A/N: A big shoutout to the person who can guess where Icky and the new kid's powers come from. And for those of you who know me, and know my work, you know that despite this chapter, if I say to trust me, that trust is well-placed. But I don't write fluff. This is angst. And this might be a hard chapter for you to read. All I'm going to say is the pairing's on the fic. NaruSasu.
Chapter 5
The day after Sachi's arrival, Sasuke sat in front of her, an ankle on one knee, and a look of boredom on his face. Ikioi was upstairs with clones of him and Naruto. Naruto, in Sage Mode, stood behind Sasuke's chair.
Sasuke began questioning her. "Start with why the council would tell you anything about their plans before you actually launch into their plans."
Sachi blinked. "Why? Does it matter why they told me? The fact is they did, and-"
"I'm sorry, is there a problem here? Because I distinctly remember telling you that I'd be asking the questions. You agreed to answer them. I don't like repeating myself. Why. Did they. Tell you."
Her hands opened and closed on her knees. "I'm really not sure what you mean."
"Is that right. I feel like the question is straightforward. I feel like whenever you evade it's because you're lying. Or holding back something you know will piss me off. And if that continues, I'm pretty sure I'll feel like killing you. In fact, I'm already there. The only thing keeping you alive is what you might say. I might decide I don't care. See, I don't need your information. It's just handy to have. Now." He dropped his chin into one hand. "Shall we try this again?"
Sachi burst into tears.
"That'll make me kill you faster. Honestly, maybe I should just get it out of the way, this is ridiculous. " The foot on his knee dropped to the floor.
She tried to stop. "I would never hurt you and I'm not lying! I love you!"
"I couldn't care less. The council. Why'd they confide in you?"
His words hurt her, they could see, but they did the job of silencing her crying. She was in better control of herself now. "They…didn't. I sort of just took the information."
"How?"
She stared at her lap.
"Right. Let's just get the matter of your eyes out of the way, okay? Show me."
"I don't-"
Amaterasu vaporized her chair and would have done her in too if she didn't dive aside at the last second. No vanishing act. She'd been told she'd be banished or killed if she ever did it again. She screamed at Sasuke now, demonstrating knowledge of some very colorful language.
Sasuke merely put out the flames. "Show me."
Sachi shook back her hair to reveal Sharingan. "I hate you!"
"Love, hate, whatever. It was Genjutsu, then. Hmph. You'd think people elected to office would have safeguards against that sort of thing. Their stupidity is nothing short of terrifying. Now tell me about the council's plans."
Sachi, trembling mightily, stood and looked around for a place to sit. There was none. She glared at Sasuke through the tangle of her hair. At Naruto. Naruto was watching her with deceptive calm. She knew the level of his hatred even if he no longer had the power to back it up. And Sasuke. He looked at her as if she was nothing. As if she would never be anything, to him or anybody else. It was a moment before she placed his expression as one of contempt.
Abruptly, she decided she was through playing their game.
"You demand honesty from me," she said. "I'd like to demand some honesty of my own. Why in God's name are you both so hostile towards me? From the moment I showed up you've hated me. No. It's like you hated me before you even knew me. Why? What have I done?"
Neither of them answered her. Sasuke said, "The council's plans. Now."
Sachi tilted her head. The shine in her eyes was no longer due to tears. "You think I fear you. I've let you think that. Helped you think that. But the more I get to know you, the less I feel you deserve the courtesy of my obedience. I came here with the intention of bonding with you. I don't want to be sent away…but the truth is you can't send me anywhere. I thought if I bent for you that you'd soften towards me. Maybe trust me. But I really don't see a reason to continue making myself less just to please you."
This speech was delivered in a low voice that quivered with emotion. During it, Sasuke and Naruto uncoiled from their relaxed positions; Sachi's chakra escalated with her words until they were both sweating with the weight of it. Naruto held Rasengan in each hand.
"We don't trust you because you're associated with Madara and won't tell us how," Sasuke said. "We know you're lying to us."
"You know nothing. My actions should speak for themselves. I haven't hurt you, nor do I intend to."
"What's your interest in Icky?" Naruto asked.
Her eyes slid to him. "A new kinsman. Supposedly powerful. My interest is natural curiosity."
"I don't buy it," Naruto said. "And I'm done with this. I don't trust you and I'm through tolerating you." He launched himself at her.
"Naruto, wait-!" Sasuke blinked at the room. Naruto was gone. Sachi stood as she was, her posture unchanged. Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan spun into place.
"Before you release Amaterasu or Susanoo or whatever you have planned, consider this. I can take your son. I haven't. I can put you outside of this world and leave you there. I haven't. Do-"
Amaterasu enveloped her. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at feeling her disappear, then bellowed between his teeth at hearing Icky scream. He felt his clones disperse a moment later and had the image of Sachi's smile goading him as he exploded up the stairs.
-oOo-
She was holding Ikioi.
Sasuke checked himself. Held on to the Ninjutsu he was about to release. "Give me my son."
"Not yet. I need you to understand that I could kill him and disappear to where you'd never find me. Or I could kill you. Or send you away. Any way you look at it you don't have any real power over me. You know it. You know I'm holding back. You know how much I'm holding back. Or suspect, at any rate. Right?" She looked down at Icky, who was stiff, on the brink of crying, and looking nowhere but at his father. "Ugh, he's so cute!" She pinched his cheek.
Sasuke held his son's stare. During their month of training he and Naruto had reached a conclusion: Icky could not, in fact, use the powers he'd been born with. Not unless emotionally driven to do so. They'd asked him countless times to do lightning, often with Sasuke demonstrating it, or to do the space/time jutsu. He remained incapable of either unless an animal was Summoned. And that was only for lightning. The space/time jutsu had necessitated Naruto throwing Icky off the roof. Sasuke had been wild in his fury, but Naruto countered his attack and declared it good practice in his Kyuubi-less state. Then laughed. Sasuke wanted to kill him. The deduction from that bit of business was that the greater the ability Icky needed to use, the greater his distress needed to be. He was too young, his powers too large, and his control too unsure for Sasuke to risk telling him to defend himself now. His son was scared, but he wasn't sure how scared. His safety came first. Keeping his eyes on Icky's, he said, "What do you want?"
Sachi didn't immediately answer. She sniffed Icky's spiky hair. Rubbed her cheek in it. Squeezed him and kissed his head, which had the baby issuing a soft mewl of misery. He reached for his father. "I want you to give me a chance," Sachi said. She looked up at Sasuke. "One chance to show you I'm not bad. I can be your friend, Sasuke. If you let me."
He really didn't have a choice. There was more to her and her powers. He could feel it. And until he found out what they were, there was only one option open to him. Especially given the fact that Naruto was no longer present. He released his chakra. Blinked his eyes to normal. "Where's Naruto."
"Safe. Probably not happy, but certainly in no danger."
"How do I know that?"
She shrugged. "I guess you don't. But why would I lie? It's not like you can take me."
"Bring him back then."
"Mmm…no. He keeps trying to kill me and I don't like him."
Sasuke took a measured step into the room. Her eyes followed him. "Give. Me. My son."
Sachi held him up.
Sasuke snatched him and moved back. Icky shook in his arms, hung onto his shirt, and buried his face in Sasuke's chest. He cried at long last. Sasuke, for his part, was unable to keep from accessing Mangekyo. He kept it, glaring at her as he stroked Icky's back. He wanted nothing more than to kill Sachi. But her calm in the face of his wrath spoke for itself. "One chance," he bit out. "One."
"Thank-"
"Get out."
She bowed her head and was gone.
In the house she'd chosen for herself, he was waiting. Secreted in the shadows between the small book stand and the wall in the main room. "What," she said.
"What? What, you say. Years of planning that you are throwing away, that's what. Madara was specific."
She went to the window and leaned her elbows on the sill. The ocean was melted. Large icebergs floated on it, pitching and swaying. "I'm aware. But Sasuke is mine."
"That child."
"Also aware."
"You could have taken them both. We could be-"
She turned around. Found his eyes, small and shiny in the shadows. "I don't care about your plan, okay! That was you and my father. I did what I was told, but I have my own plans. Sasuke. He's all I care about."
