Story: Melancholia Chapter 12
A/N: I FELT LIKE SUCH AN IDIOT WHEN I REALIZED I REFERRED TO FUCKING SABURO AS KOTETSU SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION IN THE LAST CHAPTER YALL I'M SUCH A DUMBASS ;W;
REPLIES TO REVIEWS:
Rey Bee chapter 11 . Sep 6
I love seeing that Sasuke cares. For the two of them. For Naruto he cares so much that he lets out words that make him look less tough and 'cool' in his opinion, and for Sakura he cares enough to allow himself an actual physical contact. That's how I love to portray him. Thanks for the chapter!
A: No problem! I'm glad you enjoyed it! And yes! I have really started to enjoy writing Sasuke as a normal twelve year old CHILD who has trauma to work through. I think so many people forget that for him, caring about his friends makes him feel vulnerable, but when it comes down to it, he can be a huge sweetheart and he's showed it on multiple occasions! I wish more people explored that side of him instead of automatically focusing on his negative traits that are caused by seeing his entire family massacred in front of him.
The Keeper of Worlds chapter 11 . Sep 5
My sweet feels! I am so eager to see this update even more! The deeper bonds they are forming is wonderful to watch and the pain each is feeling is resonating with each moment. Excellent job. Though given Sakura's harder and arising self-image and beauty worries, I wonder if it'll clash with Naruto's worth image and she might throw herself into the compliments? Both giving them and taking them. Could cause things early.
A: Yes I definitely plan to go much more in depth about all of their issues in time, and I've been having a lot of fun exploring various issues some kids even in the real world face. Sakura and Naruto will definitely find mutual understanding in each other. Naruto even said in chapter 3 that part of the reason he liked Sakura was her desire to be acknowledged, something Naruto himself heavily related to. I think both of them desire validation(I mean technically everybody does) so it'll be part of what brings them together, especially thanks to the stuff related to Sakura's mom in this and the villagers for Naruto's situation and such. Both of them struggle with self-worth issues so I plan to explore that in further detail later, but also for Team 7 in general.
FoxNeko9 chapter 11 . Sep 4
Aww poor Naruto
A: Ikr...? He deserves a lot of hugs after everything I'm putting him through and he will get them! ;w;
ONTO THE STORY
...
"Hold still, you idiot! I'm trying to help here, but you're making this impossible!"
"Hey, it's not my fault it hurts, ya know!"
Sasuke was trying his best to clean Naruto's injuries and the dried blood, but with the blonde squirming in such a manner every time the alcohol-dampened paper towel touched his skin, he started to realize that this wasn't going to be very easy.
"I know, but you need to calm down and stop pulling away...! I'm almost done. There." Sasuke said before grabbing the bandage wrap Saburo had given them before leaving the bathroom and going off to clean up the blood in the room they were staying in.
A long silence settled between them, and Sasuke began to dress his wounds.
"You said it was a nightmare that set this off…" Sasuke finally spoke back up. "What was it about…?"
"It…" Naruto hesitated at hearing that. He should have expected as much, but it wasn't like he didn't understood. After everything that had just happened, Sasuke deserved to know the truth. "Everybody was glaring at me… All of the villagers, even you guys… Then it just got worse and I couldn't stop them anymore… I know it was some stupid figment of my imagination, but it felt so real..."
Sasuke was silent for a moment, but quickly decided he needed to say something, so after he finished bandaging Naruto's arm, he hesitantly reached out, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder, a tad worried when he seemed to flinch. Yet Naruto didn't stop him in the end. "Nobody's judging you... At least not anybody that matters, anyway… Just ignore them..."
"I've tried to... I always tell myself that it doesn't matter, but it's so hard sometimes, ya know…? I'm not even allowed to defend myself because if I fight back against them, I'll only prove them right."
"Hold on… What are you implying? Naruto… Has some of the villagers... hurt you before?" Sasuke asked, unable to deny the anger welling up in him. It was something Naruto had implied a few days ago as well, but he hadn't went in depth, and Sasuke had chose not to press the matter. Now, he began to question it yet again.
