OTL I'm so sorry this took such a long time. I wrote this at a glacial pace. I lost inspiration to write so many times. I have an idea for where this story is going thankfully ^^ Thank The Bartemius Trilogy for getting my inspiration for writing back. I hope you enjoy this 10 page chapter xD
Naruto toyed with the fresh snow that he'd scooped up off the ground and laid on the table. It was melting fast, but he didn't care. He didn't really care about anything at that point of time. Sakura was a demon! The last of the snow melted and Naruto slouched down onto the table in a very bad mood. Around the circular table with Naruto sat Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura was babbling to Sasuke. Sasuke was eating breakfast while ignoring Sakura. Naruto was left out. Full stop.
He hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before but due to the new developments in his life, Naruto didn't feel hungry at all. In fact, he felt a little sick. Brushing the snow that had decided life as condensed water was too much and had turned back to water, Naruto pushed back from the table and stood.
"Cya later," Naruto muttered. Sasuke looked up, showing he hadn't and wasn't paying any attention whatsoever to Sakura.
"Hn. Don't die."
Naruto scowled at him and walked to the door that led into the cafeteria and eventually out of that too and back onto the main campus. Reaching the exit of the cafeteria itself, cold snow billowed into him as he opened the door, but he was grateful for this. It helped cool his head and mind and also set his priorities in order. But the first one stayed the same. Get the hell away.
Stepping out into the fresh snow, Naruto took a deep breath and struck out in a random direction. The cold air had done wonders to keep his temper from boiling over, but they were still in great disarray. Naruto stopped and found that he had walked his way up to the old cemetery, a recent addition to the ownership of the school but the actual cemetery was hundreds of years old. When Naruto had first come to the school, he had often sort out the quiet, silence that it provided, invariably making it his haunt. But in more recent months he had started to come here less and less after he had made friends with more of his classmates, they not being so quick to judge this year than last.
There was a solitary tree at the top of the hill, robbed of all its leaves at present, and Naruto made for it, threading through tombstones and ancient vases of flowers that had long lost their contents. While standing next to the tree at the height of the rising land, it was possible to see nearly the entire cemetery. Only a few of the oldest and most crumbling slabs of rock were hidden from sight as they lay within the forest that bordered the entire campus. It was the same forest that Naruto had ventured into the night before.
Naruto dispelled thought of the night before and dropped down to sit at the foot of the tree. The tree's trunk was fairly hard and rough, but Naruto's jacket kept him from the worst of it and he was able to sit there at ease and watch the small songbirds who twittered around the tombstones.
A chill suddenly ran down Naruto's back and he knew that someone was there with him. A few footsteps behind him confirmed his suspicions. Looking over his shoulder Naruto found someone behind him, but he was unable to see their face as the sun shone right behind them. The person moved a little so that they completely shut out the sun. Naruto recognized her.
"Naruto-kun."
"Oh, Hinata-chan," Naruto replied automatically. Of all the people at the school, despite the large amount of Japanese students, Hinata Hyuuga was the only person who still used Japanese honorifics. Naruto supposed that she probably came from a rich, influential family, and was taught these ways since a young age. But of course, he didn't know this for certain.
"What are you doing here, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she sat down next to Naruto, smoothing her skirt once she was settled. She was a very neat, shy sort of person. The year before she had been unable to speak to anyone due to her stuttering. But something had happened during the summer break and this year she was as eloquent as any native speaker, even though English was not her native tongue.
"No reason," Naruto replied. He'd always liked Hinata. Not in the same way as Sakura, but he did find it easy to talk to the purple head. They had first met on the first day in orientation, neither of them knowing what to do. Naturally, they had stuck together that first day. "What are you doing here?"
"No reason," Hinata replied back, smiling. Naruto smirked and returned to gazing at the birds.
"Have you ever felt jealous?" he asked suddenly. Normally, he would never ask anyone this question, but this was Hinata he was talking to. She would never tell anyone.
"I suppose so. Why this so sudden?"
Naruto kept his eyes on the tombstones when he replied, trying to keep the lie out of his tone.
"No reason," he said, recycling Hinata's response to his question from before. He nearly smirked when he caught the calous expression pointed at him. "What?" She turned away from him and drew her legs up, hugging them under her chin. From her new sitting position Naruto was able to observe her more easily. Her hair was longer than it had been before the summer and she had definitely filled out more. Oh shut up.