"…You play a dangerous game."
"Leave me alone."
He left.
When he'd leapt at Sachi, Naruto led with both Rasengan. Not only did Sachi stand her ground, she reached for him, grabbed his wrists, and took his chakra right out of him in less than a second. All of it. Gone in less time than it took for him to blink. She hadn't sucked it, either, or absorbed it. Those actions took time. No, she touched him and his chakra was gone. That wasn't the worst, though. The worst was that in the same motion, she transported him to someplace that was killing him, and killing him quick.
He'd always been able to think on his feet. Always been able to bale his ass out of a jam, but those actions required chakra. He had none.
It was night and it was cold. Colder than the coldest night in the land he'd claimed. And night no longer really existed in his land. They'd switched over to day. So he had to conclude that he was far from Sasuke and Icky. Whatever.
He was terrified.
One: No chakra.
Two: No Kyuubi, ergo no chakra from him.
Three: Cold didn't begin to describe this place. He couldn't breathe. He could feel his eyes, nose, hands, feet…just about everything not located in or on his torso freezing solid. He was dying.
Such was his awareness of his vulnerability that his mind shot into overdrive. Each second stretched to what felt like a minute, and that was his only advantage. He was able to determine that he had about ten seconds before his heart really stopped. Three of those had now passed. He was on his side, unable to move. The shock to his system was fast inhibiting his mind's ability to give his body commands, but he rolled over. Felt ice crunch under him. Saw the peculiar sight of floating ice crystals in the air despite no snowfall. Kept rolling until he was on his other side.
Five seconds.
Lights in the distance. A station of some kind.
Six seconds.
He dared not touch the ground to push himself to his feet, but he used elbows and knees, his uncovered hands tucked into his armpits.
Seven seconds.
His heart was starting to stutter, and his eyes were icing over.
Three hundred yards to that station. He could make it in one leap with Sage Mode, two or three with normal chakra. He had three seconds. Sage mode would take him two. One second to leap.
God, please help me.
He was still. Too cold to even tremble. Sage Mode came. He leapt in the direction of the station, now blind, but he passed out mid-leap.
Akamaru turned in a futile circle, nose to the snow, but was forced to sit and hang his head. He whined.
Kiba scratched the dog's head, squinting at the landscape. "I know, boy. I know." He raised his voice in a shout. "Guys! That's it. We head back."
The other Inuzuka on his team raised their hands or howled in acknowledgement.
-oOo-
Sakura heard his report in her tent, head between her hands. "I picked up his scent a few times. Weird. Laden with Kyuubi. But it's been too long. Scent's long gone, and so is any trail we could have followed. Barely got a whiff here and there as it was."
"Then we keep heading north-"
"North where. If our other friend is north, we'd need to form a circle that spans the entire seventy degree latitude point, which we're right below, and shrink that circle upward toward eighty degrees."
She knew they had nowhere near enough people to do that. "What are you saying, then? That we give up?" She lifted her head to glare at him. "Because that's not happening."
Kiba ran a hand through his hair. "The villages around here aren't even villages. They're tiny settlements scared shitless of us. Which would be fine if they had food. They don't. Not enough to feed us. There's no place for us to get supplies. We're not going to make it another month here."
She looked away from him. Stood up, hugged her elbows. Paced back and forth several times as she thought. Then she barged out of the tent.
The villagers had arrived six weeks ago. She stepped into a sprawling yet orderly encampment that went silent at seeing her. She jumped to the tree stump she used to address them all and raised her voice. "Locating our friend's trail has failed. We're nearly out of supplies, and have no prospects for acquiring more. We're stuck. If there's anyone who has a suggestion, I'm willing to hear it, but we are not going back. The person who suggests it better think twice before doing so." She jumped down and went back to her tent.
-oOo-
Shortly afterward Inoichi, Gai, Kakashi, Shikaku, Shibi, Hiashi, and Tsume entered. "Tell me you have ideas," Sakura begged them. "Or better yet, one of you take over. Please." She was close to tears.
Kiba stood behind her and squeezed her shoulder while Kakashi spoke. "You're the leader," he said. "And that's that. The villagers recognize you as such. We're just your advisors."
"But why?"
"Sakura-chan, you must embrace your youth!" Gai intoned. "You were the one who's stood by Naruto, you were the one who led your friends here. And you're the one holding us together. Your determination and that of your friends has inspired us. We'll follow your lead. End of discussion. No more complaints, hm?"
She nodded. Kiba's hand felt good. She looked to Inoichi. "Ino? Any word?"
He rubbed his chin. "None since her report that they were in, and that future updates might take longer than expected. Konoha has undergone such a radical change that information is all in one place, held by a select few. Those individuals never leave that building, and getting in is nearly impossible. She hasn't given up, though. Nor will she. I know my daughter."
"And I know my son," Shikaku added. "He'll find a way in despite how closely they're watched. We just have to wait."
"But how long can we wait?" Sakura said. "What are we waiting for? To starve? That's the only thing we have to look forward to. Information on our friend's whereabouts isn't forthcoming. If we can't find him, that's it! We're done!"
"No, we're not," Hiashi said. "It just means that without the sense of smell, we'll be relying on conventional means. Which in turn means that it will take us longer to find Sasuke."
Sakura held her breath. "How much longer?"
"We may be looking at years," Kakashi said quietly. "I propose you send me on a mission in the near future. Me and one other sensor, to discover where Sasuke and Naruto put down roots. Meanwhile, the notion of settling here semi-permanently needs to be addressed. Planting, building-"
"No." Sakura shook her head. "If we do that we'll never find him."
"Yes, we will," Kakashi said patiently. He went and knelt in front of her. Took her frozen hands in his. "I'll find him. Just give me time."
"We don't have time!" she shrieked, snatching her hands away. "I can't explain it, but I feel it. We-"
Inoichi's voice was sharp. "A message from Shikamaru via Ino: A meeting between the Kage has taken place. Sunagakure stands by Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, and the child. The other villages side with Konoha. The child must be acquired. Will not be harmed, but must be monitored. Sasuke must be brought in, Naruto's corpse retrieved. Hinata must also stand trial…and be kept under strict observation, in isolation, for the child she carries. That child, too, must be taken and monitored. Should Sasuke resist, he is to be put down. Acquisition of the children is paramount. Konoha is leading the Procurement, as it's being called, and lays claim to the children. As yet, they have no location for Sasuke, but the Procurement is ready and waiting to go the second they do." He opened his eyes. "That's all."
Sakura had a hand over her mouth. "They know about Hinata's baby?"
"And apparently that she and it defeated Tsunade," Hiashi frowned. "Whom did you tell?"
"Besides you guys? No one! Just the friends I originally came with."
"Someone overheard something, then," Tsume said. "Which means two things. We have spies in our camp, and agents of the Procurement in our camp."
"Could be one and the same. We're over three thousand strong, easy to hide," Inoichi said. "I could scan minds, but that will take time."
Sakura was silent a moment. "No. No one overheard anything. Kakashi-sensei's ninken, and Akamaru would have alerted us if anyone were close enough during our meetings to hear." Those hounds were patrolling the perimeter around her tent as she spoke. "It has to be something else. Some other way they're getting information from us."
The men exchanged glances. "Can everyone in your circle of friends be trusted?" Inoichi asked.
"Of course!"
"Because I just scanned the minds present. It's none of us."
There were mutters of disgruntlement to this.
"My friends would never betray…our other friends. Never." Sakura squeezed the hand Kiba still had on her shoulder. It was comfortingly solid. "They wouldn't."
"I'll need to check them myself," Inoichi said. "If they prove clean, I'll go ahead and begin the process of rooting out our spies." He waited for her nod of permission before ducking out of the tent.
Kakashi also made to leave, but paused at the tent flap. "Is it your final decision to remain mobile?"
"Yes. Send our scouts farther south for food if need be, but we have to last another few weeks. Please. A month. If there's no development in a month, I'll consider moving us south and setting up camp for the foreseeable future. I just can't give up yet."
He bowed his head. "I'll tell the others."
