Tainted embrace

Hey! Thanks for all the reviews and faves, 2 more for the next chapter again please. I apologise for any spelling or grammar mistakes.

A.N. Warning, this chapter does contain yaoi, violence and it's a little sad. Oh, and italics means that's someone's thoughts or emphasis.

Enjoy!

Chapter 6 - Recovery

It all made sense. The pieces of the puzzle came together with a snap. The evidence was obvious, and it had been in front of them all that time. Only none of them realised it. But Naruto had. And he had tried to tell them. Back in the Hokage's office when they had the meeting... Sasuke struggled to remember what the blonde had said.

'The killings... they coincide with-' And then he broke off, clutching his head in pain before blacking out.

Now Sasuke knew what the end of the sentence was; the killings coincide with his dreams. His dreams of the Kyubi. But now he knew the dreams weren't all they seemed to be. Sasuke mulled over it for a moment before he realised what they truly were. Whenever Naruto had a dream, there was a murder, and then the next day he would either have a black out or be sick. He remembered finding Naruto in the kitchen on the floor the day after the first killing. Naruto had said his second black out was different, that his body moved on it's own, and that it felt like someone was putting him to sleep, and the second victum was killed minutes later. After the last murder Naruto had been violently ill. Sasuke thought for a moment as to why this would be happening to him. He remembered the reports saying the victims had their chakra absorbed until their life was drained too. That must be it. The men's chakra had been in the blonde's system, and his body was rejecting it. The murderer was the Fox.

The Kyubi gave Naruto the dreams to mask his actions; he had been taking over the blonde while he was unconscious. This sudden control over the blonde also must mean that the seal that kept the Fox inside Naruto was failing, and quickly. But for how long exactly had the Fox been planning this? And since when did he get so much control over Naruto? The demon could have been waiting for months, even years to get a chance at some sort of freedom. If his conscience was over taking the blonde's, what was happening to Naruto's? And why was the Fox attacking only certain shinobi? And why take their chakra if his host was just going to reject it? All Sasuke knew was Naruto was gone, and the Fox was once again in charge of his body.

Sasuke bolted from his house, following the trail of chakra the Kyubi had left behind as fast as he could. It wasn't hard, the chakra leaked out all over the place, giving him a clear direction. He tried to calm his breathing as he felt panic rise within him. The buildings flashed past him in a blur, and his legs were starting to throb from the sudden fast movements filled with tension. The Uchiha rounded a corner and almost crashed into two figures. He stopped for a moment and found he was facing Shikamaru and Iruka. They were both out of breath. He was about to ignore and move around them when his old classmate spoke.

"Where's Naruto?"

Sasuke froze. He knew. "That's where I'm heading now, we can talk on the way, lets go." The Uchiha started running again, the others following closely. "How did you figure it out?" he asked Shikamaru.

"I was looking at reports of battles and found all three men had survived one in particular. The battle was that of when the Kyubi attacked Konoha, when the Fourth sealed the Fox inside a babe. Then I realised the murders coincided with Naruto's black outs or sudden illness, and he tried to tell us earlier today, but the Fox stopped him."

Sasuke nodded. That made sense; maybe the reason the Kyubi had killed those men was because of revenge. "The Fox takes over Naruto's body when he's unconscious, and leaves behind dreams to cover himself. Naruto's been having the dreams for weeks now. The seal has weakened and the Fox isn't healing him any more. Now he's in control of Naruto's body again."

"So we'll be up against the Fox then?" Iruka asked as the trio turned another corner.

"Yes, his chakra is everywhere."

"You recognise his chakra?" Shikamaru asked with a raised eyebrow.

"After being around Naruto so long, I got used to both their chakras to the extent I can follow a trail. That's what I'm doing now," Sasuke said.

The three men came to a sudden halt as they turned into another street. Meters away, was a hooded figure, wearing a long, dark red jacket; just like the description. Two shinobi stood rooted to the spot in front of it, both filled with fear as dark chakra held them up. Sasuke silently apologised to his lover as he drew a shurikan and threw it at the figure. The shurikan was right on aim, but suddenly stopped in the air as the dark chakra darted up around the figure like a shield. It's face turned towards the new comers, and Sasuke felt the stab of annoyance in it's gaze.

