Disclaimer: I do not or will I ever own Naruto. (even if i wanna) Same goes for Donnie Darko and Kung Pow fff
A/N: Chapter Two for your reading needs. I kinda didn't wanna post these two events at the same time, but I guess it works -shrug- Let me know?
Things start going downhill for Naruto...hard. This is where the character death starts SO YEAH warnin ya. :I Can't say I didn't, fools.
Warnings: NaruSasu(YAOI) undertones. Tons 'o' Character Death. I tend to like to get more violent with my descriptions of some things, so there's that: VIOLENCE fff. For you pervs, there WILL be some sexytiem eventually.
Critiques appreciated.
"No, Naruto, I told you for the hundredth time: If anybody on my team—or any team for that matter, since you told the whole crew about this around five times in your 'pep speech' this morning—if we find any rings or jewelry, we'll immediately report straight to you. I got it, now can I please go do my job?" came the low drawl that was individually, Nara Shikamaru's. He was one of the ones just a step below Kiba's position, in charge (like a few others) over the smaller teams. He was leading the electrical crew.
"Good, you remember that. Make sure everyone else remembers it too," Naruto said, voice raised over the noise of construction and pointing his roll of blue prints at the brunet for emphasis (who sighed and turned away), before turning to stroll back outside as they parted ways.
The whole building had buzzed to life that morning after the blond had gone over everything with all of the people who would be working hard in this blue-collar profession to get the job done. He, of course, couldn't leave out his dilemma about losing his ring, since he had not had enough time to do a sweep of his own yet. He hadn't told Sasuke of the ring's disappearance though.
Setting up quickly, the team of Swirling Leaf Construction was soon in business and hadn't stopped yet. Lunch was coming around the corner though, and the feeling of anxiousness for a break hung in the air.
A brunet was just about to bustle back inside before he was caught by the arm. "Kiba, I need you to come with me in the trailer please?" Naruto said firmly, voice still carrying more since he needed to be louder than their equipment. The blond used a louder voice while on the job anyway. He had learned the leader-like voice from experience since he wanted to do his job right. You couldn't be a good supervisor if people didn't listen.
He didn't normally use it with Kiba though, so the brunet immediately knew it had to be something serious. So without second thought, he followed his friend (who also happened to be his boss) into their trailer.
The roll of blue prints was tossed up on the small drafting desk before Naruto sat in the short, office chair, turning to face the other. "We're having an issue with the auditorium and the gym."
Kiba nodded before sitting down in the twin to the chair the blond was in.
"See here," Naruto unrolled the blueprints, setting them on his lap as he pointed. "This wall can crumble at any moment. I told some of the guys to start setting up supports so that it doesn't happen, but even a little shock may send the whole auditorium roof coming down."
The Inuzuka hummed, bringing a hand up to rub idly at his jaw as he thought. Naruto raised his gaze to watch the other's face. Kiba was usually really good at thinking up something out of the box when the blond was running low on ideas. The two completed each other in a way and that's why they insisted on working so close together.
"Well..." the brunet started, scooting his chair up so he could point to the building plans, "We could always set up tall scaffolding to hold the ceiling up and work on building up these walls first before we started on anything else. I know he said he wanted the classrooms to be completed before we started on the auditorium, but I think in order to keep our guys safe and have a better chance at preserving the site as a whole, this'd be the best choice of action, don'tcha think?" Kiba looked up at the blond who was now contemplating this in his head as he looked down at the blueprints.
Naruto snorted, grinning up at the Inuzuka, "Goddamn, you are such a genius, bud." He let the plans roll back up and the two friends gave each other a high-five before standing.
Kiba shrugged, feigning disinterest, "I try, man. S'what I do."
The blond snickered before shoving the Inuzuka playfully, "Go let our guys know lunch is on. I'll call up Asuma and inform the big guy so he can count the other guys in. Hopefully we'll have a verdict before long so we can get some work done today."