The rest of them filed out. Kiba stayed. He went around lighting candles now that night had fallen, then came back and knelt in front of her. He put his forehead on hers. "It's going to be okay," he said. "I promise."
Her tears were silent. "He needs us. I can feel it, Kiba, I swear."
"I know. Tell me what to do."
Over the interminable months they'd been searching for signs of Naruto and Sasuke, Kiba had been her staunchest supporter. Always encouraging her, siding with her decisions, seeing that they were carried out. When the villagers arrived, it was him who stood by her when she wanted to remain in charge. Him who bolstered her faltering courage when the task of managing so many proved overwhelming. And it was him who whispered what she needed to hear when she wept from strain, as she was doing now. His thumb brushed away the tracks on one cheek.
"Kiss me."
He pulled back. "What?"
She stared at him. "What. Is it that big a surprise? You've been more than friendly for a while now, and I'm telling you it's okay. I want it."
He sat back on his heels, frowning. His eyes searched her face. "What is it you want?"
"Whatever you're offering."
"I'm not the kind of guy who'd take you lightly."
She blinked. "I'm not a virgin, if that's what this is about. I'm not looking for a relationship."
"And I'm not looking for a quick fuck." He stood up. "I thought you felt the same."
She watched him storm out of the tent. When she was sure he wasn't coming back she left in search of her other friends. They always took their reports directly from her.
Konohamaru was having better luck than Kiba. The village catching up to them meant The Society had caught up to them, and prior to Granny's ousting there'd been a girl in The Society he'd been sweet on. She'd sought him out the second the village arrived, and he had every reason to believe that tonight would be the night she finally let him fuck her. Finally. He didn't plan on staying a virgin forever and she was too ripe for him to leave alone.
She was at their meeting spot a few miles from camp. Hidden behind a tree that dripped with melting icicles. "Fumiko?"
She giggled. He followed the sound, and found her behind the tree, as he'd thought. She was naked. "Kono-chan." She held out her arms.
He caught her and put his face in the heaven of her breasts. Large, round, delightfully soft marvels…that he'd sampled many times before. He lifted his head. "Look, I respect your rights and all, but if we're never going to go beyond you letting me see you naked, let me know. Plenty of other fish."
"Mmm. Have you forgotten our arrangement?"
"Marriage. Yeah. Haven't forgotten. But I'm sixteen! You're fourteen, for fuck's sake. We'd have to wait ages. You really want to wait that long?"
She affected a pout, her cherry lips complimenting the sable tone of her hair. "I can't give my virginity to anyone but my husband. And as long as we're waiting for the scouts to find Naruto-"
"About that. Looks like we're going to be here awhile. Between you and me, I don't think Sasuke will be found anytime soon. We're probably going to head south in a month and stay there till Kakashi finds him. I can marry you then. We'll forge documents. It'll be our secret. No one has to know. Okay? It's a sure thing. And because it's sure, giving yourself to me now or later makes no difference. I say now, though. Never know when we might die. You want to die a virgin?"
Her pout was gone, replaced with a sharpness Konohamaru missed as he bent to nip one breast. His hand slid between her thighs. His groan of lust told of his inexperience. If he'd ever been with a girl he'd know what her dryness meant. She made her voice light and breathy, as if his clumsy fingers excited her. "Oh…you know I can't think when you do that. Are you sure we're heading south?"
"Uh huh." He was panting against her, slobbering all over her chest. "Sakura said so."
"And then?"
"Stay there till Kakashi finds Sasuke. Maybe years."
"So we won't know where Sasuke is for years?"
He picked his head up, eyes clouded with desire. "Huh?"
"I meant safe. We'll be safe for the next few years at least?"
"Yeah. If nothing happens during the next month. And trust me, nothing will. I miss Boss and want to help his kid and all, but this rescue mission is dead."
"Okay," she said. "You can fuck me. But be caref-"
Konohamaru pushed her to the ground atop her cloak and covered her body with his.
Sachi came back later that day. She knocked on the door. Sasuke, sitting in the main room, considered attacking her through the thing. He opened it instead.
She smiled. "I don't have any food. And I haven't eaten in three days. As a sign of goodwill, I thought maybe we could share a meal?"
As if you didn't threaten to kill me and my son mere hours ago. "There's nothing cooked." He opened the door wider.
She walked right in, hands behind her back. Turned to him once he'd shut the door. "Would you mind if I cooked?"
-oOo-
He led the way to the kitchen. Icky was asleep in the sling, which he carried against his stomach. He put an arm around him and sat as she bustled around the kitchen and pantry.
She talked. He watched her like a hawk, but all she did was locate what she needed and talk. Not about him, surprisingly, or her dreams of him. Fighting. Jutsu. A few times he found himself really listening, so much so that he neglected to watch for poison being slipped into his food. "You've never fought anyone?" he said in disbelief.
"Beyond my sensei? Nah." She dipped a spoon in one of the pots and sipped. Smacked her lips, frowned. Added a pinch of something. "He said Uchiha jutsu were too distinctive. And anyway, I'd only be fighting if our cover was blown…which was never to happen."
"So he taught you Uchiha techniques? Not easy for someone who isn't Uchiha."
"It's more like he fought me his way, and I was to counter with my way? Was really hard at first. Ouch." She shook her hand where she'd accidentally touched the side of the pot. "He kept instructing me with words. Like, 'Form the seals, feel the chakra, execute.' Just like that. Took me years to really build up an arsenal of katon jutsu. So do you want to?" She turned off the fire and brought the pot to the table.
"What?"
"Fight me. For educational purposes." She brought a plate of flat white discs to the table and set it next to the pot. "Sorry, I only know how to make flat breads. Easier and much quicker than conventional bread."
He stared at the bread, noting absently that whatever she'd made smelled divine. "Let me understand this. You sent Naruto to God knows where. Threatened the life of my son, threatened my life, all with powers you swear far outstrip my own…and now you're offering to fight me?"
She tore a flatbread in half, then fourths, and used this to scoop some of the stew she'd made out of her bowl. Pushed this wad into her mouth and chewed. "Well…I was holding back, and I can do a lot, but my main weapon against you is the space/time thing."
He saw that she had deplorable eating habits; her words were muffled by the food in her mouth. "Explain."
"I can't stand calling it the space/time jutsu either, it's so long. I always called it dipping. Dip here, dip there. Anyway." She swallowed, picked up another piece of bread. "Dipping can get me around anything you throw at me. Reflexes suffice for anything unexpected. Mine our fast. For everything else, I think we might be more or less equal." She stuffed her face again, looked at him with cheeks bulging.
Succumbing to the fact that he hadn't eaten well since Hinata's departure, he pulled the bowl of stew she'd served him closer and reached for a piece of bread. Tore it. "You're saying whatever you have is on par with Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?" The food was as delicious as it smelled. He struggled not to groan.
"No. I'm saying dipping can get me around your big fancy techniques, but I'd like to pit myself against whatever else you've got."
"Why do I always feel like you're lying?" He helped himself to more stew. Three more pieces of bread.
"Maybe because you're always suspicious." She was on her second bowl.
"Maybe I have reason to be."
"Maybe you've been so hurt in your life, lost so much, that you can't trust when something good happens. I'm family, Sasuke. Tsunade confirmed it herself. Uchiha were a noble and elite clan in their time. How much more so must we be now when we number so few? Do you even know who you are anymore? Yes, I'm dangerous, but so are ninety-nine percent of the people you associate with, I'm sure. I've had encounters with Madara. So have a lot of other people you've crossed paths with."
"Those people are all dead, though."
"They'd tried to kill you. Or someone close to you. I haven't."
"Really?" He made a show of looking around. "Because Naruto's not here and you did threaten me and my son."
She fidgeted on her seat. "I didn't threaten," she mumbled. "I stated…a possibility. Something that could happen. Just wanted you to think about the reality of the situation, was all."
The pot was empty, and the bread was gone. They were sitting back in their chairs, stuffed. "I don't generally trust people who state those kinds of possibilities. And so long as I know that my son's death or abduction are possibilities, trusting you is out of the question. Get it?"
"Oh." She frowned at the table in thought. "Okay. I give you my word. I will never harm your son in any way. Or you. I'm sorry I said those things. Can we start over?"