A bird twittering around one broken tombstone, suddenly took flight, alerting his flock to some unknown threat. Naruto watched them with vague interest as the swarm took to the skies and circled a few times in it before flying over his head and away to the other side of the school. What had spooked them?
"You're not very happy right now are you?"
Naruto's eyes widened and he became glad that Hinata's back was turned to him so that she didn't see him wince.
"Not too happy, but surviving," he offered. "Are you going anywhere with that question?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Hinata had now turned back to face him, now lying back against the tree.
"You just don't seem like your happy-bumbling-self today, that's all," she said, looking him straight in the eye. "It's got something to do with Sakura-chan, hasn't it?" Naruto's face betrayed him before he could spit out a retort. Hinata laughed as his red face. "Don't even try to lie about it," she said, "Those rosy cheeks of yours have already told me the story."
"Hmph." Naruto pouted and turned away. He dug his hands into the snow, got them thoroughly cold then slapped them to his cheeks in an effort to get them back to their normal complexion. It didn't work as well as he thought, and in the end he just got a cold face.
"Naruto," a small voice said. Naruto looked up at Hinata automatically at the call of his name. "I know you already know this, but you can tell me anything. I promise I won't tell a soul. Living or dead." Naruto's lip twitched slightly into a smile at her last point.
"I know," he replied, stretching and getting to his feet. Hinata looked a little alarmed at his sudden change of posture. "Don't worry, little Hina-chan, I'm not going to leave a cute little girl to the ghosts in the cemetary."
Hinata smiled, her smile reaching her eyes making the area to the sides of her light eyes wrinkle in reaction. Naruto grinned back. It was always very calming to talk to Hinata.
"It has got something to do with Sakura," Naruto said, not daring to look at the purple head girl sitting next to him. Instead he again looked out at where the birds had been. What had scared them? He could see nothing which could have done so. "Actually, it is about Sakura." He paused and hazarded a glance at Hinata. She was smiling as sweetly as before, but Naruto sensed a sort of triumph emanating out of her. He sighed. "I'm just jealous that's all," he said finally.
"Of someone who seems to have secured Sakura-chan's affections?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at the high level of English used to address the statement, but made no comment of it.
"Yeah." Naruto suddenly deflated and sat back down on the ground. Heart break was never a very rational experience. "Turns out she's known the guy for years and she-" here Naruto nearly blurted out what he had been so shocked to find out that morning. But a certain measure of self restraint within him stopped him from speaking this truth. What would Hinata react like if I told her that Sakura's a... anyway.
"Does he like her? Or is it a girl that you feel jealous of?"
"Nah, nah, it's a guy," Naruto said hastily. If there was one thing that scared him more than demons, it was girl on girl love. It made chills go down his back just thinking about it. "Definitely a guy." A sudden image of Sasuke spouted in his head. "A very annoying, thickheaded guy..." Hinata laughed.
"Yes, you're very jealous." Naruto scowled and hugged his knees to his chest.
"It's not my fault..." he started to say, mumbling into his trousers. Hinata sighed.
"Well, to tell you the brutal truth, it kind of is," she said, raising a hand to rest on Naruto's shoulder.
"How come? I didn't ask Sasuke to come here," he said, but quickly closed his mouth and guiltily looked away. In a way he had asked Sasuke here. In a way. Kind of. It's not like he'd meant it! It was all because of that darn script's fault; putting ways to summon demons in it. As if no one would try.
"I'm not sure how to explain to you why it's your fault, but I can tell you this," Hinata said. Naruto looked up as she paused, waiting on baited breath for what she was going to say next. "You have only two options: one is to continue to sit here and mope about your problems, pretending that you're the victim-" here she raised a hand to silence Naruto who han opened his mouth to protest "- even if you think you really are the victim. Or, two, you can stand up, brush yourself off, and do something about it."
"Like what?"
"Like stealing the girl back." Naruto's mouth formed a small 'o' as understanding dawned on him as to what Hinata was saying.
"I see, I see," he said, dropping a fist into his other open hand. Hinata smiled again.