A nod came from the brunet before he grinned and slipped out the door, Naruto turning to pick up the phone.
Lunch went on, longer than usual. It took Ebisu and the others a while to grasp just what Asuma and Naruto were talking about, but eventually they caved and recognized that this was for the safety of the workers and the project itself and the new plans were approved.
By the end of the day, the crew was fairly proud of their accomplishments. The men all were waving each other off with fond goodbyes even though they were going to see each other the next day. The machinery was all put up, shut off, put in the various versions of 'standby' that they needed. The workday had ended.
Naruto drove Kiba back to Sakura's. Since the two were staying together, the blond insisted on doing his friend the favor. They agreed to switch up every week so that one wasn't paying for all of the gas. It was an awesome plan according to the blond who'd made it.
They ate dinner together, the young woman being home early enough to fix it. Kiba was congratulated on his brilliant idea for the day and both celebrated the first day of work on the creepy-ass building.
Sasuke answered his phone that evening, much to the blond's delight. (not that he minded waiting on the other to call him back; it was just so un-Sasuke-like that it threw Naruto off.)
"Hey there," Sasuke answered.
"Hey there, yourself," Naruto replied in a low voice, his "sexy voice."
A snort, the blond could see his lover trying to fight off the blush, "How was your first day?"
"Amazing. Kiba and I worked through a huge safety issue and everything's smooth sailing so far," Naruto said back, scratching at his bare chest. "Today just went so well. It more than made up for two days before." The statement was truly sincere.
"That's good to hear." He heard a shift over the phone, "I need to eat and shower still." Sasuke paused, "People germs."
Naruto scratched at his head. "Well you can get to eating while I'm on the phone, baby."
"I know, I'm getting to it now."
The rest of their conversation went smoothly. Naruto getting into the details of what he did that day, Sasuke listening and eventually returning with his own short stories. Thankfully nothing was off otherwise. Everything else in the Uchiha's life seemed to be normal.
The next couple of weeks went by without much incident. A few guys on the job got injured, but that was to be expected. Happened all the time. Nothing out of the ordinary.
The building was starting to take shape, the roof was closed in, and most of the exterior walls were reinforced. From the outside, the school was starting to look normal.
Today was exactly three weeks since they started. Three weeks since the incident that Naruto had tucked away securely into the recesses of his mind. The ring still hadn't turned up, but the blond had already decided he was probably going to have to buy a new one. He was willing to do almost anything to cover that event up.
"Hey, can you go check up on Izumo for me?" Kiba asked, eyes glued to his clipboard as he nudged his friend in the shoulder. "He asked me for some help on something earlier but I forgot what it was. I'm a little busy right now, so—"
"Yeah, sure. I've got a moment. Where is he?" Naruto looked up from where he was making marks on his own clipboard.
The Inuzuka scratched underneath his hardhat with the end of the pen, eyes still lowered, "Uhhh..third level. He's on one of the entrances to the crow walk."
Naruto shuddered a bit, "What's he doing up there?"
"Filling in the wall," Kiba stated very plainly, like it was common knowledge.
"Meh, fine, I'll go." Naruto grumbled and slid from his chair, already heading up the steps and down the hallways to get up to the 'crow walk.'
That was their nickname for the two doorways that were straight parallel from each other on what would be the fourth level, but the bridge between had not survived and there were no traces of it. The crew jokingly refers to it as the crow walk since one of the new blood claimed they saw a crow walk straight across to the other side. The others had promptly replied with first of all, 'Crows don't walk, they fly or hop,' and the second, 'Even if they could walk, there's nothin' to walk across.' New boy had quickly shut up after his attempts at making the brash men believe it failed multiple times.
Naruto turned on to the steps (the ones that he had not taken on his first walk through) and took them up to the third floor. He could still hear the faint whine of power tools but most of the construction was focused on the outside and the bottom floors. The third floor was nearly deserted besides the few men who passed through.