"No." Naruto was quick to avoid the subject, however, just like he had before. "It doesn't matter. Just forget it I said anything, okay?"
He forced himself to smile, but Sasuke could see the guilty look in his eyes. He was obviously holding things back, but Sasuke didn't have the heart to press him to talk about something he wasn't comfortable with talking about. After all, he himself had a lot of things he didn't want to talk about.
Yet despite that, he couldn't help but wonder if it was really a good idea to just drop it.
…
"It's so quiet out here…" Sakura mused as she, Kakashi, and Izumi were walking through the town.
"A little too quiet..." Kakashi added, as he looked around. "Even for night, there should at least be some activity…"
"You're right…" Izumi agreed. "Something's definitely off here. I know a few of the shops are supposed to be open all night, yet they all have their lights off…"
"It's almost like the town has been deserted..." Sakura observed. "Oh!"
"Hm?" Kakashi inquired, looking over at her.
Sakura walked over towards a lamp post, suddenly noticing what looked to be a child, a boy. He was crying.
"Hey, there, little guy... Can I ask you what your name is?" Sakura kneeled down in front of the boy. He couldn't even be eight years old. Who in their right mind would leave such a young kid outside past midnight?!
"It's Gochi…" Came the small voice amidst tears, as Kakashi and Izumi came over.
"Can you tell me where your parents are, Gochi...?" Sakura asked him in a soft voice.
"Mommy's gone… Nobody knows where she is." Katsuro choked out.
"What about your dad…?" Sakura questioned.
"He passed away two years ago…" Katsuro said, rubbing his eyes.
"Is there anybody you can stay with…?"
"No, Mommy's my only family."
At that answer, Sakura looked up at Izumi and Kakashi. "What should we do, Kakashi-sensei? We can't just leave him here."
"You do make a point…" Kakashi pondered it.
"Well, I guess he can stay with us until we can find his mother..." Izumi offered.
"His mother was probably taken by some of Juro's men. Sadly, the chances are she's gone for good." Everybody looked over, noticing a figure of what appeared to be an older boy maybe about 14 or 15 years old standing there. He had short black hair, green eyes and was wearing a beige tunic with brown pants.
"Wait, who's Juro?" Izumi asked.
"You're telling me you don't know?" the older boy rose. "He's the guy running this place now. Everybody's terrified of him."
"I haven't been here in over a year, so I'm not exactly up to date with everything that's been going on as of late." Izumi said. "Care to catch us up?"
The older boy smirked. "Sure, but it's gonna cost you."
"How much are we talking?" Izumi looked at him suspiciously.
"Not a lot, but I do have my own expenses to pay for. Prices aren't really cheap nowadays. By the way, you can call me Katsuo."
"I'm Izumi. And I'm sure you can assume that the ones behind me are ninja of Konohagakure. They escorted us here."
"I'm Sakura…" Sakura said, catching the attention of the Katsuo.
"Kakashi." Kakashi rose a hand.
"Kakashi? Kakashi Hatake?" Katsuo rose an eyebrow. "As in the Legendary Copy Ninja Kakashi?"
"That's me." Kakashi said casually.
Katsuo was silent for a long moment, before he grinned. "Oh, wow, this is my lucky day! Or night, whichever… You have no clue how long I've wanted to meet you. I've read so many stories about you copying jutsu and taking down your enemies like it was nothing! I have admired you for so long…!"
"Oh boy." Kakashi internally sighed. "I would say I'm honored, but can you please not jump in my face?"
"Oh, sorry, I just get so worked up sometimes." Katsuro scratched his head, before glancing over at Sakura, moving closer to get a better look at her. "Oh, that reminds me... Hey, girl, you said your name was Sakura, right?"
"Um, yeah, that's right." Sakura stammered, nervously.