The dark haired shinobi slowly walked forwards, and felt the bloodlust and hate radiating from the figure. "Sorry to interrupt you, but it seems you've been abusing a body that doesn't belong to you."

The figure turned towards him fully, a cold laughter coming from the hood. It sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't believe that voice was coming from his lover. "Uchiha..." it said menacingly. The dark chakra flared and the two shinobi dropped to the floor. For a moment Sasuke thought they were dead, but saw their chests rise and fall slowly.

"Why are you doing this? Absorbing these men's chakra? They might have survived the battle where you attacked this village, but why take their chakra like that if it's just rejected?" Sasuke asked.

"Do you really want to know?" the cold voice said again. "How about I show you?"

The figure slowly reached up and grasped it's hood. Sasuke felt like stepping back, fearing what his lover would look like under the Kyubi's influence. The figure pulled down the red hood and Sasuke visible flinched backwards. The face he once knew as Naruto had been turned into a demonic mirror image. His eyes were blood red and full of dreadful amusement, the whites turned black, and they pierced right through Sasuke's soul. They were outlined in black too, the corners spreading out to his hairline. His canines were long and sharp as he smiled with evil mirth. The whisker marks that were unique to his lover had darkened considerably, making him look more wild-like. His once blonde hair had darkened to a deep redish brown; the colour of the Kyubi's fur. It had lengthened too. It came down passed his neck and spiked out from his parting. Deadly claws tipped his fingers, and his skin had darkened. His body was more muscled, and he was now half a head taller than Sasuke.

"As you know the seal on this body stops me from escaping. It reduces my influence on the boy. I can't weaken it by pure force of my chakra. So I take chakra from these lowly men, and use that instead of my chakra to attack and weaken the seal. Eventually, I will gain complete control, and it will result in my freedom."

The Kyubi smiled, and Sasuke shivered at how extreme the situatuion was. If the seal was breaking, Naruto would die. He would lose him forever. Then the Fox would be free of its prison, and take it's full revenge on the world, not just Konoha. By how bad Naruto had been feeling lately, Sasuke could guess the Fox wasn't too far from it's goal.

"I chose these men simply because... it's fun. They thought they won against me nineteen years ago, but they're wrong... Don't fret, I know you worry for your mate, but his pain will be over soon, as will yours. The last of the great Uchihas. For so long your clan has brought me nothing but trouble."

This wasn't news to Sasuke. He knew from that time when he was with Orochimaru and Naruto attempted a rescue, when he entered his lover's mind and met the Fox for the first time, the Kyubi had mentioned something similar back then. The Fox had said something about his accursed sharingan, and his forsaken ancestry, and that Sasuke had the ability to suppress the Kyubi's power. Wait - why didn't he do that again? Enter the blonde's mind where the Fox is kept and try something there? But the Fox's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"It wont be long now, but I want to take the pleasure of watching you and your mate suffer a little more, so I'm going to let the full effects of these killings take form," the Kyubi said. Sasuke frowned; he was confused. What did the Fox mean? Before his very eyes the Kyubi started to transform, the smile never leaving it's face. His hair shortened and returned to its natural blonde state; his eyes faded into deep blue orbs; his teeth and claws decreased in size, and the whiskers thinned out. The figure before them shrunk slightly in size, and Naruto stood before them once again. His lover's eyes became distant and dull as dozens of cuts spread over his body, and blood poured from his wounds. With a shudder, Naruto collapsed in a heap.

"Is this really necessary?" Sasuke asked as he helped Naruto over to the bed. He had the blonde's arm over his shoulder, his own arm wrapped around his slim waist.

After the blonde had collapsed, his wounds had started to slowly heal as if they hadn't, the loss of blood would be too great and the Fox would die too. Sasuke had immediately taken the unconscious blonde to Tsunade, and found Sakura there as well doing some late night work. At first, the two women had thought Naruto had been attacked by the killer, his cuts looking very similar to the other victims to a lesser extent. After the Uchiha waved away their questions, the two medical shinobi had finsihed the healing process and enquired into how he had got them. Shikamaru and Sasuke gravely told them that they figured out who the killer was, and the women gasped in shock when they revealed the Kyubi had taken over Naruto's body. They told the whole story, not leaving anything out.