He ignored the tingle that went over his skin, the tightening of the flesh on the back of his neck, and pressed on. He reached the rickety iron stairway that led up to the tiny landing up on the fourth level. The small rooms that were across from each other were the only flat areas of flooring that were up that high. His hand tightened around the bar before he remembered he wasn't supposed to trust it and instead just climbed up without holding onto anything. The iron clanged dully beneath his boots, echoing slightly off the walls.
Reaching the top, Naruto looked around. He avoided the steps up to where it would have led to the walkway to the other side, where instead there was just a drop off. Izumo should be up here, this is where Kiba said he was.
The blond looked down to the third floor. Maybe he was getting something and coming back up or maybe... Naruto looked across to the other side, squinting in the dim light. No, he wasn't on the other side either.
Naruto leaned against a wall, deciding to wait until the man showed up. He was probably taking a leak or grabbing another tool or something. The traces of his work were evident in the small area. The floor was much cleaner than before, maybe swept a bit to avoid slipping. The walls were partially scraped clean of the old, burnt-away drywall.
A loud yawn escaped the blond and he folded his arms across his front, still leaning back against one of the brick walls. He glanced down at his watch, he didn't have much longer he could just sit here and wait for the guy. If he had something to ask a supervisor, he needed to be around when they showed up.
"Hey, Izumo!" Naruto called, hoping to at least draw attention to the fact he was up there. "I'm not gonna wait on your ass much longer!" And he truly meant it, he was starting to get the creeps from being up here by himself so long.
He slumped down to sit on the steps, crossing his forearms over his knees. He tilted his head sideways, he couldn't see the floor below anymore, but he could still see the upper half of the iron stairs.
A few minutes passed and Naruto decided he had waited long enough. He was about to get up and leave when he heard slow footsteps on the stairs. He noticed the railing to the side was shaking too, "Hey, you should know you can't rely on that thing. You might fall over with it when it breaks off," Naruto stated, looking up and expecting to see Izumo's head poke up any moment now.
Nothing did, and the footsteps stopped.
The blond growled and got up, "Izumo, I've been waiting long enough for your dumb---" He froze once the stairs got completely into his line of sight. They were completely empty.
The tightening of his skin came back and he could feel his scalp shrink as all of the hairs on his body stood on end. He had to be seeing things...hearing things...this was all his imagination. Nobody had been coming up the steps. He swallowed but his mouth was dry.
"Izumo?" he asked out loud. His voice was met with silence.
He didn't want to be up here anymore, but he didn't want to go down those stairs either. He was trapped in this area until someone came to get him. Naruto took a step closer to the drop off and looked down, hoping to comfort himself with the signs of life below, maybe call someone up there.
There was no one down there. He pulled his head back up quickly. He hadn't noticed until now that the sounds of work being done were gone too. Everywhere was completely silent. Naruto was all alone.
He could feel his eyes sting with tears of desperation. What was he supposed to do now? What the fuck was going on?
He backed up to the wall even after he had already been against it. He wanted to meld with it, disappear. This was even worse than being down in the basement. At least he'd had a way to escape then. He was completely stuck up here, the only way down being the stairs that he didn't want to be near right now.
He had nearly convinced himself to just run down the stairs when the footsteps started again. They were slow and sure and rattled the iron, making the railing shake as well. He wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't. His breath froze in his chest, his fingers curled into the wall behind him as his muscles seized up. He could already feel the chill air cooling the sweat that spread across his brow.
His mouth parted as strangled pants sporadically huffed their way through. He felt the need to scream, yell, shout, relieve the panic building up inside him, but again he couldn't. He was too transfixed on what was coming up the stairs, because as far as he could see, the stairs were completely empty. Just the deep thudding sound of footsteps coming up them rang through the air, the only sign of anything living besides Naruto's own rasping pants.
The thuds stopped, whatever it was had either gone or---Naruto cringed---had made it up to the floor he was on.