"Precisely," she said, rising to her feet. She brushed the snow off her clothes and slightly swished her hair to get the white powder out of that too. She looked up at Naruto as he was nearly one and a half heads taller than her, and grinned. "I'll see you around then," she said happily and skipped away, a confident smile upon her lips. Naruto chuckled at her departure. She could be such a hopeless romantic sometimes. But he really felt that her words had been true and that he should probably follow them. Probably.
Naruto sighed and slid back down the tree again, bringing his hands up behind his head to make a cushion against the tree's hard bark. Looking out upon the cemetery around him he found that none of the birds had returned. And now looking closely, he found that even small, worthless insects had chosen to withdraw from their usual activities above ground and instead opt to stay it at home. Naruto frowned. He wasn't much of a naturalist person, someone who looked at nature and divined from them, but he knew something would have to be wrong if all life around him had retreated back into a safe place.
A slight chilling ran down the blonde's back. He had the suddenly feeling that bloodthirsty eyes were locked onto him. He spun and looked hard at the forest to his left. He saw nothing move. Naruto gulped and stood again, jumping up and down slightly to get more blood circulating around his body to warm himself up. But though his body was warm, he felt cold. Even chilled.
A twig snap behind him. He whirled around, stepping back from the tree when he saw what stood on the other side of it.
Behind the tree stood or hovered, he couldn't tell, was a collosal beast. At least as tall as a three cars stacked upon each other and that many cars long, the thing had the head of a lion, it's muzzle more elongated like a dog's. Its mouth hung open, its tongue lolling side to side in its huge maw, saliva spindling down from the jagged protrusions of bone Naruto presumed were teeth. The creature's body was scaled in dark purple scales, taut muscles rippling under its belly and neck where the scales failed to cover. A rope swung around and Naruto found that the creature had a tail that had a stinger placed at the end like a scorpion's.
A single thought flashed in Naruto's mind. Demon. The thing took a gigantic step forward, crushing the tree with cruel talons of eagles, and Naruto took a few hasty steps back from it, tripping in his fear. He hit the ground hard, but he hardly noticed it. His breaths were coming faster now, and he could feel his chest rising and falling as adrenaline pumped through his veins.
Naruto bit in a hard breath and jumped to his feet. Turning away from the monster Naruto ran with all his life. There was a slight slope down to the tombstones he had earlier been looking at with much calm, and it now served as a way to increase his speed. He could feel the thing was close to him as he reached the edge of the cemetery where it sprouted stones. He leaped over a few, threading between others, trying to make it to the forest. Something told him that if he was able to make it to the dense wood that seemed to determined from letting him reach it, the thing chasing would not be able to follow. The thought of it being too large to fit built his confidence. Naruto took it and ran with all his might. But as fast as he ran the beast was still closing in on his heels.
Risking a glance over his shoulder Naruto saw that it was only a few metres away from him, loping easily over the tombstones, crushing some unfortunate ones on the way. Naruto suppressed a scream and ran even harder, nearly tripping in his ecstasy to be rid of his pursuer.
A dark shadow suddenly blotted out the ground directly in front and around him. On instinct Naruto threw himself to the side, crashing up against the decapitated trunk of a long deceased tree. Quickly rolling to his feet, he looked back and saw the beast's enormous clawed paw mauling the ground where he had just been moments earlier. Naruto gulped and looked around for the forest. It was on the other side of the beast.
Almost in response to his gaze, the creature turned its evil incarnate head on Naruto and started to advance towards him. Naruto, still keeping his eyes on the beast, recoiled and crashed again into the stump he had thrown himself into earlier. Again he picked himself up and backed away. But he knew that it was no use. The creature was already so close he could smell its disgusting breath of rotting bodies and blood. Naruto nearly gagged.
Looking up Naruto saw that it had now drawn back its colossal paw, talons and all, and was about to make the final strike. There was no way Naruto could survive a collision with a truck going at 200 miles an hour, then there was no way he could survive this thrashing. It was the end.
The claws stopped drawing back to the sky, blocking the sun out, having reached its optimum height for maximum damage. The creature took in a wheezing breath and the claws came down.
–
Darkness overwhelmed him. Blood splattered around him. Something pressed Naruto to the ground, but strangly he felt no pain. He opened his eyes, black hair brushing his face, and found that someone was holding him down, protecting him from the creature's attack.
