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(sweatdrops) This wasn't supposed to be a hard chapter to write… hell, it was easy, compared to some other stuff I've been working on. And yet, I got so stuck I had to get Twin1 to write the last half of it for me because I'd developed such an appalling block. So if the style of the story changes, sorry, but we did our best.

Dedicated to Twin1, for obvious reasons.

Warning: I have noticed that it's about here that I have stopped censoring the swearing. My apologies to anyone it offends, but this IS rated 'T'.

Eight: Through The Fire

"S-Sasuke?" I panted, eyes flickering around the chakra-enclosed space, trying to get my senses to get a grip on my surroundings and feeling freezing air wafting off the chakra that I could only sense as a wall of blurred energy. "I – I can't – it's solid, the sounds bounce, it's all a blur."

"Just stay close to me," he gasped out, stepping closer, his footsteps echoing against the stone and making my unsteady perception waver uncertainly. I couldn't pin down where I was or where our enemy was, couldn't even tell how big the dome was. It was disconcerting, more even than stepping blindly onto a road I didn't know, and I moved until I stood close at Sasuke's heels, straining my ears to try and hear something, anything, that would help.

How had things gotten so bad this quickly? One minute it was a fairly normal day – albeit weird, thanks to Sensei pulling us from tree-climbing to 'help guard Tazuna' – and the next, there was shock-cold mist everywhere, sticky blood slicking the floor, Zabuza at Kakashi-sensei's heels and another random ninja on me and Sasuke's!

"Just stick close," my friend repeated, his clothing shifting as he moved lower to the ground, me copying him straight away. "We're gonna be okay, Naruto, I promise. We'll be okay. Just hang in there."

His fingers brushed faintly against each other as he formed handseals, and his chakra began to flare out – "Goukaykyuu no Jutsu!"

Heat exploded all around the dome, and I immediately guessed at its size from the range of the fire that I could feel, getting something about fifteen to twenty metres across – but I couldn't tell how far up it went, or how thick the outer wall was. There was a hiss of steam – water? Boiled off from the splashes on the bridge – and Sasuke gasped slightly.

"That won't work," said a vaguely feminine voice – kind of familiar, actually, but I had more important things to worry about. "These mirrors won't melt under that kind of firepower."

"What?" I whispered, frowning as my mind connected everything I had heard. Melt – hiss – water – mirrors – ice! That explains the cold! Mirrorsof ice, Sasuke had tried to melt them, but they were – they were the walls, they were shielded and bolstered with the chakra that was blocking my full senses, they wouldn't melt from just Goukakyuu –

I cried out as pain suddenly rippled across my front, the force of the blow – no blows many ow fuck that hurt – sending me flying backwards and landing flat on the ground, Sasuke slamming down next to me a half-second later. "What the fuck was that?" I gasped out, shaking my head violently. I had barely, barely caught that, the tiniest waver of chakra before I was sent flying.

"Where is he?" Sasuke growled, pulling himself to his feet. "The real body – where's he hiding?"

"It's useless to try to keep up with me with your eyes," the voice said, coming from everywhere at once – like a whole lot of clones, all speaking at the same time – but this was too sharp and precise for clones, they were always a little out of beat – what was going on? "I won't be caught so easily."

"W-what should we do?" I asked, standing up slowly and turning my head blindly, trying to get a lock on a chakra source that wavered slightly like it was moving, but was too solid to be. It was honestly like he was coming from everywhere at once.

Sasuke swallowed, gasping nervously. "Just stay close to me," he ordered. "We'll be okay, Naruto, don't worry."

I gasped in a breath, the cold searing my mouth and nose and throat and chest and so loud rasping over my tongue and my heart was thundering and – where was Sasuke? The chakra around me was echoing, shifting a wall of white noise cold loud can't see can't hear what's going on Sasuke where are you –

"Naruto move!" I heard him shout, and reflexively threw myself to the side. Flashes of chakra and flashes of energy and flashes of hot and cold cold so deep and harsh and freezing it burned sharper than fire and pricks of force that exploded in shocking bursts of pain as I crashed heavily to the concrete floor of the bridge. Hot liquid was starting to soak my jacket, but I barely registered it, throwing myself away in response to another of Sasuke's shouts – clinking – deflecting? – and then blood rushed through my ears as adrenaline took over and everything smashed together in a frenzy of unfamiliar sound.