The expanse of the area was only about 15 feet across so if whatever-it-was was up there on the same floor as him, Naruto should be looking it straight in the face. But all the blond could see were the same dull walls and rickety, still stairs.
He jerked, his brain screaming at him to run, go, get away. His eyes darted everywhere, widely dilated as adrenaline pumped through his veins. He edged slightly off the wall, ready to make his move. Ready to shoot down the stairs.
Then a dark shadow was suddenly in front of him. Impossibly wide blue eyes could make out the impression of a sunken face screaming at him. It grabbed his arms, a cold chill shooting from where it touched, and he shouted, body instantly jerking into defensive maneuvers. He jerked his weight to the side, trying to throw the thing off. It held on in a tight grip, trying to pull him over the stairs, but he fought it and eventually it tumbled out of view, off the drop off.
Naruto continued his wordless shouting with each breath, voice strained and cracking as he backed up to the opposite wall and sank against it. He didn't take his eyes off of where the shadow had disappeared, but he didn't move, his legs were too weak to. He couldn't do anything but stare and pant. His arms lay limp at either side, his heart pounded mercilessly in his chest.
He cried out again in panic as there were more thuds up the stairs and flinched violently away from the hands grabbing at him. Then he saw the familiar red triangles and hazel brown spikes sticking out of his best friend, Kiba's, hardhat and he calmed, allowing the other to pull him around to face him. The blond's eyes were still on the drop off though where a couple of the other men were crowding around and looking down.
Finally the Inuzuka's voice met his ears, sound clearing as if he was surfacing from water. "Naruto, Naruto! Look at me, man! Look at me!"
Naruto turned slowly towards the brunet, his eyes followed suit shortly after. He tried to regulate his breathing, his head starting to swim and go numb from lack of oxygen.
Kiba's brows were upturned, shock and worry evident across his face. "What the fuck happened?"
Staring was all Naruto was capable of, his mouth parting as if to speak but nothing came out, then he was roughly shaken.
"What the fuck happened? Goddammit, answer me!" the other shouted at him, giving him another shake.
"I don't know what happened!" Naruto yelled back, his body finally relaxing from the paralyzing fear. "A shadow, it grabbed me! And...and....I threw it off!" The blond jerked his head towards the opening again before his chin was grabbed and he was forced to look at Kiba again.
"A shadow grabbed you? What the hell is that bullshit? There's a man dead on the floor of the auditorium—Izumo is fucking dead—and our only explanation so far is that a fucking shadow attacked you two?"
Naruto yanked himself away from Kiba, ignoring the other's shouting, clumsily standing up and going over to the steps by the drop-off. There was no way. Izumo wasn't here. The shadow attacked him, he threw the shadow off.
The blond's breath caught in his throat as he looked down and didn't see the shadowy figure that had grabbed him. It was indeed Izumo lying in a slowly growing pool of his own blood, prone on the ground. Dead. His limbs were twisted in impossible ways, even from where he was he could see where splinters of bone had broken through the flesh.
Naruto stepped back, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. He stumbled over some debris, his mind racing and tangling itself over its own thoughts. Kiba caught him by the arm. Did he just kill somebody? No, no he didn't. The shadow did. He didn't do it. He couldn't have done it. He wouldn't have done it.
"I didn't do it!" Naruto yelled suddenly, eyes wide as he focused on the people that were now looking at him. "I swear to god I didn't do it!"
The others just stared and Kiba waved his arms violently at them. "Get out of here! Don't you have work to do? We'll get this cleared up, so go!" The men left, some grumbling, some murmuring. Naruto was sure it was all about him.
He fell back against a wall, running both hands up over his face and threading them in his hair. His hat had fallen off through the struggle and lay on the ground nearby.
"Naruto—"
"You believe me right?"
"What?" Kiba arched a brow, pausing from where he was nearing his friend.