It was his turn to frown for a while. A long while. He realized several things about her then, but kept them to himself. "Maybe. Let's see what tomorrow shows."
"What's happening tomorrow?"
"You fight me."
Icky was placed in a clone's arms and guarded by fifty more while Sasuke ran to the top of a cliff. Sachi followed. When she stopped and faced him, her eyes were shining with excitement.
"If I can manage to kill you here, I'll consider it the first stroke of luck to come my way in a year," he said.
That dimmed her smile a bit. "I won't hold back then. You don't either."
"Was never even a question."
But he started off with Sharingan. So did she. He had to give it to her, she was fast. Incredibly fast. And her katon jutsu were some of the most inventive he'd ever seen. Things he knew had to be of her own devising. Not even his brother had shown him some of these. He did go to Mangekyo, and later Eternal Mangekyo, but she was ridiculously strong as well as fast. She dipped expertly, creatively, and had many of his attacks disappearing as well. Susanoo's range was immense, but she was a small target and got around it easily.
That night, when they entered his house for dinner, he gave his report. "Not bad."
She grinned.
-oOo-
The sparring became a daily experience, one he soon craved. Naruto was a good partner, but much weaker now without Kyuubi. Sachi was Uchiha, something he'd never had the privilege of going up against outside of his brother. And his brother was his brother, this girl was an unknown. It gave him intense pleasure to discover what she could and couldn't do, how he fared against surprise attacks, and how her Sharingan compared to his. Slowly but surely, the notion that she was family…no, that she was blood, sank in. Family, he had, in Naruto and their friends. In Ikioi. But this was blood. She was of his blood, and he could feel the connection strengthen as the days stretched to a week. It felt good to fight after the months of helplessness and inactivity. It felt good to vent, to rage, to unleash himself at last, to give voice to everything he'd been through with one attack after another, full strength-
"Sasuke!"
He blinked.
Sachi cowered on the ground, held down by Susanoo. His sword arm was poised to give the killing blow. She screamed his name again and he hastily released the technique. Watched as she cradled an obviously broken arm. Catalogued the many places she was bleeding.
He went into the house.
-oOo-
She limped in awhile later, by which time he had Icky fed, changed, and put down for the night. He also had the first aid kit and a pot of boiling water ready. He pointed to a chair at the kitchen table. "Sit."
He tended the arm first, setting it and wrapping it tightly before splinting it. "I guess this is the end of sparring," she said quietly.
"Guess so."
She looked up at his face. It was intent on the stitches he was putting into the gash on her cheek. "Do you…want to talk about it?"
"No." He continued stitching, moving from place to place on her. He had to pry her forearm from her side. When he did, he saw that there was a serious laceration just beneath her ribs. Part of her intestine was visible. "You should have let me at this one first," he said.
She managed a weak smile. "You wanted to kill me, right?"
"And you wanted to fight me." He had her lie on the table and moved the lantern close to her wound.
"That wasn't you. It was like you were…gone…aiii." She winced until he'd tucked her intestine back in. Bit her lip at feeling him pinch the wound closed. "You've got a lot of rage in you. Was fun, though."
Sasuke concentrated on his work, but thought about her words. He had been gone. And, now that he was thinking about it, he did have a lot of anger. It was something he was used to feeling, he realized. Something constant, that had gotten him through the months of darkness, Kyuubi, the pregnancy. It was a bright, diamond hard mass lodged in his center that he hadn't even realized was there until this moment.
He missed Naruto.
She sat up. "I didn't kill him," she said. "Just sent him far away. He'll find his way back eventually."
Sasuke frowned at her until he realized he'd spoken aloud. "Maybe it's for the best. I think we needed the space."
She only looked at him. He found himself sitting, staring at her knees where they dangled before his face.
"I fucked up with him," he said slowly. "I really fucked things up. I keep thinking that he'll get over it, forgive me, because that's what he's always done. But he won't. He's changed. I don't know this person he is now. Just know he doesn't forgive. Huh." He studied his hands. They had her blood on them. "Guess I've changed too. I must have. The person I was before all this would never have done the things I've done."
"What have you done?"
He thought of Hinata. Closed his eyes in shame. He loved Naruto. Yet even now he could not regret that night. Those few hours he'd been beside her. As much as it galled him, as much as it dishonored him, he was powerless to deny that those hours he'd been inside her had been inevitable. Maybe all the rage and pain up to that day had led him to that moment of putting his arm around her. He'd felt like glass shattering and promises broken when he'd kissed her, but he'd also felt remade. As if the glass had been reformed and his equilibrium steadied, if not restored. The rape had been done to her, but it had taken something from him too. For a little while when he'd been with her, he felt like he'd taken it back.
Shame was not a familiar thing to him. And he realized now that something in him, some part of him, died that night. Maybe it had been dealt the fatal blow at seeing what Naruto had done to her, but it had certainly died the moment he entered her. He hadn't realized it then, but something else had been born in him. Some seed had taken root in the cavity left by the part of him that died, and it was this around which the diamond hardness formed. This was what had him lying to Naruto, sitting here with Sachi while his man was off maybe fighting for his life. He'd been ignoring it for a long time. Too long. All through the aftermath of the rape, Naruto's return, Icky's birth, Hinata, lusting after Hinata, and now this separation, that thing had grown in him. Now it was big enough for him to see and he didn't recognize himself either.
"Sasuke?"
He looked up at her. "It's late. You should go back to your place."
Now that he was looking, he was able to see the changes more clearly. For one, the old him would be out looking for Naruto. Or torturing Sachi for his location. The new him coolly acknowledged that Naruto was no longer his lover, and an incredibly resourceful individual. The old him would have tried to kill Sachi as a threat to his son and his reconnection with Naruto. The new him took a step back and analyzed the situation differently.
Besides. He was starting to not hate having her around.
She wasn't soft and sweet like Hinata, or loud and hard like Naruto. She was some mixture of the two. And she was Uchiha. More and more, he was reminded of his clan. Those few years before the slaughter. His brother. His parents. They exchanged Sharingan stories. She spoke of her little brother. Her own parents. He found himself telling her of Itachi. And then, surprisingly, of Naruto. The conception. The pregnancy. And Kyuubi. That…that hurt him to talk about. But he got through it. Realized afterward that he'd needed to. To her credit she didn't comment on his tears. She was at the stove, cooking. Icky was in a baby seat he found in the nursery, staring at Sachi. He stared at her a lot. His son was quieter these days. Not as many smiles. No smiles, now that he thought about it. And that made him frown.
"Going up against someone who can absorb chakra is tricky," she said as she brought the food to the table. "But there are ways to get around it." She was completely healed now, but they no longer sparred. "For starters? If all my jutsu were blocked and nullified every time I went up against this opponent, and if Taijutsu wouldn't have worked because of self-healing, and I couldn't hide because this opponent would sniff me out…I would have done the exact same thing. Survive. That's step one to fighting an invincible opponent. First, survive, then strategize."
"And what strategy would you have used?"
"You can bet your life I would have dipped myself or him, but that's me." She chewed as she tilted her head at the ceiling in thought. "The thing about all-powerful people is that they're never all-powerful. There's always something or someone out there that's their weakness, or stronger than they are. I wouldn't know how to fight someone like that unless I was actually in the fight, to be honest."
"I couldn't come up with a solution at the time, but I later thought to myself something similar. That I would have to find a way."
"You did your best."
"He won't forgive me."
She shrugged. "That's his problem."
"It's been weeks. How far did you send him?"
"South pole."
He stared at her. "You said he wasn't in any danger."
"He wasn't. Put him right outside a research station."
"He should be back by now."
"Maybe he doesn't want to come back."
"He wouldn't leave Icky."
"He tried to kill Icky."
"For which he's sorry."
"Maybe too sorry to continue facing him."
"He still loves me."
She stopped eating. "Sasuke. I know you miss him? But he doesn't want to be with you. You heard him say it himself. How long are you going to grovel at his feet?"
He looked at Icky, who was still staring at Sachi.
"Do you still hate me?" she asked.
"No."
"Trust me?"
