Wonders and Miracles
Disclaimer: I still have yet to find the legal papers necessary for me to own Naruto. Darn.
Author's Note: My thigh's all better and I can run again! I'm in such a good mood right now! I want to thank everyone who's been sticking with this story and for all the awesome reviewers! You guys are seriously awesome!
Warning: Religious stuff is gonna be all over this story, so if you're gonna get offended, don't tell me about it or don't read it. And if you do tell me about it, don't yell at me.
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"The great artist, whether he be musician, poet or painter, is known for this absolute unexpectedness."-Loren Eisely
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Naruto sat, still staring at the wall. His plan involved the guard and that guard was taking his damn sweet time. He'd already counted as high as he could on the walls, in Italian, Japanese and English, had already thought of hundreds of thousands of things he wanted to paint on the dreary walls. He thought of oceans, the one ones he'd seen only once or twice; of endless deserts with sweeping sands making a single image. The blonde sighed. This cell was getting to him.
-?-?-?-?
"Go ahead, Sasuke. You're the only one who has a ghost of a chance of surviving if you're caught." Kiba was trying to get him to go back, but Sasuke couldn't feel any muscles in his legs right now. He hadn't run away, had simply gone on another night walk except this time he'd had someone to walk with and to talk to. And yet, now that he was here, having seen all this and run so far, he found that he didn't want to go back. Ever.
Itachi asked Kiba to leave the room and when he had, he turned to his younger brother. "Do you understand now?"
Sasuke stiffened. "That's none of your business."
"Perhaps not. But the lives of friends are, and I'm not about to allow your stubbornness to kill Naruto."
"Naruto probably has his own plan."
"And if he doesn't? He may have a plan to get out of a cell, but to get out of the entire prison? He'd be lucky to get past the guardroom door."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Try."
-?-?-?-?
Finally, a sound in this scary silence. Naruto raised his head and looked out past the bars, seeing a person, but not being able to see anything specific.
"Whatdaya want?"
"Naruto, it's me."
Naruto's eyes
nearly bugged out of his head. "Sasuke? Why're you here?"
It was good to see the familiar face as he opened the door.
"Saving your life. C'mon, we gotta get out of here or we're
both going to be roasted tomorrow."
Naruto didn't waste any time. At the blonde's questioning look, Sasuke held up a ring of keys. "You're not the only one who can be a thief."
A smile came to the gypsy's lips for the first time in what felt like ages. Naruto could smell the cleaner (not by much) air just up the steps and immediately ran towards them, Sasuke following. Footsteps, far too heavy for it to be anyone they knew, were tromping down the stairs and Naruto backpedaled, nearly running into Sasuke in the process. Sasuke only barely saw Naruto flash by him as he disappeared into the cell, only closing the door, leaving it unlocked. Sasuke hid the keys in his back pocket.
Sasuke froze when he saw who was at the stairs. "Captain." He greeted.
Orochimaru looked at the teenager. "Sasuke. It's good to see you. I am however curious as to why you are down here."
Sasuke's adopted a cold tone. "I wanted to see the captured gypsy. I wanted to know if they were truly as bad as Father said. They're worse in fact."
Naruto's eyes narrowed at the words, but he remained silently grinding his teeth.
"I can see how a young man such as yourself might get curious, but I would prefer if you refrained from being near them. For your own safety and health of course." The polite smile on the white face sent shivers down both of the teens' backs, even though Naruto couldn't see it.
"Yes sir. It won't happen again." Sasuke nodded at him as he passed by the tall man, glancing backward at Naruto, hoping that this wasn't a mistake.
-?-?-?-?
Orochimaru approached the cell and looked at the blonde gypsy standing inside, back against the wall, and one foot on the wall. "Do you understand English, gypsy? I'd hate to say the same speech twice."
Naruto glared at him and nodded. "We're not stupid."
"So you
believe. I know for a fact that all gypsies are lazy and smart only
by standards of rodents. And I have one question even you can answer:
where are the rest of the vermin?"
"Standing right in
front of me."
The icy gold eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you understood the question."
"No, I understood it. Vermin, right? Only vermin I see is you." The cobalt eyes were nearly unreadable.
"Let me rephrase the question in a way a rodent's mind can understand. Where are the rest of the gypsies?"
Naruto kept his mouth shut. If there was one thing that any gypsy knew, it was never ever tell an outsider where the hideout is. True, he'd broken that rule twice now, but Sasuke and Itachi were good guys, he'd been able to see that.
"Are you incapable of answering such a simple question?"
"We're far more capable of answering the question; else you wouldn't be asking the question." Naruto had known Shikamaru long enough to know how to manipulate a conversation (interrogation) into something Naruto could win-a fistfight.
"You being manipulated by a kid again, Orochimaru?"
The all man turned and saw Jiraiya leaning casually against the wall, face composed but the coal black eyes were hard and angry.
"More vermin."
"I'm with the kid. You're still a parasite, ne, Orochimaru? Even after more than twenty years." Jiraiya knew that Orochimaru wouldn't catch the glance he sent to Naruto, telling him to get out as soon as Orochimaru was far enough away. Naruto nodded almost imperceptibly.
"I'll have you burning in hell."
Jiraiya rolled his eyes. How many times had he heard that one? "Last time you told me that, you got publicly humiliated in the middle of Barcelona."
The gold eyes flared and Jiraiya hid a grin. The captain had always been an easy man to make angry if you knew what buttons to push and Jiraiya had known the man since they were kids.
"That was pretty bad." A female voice agreed.
"You're both in the city at the same time. How fortuitous the circumstances."
Tsunade raised thin eyebrows. "You haven't caught us in thirty-five years. What makes you think you'll catch us now?"
Naruto carefully, quietly eased the cell door slightly open with his foot, watching for any reaction from the captain. None. How was this guy such a good gypsy catcher? The cell door didn't have to be open very far for Naruto to get out. He was small from years of malnutrition and incredibly flexible. It was an easy task to slip his torso out and then cautiously slide his legs around the door, still trying not to be noticed. Keep talking, Naruto mentally told the older gypsies. He needed a little time to be able to figure a way out that wasn't through the front door.
"I'm fairly confident. I didn't have all the advantages last time. Last time I didn't have a hostage."
Naruto froze. Don't turn this way Naruto prayed.
Someone up there liked him because they gifted Jiraiya with extraordinarily quick thinking. "What makes you think we care about that kid? He's a brat. He'll probably die in the next moon."
Orochimaru, already half-turned towards the cell, turned back to the others. "You're right. He'll die tomorrow morning."
Tsunade shrugged. "That's a possibility."
Naruto.
The blonde jumped a little. The voice wasn't a physical one, because no one else had made any movement. The blue eyes scanned the room, looking for the source. There, in the only window high up, were familiar onyx eyes in a pale face. Sasuke beckoned him with a hand.
Naruto nodded and clambered easily onto the desk right beneath the window, still nearly entirely silent. You got a plan to open the window? He asked with his eyes.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and carefully removed the glass and Naruto's theory stuck firm. The Uchiha brothers had definitely been thieves in a past life. A pale hand was offered and Naruto took it, and was helped through the window.
"Didn't think you'd come back." Naruto whispered when he was out.
"Nobody gets left behind." Sasuke told him just as quietly, replacing the window.
"No one except the two of you." Came a familiarly cold, gruff voice and Sasuke never wanted to turn around at the sound of it.