"You believe I didn't do it, right? 'Cause I didn't," Naruto's voice croaked, scratchy from overuse. His brows curled upwards slightly as his eyes focused on the other.
"I don't think you did, man. You could never pull off something like this," Kiba replied, voice low. He gave the blond a small smile and rubbed the other's bicep lightly, trying to calm him down. "I think you should go home though. I'll take care of this."
Naruto nodded slowly, eyes lowering. He blinked and brought them back up to the brunet. "I'll go home. Maybe take a shower." He bent down to pick up his discarded hat.
"That's it, man. Go calm down. I'll come back home later and we can talk this out, okay?" Kiba said with a smile as he rubbed his friend's back, ushering him down the stairs.
Pulling his hat on his head, Naruto allowed himself to be led through the building back to his car, the loud sounds of construction pleasing his ears like they had never done in his life.
After coming home, Naruto immediately called Sasuke, the Uchiha being one of the few people that could calm him down without even having to actually be there. They hung up and the blond took a shower, washing away the dirt and grime and history of the day from his skin.
Then he took a short nap, waking only when he heard Kiba get home. He pulled on some jeans over his boxers and went to greet the other in the living room, still shirtless.
He ran a hand over the short hairs on the back of his neck, a yawn stretching his mouth open. "Hey, man. Uh...how'd it go?" Naruto asked, voice low as he prepared himself for something bad.
Kiba kicked his shoes off by the door (as per Queen Sakura's house rules) and hung his hat up behind the door. He pulled his shirt off over his head, already preparing himself for his own shower. "Not bad. You are under slight suspicion but I assured them it was an accident and they seemed sorta convinced. The renovation's been put on hold though for a couple of days."
The blond nodded, "That's understandable. Am I gonna have to go to court or anything?"
Kiba walked to the other guest room and pulled down his pants, Naruto followed him in and leaned against the doorframe. "They're passing it off as an on-the-job accident and since the guy didn't really have any relatives, there's no one pressing charges. A total lucky break for you man, but the boss is gonna have his eye on you now." The brunet looked up, giving Naruto a look and then pulled his socks off.
"I guess that's also to be expected, but, heh, at least I don't have to go to jail," he said, scratching at his head. He curled his toes into the carpet to distract his mind from slipping off into thoughts of earlier.
The brunet walked into the bathroom, turning to Naruto, "After I get out, you tell me all about this little 'shadow' you saw, alright?"
Naruto nodded slowly, reluctant to discuss it, but knowing the other wouldn't leave him alone otherwise.
"Good," the door closed behind him as Kiba went inside with a grin.
Naruto shuffled into the living room and flopped on the couch. He reached over and grabbed the remote, turning on the television. He looked over at the clock on the wall. An hour until Sakura got home. He hoped she didn't badger him about today, but he knew she would no matter what he hoped.
He sighed and settled on watching Kung Pow, needing some comedy to brighten up his day.
Kiba was out in half an hour, toweling through his short hair and flopping down on the couch next to the blond. He glanced at the television, catching onto what movie his friend was watching before he spoke. "So, a shadow huh? Was it like a normal shadow? Like the kind you get from standing in the sun? I don't see how one of those could hurt you."
A sigh left Naruto's lips. Leave it to Kiba to make something that was so serious to the blond, seem so ridiculous. "It wasn't like that. It was more like a black figure. I could see their shape and stuff but it was all black and it kinda faded in and out. It looked kinda wispy too, like it was a clear cloth being blown by the wind." The blond explained, gesturing with his hands, "And I could see his face sorta and it was all ....sunken in looking like a—"
"Like a zombie? Or like that guy from Scream? Really, man, you need to chill out. I think your imagination is running away with you." The brunet ran a hand along Naruto's bare back. "Maybe we should all drink tonight, since we don't have to go into work tomorrow. Thanks to Izumo, god bless his soul, poor guy."