"Well, Sakura, perhaps I could give you a proper introduction later on, if you're up for it." Katsuro grabbed her hand, smirking with a slight devious edge to it. "What do you say...?"
Judging by the look on her face, Sakura was obviously confused, and didn't pick up on the fact that he was asking to sleep with her. Kakashi immediately interfered, feeling a protective instinct like never before. How dare somebody even suggest laying a hand on his student in such a manner?
"If you don't mind me saying, Katsuo… I think we have more pressing matters to attend to right now." Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder, a subtle and rather daring way of saying, "Don't mess with my student".
"Ah, right. Of course. My sincerest apologies, Kakashi-san." Katsuo smirked, backing up.
Something about this boy gave Kakashi really made him feel uncomfortable, even aside from the fact that he'd just asked to bed with Sakura. All in all, there was definitely something… off about him.
"Kakashi-sense, I think we should probably head back to Izumi-san's place. That way Gochi will be able to get some sleep and we can talk about what to do..."
"That does seem to be the best course of action…" Kakashi nodded in agreement, before looking at Katsuo.
"You wouldn't mind that, would you?" Sakura asked Katsuo politely, who smiled in return:
"No, not at all." Katsuo said, before eying Kakashi.
With that in mind, Kakashi decided that at the very least, he was going to no doubt have to keep a close eye on him.
…
"Hey, Saburo, we're back! I hope you guys didn't break anything while I was out. I..." Izumi started to call out when he saw Saburo, Naruto and Sasuke at the table upon entering the house, followed by Sakura, Kakashi, Katsuo, and Gochi. He noticed the guilty expression on Naruto's face, as well as the serious ones on Sasuke's and Saburo's. "What's going on?"
"We…" Sasuke started to say but upon noticing the other two in the house, he decided now wasn't the time, when he noticed the Katsuo and Gochi. "It's nothing important. Or at least it can wait… Who are they?"
Kakashi, as well as Sakura, immediately noticed the remnants of blood on their clothes, but judging by the looks of it, Sasuke must have taken care of the situation and patched Naruto back up. For the time being, that was all the only reason he needed to not bring it up right now. It wasn't like he really had the time to discuss such a matter at the moment anyway.
Izumi shrugged after seeming to mull it over and hesitate for a second. He then looked pointed at Gochi, who was shyly hiding behind Sakura(Apparently, he'd really taken to her.).
"This is Gochi and Katsuo. Gochi here is gonna be staying with us tonight because we don't know where his mother is. Y'all don't mind, do you?" He asked.
Saburo was the first to respond shaking his head as he gave the boy a soft smile. Sakura gently brushed Gochi atop his head when his clutch on her dress tightened and he pulled back further. In response, Saburo looked a little guilty, as if he'd scared the boy.
Naruto looked over at the boy and the way he held close to Sakura, feeling something well up in his chest. Sasuke seemed to be observing them as well.
"Fine by me." Naruto shrugged.
"That's great!" Katsuo smiled, before suddenly wrapping his arm over Sakura's shoulder, catching the attention of pretty much everybody in the room, especially Naruto. Sakura herself was also surprised by the contact, but didn't pull away, telling herself it was no more than a friendly gesture despite her discomfort. "It's wonderful to know that Gochi will have a place to stay for the night! It certainly beats being on the streets. Don't you agree, Sakura?"
No doubt, Kakashi was giving him an intense stare down. He wasn't the type who liked making a scene if he could help it, but if Katsuro tried anything else, he would have no choice to get involved.
"...Y-Yeah," Sakura hesitated for a moment, but quickly regained her composure. She gazed down at Gochi, rubbing his head and smiling when the boy looked up at her with a confused expression. "I felt really bad for him when I saw him crying… I can't imagine how scared he must be right now, not knowing where his mom is..."
"Katsuo-san...," Izumi suddenly spoke up, before any others could speak up. "Can you tell us more about this Juro person?"
"Yeah, you said he's the guy who runs this town, right?" Sakura inquired.