"Sasuke..." Naruto gasped. The demon moved away from him and stood up, turning to face the foe. His back was torn up and bleeding. Naruto stared at the blood dripping down, then keeled over as sharp knives seemed to stab into his own. Something Sasuke had said earlier spiked up in his mind. Our lifelines are connected. Again he looked up and found that the other was staring down at him, his eyes burning red.
"Are you alright?"
Naruto nearly chuckled at this ludicrous question.
"Are you alright is what I should be asking," he replied. Sasuke offered him a hand. Taking it Naruto got to his feet, just in time to see the beast launch another attack. "Look-"
The beast lunged forward and came just feet away when it suddenly stopped, right in mid air. Naruto tore his eyes away from the thing to look as Sasuke. The demon had his arm stretched out, a clawed hand out before him, just inches away from the beast's nose. A kind of liquid mist had formed around the monster, trailing from Sasuke's hand, making a sort of prison. He drew his hand back slightly then swung his arm. The ball of energy, monster and all, were flung hard into the trees lining the forest. Along the ground where they had flown over the ground was all mangled, bits of rock and rubble protruding from the ground at various angles. Around where the monster had landed a light fog of debris and dust encircled around, hiding the creature from view.
The mist suddenly cleared and the monster could be seen running towards them again. Its movements were now more wild and out of control, foam was throffing out of its mouth. Naruto flinched back. Even though Sasuke had been able to deflect the monster's last attack, Naruto somehow found it hard to believe that the demon could do it again. How could someone do it if what they were fighting was at least four times as tall and many many more times as long?
In almost a response to Naruto's doubts, Sasuke half turned to him.
"Just stay right here," he said. "I'll make sure it doesn't get to you." He turned back again and began to walk toward the charging monster.
"Wait!" Naruto dashed forward and grabbed the demon back by the wrist. "But what about you? Will you be okay?"
In response, a strange, pained expression crossed over Sasuke's face, but it was soon gone, replaced by a cocky smirk. Naruto then noticed black smoke-like markings curving around his face, coming up from his neck onto the left side of his face. His left eye went yellow.
"You forget I'm a demon of the highest rank. I'm not going to let such small fry beat me."
And he was gone. Naruto hadn't even felt Sasuke break his hold and he turned quickly to see where he had gone.
The creature had now crossed half the distance between it and him. It was about to make a giant leap, but it was stopped in mid air and then plunged down into the ground. The impact formed a gaping hole. Now that he was so far away, Sasuke appeared as a very small figure at the end of the monster's nose. He jumped off of it just as the monster stirred. Its whole body seemed to shake and a deafening growl emitted from between the gaps of its teeth.
At the horrid sound, Naruto flinched back again. The more he saw of the creature the more it repulsed him.
The ground shook a little and Naruto saw the monster rise up again, Sasuke standing before it. Again it roared. At the same time, it made a furious swipe for the demon, insanity in its eyes. Naruto nearly cried out in fear, but after the paw passed, there was no Sasuke there. Naruto looked around and caught a slight movement above the beast's head. He looked up. It was Sasuke.
Naruto looked again at the monster, trying to determine if it had found its prey. It had. Hissing, saliva scuttling out of its mouth, it rose up on its hind legs, jaws opened wide to gulp in its prey. But the opposite happened.
A whole lake of burning red fire suddenly poured down onto the monster. Engulfing it. Devouring it. Too surprised to react at first, the monster writhed in pain on the ground like a dying worm, its likeness to this small creature increasing in each second. In a matter of seconds the creature had shrunk to half its original size, still tossing and turning in the flames.
By this time Sasuke had made his way back to Naruto, but Naruto hadn't noticed. His eyes were riveted on the monster's cremation.
"Are you alright?"
Naruto snapped away from the flames to find Sasuke by his side. In some small corner of his mind he noticed that the black marks on Sasuke's face had disappeared, his eyes back to their original onyx black. Naruto nodded to the question, but he knew it looked more like a sudden seizure than a sign of confirmation. He cleared his throat.
"I'll be okay," he said. Sasuke nodded.
"We should go," he said, turning back toward the main school buildings. "Some more of those ghouls may come." He started to walk and Naruto jogged to catch up.