Naruto quirked a smile, "Yeah, drinking sounds good. Maybe we can drag Sakura in, huh? You know how crazy she gets." He nudged the brunet in the rib. His normal grin now spread across his face.
Kiba grinned back before relaxing back against the couch. "Yeah, you bet she's gonna haveta drink with us. We're not accepting any bullshit about school either."
"Damn right," the blond replied and relaxed back as well, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table.
The two sat back and finished up the movie, Sakura stepping in shortly after it the credits stopped rolling up.
"Hey, guys, how was work?" she said, slipping in the door and closing it behind her. She brought her messenger bag into her room and pulled it off into her office chair.
"Well, that's a story to be told during dinner," Kiba replied over the back of the couch. "Which—by the way—is what?"
Sakura snorted, slipping off her socks and putting them in the hamper. "Well, I don't feel like fixing anything so I guess it's 'Help Yourself Night'" She grinned at them and pulled the clip from her hair.
"Fuck that. I was thinking pizza," the brunet grimaced at the thought of having to do labor to get his food when someone else could just make it for him. "You like that, Blondie?"
Naruto looked up from being zoned out on the commercials, "Huh? Oh, yeah sure. Pizza sounds awesome."
Kiba snorted and pulled out his cell phone, he had Domino's on speed dial. As he placed his order over the phone, Sakura came and sat on the couch beside Naruto. She turned to him, placing her elbow on the back of the couch and leaning her face against it. "You okay, Naruto?" she asked in her usual sweet voice.
The blond grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head as he turned to her, "Yeah. Just a rough day, heh. A guy at work got killed. Fell from four levels up. I was the only one up there where he was so people are suspectin I did it. I was just protecting myself from the shadow." His eyes fell from where he had been holding her gaze.
Sakura arched a brow, "Shadow?"
"Yeah, this weird thing just grabbed me and I threw it off. I dunno how, but it ended up being Izumo. I swear to god though it was attacking me," he looked back up at her.
A smile graced her lips, calming the almost worried look she had been holding. She ran the back of her hand across his cheek, the weird whiskerish marks that had been there since she'd known him were dimpled under her caress. "I know you didn't kill him, Naruto. You're not that kind of person, but this shadow thing seems k—"
"Alright! Pizza's on its way guys," Kiba said as he slapped his phone closed. "Same order as always. Also,...Sakura...it's drinking night. And I will not hear a word against it!" He held up a finger in front of her face to accentuate his point.
She huffed, puffing her cheeks slightly. "You guys know I have class tomorrow."
"Nuh-uh-uh. I told you I would not hear it. You are drinkin with us tonight, missy," the brunet grinned.
Naruto turned to give her his own grin, "Come on, Sakura, live a little. You don't even have to get drunk. Just loosen up. You've been focusin so much on school lately. What happened to our little girl?"
Sakura sighed, but her eyes gave away her grin she was trying to hide. "Fine, fine, but if I miss class tomorrow, you two are going to get it." She stated firmly, giving them both a look.
The two just grinned in return, Kiba getting up to run to the fridge and grabbing a can for them all. He tossed Naruto his and Sakura's and then Naruto passed the girl hers.
Kiba popped the top of his, taking a long, first sip then he raised it up in the air. "Cheers to no work. Well..at least for me and Naruto. And also here's to Izumo. A guy I never knew, but I heard he could work a drill like a pro." The brunet gave a wink and the other two snickered before raising their own drinks and tapping them with a low metallic thud. The three of them guzzled their drinks (sipped in Sakura's case) and brought them down in alternating turns as they got their fill.
A couple of beers later, the pizza arrived. Kiba and Naruto both jumped up to get it.
"I'm going to pay this time, buddy!"
"No, way! Like I'd give you that honor!"
"Honor? Pffff, when'd paying become an honor?"
"Since forever! We're men! Bread-winners! It's an honor!"