I heard vague swearing, dropped to the floor, tiny prickles of pain that vanished almost instantly, tried to scramble to my feet, tried to hear, everything echoing and rippling and that chakra signature's annoying insubstantial wavering –

"I do not want to fight you…"

That makes two of us, I thought, a little hysterically, finally getting my own feet under me again and backing away from where I thought I'd heard the voice coming from – but with all the echoes it was so hard to tell, I couldn't see, couldn't hear Sasuke where are you–?

"I don't… I do not wish to kill you," the voice continued, hauntingly familiar, but I shoved it away in favour of dodging the next flurry of attacks, yanking a few of the needles from where they'd landed – senbon that explain the pricks – "It is difficult for me to be a shinobi. I… do not want to kill you… and I do not want to be killed by you…"

Sasuke brushed against my arm and I almost collapsed with relief – or was that blood loss? – and slipped into place a half-step behind him as we circled the walls radiating sheer cold. My friend was keeping our opponent busy – I could hear them exchanging words (no weaponry thank god), though I was too preoccupied to pay attention – while I searched frantically for a gap in the coldness, a weakness or fault that we could escape through.

I had just determined that there were no slips in the wall of icy chakra when senbon skittered near my feet and I sprang away reflexively, spinning to face where they had come from – but just a split second later there was a flicker from behind me and I dropped to the floor, skidding to the side and regaining my feet as rapidly as I could, scrambling away and struggling to keep my bearings – I'd lost Sasuke again, and everything was flashing and flickering with chakra and splashes of ice cold water.

"Impressive…"

Sasuke hissed sharply from just in front of me, and I latched onto the sound, my mind swirling and focusing and suddenly I could hear again, the world clearing fast. "Impressive?" my friend snarled. "You're beating us around like so much driftwood and that's supposed to be impressive?" Ah, Sasuke's temper was beginning to kick in. He was usually quiet – up until you pissed him off. I had discovered this inclination at the tender age of four years, two months, and have never forgotten it.

"You are surviving… this in itself is no small feat…" Sasuke snarled again – "But further… the blonde one… you have done well to come this far, in your condition. I have never before seen a successful ninja who could not see."

My heart stopped.

Sasuke's warm chakra and body heat moved closer to me in response, while I sucked in a horrified, shocked breath.

Eight years, eight long, difficult years, and no one had ever figured it out, except for this one person.

Sasuke and his brother, I'd told them, but this person – this enemy – figured it out all. On. His. Own.

And that scared me to hell.

"It was hard to see at first," our opponent continued, "but now… it is clear to me. You move like a child in the dark, only half sure that you're not about to stumble upon a piece of furniture. You rely on senses that my Demonic Mirrors technique scrambles. You are… an amazing person, to have survived this far. But now, I fear I cannot allow this to continue. I must protect the person I hold dear."

Sasuke's sleeve brushed my arm, the cold ice that had formed along it making my skin prickle.

"Please don't hold it against me… He is the only reason I fight. I fight for the sake of his dream, because I want to make that dream a reality. His dream… is my own. And for the sake of that dream, I will kill my heart and become a true shinobi! If I must… I will kill you!"

"Oh fuck," I muttered, and then bolted on Sasuke's heels, zigzagging closer and away in a mad attempt to throw off the ice-user. Stabbing pain in my back and shoulders told me it wasn't working, but it wasn't as frequent as before, even as I slipped and skidded on half-melted ice and very nearly lost my balance. Then I really did lose my balance as someone screamed.

"Was that Sakura?" Sasuke murmured from above and to the left of where I was sprawled on the ground.

"It sounded like Inari's mother, actually," I said, lifting my head.

"Nah, it's just echoing funny. Sensei left shadow clones to watch the house, you told me. It's gotta be Sakura."

A smattering of needle-pricks across my shoulder blades reminded me that sitting still and gossiping wasn't smart. I heaved myself upright, wondering how much more of this we could take.

Sasuke was doing something now – I didn't know what. He was shouting, there was heat, his chakra was surging – oh. He was breathing fire again. I felt panic climbing up my throat as I realised how out of touch I was, how the mirrors and the revelation that this person knew my secret was affecting me. It was just like several days earlier, when I had gotten lost in the sound of the ocean, only a hundred thousand times worse, because this time as I floundered, I could still perceive enough to know that Sasuke and I were in great danger, that Sasuke was getting hurt.

