at him.
"Yeah, don't have that." Sasuke says, in the most serene tone one could possess.
"What the hell?" Naruto really doesn't have any other words. Except, he does. He has a clutter of words clogging up his vocal cords that he wants to let out, but finds himself unable to. "...That's impossible..."
"Is it?" Sasuke asks back, as if for some reason this is the customary standard.
"Are you suppressing it?" Naruto narrows his eyes in wariness, even if the flicker of curiosity bursts into a flame. He just wants to find out what the hell is actually going on.
"No." Sasuke shrugs, looking natural, composed, sincere of all things.
Naruto can't help a sudden scoff. "You're lying."
But Sasuke raises a pensive brow, staring at him as if perplexed by his continuous denial. "And why would I?"
Oh, Naruto has a hundred and one reasons he could think of right off the bat.
He makes a sound that's something of a cross between an annoyed sigh and an incredulous huff. "What are you talking about? You'd be dead without your chakra."
Sasuke doesn't say anything, simply staring at him as if trying to prove a point, and all that does is feed his uneasiness. His body wants to draw in on itself, protect his skin from the storm of needles waiting for a freefall in the distance. The building tension has cold sweat gathering at his nape in anticipation of something—anything that might happen next.
"Sasuke...?" He doesn't know what he's expecting, exactly, but he needs to hear something. Needs an answer. Needs to know he isn't just going crazy.
"You don't believe me?" Sasuke's question comes off quieter, this time, more serious, as if he's worried Naruto might really doubt him.
Naruto almost scowls at the thought, because why should he believe him? Actually, why should he believe anything this guy is saying? For all he knows this could be anyone, and he could be here for any reason at all, most of them involving Naruto as a possible target. He has to defend himself, he has to do something, to fight him...but—his body just won't move.
He's stuck in place, as if his limbs ceased taking signals from his overcharged brain, as if his body chose to give up after Sasuke's sudden appearance. But there is a part of him, a small, almost insignificant part inside of him that doesn't think his reaction is completely shock-driven. There is something in Sasuke's eyes he can't quite decipher, all he knows is that it reminds him of the Sasuke he knew—and Naruto thinks, for a moment, that no one would ever be able to fake that. It feels too real to be simple play-pretend.
"You're not him..." He whispers, but it's uncertain, like he's trying to convince himself more than anything.
Sasuke keeps looking at him with those eyes. "If I'm not him, then who am I?"
Naruto doesn't know.
"...Who are you?" He asks back, the lightest waver a trickle in his voice. He wants to grip the situation at hand, take back the gears of his thoughts at least, but they're all scattered, all over his feet, a little too overwhelming, his brain's working in overtime to try to keep him to cope. He doesn't even leave him the time to answer, because it seems his mouth is working overtime, too, trying for some semblance off order, and completely missing the mark. "You...you're not really here." Naruto concludes, because he knows this can't be real...can it? No, this can't be Sasuke. He can't. Even inside his own head he sounds desperate to believe so.
"Are you–" Naruto falters for a second, hardly being able to think at all, because, uh. "...what are you?"
"What? Nobody taught you it's rude to objectify people?" There it is again, that playfulness to his tone, and Naruto still has to wrap his mind around the fact that apparently someone with Sasuke's face is capable of making jokes and giving smirks that look friendlier rather than menacing. But Sasuke is also giving him this doubtful look, like he is as bewildered by the question as Naruto feels by his appearance.
His mind's whirring comes to a halt and the otherworldly scenarios just spill right over his head, which is more than clear by the question he asks next.
"...are you a ghost?" He blurts out in the heat of the moment.
And, alright, it is ridiculous, he knows it is, but everything going on about these four walls is kind of ridiculous anyway, so why not reach for the craziest possibility yet?
Sasuke's eyebrows draw to the center of his forehead in a show of confusion, but his expression does hint at amusement too, when he lets out a quiet chuckle. "A ghost? You know what, I think you might really be onto something here. Add in a sprinkle of some other spiritual being and an unbreakable bond, too. And there you have a plot for what might end up being a mildly popular sci-fi movie." He leans forward and puts his chin on his hand, elbow resting just above his knee. He looks comfortable, as if what's currently taking place is normal, an everyday conversation happening between friends. "Ever thought of a change in career? I'll say, you could try for movie director."
"...Are you–" Naruto stops with a frown. "Making fun of me right now?"
"Am I now?" Sasuke shows once again that edgeless type of smirk, that doesn't belong to him.
"Wait–" Naruto shakes his head, as if to rid it of all the rushing queries, but that is impossible, given that there are a million and more warring for attention.
However, there is one that remains more prominent over the rest:
"Why are you here?"
The corner of his mouth lifts up in what turns out to be a sympathetic smile. Naruto doesn't really understand why Sasuke makes that kind of expression, until he's answering:
"I was hoping you'd tell me that."