"Ghouls? That was a ghoul?" Naruto asked when he caught up. Again Sasuke nodded. "Was it a uhhh demon?"
"Sort of," Sasuke replied. "A ghoul is a bit like a sub division of demon. They're extremely weak with hardly any sort brainpower, so they're a bit more like animals than actual demons." Naruto shuddered. So there are some even more powerful...
"Why did it come?" Naruto asked, knowing that Sasuke probably did not know, but even if he did, he'd lie to hide the truth.
"It was on orders from a higher power."
"Higher power? What orders?" Naruto's mind was still swirling with names and terms from that morning, so he had trouble processing anything. Not to mention the incident just then. He suddenly became even more glad that there was no classes that day.
"Higher power as in an entity that can think and exert its authority over another, like that ghoul," Sasuke replied. They had just exited the cemetery and Naruto didn't know where they were going but they seemed to be heading for the largest school building. Why he had no idea. He hoped Sasuke knew.
"So like, another demon?" he asked, connections starting to form in his mind.
"Perhaps." Naruto pouted at Sasuke's lack of conviction. He was sure that the demon knew the answer and was just being a bastard and not telling him. He sighed. He might as well go about asking about his second question.
"Do you know what these orders were?" Naruto asked. To him, it just seemed like a random attack on a cemetery. He had just gotten in the way. Then Sasuke saved me... screw him, now I have to pay him back! Sasuke smirked, making it seem as though he knew what Naruto was thinking. This ticked the blonde off.
"You're so easy to read," the demon said, turning away, the smirk still on his face. Naruto reddened.
"At least I'm open like that," Naruto retorted. "You always act like there's a chip on your shoulder." He regretting saything that as soon as it left his mouth. Sasuke stopped but didn't turn back.
"I don't care what others think of me," he said shortly. It was well hidden, but Naruto heard the lie and hurt in the demon's voice. He then started to walk again, this time more quickly.
Rooted to the spot, Naruto couldn't make himself move as he watched Sasuke's retreating maimed back. Why had he said that? Looking down he found a small rock near his foot. He kicked it.
Shit! Sasuke disappeared around the corner of the building and Naruto finally found the strength to move again. Taking off at a run, he ran to the building and around the corner. But he found the other side deserted.
"What...?" Naruto looked around then ran in a random direction. He'd search the whole place to find the demon.
–
It took Naruto at least ten minutes to find the demon on the roof of the school. When he had burst out through the exit of the roof, he had collapsed to the ground. That was probably the only reason Sasuke hadn't immediately run again. Instead he had come over and helped Naruto.
"Dobe," he said while Naruto gained back his breath. "What are you running around the school for?" Naruto gulped down a few breaths before replying.
"Looking for you, you bastard," Naruto managed to squeeze out. Naruto stood up and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry for what I said before!"
There was a silence and Naruto looked up to try and gauge the demon's reaction. When Naruto looked up he found Sasuke's face was quite blank. He looked surprised, if anything. The side of his lip suddenly curled up and he started to laugh.
"W-what's so funny?!" Naruto demanded.
"You're just such an an idiot," Sasuke replied, smiling. Naruto scowled and Sasuke laughed again, but Naruto was glad of this. He then sat back down on the ground and continued to work off the oxygen debt he had built up as he had run around the school.
–
Naruto yawned and closed his workbook, pushing back from his table on his rolling chair. His pen was still in his hand and he twirled it. As it did light reflected off of it and bounced onto the wall making interesting patterns.
"You probably should get on with your work." Naruto turned slightly so he could see Sasuke. The demon was lying on his bed reading one of his textbooks.
"You would think that a demon would have other more important things to do, but no, apparently not," Naruto said drily, rolling back to his desk and continuing his work. It was something about Ultra Nationalism. Whatever that was. Sasuke chuckled behind him.
"Fine." Naruto heard his bed creak slightly and suddenly there was black hair brushing against his face. "What's the problem?" Naruto scowled at him and lifted the book up, trying to smack the prick in the face with it. Unfortunately a hand stopped him. Sasuke pulled the book out of Naruto's grasp and went back to the bed, sitting down as he read what was written on it. "Ultra Nationalism? That one?"