"I did… He's actually famous here, or at least his name is…" Katsuo mused over it for a second. "Juro rarely ever actually shows his face here, though, so it's hard to say for sure, but rumor has it that he's been selling girls and women for profit, hence the reasons for the disappearances."
"As in...human trafficking...?" Sasuke asked.
"Hold on… You don't mean..." Naruto thought it over, not once taking his eyes off Katsuo.
"Essentially, yes. It's exactly what you're thinking, blondie. Though it's probably best you don't get involved. Wouldn't want your girl to get caught up in it, now would you...?" Katsuo gave Naruto a smirk, briefly brushing his hand through Sakura's hair, sending a cold chill up her spine.
It was always easy to say that you would fight back against somebody touching you, but when it actually happened, people often froze up, not even knowing how to respond.
Whether he actually had any intentions to hurt her, it was hard to tell. But Katsuo was clearly trying to provoke them, especially Naruto, most likely because of how volatile he appeared to be.
Noticing that Kakashi, the adult in the house, was obviously about to get involved, Katsuo let go and moved away. But that didn't stop Sasuke from sending him a deadly glare or Naruto from snapping off some of the wood on the edge of the table in response to his provocation, silencing the room. However, given that Katsuo was no longer standing next to Sakura, however, they both forced themselves to calm down.
"...A few days ago, my girlfriend actually went missing as well." Katsuo suddenly confessed. "She told me she was going to take up a job offering somewhere on the other side of town, but she never came back. I can only assume it has some correlation with the other disappearances."
"Don't you want to save her?" Sakura asked.
"I'm not exactly the fighter type, doll, so no." Katsuo said casually, shrugging. "Even if I never see her again, I'd much rather live out the rest of my life in peace, not get dragged into some drug dealer's human trafficking game. Juro's a big guy, and he's got a lot of goonies doing his dirty work. I already know I'd lose. I only told you guys cuz, again, I need the money for info-broking. I'm sure you understand."
"The hell I do!" Naruto suddenly snapped, standing up and slamming his fist on the table, startling everybody in the room. "How can you just stand there and act like your own girlfriend's life doesn't matter?! Aren't you supposed to love her? To risk anything to make sure she's safe no matter the cost?!"
At this point, he was fuming, and nobody could stop him. "And what about Gochi's mom?! There's no telling what those bastards could be doing to them right now... Somebody could be out there raping them as we speak for all we know, or even killing them and you're saying you don't even care…?!"
"Why should I? It's not like it's my problem." Katsuo growled, glaring at him.
"How can you even-?" Sakura started to express her anger, but before she could finish her sentence, something snapped in Naruto and he punched him, sending him falling a few feet backwards.
"Naruto...! What are you doing?!" Sakura scolded him, but was also greatly concerned as she tried to hold him back from attacking Katsuo again and doing even more damage than what he had. She hadn't liked the things the older boy had said either, but she'd rarely ever seen Naruto this angry.
Kakashi quickly moved into restrain him as well. Everybody else observed the scene from the sides, and, at Kakashi's request Saburo quickly pulled Gochi out of the room in case things got anymore out of hand than they already were.
"...Naruto, I know you're upset right now, but you can't just go and pick fights with every person that pisses you off." Kakashi said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, just try to calm down… We'll figure this out together, alright…?" Sakura tried to soothe him.
At hearing her voice, Naruto clenched his fists, but finally seemed to calm down a bit. He then spoke back up in a dangerously low voice.
"...What they want is a female, right?" Naruto asked, gaze downcast, before looking up at him.
"...Yeah, that's right. Why do you ask?" Katsuo gave him a suspicious look. But he wasn't smirking anymore, which showed that he at least was beginning to take Naruto more seriously.
"Well, I say let's just give them what they want. I'll bait them with my Oiroke no Jutsu. That'll be sure to lure them in." Naruto said.
"...Huh?" Kakashi rose an eyebrow after a moment, when Naruto's suggestion sunk in. Of all the ways Naruto could come up with to deal with the problem, this was by far the most outlandish.