It was now after midnight, and Naruto was half way between waking. Sasuke lay him down on the bed, his ordeal having left him severely weak and drained. Upon hearing the Fox was influencing Naruto, Tsunade had decided to take the blonde to a secure facility. When they arrived, Sasuke was a little angered to find this 'facility' was underground, and each room was separated by metal bars, just like a prison. He didn't like the image this brought to his mind; Naruto wasn't the murderer, the Kyubi was. But the blonde was going to suffer for it, just like the Fox had said.

"Don't worry Sasuke, I'm not arresting him or anything. These cells have special bars that inhibit the use of chakra. If the Kyubi can't use it's chakra, he can't take over Naruto," the hokage assured him, coming into the cell along with Sakura, Shikamaru and Iruka.

Sasuke sat by the blonde's side on the edge of the bed, looking at the others in the cell. "What now though? I mean, Naruto can't stay in here forever. The minute he steps out, the Fox'll take over. And if the village find out it was the Kyubi, they'll shun Naruto just like they did when he was younger. They'll blame him for the three murders he didn't commit!" Sasuke shouted, his anger boiling dangerously close to the surface. Right now he wanted to hit something.

"Quiet teme, you're too loud," a soft voice whispered behind him. He turned to see Naruto looking at him, and Sasuke was filled with relief and sympathy. The once happy look in his bright, blue eyes had turned to one of guilt. This was what Sasuke feared most. He knew Naruto would blame himself, saying he could have tried to stop the Kyubi, or if he had realised what was going on earlier the men wouldn't be dead. Sasuke gave him a soft smile, relieved that he wasn't being violently ill.

"I don't mind staying here for a while, it'll help me get my strength back," the blonde told him, but Sasuke still didn't like it.

"I had something else in mind other than keeping Naruto here," Tsunade said, bringing everyone's attention to her. "We six are the only one's who know it was the Kyubi who killed the shinobi, and I intend to keep it that way. First, we need to fix the problem about the Fox taking control."

"How are we going to do that?" Sakura asked the older woman.

The Hokage turned to Sasuke, giving him an intensive stare. "You will go on a mission, and bring back a certain frog hermit."

"Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked, slowly sitting up and leaning against the brick wall. He was still pale and tired looking, but his mind was at peace; he didn't feel the Fox's presence. He was relieved.

Jiraiya had left the village again after Orochimaru and the all Akatsuki where defeated three years ago. After Sasuke had returned at the age of sixteen, Kakashi took over the team's training again. The frog hermit had said because of Naruto's training, he hadn't done as much work on his latest series and so was off to 'gather information'. During the time Naruto spent with him, they had travelled to many different places all over the land. Simply thinking of the places they went to made Naruto moan. Jiraiya could be anywhere.

"Yes. I'm afraid I'm not the best at curse seals, but Jiraiya will be able to strengthen the seal and keep the Fox at bay. The only thing is I don't know exactly where he is. It wont be a matter of going to him and bringing him back. You'll have to search for him."

"But that will take ages, and Naruto will be stuck here!" Sasuke complained, a deep frown on his forehead.

"It may take some time, but I do happen to know Jiraiya was last seen in a village in the Land of the Waterfall not three months ago. You can start there." Tsunade paused, an understanding look on her face. "I know this is hard, but it's the only safe way to go about this."

"She's right, Sasuke. I'll be fine here, so don't worry," Naruto said to him, resting a hand on his arm.

"What about the villagers? Now the killings have stopped they'll want to know what happened to the murderer," Iruka spoke up, and Shikamaru nodded in agreement.

"They will ask questions, so will the other shinobi. You could order the information top secret to deal with the them, and we might be able to convince the villagers that the murderer was caught, or even chased out the village and killed."

Tsunade slowly nodded. "It might just work. I'll get you the information you need to go on your mission," she said to the Uchiha. "And I'll post guards outside this room and say I have a patient in here with chakra problems that could be damaging to himself, so they wont suspect anything."

Sasuke and Naruto nodded. It was settled.

Again, if it gets confusing just ask, lol.

Please leave a review or more, thanks!

KCT