Ok… gosh! Im such a bad Neko!! I need tea… REALLY BADLY!!! I SWEAR IM ON THE EDGE OF SANITY AND AM ABOUT TO BREAK IT, IF I DON'T GET MY TEA!!! And on another subject… (Everyone anime falls) …what? Oh right… I'm normal again… yea… I do that sometimes… my friend is still here… and still her usual 'homophobic' self… GOSH! I NEED TEA!! Heehee… I'll get some before I start writing don't worry…
Disclaimer: I would only own it if I was Japanese… heck! Im not even American! So what chance do I have…? I don't own Naruto, nor do I own the Elfen lied storyline
Sasuke inwardly jumped slightly at the sudden clap of thunder, it was all quiet… until that loud annoyance broke Sasuke away from his thoughts. Sasuke sighed and closed his umbrella; he wanted to feel the rain run across his skin. The cool rain flowed over his face and through his hair, to dribble off the base of his neck. Sasuke closed his eyes, so the water crystals danced along the edges of his thick eyelashes.
"Sasuke-kun!!" Sasuke sighed and turned around to the source of the squeal, he was surprised to who he saw.
Instead of seeing that gurgling pink thing, known as Sakura, it was her best friend, Ino. Her platinum blonde hair was tied up into a high ponytail and reached far down her back and her periwinkle eyes shone with some sort-of strange aurora. Her long blonde hair swished from side to side, even when she had stopped running, she smiled softly and asked "Sasuke-kun… have you seen Sakura?"
Sasuke blinked and shook his head politely, Ino shielded herself from the rain droplets and sighed "Oh… She said she would come shopping with me, after she had finished something… and I thought it would be with you…" She seemed upset; Sakura was her best friend after all… and wouldn't run off without consulting Ino first.
"Oh… No I haven't seen her" Sasuke stated emotionlessly, Ino looked down at her feet and shuffled them a bit "Sorry Ino" He quickly added
"Oh, it's fine" Sasuke saw beneath her smile and noticed the worry for her friend, when Ino and Sakura were together they were –possibly- the bitchiest people you could find on the planet. But when Ino was by herself, you could call her… normal (well, as normal as a crazed fangirls could be)
"I'll help you look for Sakura… if…" Ino face brightened and nodded "…you help me find Naruto, deal?"
Ino innocently tilted her head to the side "Naruto? …Whose that?" The name rang a bell…
Sasuke contemplated his answer for a moment, he wanted to blurt out his love for Naruto to the nearest person her could find… Unfortunately, that was now one of his former fangirls… so he decided not to "He's… my friend"
Ino nodded and smiled brightly "Thank you, but where would we look?"
Sasuke sighed angrily, if he had known… he wouldn't have asked for her help. Ino's attention shifted from Sasuke to the road, she stared intensely at it for a while until Sasuke broke her away from her thoughts. "Oi! What are you staring at…?"
Sasuke placed the umbrella above his head again and looked at Ino with annoyance, he walked up to her to find out what she was staring at. His umbrella clashed with hers and stopped him from further movement; he raised an elegant eyebrow at her in slight questioning to her silence. Ino shook her head and giggled "Oh! Sorry Sasuke-kun! I just… thought I heard something…"
Sasuke looked at her strangely "heard what?"
Ino opened her mouth to reply, when a fire-truck came flying down the street. Its sirens were bellowing off and its orange lights flashed with caution, it whirled down the street in a colorful flash of blinding orange lights and a blurry red body. Sasuke and Ino's heads snapped to the side as the watched it zoom away into the misty fog of rain. Ino continued to watch it fade away as Sasuke ripped his gaze away to look at her "Should we follow it?"
Ino took a slow blink "…Yeah… ok…" she replied half-heartedly
Sasuke and Ino quickly dashed after the truck, Ino was not to far behind Sasuke but was still lagging a bit. Sasuke turned his head back and sighed, his paced slowed down so he could talk with Ino "come on, pick up the pace!" Ino sent him a playful glare and charged ahead; Sasuke smirked and caught up with her speeding self with ease.
They slowed down to stop as they needed to wait for the pedestrian crossing to be safe to cross, Ino leaned up against the traffic light pole and tried to squeeze the water out of her long socks. After running through the puddles, her socks and legs had become drenched with the dirty water. Ino sighed and mumbled out something angrily about her clothes, Sasuke ignored her muted rantings as he was staring idly from side to side "Which way did it go?"