Something connected solidly with my shoulder and I went flying to the left, landing hard and rolling several times. Sasuke gave a grunt that hid pain and, with another wave of crackling heat and flickering chakra, shot off another stream of fire. From the direction the noises were coming in, I guessed he was standing directly where I had been.

It took a moment for my scrambled mind to connect the dots, and I pulled myself together and focused just on doing that, clinging to the single lifeline I had keeping me from slipping into the suffocating darkness that always lingered around me.

My breath caught when I realised – Sasuke had – Sasuke had shoved me aside, out of the way of an attack, and had taken the blow himself as a consequence. I could hear the echoing voice of our enemy, hear him speaking to Sasuke, something about precious people – and for some reason, the phrase tugged at a string in my memory. I shook the feeling aside: it was unimportant.

I focused on my senses, closing my eyes uselessly to give me a sort of psychological aid – a trick I had learnt a long time ago from a teenager I had thought of as a brother.

Okay. I was on my stomach on the wet ground, the wooden planks of the half-finished bridge cold underneath me. Sasuke was off to my right and a little behind me, fending off an attack that seemed to come from all sides at once, though whether that was true or I just couldn't pinpoint its origin, I had no idea. To my left…

Well, to my left, I could sense a wall of some kind, blocking airflow and radiating cold – the ice, part of the ice dome the enemy had created.

I was near the edge of the dome.

No-one's eyes were on me.

I could get out.

Not taking a single second to think it through further, I acted on the impulse, jerking my legs up underneath me and dashing for the small gap I knew there had to be right there, because there was a slight breeze and air didn't flow through ice. If I managed to slip out of this bastard's Ring of Icy Doom, I might be able to attack from outside. Or at least drag Sensei's arse over here to rescue us. Wasn't that his job, anyway?

I had barely gone two steps before something collided solidly with my stomach and carried me backwards a few yards – someone moving fast had got me a good one in the gut. The someone disappeared, but not before I caught a whiff of the gentle scent of soap and herbs hanging around the attacker.

I was so shocked I went limp and forgot to line up a landing.

"Don't think I have forgotten you, little one," the feminine voice of our tormentor said. "There is no escape from this place."

I heard Sasuke skid through a puddle on the ground just in time to throw up his arms and catch me, and we both tumbled over in a tangled heap as he was unable to absorb the shock of my fall.

"Idiot!" he shouted, probably more out of fear and habit than any real urge to insult me. "You moron, dobe!"

I wasn't listening: I was too busy staring sightlessly up in the vague direction of where I last knew our enemy to be. "You!" I gasped. "The girl from the woods!"

"What?" Sasuke hissed sharply – oh, yeah, I hadn't told him about her; whoops – but the girl just chuckled. Was it just me, or did she sound sad?

"I am male, little one," she – no, he – said gently. "But yes, I met you in the woods. My name is Haku. How did you recognise me?"

"You smell," I grumbled, shoving Sasuke's arm off my midriff and clambering to my feet. "What the hell is your deal? You seemed nice enough then."

There was a long pause, before Haku answered softly. "I am sorry," he said, his words heavy in the frigid air. "I must end this now. My precious person is in danger. Forgive me."

– Sasuke gave a wordless shout –

– I was once again shoved aside –

– Air whizzed as if something was slicing through it, like a kunai only much smaller, slicker, faster –

– Several quiet think noises, of something sharp and slim striking flesh with a deadly accuracy –

– Sasuke's breath exploded from him in a surprised whoosh, leaving his lungs empty, and I strained to hear the gasp inwards that would refill them, only to panic when I couldn't –

– There was a much heavier thump, and my mind pieced together that Sasuke had collapsed –

– And then my world ended.

Where Sasuke had been only a moment ago, there was nothing, just void void void – no heart thumping noisily in his chest, no breaths that he had learnt to quiet for me when I complained of his breathing keeping me up at nights, no movement I could hear. I could smell blood faintly through the mist, and felt my own heart stop, the darkness swirling around me, fire moving in my gut in response to my waning control.

I stumbled a few steps and sank down on my knees with a low moan, for now forgetting that I was in a battle, for now forgetting that I was probably an inch from death myself, forgetting that Sensei and Sakura were still out there. Nothing else mattered right then.