"Naruto, what are you even saying? This could be dangerous!" Sakura reasoned. "And how do we know we can even trust him after the thing's he's said? He could be leading us into a trap!"
"Well, if it's a trap, then I'll just deal with that when I get there. I'm a full-fledged ninja now, remember? I'm more than qualified to deal with something like this, ya know?" He gave Sakura a small smile.
"Naruto…" Sakura sighed, still worried.
"...It's a stupid plan, but it might actually work." Sasuke observed, speaking up for the first time in a while, catching everybody's attention.
"But Sasuke-kun…" Sakura started to protest, before decidedly giving in. "Alright, fine, but I'm coming with you."
"What? No way! I wouldn't want you to get caught up in this too, Sakura-chan!" Naruto argued back. What if something happened and he couldn't protect her? The idea terrified him.
"Don't even start it! My answer's final!" Sakura insisted in a stern voice. After a second, she reached out and softly brushed his arm, giving him a small smile. "Besides, I don't want you to have to go through this alone..."
She'd seen the way he was acting earlier. For some reason or another, this subject was really touchy for him. She was honestly worried how he might react if he saw or heard something he didn't like. Plus, what Juro was most likely doing was just disgusting. She didn't like it anymore than he did.
"...Sakura-chan, I..."
"Hold it, you two. Before we go through with this, we need to know exactly what we're up against." Kakashi said, patting them both on the head, before looking at Katsuo.
"Katsuo, if there's any other information you can give us, you better tell us now."
"O-of course." Katsuo stammered, still rubbing his cheek where he'd been punched. He was obviously afraid of Naruto. "I do know that his men sometimes transports drugs on the ships that come to this port. It's possible... that they do the same thing with tho girls too."
"Maybe Naruto-san and Sakura-san could set off some fireworks or something from the ship they board to let you guys know their location when they come in contact with Juro…" Izumi suggested. "It probably the best plan we have, seeing as Juro seems to mainly hide in the shadows and doesn't really show his face around here."
"I suppose that would work." Kakashi mused it over.
"Perhaps… I do have a suggestion though and question, too if you don't mind." Katsuo said.
"Hm?" Kakashi looked down at him.
"Well… You guys are obviously Ninja, so is it really a good idea to walk up there as you are? They obviously would know you're on to them." Katsuo pointed out.
"Hey, don't worry." Izumi smirked. "We have some traditional kimonos and cosmetics lying around here. They can use those."
"What about him?" Katsuo pointed to Naruto. "What was the jutsu you were talking about?"
"You'll see. Don't worry about it, alright? I've got everything figured out. " Naruto smirked, before the smile vanished. "Also..., Katsuo... "
"Huh…?" Katsuo raised an eyebrow.
"...If you ever even think of touching Sakura-chan again…" Naruto's finger twitched, a dangerous look in his eye. "I'll kill you myself."
Katsuo had no response, and quickly looked away, leaving everybody in the room silent, especially Sakura, who was stunned by his proclamation.
Moments later, however, Gochi peeked into the room from around the corner.
"Are you guys really going to find mommy...?" The boy said in a choked up voice, tears in his eyes as he changed the subject and focus.
Sakura smiled, walking over to him and kneeled down in front of him.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. Your mom will be back in no time, I promise." She said, rubbing him softly on the head.
"You mean it? You swear?" Gochi looked up at her, hopefully.
"Mh-mn." Sakura nodded.
As Naruto watched her, the same warm feeling he'd always had when around her welled up in his chest and he gave a small smile.
"And hey, in the the mean time, you get to stay with me and Saburo. How does that sound?" Izumi grinned.
"No, I wanna stay with Sakura-nee-chan...Saburo-san is too scary." Gochi muttered, looking away.
"Hey, that wasn't very nice..." Izumi said, feeling bad for his brother, who looked down and began sulking at hearing that. Sakura couldn't help but laugh a bit.