Ino looked up from her socks and placed her foot back on the ground "Hm? What?" Sasuke felt his eye twitch; she had the memory of a goldfish… or worse a goldfish with short-term memory loss, "…The fire-truck…" Sasuke hissed under his breath sending an infamous Uchiha glare her way. She seemed unfazed by it…
"Oh right. That way." She causally poked her thumb to the right side, while staring deeply into her nails as if they were going to get longer if she stared at them hard enough.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow "What makes you say that…? Are you psychic?"
"That… and that there's smoke over there…" she jabbered her finger in the same direction again "…which usually means that there's fire nearby" She didn't stop to look at him once, since her eyes were still fixed on her newly manicured nails.
Sasuke's eye twitch violently from embarrassment, Ino looked at him worried that the stress mark on his forehead could break any minute… "You okay?" She looked up and saw the green light flashing, saying it was okay to walk across now. "Come on, we gotta catch that fire truck"
She resisted the urge to drag him along the street as she quickly pounced over to the other side and Sasuke quickly followed her across, not wanting to be left behind. He and Ino walked at a rather fast pace, the fog of thick smoke came closer and harder to see through as they walked through it. Ino coughed and waved her hand in front of her face, trying to brush away the annoying smoke. Sasuke did the same, but with less fuss, he inhaled the air deeply and fell to the ground wheezing and coughing. Ino sighed and patted him on the back "Baka… don't inhale the smoke… it dangerous…" she spoke in a way that only a mother could.
"Yeah… Yeah…" Sasuke muttered, wiping the ashes off his lip with his sleeve
Ino helped Sasuke to his feet, wanting it or not, he reluctantly rose to his feet and mumbled his gratitude, Ino smiled and nodded. Sasuke coughed a little, forgetting Ino's warning about not breathing in the flying ash, Ino sent him a soft glare each time she saw him breathe throughout his mouth. She truly was like his mother… in a sisterly kind of way… (A.N: Aw… come on! We all have people like that! Oh… Im getting all teary-eyed… GROUP HUG!! (forces everyone into hug))
Ino looked down and saw the path became grass, that wasn't to far off from entering the forest. Sasuke looked up and noticed the cars, ambulances, fire trucks and a few police cars all piled up in front of the burning trees. Firemen were at ready with their hoses, waiting for the other men to tire out, so they could be replaced with ease. Policemen were watching over the blaze and casually supervising the firemen who were bravely risking their lives to find any trapped people.
Sasuke hurriedly walked over, with Ino tagging behind, and tapped on an officer's shoulder. The tall man in blue attire turned around and smiled at Sasuke, "What can I help you with kiddo?" (A.N: Sorry… My friend's dad is a cop and he calls me 'kiddo')
"Have you retrieved any people from the fire yet?" He clinged on to the last bit of hope that was burning inside his cold shell of a body…
"Uhh… nope… don't think so…" He sighed and scratched the back of his head
Sasuke felt crestfallen, maybe Naruto had truly run away. Man, he had screwed up… He had royally screwed up. Ino placed a hand on his shoulder and patted it, she could feel the boy's sadness… "There's a chance… he could still be in there…"
"Yeah… But… I should keep my promise and help you look for Sakura…" Oh how he loathed Sakura… but he didn't want to go back on his promise… Ino gave him a sympathetic smile "You sure?"
Sasuke nodded silently, he shoved his hands deep into his pockets and turned on his heel, you could feel his sadness leaking off his body… Ino bit her lip and walked after the Uchiha. Ino froze in mid-step, she finally had recognized where she had seen that name…
'Naruto… is… that diclonius…?'
xXx
Naruto hissed as a hot piece of fiery wood landed atop his hand, the whole forest was lit up like an overly decorated Christmas tree. The trees were all withered, black and still burning, and the smoke pillowed out heavily in a big, black fog. Only the fresh fire that would randomly lean on his untouched flesh would hurt… the rest of his body had gone into a state of numbness. Naruto had no tears left to cry; he would've sworn they had been all burnt away.
He carefully opened his eyes, the ashes of trees and smoke tickled his eyelashes. The forest was now like a big smudge of red, orange and yellow, Naruto's blurry eyesight could barely make out the tree that was squashing and burning his back, legs and arm. Naruto grunted and tried to wriggle out from beneath the tree's heavy body, he couldn't find the strength right now, in his still partially frightened state, to pull himself free.