I buried my hands in Sasuke's shirt, fumbling a little as I underestimated where he was lying, feeling desperately for any sign of life.

There was nothing. He was gone.

With a whimper, I buried my face in his chest, vaguely aware of something thin and long pricking me at various spots – senbon, maybe? Had he been killed by a fucking needle?

Haku was speaking. "Is this the first time you have lost a comrade in battle?" he asked gently. He probably said more, but I didn't hear it. There was a roaring in my ears, drowning him out. The pain in my chest, the knowledge that I'd lost my only link to the world too hard to accept, and I swam backwards, using the darkness as a blanket now to hide under, swathing myself in it.

Sasuke hadn't just been my best friend, my brother. He'd been my eyes, my hope and my crutch. How was I going to keep limping on without him?

In the back of my mind, further than I could retreat, I felt an angry presence pushing forward, and I turned into it blindly, fiery energy licking my face and hands, wanting it all, wanting the pain to just stop. The raging fire swirled and danced and spun tightly around me and the fury of the barely-controlled storm shielded the silence.

Kyuubi…? I… I can't… Kyuubi… don't…

Let me handle this, little human.

Then the feeling of an immense vehement inferno rushed through my very blood as I lost control.

I have no idea what happened next: all I knew was a rush of fire, fire that burned but at the same time felt good, fire that drained away the anger, that filled me up and like a drug consumed me. It took away the ache in my chest, distracted me from it.

When I next became aware, I was sitting on the bridge, the wind whistling around me, tugging at my hair. Not in the ice dome, then.

Something was sticking to my skin, something liquid but viscous and tangy with a coppery smell hanging about it. It took me a moment to place the smell, and a wave of nausea flooded me when I realised that it was blood soaking my shirt through and drenching my arms, my chest, even dripping down my face from my hair. As far as I could tell, I was sitting in a pool of the stuff, but I wasn't injured at all, and Sasuke – he hadn't been hurt like this.

As I thought the name of my best friend, by gut clenched horribly. Sasuke.

Blindly, I began to cast about, trying to find some landmark, some indicator of where I was. I had to find him.

I was on the bridge still, I was sure of that. There was no mistaking the sound of the ocean below, the feel of the slick wood beneath me. I stood carefully, testing every limb and muscle for damage before I trusted my weight to it, and looked around, my broken eyes mimicking a scanning glance out of sheer habit. I listened as hard as I could: no echoing whispers, no women screaming, no insults being thrown. I registered the sound of people – possibly a battle – a distance away, still on the bridge, and guessed that Sensei was there. If he was roughly where he had been before my blackout, I was too. Roughly. So all I had to do was find –

"Dobe."

I froze. The word was tense, standoffish, with none of the usual warmth and affection attached to it, but there was no mistaking it. "S-Sasuke?" I stuttered, disbelieving. "B-but you're dead! Haku k-killed you!"

"Paralysed me," Sasuke's voice came again, and this time I used it to begin the process of locating him, turning towards the noise and taking a tentative step forward. He was only a few metres away. "Senbon can, if used properly, induce a state that mimics death. Remember, dobe?"

I paused, confused by the venom in his tone. "What's… wrong?" I asked, bewildered. When he next spoke, I could tell from his tone that if I was close enough, if I touched his face I would find a wry twist on his lips.

"You don't know, do you?" he said. "You can't remember the last five, ten minutes, can you?"

I wanted to deny it, something in his tone warned me to deny it, but I couldn't lie, not to Sasuke.

"No," I admitted, taking a step towards my friend.

"You just went absolutely nuts," Sasuke growled. "You were completely out of control."

I bit my lip, stepping forwards again. A rustle of clothes indicated that Sasuke had stepped backwards, and hurt flashed through me. It must have shown on my face, because Sasuke sighed heavily and moved forwards again, sandals thumping softly on the wooden walkway. I felt his hand on my shoulder, a tentative, gentle force, and I choked on a sob and reached out to grab hold of him, the gravity of what had happened finally sinking in.

For a long moment, Sasuke let me cling to him, even though he was probably disgusted with the blood passing from my body to his. "I thought you had learnt to avoid these… insane moments," he said eventually. I took a shuddering breath and promptly hid in his shoulder.

"I lost control. I'm sorry," I said. "I'm sorry! You were – S'uke, you were dead and I just – I just – fuck, S'uke, who's blood is this? What did I do?"