"Maybe."
She considered her next words carefully, but felt the time was right. "I think we could be great together. I think we could make outstanding children. I think we're compatible in mind and body. We can be ruthless when we need to be, and we understand each other. You know I'll never betray you, and you know I'm strong. I would never let anyone harm our children. Or you. And if it means anything, I've never been with anyone. What else do you have?" she asked. "You don't have Naruto. You might never have him again. But you can have me. I would raise Icky like my own. You can have a family. A real family." She slowly reached across the table to put her hand on his.
Sasuke, in full knowledge of what she was offering, did not pull his hand away.
Later that day he voluntarily let her hold Icky for the first time.
Naruto woke to agony, wheezing and shaking like a leaf. "Guh! Huh! Hoaah!" He coughed until he thought he was dying. He wasn't sure he wasn't already dead.
"Easy there. Easy. You're in good hands."
He was helped back down to a reclining position by good hands indeed. Strong, warm hands. Large. He turned toward the voice, absently aware that it sounded neither male nor female, and tried to speak.
"What's that? Didn't catch it. Here, have some water."
The water was metallic. He choked, but then he swallowed greedily. "Oh God."
"Yeah. You've been down for almost three weeks. Didn't think you were going to make it. Naruto, right?"
"How'd you know my name?"
"Asked you while you were thrashing around one time."
"I can't see."
"There are bandages over your eyes."
"What happened to me? Is this the station?"
"This is the Sun Station, belonging to Fire Country and Wind Country. And you nearly died. The weather's been holding steady at one hundred sixteen below zero. What possessed you to come out in the elements with just a fur tunic? How'd you even get here?"
"Was sent here. And I didn't know I was being sent until I'd been sent. Where is here, anyway?"
"South pole, my friend."
He had no idea where or what that was. Then something he'd read in the books about the arctic circle came back to him. He was literally on the opposite side of the globe from Sasuke. Sachi, you sick, sick bitch. Just wait. "Who are you?"
"I'm Chou. Think my parents hoped the name would affect me in some way. Make me…different. Back to you. Can you sit up?"
He could.
"Hungry?"
"Starving."
"That's a good sign. Hang on, I'm going to remove the bandages."
Chou had surprisingly gentle hands, given their size. He sat still while the gauze around his head was unwrapped, then slowly opened his eyes as instructed. His vision was too blurry to make out anything beyond vague shapes, but he bowed where he sat and said, "Thank you."
"No problem. You're the first person I've seen in two years."
"The fuck? There's no one else here?"
"Not anymore. We were a dozen, but they've all left now. Couldn't hack it. Me, I like the solitude. Or I did. Seeing you sort of made me miss people a bit. Here."
A bowl of something hot was placed in his hands. The smell of meat and onions hit his nose and he almost spilled the stuff all over himself in trying to get it to his face. Chou's hands steadied him.
"Almost as good as ramen," he whimpered. He was practically crying, it was so good.
Chou laughed. "Are you ninja?"
"Yeah."
"I thought about doing that. I've been told I've got the strength and chakra for it, but I went into medicine instead. Gotta say, your case sorely tested my knowledge. Felt good. Being challenged. Been stagnating down here by myself. I know I've forgotten a lot. And there are probably advances taking place that I know nothing about, but I think I did a good job on your hand, if I do say so myself."
The bowl was empty. While Chou took it from him he flexed and clenched his bad hand. Felt along his fingers and knuckles with his good hand. It was a whitish blob when he held it up to his face. "It feels…fine. How'd you do that?"
"It's not fine fine. 'Bout ninety-five percent. That hands needs plenty of physical therapy. And I told you. I'm a medic. Your chakra's pretty decent too, but I wouldn't advise using it for another week or so. Whoever sealed you did it very clumsily, so while your chakra's present, you can't necessarily access it yet." Another bowl was placed in his hands.
He drank more carefully this time. After, he was encouraged to rest, which he did. He was already tired.
-oOo-
Three days later he could see clearly. His first proper look at Chou had him staring.
Tall. Well over six feet. Short cropped hair, broad face, kind eyes of a peculiar shade. Somewhere between blue and purple with a green starburst in the center. Huge body that walked the line between fat and muscular.
He still couldn't tell if Chou was male or female.
Chou sat still for his perusal. "That bad?"
The smile was beautiful, he noted. And Chou was a girl name. He wanted to ask if Chou was a girl, but had never found himself in a situation where he'd needed to. It felt strange. Rude. But he had to know. "Are you a guy or a girl?"
Chou's laugh boomed around the room that he could now see was fairly small. He winced.
"Tell you a secret? I don't know. I've got girl parts, but I've never really felt like a girl."
"Oh?" This was the strangest conversation he'd ever had. "What, uh…do you feel like?"
"A guy. I guess." Chou shrugged. "I don't think about it much. I'm just me. People tend to refer to me as male unless they really know me, and I just let them."
"I see. Do you want me to refer to you as male?"
"However you want."
Naruto considered it. He felt like he was sitting in the presence of a guy the longer he looked at Chou. On the other hand, girl parts meant a girl. Trying to be discreet, he checked for breasts. Couldn't see any. The whole body was lumpy with meat and muscle and Chou was wearing a sweatshirt. Looks like a guy. Sounds like one, now that I can see the face. Said he feels like a guy. I'ma just go with that. "Male it is. Look." He held out his hand and formed Rasengan.
"Neat! Looks like your chakra's back up. Lemme check and make sure."
He was gently pushed to his back and left to stare at the naked bulb in the ceiling while Chou coated his hands with his own chakra. The examination was thorough. He felt his limbs moved, turned himself or twisted as instructed, and held still while his pathways were scrutinized.
"Right as rain," Chou said.
"Which means I can leave, right?"
Chou nodded, but Naruto saw the way his demeanor changed.
Naruto slid off the bed and clapped him on his back. "So how soon can you be ready?"
"You mean it? I can come with you?" That brilliant smile again.
"No way I'm leaving you down here. Unless you got something important to do, you're coming with. You can be my first villager. As Hirukage, I need to protect you."
"Research ended years ago. I'm just hear to basically keep the station open. What's the name of your village?"
"Hakumeigakure. You in? I can send a toad to Gaara and let him know this place is closing."
"If you're sure, then yes. I'm in."
"So you're saying we can get from here to the north pole in seconds?" Chou wanted to know later.
"Yup. All I have to do is Summon a toad."
Chou rubbed his chin. "I mean, I knew the ninja arts were cool, but that sounds crazy. You're sure it'll work?"
"Done it a million times. And I need to get back to my family. Like, right now. This bitch is up there hanging around my man and my kid, and I-"
"Sasuke. Icky. Yeah, you talked about them in your sleep. A lot."
"Right. Well that bitch is with them and God only knows what she's doing to them."
"Is Sasuke weak?"
That gave Naruto pause. "No. Least…I don't…I mean, he's not really…"
Chou waited.
Naruto sat on one of the rickety chairs and studied his hands. "He's different. I know he's strong? But he hasn't been showing it. Not for a long time. I don't know what's wrong with him. It's like something in him that's supposed to be there, just isn't there anymore. He doesn't look at me the same, doesn't feel the same when I'm around him. And…I think there's someone else. I mean, I know there is, but he swears it's not serious. But it feels like it is. It feels like I've lost him. Sasuke used to be so focused on me that I could feel it no matter where he was in the village. Now, I could be sitting in the same room with him and it's like I'm not even there. Even when he's staring at me. I don't think he realizes it. That something in him is missing. It's like living with someone who doesn't have legs. And it's more than me and him being broken up. He swears he wants me back, needs me back, but I just don't feel it."
"Wow. Sounds complicated."
"Right? And don't even get me started on my shit. I fucked up big time. But it wasn't really my fault. Still…the worst part, the thing that's eating me alive, is my fault. I hurt my kid. And the whole time he's saying he wants me back, he loves me, etcetera, I'm thinking why? What are you seeing? Because I'm not the person you loved. The village is at war because of me, the Hokage's gone, we're living as exiles…all this shit that happened is because of me. I'm worthless. I raped my best friend, got her pregnant, and now I hate her on top of it. But I don't. Not really. I hate myself. I hate that Sasuke loves her, that they shared something while I was gone. I'm jealous as fuck. You don't understand how fucking jealous I am, man, like I really want to kill her. Not really. But fuck. So yeah, I don't get what he sees in me right now, and I can't see much of the old him either. Everything is so fucked up."