He could still feel the cold rain running across his bare feet, Naruto choked on the thick smoke surrounding his face. He painfully slid his fingers out from beneath the tree that had recently fallen on his free hand; he sorely wiped away the soot that was coating his eyes. Why wasn't he still unconscious? He hadn't bared pain this much since he was a child… he wanted to die… all he was, was a burden to the only one he had cherished… Sasuke.
Naruto ran his free hand over his singed hair, turning the ends a nice chestnut brown. He stopped to where he horn was… he felt the heat beginning to make it crack and splinter… It would be only a short amount of time before it would break from the ever-burning fire around him, he traced his fingers over to the other horn seemed perfectly fine… besides the fact it was white hot… it was fine.
Naruto scrunched his nose in disgust; he could smell Sakura's hair burning… it was disgusting to say the least. Naruto kept his stress-free façade for as long as he could keep it there, but it was starting to falter a bit…
"Sasuke… I… I… I'm sorry…" Naruto breath was hitched, ever since they had found him… all he was, was a burden…
Naruto closed his eyes and tried to let himself slip into the dark abyss that was his fate… death. The crackling wood was the only possible sound that surrounded his ears; he felt reality slowly slipping away… the darkness was slowly consuming his senses. Naruto heard his horn snap, the heat was too severe and had broken the already cracked bone. Naruto let out a childish wail of pain; he felt the blood trickle down his hot face and rollover his cheek.
'Over here!' It was the distant call of someone… most likely male…
Naruto opened his eyes into little slits; a blurry figure approached him and carefully began to pull him out from beneath the tree. Two more blurred figures came over; they counted to '3' and heaved the tree up as high as they could manage. The man, who had Naruto, pulled him out gently from the tree; before the others dropped it back down with a strained sigh.
"Eh…?" Naruto felt himself being hoisted up on to the strangers back, "Why… are you help…ing… me…?"
The fireman slowly deciphered Naruto's soft and cracking voice, "Because that's what we do! We help and look at for people…!"
"…Ari…gatou…" He whispered before he fell unconscious on the man's back
"There's some one else… h-h-here…" one of the other two men controlled himself not to scream at the sight before him
Sakura's eyes had melt through the back of her head, her pink locks were singed and was burnt all the way to just below her ears and her face was still peeling and burning away with the fire. "We should leave her here… she'll most likely crumble to pieces if we try to move her body…"
The other man nodded as they continued to search through the foggy terrain.
xXx
"They found someone!" Yelled a tall man in a fireman suit, covering his mini microphone and speaker head set, so he wouldn't yell into it
"Sasuke!" Ino screamed, Sasuke slowly tilted his head to look at her… god was he depressed.
"…What…?" his reply was long and drawn out, he was off in his own little world and didn't here the announcement
"They've found someone!!" Ino yelled, running up and taking him by the wrist they ran to the scene. As soon as Ino stopped running, Sasuke had managed to slip his wrist out of her grasp and tackle the nearest formal man. Ino yelped and began to try and pry Sasuke of the scared man.
"Where is the person they found?! ANSWER ME!" Sasuke screamed shaking the man's shoulders
"Sasuke…" Ino cooed, pulling away from the tormented man "Where is the person they have found…?"
They slight shaken man stood up and dusted off the back of his, now, soggy and mud-covered pants while sending a glare in the raven-haired boy's way, Sasuke noticed and sent him a death glare which obviously set him straight. "They are coming now…" He turned his head and shouted off in the different direction "get the ambulance ready!"
Ino and Sasuke waited patiently… well at least Ino was… She had to keep silencing every one of the dark-haired man's outbursts. Sasuke perked up at the sound of distant rustling, a man in a clad of orange and black appeared from behind the tree's and smoke. They could barely make out what color his skin was, let alone who he had been carrying on his back.
Sasuke beamed at the sight, he could never mistake that lush golden hair. Ino smiled as he ran up to the fireman, she fixed her eyes on the fact the diclonius only had one horn… She eagerly approached the two other firemen who were retreating out from the forest. One was comforting the other; his skin was pale and his eyes wide and dull, like he had just seen a ghost… or something close to it. Ino feared the worse…
"Excuse me…" She whispered to the men, the un-shaken man looked down at her with a questioning gaze "Yes…?"