"You didn't hurt anyone but the bastard trying to kill us," Sasuke assured me. "Kakashi killed the other one – Zabuza. Then a bunch of losers turned up, but one look at you scattered them pretty well."

I cringed. "Sensei? Sakura?" I whispered, very afraid of the answer. I felt the muscles through Sasuke's body twitch as he shrugged.

"Sensei looked like he noticed something. Sakura was dragging the bridge builder away: probably didn't see or sense anything," he said. Then, something gave, something softened, and he brought one arm up to hug me back roughly. "I'm glad you're okay," he said, very quietly. Then, louder, "You're really back in control now, right?"

I considered, shoving at the ever-present demon in my mindscape, making sure he was buried as well as I could manage, and nodded. Sasuke grunted. "Good," he said. "Keep it that way. Dobe."

The word was what pushed me over the edge: suddenly, I was back to normal. I drew away from my friend and swept my hand over my eyes quickly, before grinning in his direction. Gone was the caustic sting behind the insult, returned was the affectionate meaning it usually held. Everything was okay between us. The stupid demon's stupid outing hadn't damaged anything.

"Teme!"

Kakashi's Log:

We had our first large-scale fight today. Everyone did very well. Sakura protected the client (like the genin were all supposed to do) and I took on Zabuza.

He is dead now.

The boys scuffled with Zabuza's protégé, a child by the name, according to Naruto, of Haku. Around the kids' age.

He is dead, too, but I didn't kill him.

Neither boy will tell me what happened, but I know that Kyuubi, or at least his chakra, was involved. I could sense it, the moment it appeared. For a moment, I was afraid Kyuubi had been released. When I saw Naruto a few minutes later, I thought the demon had taken control. Naruto's eyes were bright red, and he looked… feral, somehow. Animal.

He killed Haku.

After the fight, he was covered in blood, but seemed to have no notion of how it got there. He complained of being a little nauseous, but otherwise felt fine. He acted… normal. Laughing, teasing Sasuke, nothing seemed to have changed. When I questioned him about the fight, he was able to explain in detail the first portion of his battle, until Sasuke was rendered unconscious. After that, he claims to have no memory of how the fight concluded or what happened to his enemy.

I do not think he remembers his first kill. Kami, I hope I'm right.

Sasuke was a little battered, but the battle was well worth it for him, as he has activated his Sharingan. I'll have to spend some time teaching him how to use it properly when we return home.

Sasuke didn't seem to notice anything different or wrong with Naruto during the fight. Sakura was well out of a direct line of sight of Naruto, so she was none the wiser, but I have no way of knowing if Sasuke saw or sensed the demonic chakra or if he was unconscious the entire time. I will have to watch him and make sure he is pulled aside and either fed a part truth or a deflecting story if he shows any signs that he saw Naruto in his state of less than perfect control.

Tomorrow we head home. I want to start Sakura on some chakra building exercises – she has good control, but abysmal stores. Kinda the polar opposite to Naruto, actually.

I'm frightened for Naruto. If this gets to the Council, there is no telling what they could do to Naruto. (NB: have to 'forget' to include it in my official report.)

If the seal is failing…

(NB: have Jiraiya check the seal over.)

If Kyuubi were to escape…

(NB: have Jiraiya check the seal over really, really well.)

I wonder what Minato-sensei would do.

Japanese Definitions:
Amazingly, I think we avoided adding in any new terms in this chapter. Woot for us.

Techniques:
The only new one introduced here is Haku's Demonic Ice Mirrors or Makyō Hyō Shō (or Makyou Hyou Shou), and it was never actually named in the chapter. It's a bloodline technique, which implies that ice is not a normal 'element' to manipulate, and encircles an opponent with multiple sheets of ice that are so polished they act as mirrors. Haku can enter the mirrors from the outside and travel between them almost instantaneously, throwing his senbon along the way, and remaining basically untouchable. The mirrors are made of ice, but are imbued with enough chakra to be highly resistant to fire techniques.

Canon:
Anyone who has issues with exactly how I've mangled canon and why I've missed stuff, don't bother flaming. Go back, reread the chapter and apply some common sense; I DID explain everything, I just left a lot of it up to imagination because, as I warned you earlier (much earlier), canon bores me. And is probably the reason this chapter took so long. Hugs for Twin1.