"Sounds like something's missing from you too."
"I know. It is."
"But you're running back to them."
"Yeah."
"Maybe what you're missing is them. You love them."
"Yeah. 'Specially Icky, man. That kid is special. Feel like…feel like…oh fuck!"
Chou frowned uncomfortably at the way Naruto burst into tears.
"I feel like he's me, how I used to be. So hopeful and shit," Naruto sobbed. "Forgiving. No, he's better than I ever was. I feel like… When I hold him, I feel good. Like I can make it, I can be okay again. Hooh. Whew. Wow, okay I'm going to say something I never thought I'd say in a million years, but…it was worth it. The hell I went through while I was pregnant? He's worth it." He scrubbed his face. "And Sasuke stood by me the best he could. He's not invincible, but then neither was I. We messed up. But I still love him, and I love my kid, so hells yes I am running back. Sachi. That bitch is done fucking us up."
Chou stood up. "How big is this toad?"
"Huge. Bigger than this station."
"So we'll need to be outside, then. Means gear. Be right back."
While he disappeared to the back, Naruto swiped a forearm across his eyes. Icky. Sasuke. I'm coming. Hang on.
Sachi laughed as she threw him up in the air, but he didn't laugh. He watched her. Watched her eyes, the way they didn't soften when she laughed they way his daddies' eyes did. No, hers skipped between him and Daddy Sasuke, but they never laughed with the rest of her face.
He looked over at Daddy Sasuke now. He was sitting, looking at them, a small smile on his face. Hands laced over his stomach. He let this Sachi person touch him, so he didn't make noise about it, but he remembered. He remembered sensing her downstairs, and the way she'd done something to his Daddy Naruto. Sent him far. He could sense him, but he didn't think he could get to him. That thing he did when Daddy Naruto dropped him off the roof was hard. He didn't know how to do it when he wanted.
There were a lot of things he didn't understand. He could understand words. More often he understood the notwords, the feels behind the words. Thoughts. He understood thoughts. He understood the inside. His inside was sad right now. His Daddy Sasuke's inside wasn't. It was…something he didn't know. Not mad, not scared, not sad, not happy. Those were the only feels he knew. It wasn't good, either. That was another feel he understood. He thought maybe it was a bad feel, but he always thought of bad as the feel his Daddy Naruto had before he'd seen him with his face. After they'd seen each other with faces, his Daddy Naruto had very bad feels for a while too. But then they'd seen each other with their insides, and his Daddy Naruto had started to feel good.
But this, the feel his Daddy Sasuke had now, wasn't really like that. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't like it.
And he didn't like Sachi. Her feels were different too. Around his Daddy Sasuke they were happy, but around him they weren't. Nor where they any feels he knew of. Whenever she looked at him he felt the way he did when that thing had ouched the feeder. That thing that almost ouched him. He felt scared. The same way he did whenever his Daddy Naruto called those things he said were toads or his other daddy called snakes and hawks.
Especially when her eyes changed. He felt a lot of scared then.
Daddy Sasuke never saw it. She always did it when her body blocked his face from seeing what she did, but he saw. And he knew she was trying to see his inside. Stuff his daddies called powers. He didn't let her.
This was something else he didn't understand. Powers. He saw what his daddies could do, and understood when they asked him to do it. He just couldn't do it. When they asked to see, he didn't show them because he didn't know how. But when Sachi tried to see, he knew she'd be able to whether he showed her or not and his Daddy Naruto didn't want that happening. He didn't know why. But he thought Daddy Naruto was right. So when she tried to see, he blocked her.
Sometimes she would sit, talk at him with his Daddy Sasuke, and all the while he could feel her trying to probe his mind. He didn't let her. Once, for just a second, when his daddy's eyes were on him instead of her, her eyes changed to something he'd never seen them do. The probe was very strong, more than he could resist. For that one second he couldn't breathe. Then Daddy Sasuke looked at her and her eyes were normal again.
So he watched her. Waiting for her eyes to change, resisting that probe, that hungry, bad, mad need to know his inside.
He wanted his Daddy Naruto. He really, really wanted him back. Daddy Sasuke used to have sad feels but now he was different. Now it was all/nothing feels. And that scared him too.
He didn't understand other stuff. Touch stuff. He liked touch. His daddies liked touching him. And he could see with his inside that they wanted to do touch on each other, but they didn't. Daddy Sasuke touched Sachi, though. A lot. And she touched him. Sometimes, after he was put down in is bed to sleep and clones were left to watch him, he could feel his daddy go to Sachi's house and do more touch with her. Why, he didn't know. His daddy didn't even love Sachi. Love, he understood. From his Daddy Naruto. From both his daddies. And touch meant love, he knew that too. His daddies touched him tight when their love feels were hard and strong, and he always felt like laughing when his own love feels were strong. But this wasn't love, what his Daddy Sasuke felt, so why did he touch her? He didn't like it. Touching made Sachi happy, and when she was hard happy, she probed more.
He wanted to know when Daddy Naruto was coming back. He was learning the names for the passage of time —hour, minute, second—but day and week were incomprehensible; he could find nothing to measure them with. He maybe remembered when it wasn't light all the time, but now it was, and night and day didn't mean what he thought Daddy Sasuke thought they meant. He said night when he was put to sleep, and morning when he woke up but the light didn't change so he didn't know those words.
-oOo-
Sachi kissed him and touched him when she was done throwing him, and then kissed and touched Daddy Sasuke. She sat under his arm, and he sat on his daddy's lap. "We're a family," Sachi said.
He looked up. Daddy Sasuke was smiling at her. But his eyes weren't smiling. "You never did tell me what the council's plans were."
"Didn't I? Well, they want this sweet baby here. Apparently they think he has some terrifying power. Does he?" She poked at his stomach, eyes sharp as ever. He put his face on his daddy's chest and waited for her to stop.
His daddy put an arm around him. "He's just a baby."
"Oh? You never said how Naruto was raised from the dead."
"No, I didn't."
And then the hand his daddy had around him moved. Closed, with two fingers pointing toward Sachi. Lightning went from those fingers to Sachi, and Sachi said "Uh!"
Funny lightning. It didn't just go and leave, like his did. It stayed. Connecting his daddy's hand to Sachi's chest. There was stuff, her inside, pouring out around the lightning. Sizzling and snapping off of it. It made a smell. Then he realized his daddy was ouching her and that gave him good, happy feels.
A clone appeared and picked him up from his daddy's lap. His daddy scooted closer to Sachi, cradled her head, and leaned down to whisper in her ear. He heard.
"You and I will never be a family. Least of all with my son. I did what I had to do to get close to you, to have you believe I trusted you." He swelled the lightning bar until her ribs and spine audibly snapped, and the life started to go out of her eyes. "I liked you. You're family. My blood. But this was always the endgame. No one touches my man and lives. No one threatens my son and lives. And no one threatens me and lives." He yanked the lightning free.
There was a loud boom outside. A second later, he heard his Daddy Naruto screaming for them. He screamed in response, twisting in the clone's arms. Daddy Naruto burst through the door, followed by some person he didn't know, and he reached for him. Reached for his daddy. Daddy Naruto looked at him, smiled…then saw Daddy Sasuke and Sachi.
Naruto took in the scene. Sachi lay gasping, a large hole in her chest. The smell of ozone and burned flesh was strong. He recognized Sasuke's handiwork. Looked up at Sasuke. Chou started to go around him, possibly to help Sachi, but Naruto held up an arm to keep him back.
Sasuke stared at Sachi. Chidori was suddenly in his hand. He shoved this toward her, but Sachi shimmered where she lay. She was gone before Sasuke's hand slammed into the floor. "Fuck!" he yelled.
Naruto went to him. Glanced at the hole in the floor, the blood, but turned and put both hands on Sasuke's face to focus him. "Dude. What happened?"