"W-was… there anyone else in that forest…" The two men exchanged worried looks, Ino blinked away her tears hoping it wasn't true… the smaller one mouthed 'pink-hair' and Ino broke down crying "No… S-S-Sakura!!!" she felt to the ground in a large heap, Sakura was dead… and too them… they thought she had been burnt alive…
Sasuke eagerly hoped in ambulance with the unconscious blonde, Sasuke bit his lip and ran his hair through Naruto's blonde hair. Scars and indents were prominent all over his skin… Sasuke delicately ghosted his fingers over Naruto's burnt body. Naruto's breathing was hitched and uneven due to the pain he had to withstand, Sasuke wiped away an invisible tear and took an incredibly wavered breath.
Sasuke looked out at Ino one last time before the doors closed, he could tell straight away… Sakura was dead… Sasuke couldn't help but feel a little bit sympathetic towards those who could actually stand to be around her. Like Ino for instance (sp?), she wasn't rotten nor spoiled like Sakura… but he felt awful that she had lost her best friend.
Sasuke stood up and leaned up to the small window in the back door, Ino looked at him and forced herself to smile and wave. Sasuke waved and let a small smile play upon his lips. He mouthed her a 'thank you' before the ambulance steered its way out of sight.
xXxGaara winced and held his foot, the had been walking for at least a good solid 3-4 days… he was eating up time because he was afraid of what Kakashi would do if he had comeback empty handed. Gaara shuddered at the merely thought, the first time it was a mere no dinner ban… but it got worse each time he disobeyed an order, he remembered getting whipped 4 times from trying to escape. Gaara can still hear the terrifying crack of the whip when it hit his bare flesh.
Gaara shook his head and tried to relax, at least he wasn't sleeping out in the rain like he had seen a few homeless people doing while he was walking. He snuggled into his thin and soggy shirt, trying to get as much warmth as he could possibly get. He closed his mint eyes in hope to get some sleep for once… he hasn't slept well since he was 5, only getting around 2-3 hours sleep a day…
Loud footsteps caused Gaara too look up, his seafoam eyes pierced with cream ones "What do you want Neji-kun?"
Neji lowered his eyes at him, completely ignoring the question "…Why are you out here?"
Suspicion rose at the question but Gaara didn't bother to worry about it "Do you think a freak like me would have some place to go?"
"I don't think you're a freak…" Neji mumbled, looking away "to be honest… I like your horns…"
Gaara let a small smirk play upon his lips as he could see Neji's cheeks heating up; Gaara wobbly stood up and kissed Neji on the cheek. Neji abruptly pushed himself away and sent Gaara a soft glare, he wouldn't deny it… he did enjoy Gaara kissing him… "Really? Aww… that's sweet…" Gaara chuckled evilly
Neji refused to make eye contact when he spoke "…you can stay at my house…"
Gaara smiled and nodded, pulling the brunette into a hug. Gaara wasn't much for friendly contact, but he would maybe make an exception for Neji… maybe. Neji tried to push away and sent the redhead a playful smirk, Gaara returned his smirk and kissed him harshly. His cold lips caressed Neji's warm ones as their tongues battled for dominance, Gaara won in the end after Neji gasped for air. Gaara pulled back and smirked as he admired his work; Neji's lips were red and swollen from the heated kiss they had just shared.
"Neji… I think… I just might love you…" Gaara's voice seemed to get a bit raspy at the end, most likely from embarrassment
"I think… I love you too Gaara…" Neji looked away, it was a bit too embarrassing for him to admit without a blush… so hey! Cut him some slack!
Gaara smirked; he adored how deliciously his name rolled off his tongue. 'Is this… what it feels like…?'
Neji blushed and took Gaara's hand as they walked '…to be loved…?'
HOLY CHEESE ON CRACKERS!!! God… this chapter is so… boring… I didn't mean to put Ino in here! But when I had almost finished, I realized I had already used her as an assistant of Kakashi… oh well, I had to twist the story a little for it to make sense… GASP I FINALLY PUT GAARA IN HERE Yay!!! A bit sappy and mushy but… OMG!!! I got an Uchiha symbol necklace yesterday! And a black hoodie with Gaara's kanji on it… (Dramatic swoon) I'm never taking it off… oh… and my bestie left today… (Sigh)
Love,
Sweet Tragedies