"Yeah," Naruto replied. He slouched down onto his table, crumpling up a few papers under him. A bird flew past his window and he followed its flight until it disappeared into a tree. He watched the tree for a few minutes before giving up on seeing it again, instead turning back to see how the demon was progressing in understanding his work. When he turned he found that Sasuke had fallen asleep, lightly clutching the book so that it didn't fall to the ground.
A few seconds passed while Naruto got past the shock of a demon sleeping. He must be tired from fighting... that would make sense. When he had finally got passed it, he rose silently and tiptoed over to get his book back. He touched the book and Sasuke's eyes flew open.
"Sorry," he muttered getting up. He held out the book.
"Thanks," he said, taking it. He returned to his table and set the book down on it. "You wanna take a nap?" Sasuke shook his head.
"I'm o-" he started to say, but a knock at the door interrupted him. Naruto's head jerked to the door so he didn't see Sasuke stand and hurry to the window, only the opening of the latch told him something had happened behind him. He turned slightly to find Sasuke half out the window. He was about to call out to him but the demon put a finger to his lips. Naruto bit back and instead went to the door. Again the person on the other side of it knocked, this time more impatiently.
"Coming, coming," Naruto called as he flicked the catch on the door. He opened the door, nearly banging it into whoever was on the other side. "Oh, hey Kiba," Naruto said with fake calm. He was actually more concerned whether Sasuke had made it out of the window yet. Or rather, where he was planning to go when outside of it. Outside Naruto's window was a sheer drop down to the ground. No window sills to use as hand holds.
"Heya Naruto," Kiba said jubilantly. He was grinning widely which made Naruto feel suddenly suspicious.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. Kiba laughed.
"I live here too, you know," he said.
"Not in my room you don't," Naruto shot back.
"Wake up on the wrong side of bed or something?" Kiba asked. Naruto scowled at him.
"Something like that..." he replied, thoughts of the monster slipping into his mind.
"Haha. Alright then," Kiba said as he leaned against the door frame. "Were you talking to someone? I thought I heard your voice..."
"Nah. I was just talking to myself," Naruto prattled on, trying to sound convincing. He waved a hand through his hair in his agitation. He was unused to lying. He had lied a lot last year, but he had talked to so little people this year he had become out of practice. Might as well get some practice now then, he thought to himself. "So you slept over at Hinata's dorm last night?" Kiba went red.
"Uhh no," he said quickly. "I ended up sleeping over at Kankuro's with Gaara. The project took longer to finish than we thought."
"Ah I see..."
"Well, I have to meet Hinata at the cafeteria... so..."
"I'll see you then," Naruto said quickly, smiling.
"Yeah..."
Naruto said goodbye to Kiba and closed the dividing door, his hand still on the doorknob. Noticing this, he let go and walked to his bed, standing in front of it, but not facing it. Instead he faced his wall.Having to hide Sasuke away whenever someone comes makes me feel like a small girl hiding her prince charming away in the cupboard. A cupboard was all that stood against the wall, that and his bag.
Wait! Why am I the girl? Sasuke should be the girl! He has longer hair than me, and his eyelashes are really long too... Naruto flopped backwards onto his bed. Some dust that had accumulated since the beginning of the day exploded up into the air, making Naruto cough slightly. The bed was soft but the mattress underneath was just a piece of hardboard, which created a strange sensation when he lay on it. Naruto curled up on his right side and hugged his pillow to his chest. Why am I thinking something like this...? It makes it sound as if... His eyes drooped and he was asleep, his chest falling up and down slowly against the pillow.
The blinds that clothed the sides of the window billowed a little in an invisible breeze, a figure dropping through them. Landing lightly on the floorboards they straightened, the wings on their back flexing then drawing back into a closed position. White feathers fell to the floor, making no noise as they landed.
Naruto flinched somewhat as arms wrapped around him and picked him up off his bed, but he did not wake. The pillow fell from his arms, making a small thud when it hit the floor. And they were gone, the only hints of what had happened were snow white feathers on the ground and the billowing curtains.
Man. It took longer to correct all the spelling mistakes than to write the A/N at the beginning (my spelling = epic phail, spellcheck on the other hand is full of win). So incase you don't understand, Naruto just got kidnapped by a 'figure' with 'snow white wings' xD I wonder who....? Seriously. Please review and tell me who you think it was!!