Sasuke blinked. His eyes roamed greedily over Naruto's face. Then he was hugging him hard. "You're alive. You're here."
"Of course I'm here. Sasuke, what happened?" He pulled out of his arms.
"What do you mean?" He now saw the giant standing behind Naruto and stared up at him. "I tried to kill the bitch."
"I can see that. But I've been gone for weeks. Why'd it take you so long to do it?"
Sasuke continued to blink up at the newcomer. It was a minute before he brought his eyes down to Naruto. Another minute before he processed the question. He looked at Icky. The clone. The giant. Naruto. "We need to talk."
-oOo-
Sasuke was introduced to Chou and told he was the villlage's first citizen outside of themselves. The hand that shook Sasuke's dwarfed his own, he noted. Then he narrowed his eyes at Chou. "You've got insane chakra…like, really." He studied the dark red hair, the odd eyes. "What village are you from?"
"None. My parents were nomads. Medics traveling from village to village."
"Huh. Well, this is Ikioi. Naruto? You mind?"
Naruto was busy staring at Sasuke, realizing he wanted to touch him. He had to bring his mind back to the present. "Huh?" Sasuke tipped his head at Icky, looked up at Chou. "Oh. No, it's cool, he can hold him." He took the boy from Sasuke, then just held his son himself. He hadn't seen him in forever. The kid had grown. He hugged him tight, planted a hard kiss in his hair. "God, I missed you."
To his surprise, Icky hugged him back around his neck. He'd never done that before. Naruto kept his face in Icky's hair a few minutes, until he was sure his eyes were dry, and Icky strangled him the entire time. Naruto didn't want to let go. But he did. He sat his son in the crook of one arm and pointed upwards. "That's Chou. He saved my life." And he handed the boy up to him.
Chou handled him like a pro. Icky squealed a greeting and Chou smiled back, showing his large white teeth. "Healthy little man you got here." He handed him back to Naruto. "Bout six months?"
Sasuke nodded. Naruto said, "You can wait down here. Help yourself to food, or choose one of the houses for yourself, but I need to talk to Sasuke."
Chou disappeared to the kitchen, while Sasuke led the way upstairs. When they were in his room, Naruto shut the door and leaned on it. "Okay, spill. Something happened, and something tells me I'm not going to like it. Did she hurt Icky?"
"No. I made sure of that."
"Did she hurt you?"
"No. But she could have. She threatened to kill us both, or separate us."
Naruto felt his blood begin to boil as Sasuke told the tale from start to finish. He tried to decide what Sasuke's flat tone meant, but at hearing that he'd considered really being with Sachi he held up a hand. "You're serious? After everything, you're telling me now that you can see yourself with her?"
"Not like I have anything else, right? My brother's gone. I gave up vengeance to be with you. Somewhere along the line I convinced myself the Uchiha didn't need to be resurrected. But they're already here. I'm here, Sachi's family is here. Icky's Uzumaki, but he's also part Uchiha. I wouldn't be resurrecting anything. I just want a family. That's all I want. All I've ever wanted, I think. I had you. But now I don't. You want nothing to do with me. I have Icky, but if you and I aren't together, I'll never completely have him. So yes, I thought about it. Briefly."
"What changed?"
"Nothing. That was the problem. Thinking about a family with her didn't make me happy. Nothing I did with her made me happy. I feel just as empty as I've felt since…for a long time. And I'd already decided from the moment she sent you away that she was dead." He shrugged. "I played a game, was all. A ruse. It was an act."
"And how far did you take that act?"
"Far enough."
"How far."
Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "Far."
Naruto swallowed. "That far?"
A nod and a sigh.
Naruto slid to the floor. Icky stared up at him, eyes large and round, as if he could feel his pain. "Whoa. Damn. Okay. I guess…that's the truth, then. Thank you for that. Why, though? Couldn't you have gotten her trust without doing that?"
"I'm not sure I had her trust even then. She was planning something, Naruto. What, I don't know. Icky was never comfortable around her. I could see it. I could feel her digging at him whenever she thought I was unaware. I am never unaware of my son. I could never get the drop on her, not even when she slept. I tried. And there's something else, something she probably didn't think I knew about."
"What?"
"A few times, when she'd retired to her house, I felt a presence in there with her. There and gone. She's communicating with someone. That's another reason I took to going to her house at night. Or whatever passes for night now. As long as I was there, she couldn't talk to whoever she was in contact with."
Naruto felt his hatred and jealousy flatten beneath his sudden dread. "Fuck, man…you think we're blown?"
"I think someone besides Hinata, Tsunade, and now Sachi knows we're here, yes."
He stared at Sasuke. Lined things up and put them into perspective. Prioritized. "It's okay. Okay?" He pushed to his feet and hastily put Icky on the bed. Turned and went back to Sasuke. Hesitated. Put his hands on Sasuke's shoulders. "You did what you had to do to protect us. This, I can forgive. I can live with this. She was a threat, you were on your own, and she'd threatened our son. If she'd taken him we would never have seen him again, so you…you did the right thing. Okay?"
Sasuke's eyes filled. His face got very red.
He had to know. One way or another, he had to know. "She was the only one? The only time you've…you know?"
"Yes."
"You and Hinata-"
"No."
"Okay." Naruto felt his throat closing up and brought their foreheads together. "Don't get me wrong, it still hurts. God, I wish I could have gotten a piece of her. But I know it had to suck for you too. Scared every second she would make off with Icky. Never knowing when or if she'd carry out her threats. Sounds like she was crazy."
"I wouldn't say that. But highly unstable. She really believed her apology afterward made her threats okay." He touched one of Naruto's hands where it now cupped his cheek.
"Fucking bitch. She's lucky you offed her before I got here." Naruto rubbed his nose along Sasuke's.
"Tried to. She left. Means she's still alive." He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Moved it to the back of his neck. He was starting to sweat.
"That wound was fatal. She's dead. I'm calling it here and now." The need to kiss him was strong. His fingers tightened on Sasuke's face, the nails dimpling his skin. Sasuke hissed. Snaked an arm around him and pulled him close. Squeezed him.
They hovered like that for almost a minute, mouths nearly touching. But then Naruto remembered everything else between them and stepped back. Sasuke let him. They stood looking at each other, hurting, until Naruto cleared his throat. "I'm gonna check on Chou. Make sure he's settled in. 'Night."
He quietly left the room and shut the door. Stood outside the door a moment. He felt better. Sasuke was still his. Tomorrow, he decided, they'd have another talk, get their lives back on track. Enough of this shit.
-oOo-
Chou sheepishly told him that he didn't want to be alone. "Been alone for two years. If it's all the same to you, I'll take the floor right here. Temperature's so warm up here I don't even need a blanket."
Naruto snorted at that, but left him in the main room and went to his own. He stood looking at his bed for several minutes. Considered going back to Sasuke's room and fucking him. God, he wanted to.
He climbed into bed and went to sleep.
He was dreaming about the village. Running around with Konohamaru and Udon. Kiba. Chouji and Shikamaru. Sparring with Lee. Running from Sakura. Sneaking into the porn shop. Around every corner, no matter where he went, he saw Hinata. Not as she'd been as a child, but older. Not as she'd been here either. Different. More serene, if that were possible. Emanating light. It was creepy. Almost like she was following him, the way the sun or the moon followed you no matter how hard you ran. And he was definitely running now. The village was gone. He was in a flat landscape, shrouded in night, and there she was behind him, bright as the sun, following him like the moon, awful in her serenity, terrifying in her peace.
"Naruto."
And he was standing before her. Shivering in fear of her, though all he felt was love and sorrow coming from her. He was afraid. He was afraid and he didn't know why.
"Hinata?"
"I don't have much time. I wanted to say goodbye."
His fear tripled. "Goodbye? Wait!" She was wavering before his eyes, fading in and out. Faintly, very faintly, he got an impression from her. Violence. Screams. Something was happening wherever she was. "Hinata, where are you?"
"Take care of him, Naruto."
"What? Who?"
"I'm sending him to you. I did my best. But now he's coming to you. You are his father. You were right. I should have stayed."