"Gochi… I know Saburo-san may seem scary and everything, but he's actually a really great guy." She insisted.
"Yeah, and he's super kind too." Naruto suddenly spoke up, grinning. He probably wouldn't have said such a thing earlier, but Saburo had got them towels earlier to clean up his blood and had warned Sasuke when he had flown into his panic. "You gotta believe us."
Gochi hesitated for a moment, but smiled. "Alright… But hurry back..."
"Of course. We will." Sakura ruffled his hair.
…
A few hours later at day break, Sakura and Naruto were dressed up and ready to carry out their plan. Naruto's sexy transformation, allbiet fully clothed this time just to keep from being scolded by Sakura, had shocked everybody who'd never seen it before(minus for Gochi who was asleep in the living room), especially Katsuo, but they quickly forced themselves to regain their composure.
Everybody brushed off their fatigue due to not having slept at all, reminding themselves exactly what was at stake; that they could be saving the lives of numerous girls and women by doing this. Meanwhile, Kakashi and Sasuke decided they would separate themselves to keep watch at far enough of a distance that they wouldn't be noticed, but would still see the signal.
Kakashi hated putting Naruto and Sakura up to this; leaving them alone with Katsuo or in this situation in general. But in the end, he knew there was no way around it, if they wanted it to work, and Katsuo actually seemed scared of Naruto, rattled by his threat, so in all honesty, he heavily doubted he would try anything again funny. Besides, they were ninja, maybe they could handle themselves after all. More than anything, he wanted to believe in his students.
Despite that, he also knew beneath it all, they were still only kids. This entire scenario was something else entirely. And the way Naruto had acted earlier… It was quite frankly rather alarming.
But again... he knew now wasn't the time to discuss such matters.
Before they left the house, Saburo held up a note to Naruto that said two words which was more than enough to show just how much he'd taken to Naruto and the others:
"I'm worried."
"Hey, don't worry about it." Naruto smiled. "We'll be absolutely fine. I swear we'll be back in no time, like Sakura-chan said, alright?"
"Still, take care of yourself..."
Saburo clearly meant that last line in more than one ways.
"Of course." Naruto nodded. "By the way, Saburo…"
Saburo looked up at him, inquiring what he wanted to say.
"Thanks for earlier… You too, Sasuke… I mean it... If it hadn't been for you two, I don't know how far I might've went… Or if I would have even stopped..." Naruto looked down, holding up his arm. In his sexy jutsu form, nobody was able to see the injuries, but they were still there.
Sasuke watched him for a second, knowing what he was thinking about.
"Don't mention it… Just... be careful, alright…?" Sasuke said in a low voice, with obvious uncertainty. It was still rare and odd to hear him show such concern, and one could definitely claim it sounded out of character for him, but it made Naruto smile none the less.
Naruto nodded, before smirking. "Right. And don't worry, Saburo… Izumi, we will save this town. You may have lost your home before due to bastards like Juro, but I'm not gonna let that happen again. I'll get things back to exactly what they were before, and I won't allow anymore women to be sold as slaves… I swear it."
Izumi and Saburo were stunned for a second, before both of them looked at each other with a more confident expression than they'd had in years.
Izumi grabbed his brother's hand, softly squeezing it in a reassuring manner, but almost seemed to be doing it for himself as well.
"We're trusting you."
…
"Just don't get yourself into any trouble, you loser…"
Sasuke expressed concern yet again, right as they were about to part ways, but this time he added in an insult to make himself seem more himself.
Naruto pointed at Sakura who was a few feet away, talking to Kakashi about something. "Well, I can't really make any promises considering the situation and all, but, hey, I have Sakura-chan with me, don't I? I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Naruto… Make sure you look after her…" Sasuke warned him.
Naruto then gave a serious expression, before leaving.
"I will. I promise."
…
A/N: I had considered just having Team 7 leave, but I felt this worked much better with the flow of the story and some of the ideas I had in mind. I hope y'all enjoyed this. ;w;