The fear was now so acute that he couldn't breathe. Couldn't breathe. "No…"
She looked behind her at something. Looked at him. She was fading…
"Hinata!"
Fading…
"Please! I'm sorry! I never got to tell you how sorry I am!" He was still choking, but he screamed those words, yelled them though the image of her was almost gone.
Then suddenly she was there again, at his face, placing her hands to either side of his streaming eyes.
His mind exploded with her memories. All her memories, her hopes, her dreams, her fears, her love. How she'd loved him. The baby. Most of all, him. Their son. "Oh God…"
"You have to help him," she said. "You're the only one who can."
"I can't. I can't do anything."
She looked deep into his eyes, still holding his face. Kissed his tears. His nose. His eyes. His forehead. "You're Uzumaki Naruto. You can do anything. I know you can. I know you."
"Please," he begged. "Please, don't go. I'm so sorry. I do want your forgiveness. I never meant for this to happen. Please!"
"Sh. There's nothing to forgive and I don't have time. Listen to me."
He looked at her.
"It'll hurt you when you see. A lot. But don't let it break you. You cannot break. Promise me you won't break."
He had no idea what she was talking about. "I promise." He would promise her anything.
"I'm okay. I need you to remember that I'm okay. I felt no pain."
"Hinata, please-"
"Save him. Help him. Just please don't let how he is now be the only thing I leave behind. Okay?"
"Okay."
"I love you, Naruto."
She was gone. The sky was empty and he still couldn't breathe.
Hiashi was sharpening weapons with Neji when he grabbed his chest and cried out.
"Uncle?" Neji dropped his kunai and rushed to his aid.
"My daughter," Hiashi slurred. "My child."
Neji yelled for help.
"Hinata!" Sakura woke with the name on her lips, her mind buzzing with data.
Kiba ducked his head inside the tent. "Sakura? You yelled just now, is everything all-"
"Get everyone in here, now!"
Kiba left and came back with her advisors and the original team. "I know where they are," she said. She was in the process of strapping on her weapon's pouch. "I have the precise coordinates thanks to…" she frowned. Looked at Hiashi, who was haggard and stoop shouldered and supported by Neji. Understanding erupted in her mind and she found herself sitting down hard. Kiba ran to her.
"Oh God, no. No." She pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes.
-oOo-
It was Tenten who got the facts from her. The dream. The coordinates. Hinata. They were all silent as Sakura sobbed on Kiba's shoulder and Tenten rubbed her back. "I think she's…gone." Sakura pulled herself together with a supreme effort. "I think that was her soul trying to help us. But…" She broke down again.
Tsume was gruff, but stepped forward. "Kiba, rally the clan. Hyuuga, my condolences for your loss. Truly. But get your people together. Yamanaka, have you found that traitor yet?"
"No." But he was staring at Konohamaru. The boy didn't hang around the rookies often anymore, so he'd missed delving him. He did so now, and what he saw put the hairs up on the back of his neck. He glanced around the tent. His eyes landed on Shino. He sent him a thought, to which Shino first pushed his glasses up, then slipped out of the tent.
He came back a short time later with a teenage girl whom he threw down in front of Sakura. Sakura glanced from her to Shino.
Konohamaru frowned. "Hey, that's-"
"That's your spy," Inoichi said "She has some rudimentary ability with mind control, though I can detect no Doujutsu in her. And she most certainly isn't Yamanaka."
Sakura slowly got to her feet. The girl cowered on the floor, face in her hands. "How do you know this?" Sakura breathed.
"Konohamaru. He's been intimate with her. I looked into his mind just now and saw that this girl left an impression of herself. I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it; this part of her she's left in him is able to see and hear things that he does but it's as yet immature. How clearly she sees and hears, I don't know."
Konohamaru squawked. Sakura ignored him. "So he was being used without his knowledge?"
"Most likely." Inoichi grimaced. "He did spill a few things while his mind was clouded with…their activities." He coughed into one fist. "She played him skillfully. I can't say he's really at fault-"
Sakura lifted a hand and Inoichi fell silent. All eyes went to Konohamaru, who was beet red with shame, then to the girl, who was motionless in fear.
"Has she learned what's taken place here tonight?" Kakashi asked.
Inoichi closed his eyes. "I'm afraid so. More, she's already communicated that information to her contacts in Konoha. They know where Sasuke is."
Before anyone could stop him, Konohamaru stepped forward, pulled a kunai, and rammed it hilt-deep into Fumiko's throat. He swiped it viciously to his left, thus severing her carotid, esophagus, spine, and most of her neck tissue. Her head flopped backward, where the weight of it did the job of tearing the piece of skin still holding it to her body. The head fell behind her, at Sakura's feet. The body pitched forward. Konohamaru spat on it, kicked it aside, then prostrated himself where it had been, right in front of Sakura.
Sakura looked away. She couldn't deal with this now. Stepping around him, she addressed her friends and advisors. "Like Tsume said. Gather everyone and move out. Going by where we are versus the data I've been given, it'll take us several weeks of hard traveling to get to our friend. If the villages know where we've been this whole time, they're probably only far enough away to escape detection by Hyuuga or hound. We all know where our friend is. Now it's just a matter of who gets to him first. I mean for that to be us."
The tent was emptied of everyone save Konohamaru, who remained where he was, crying.
Naruto woke still choking, still trying to say her name, but he knew. It was what had him so terrified, what had frozen him solid, what left him unable to breathe even now. Her memories churned in his mind and he rolled from his bed, vomiting forcefully. Only then was he able to suck in a proper breath. He let it out again in a scream. "SASUKE!"
At the same moment there was a crash downstairs. He was running for those stairs when Chou hollered for him loud enough to make his ears throb. Sasuke was right behind him, Icky in his arms.
-oOo-
There, in the main room, Chou was backed up to the wall, hands in front of him. "It came out of nowhere," he yelled. "Just poof out of thin air! Like your toad!"
Something low down on the floor made odd scrabbling sounds. Naruto couldn't see at first. The couch was in the way.
He didn't want to see what was behind the couch. Those memories…
But Chou had a look of abject horror on his face. Sasuke got around him. Got to the couch first and looked down. Naruto saw him frown. Then his face cleared. Slackened, filled with horror too.
That scrabbling. Scritch, scritch, scritch.
He made himself move. Put a hand out to the couch. Grabbed it. Squeezed the arm as he continued around it, but he was looking at Chou, who had both hands pressed over his mouth. At Sasuke, who had his face buried in Icky's neck. At Icky, who stared downward intently, a tiny frown between his brows. He'd never seen that look on his son's face before.
Scritch, scritch, scritch.
He was scared all over again. Staring at the wall now. Heart hammering so hard he was shaking with it. He squeezed the couch, squeezed, squeezed, squeezed, until he felt the material tear in his fist.
'You have to help him.'
He was sweating, he realized. But he looked down. Slowly.
It was just a pile of filthy clothes. No baby anywhere.
He started to smile in relief, but the clothes moved. He realized there was someone wearing the clothes. Then he saw the condition the body was in. Broken bones poking through skin in many places. Limbs at odd angles. The head was a sight he needed several seconds to process. His mind simply couldn't, at first, make sense of the jellied mess of brain and bone he was looking at. He wondered how this person could be alive, but then he saw the hair. Long and dark and utterly familiar.
No.
Matted with blood and gore. The jaw was twisted almost completely around, and the eyes were gone, but he knew. It was Hinata.
Scritch, scritch, scritch.
The body twitched. Jerked. Flopped onto its back. And now he was able to see the mound its previous position had hidden rising like a mountain from the ruin of his long-time friend. The sound came from within. All the broken bones rubbing together. Her stomach writhed and warped as the child he'd put in her struggled.
Naruto stared for a long time. Stared, but saw only Hinata's memories. Her life. Her love for him, her devotion. Her family. Her friends. And this child. The months she'd been gone, the things it had done to her. Made her do. He saw the way she'd fought in the end, and then her end, and that…that was the moment his mind went white. He saw nothing after that. He heard Sasuke calling his name, but it faded with each repetition until there was silence.
Nothing but deep silence in the safe white space of his mind.