Naruto rubbed his palm over his face, snickering at Kiba's reasoning. He waved a hand, stepping back from the door, "Fine, fine, you get it, Mr. Bread-winner."
The pizza guy eyed them warily from the doorway and took the money that Kiba threw at him before the brunet snatched the box away with a clipped, "Good bye." Then he shut the door on the confused delivery boy.
The Inuzuka nearly skipped into the kitchen with the box, stumbling a few times. Naruto followed behind, fighting back the laughter that threatened to topple him over. Sakura raised from the couch and came over as well, nursing her beer, her normal way of drinking any alcohol.
Kiba dropped the box on the table, whipping it open and grabbing up a piece. Naruto came and claimed his own as well. The sole female grumbled about boys not knowing how to use dishes and went over to the cabinets to get herself a plate.
"Okay, so what movie is in tonight's showing?" Kiba asked, eyeing his two companions. He finished up his first piece and instantly grabbed the next.
"Uh, maybe Donnie Darko? We haven't watched that one in forever," Sakura suggested, taking a bite of pizza into her mouth carefully.
They both turned to the blond who looked up from stuffing his face with a piece and just shrugged. "Sounths s'fine poo me," he said around the pizza in his mouth.
Kiba snorted and grabbed up the box. "Ole Donnie-boy it is then! To the couch!" he announced, trying to take strong, sure steps, but only managed in failing to keep his balance even more than usual. "And Naruto, grab a few more beers. We're gonna need 'em." The brunet flopped onto the sofa, setting the box down and scooting over enough to give Sakura room and save some for Naruto.
"Okie dokie, artichokie," the blond said with a flopped salute and went over to the fridge, finishing off the piece in his mouth. As soon as his hand touched the handle, he heard a rough whispering in his ear, air being blown across his skin. He whirled around, "Hey! What're you guys tryin to pull here?"
He paused when all the two did was turn and look at him, from..way over there on the couch. "Pull what? Is the beer gone? It better fuc—OW! It better not be gone!" Kiba growled, rubbing his head from where Sakura had popped him.
Naruto looked around him once more. It's just the alcohol, there's nothing here. This is Sakura's house, it's perfectly safe. He turned back to the fridge and opened it, grabbing a six pack from the chilled shelves and closed it. "Nah, it's all here, just hearing things I guess. Haha," he chuckled and joined them at the couch, placing the pack on the table next to the pizza box and helping himself to another of both the pizza and the beverage.
They sat and ate a few bites before all going still. The two young men turned to eye the girl between them, Sakura merely looking back, slightly confused.
Then it hit her, "Oh! I forgot to put in the movie! My bad." She sat up, sliding off the couch and going around the table to kneel by her collection of DVDs. She thumbed through them before picking out the one they needed and put it into her player.
"Hurry up, woman. My eyes need some entertainment to go with this food and booze," Kiba said around a mouthful, lifting his beer to guzzle from it.
Sakura stood from where she had pushed the power button on her DVD player, turning it on. She put the hand holding the remote and the other on each hip and leered at the brunet relaxed on the couch. "'Hurry up,....woman'?" she repeated, a certain venom to her voice.
Naruto scooted further away from the Inuzuka.
"Well you are a woman, aren't you?" the brunet replied, digging himself a deeper grave.
Sakura just eyed him, lids slowly narrowing as a disbelieving scoff parted her lips. "First of all: I have a name and it's not 'woman.' Second of all: You should really consider taking back that last comment," she said very slowly and all too carefully.
"I'd do as she said, man. Otherwise you'll be getting to know Izumo," Naruto piped in.
"Hey, if I can't say what I want, why am I even staying here?" the brunet shrugged, but quickly changed his statement after a remote connected firmly with his forehead, "FUCK!..OW!" followed by a shoe, "Jesus, wo—Sakura, Christ! I'm sorry alright?"
A low 'hmph' was his reply as Sakura strutted back to her seat, chin high in victory. She nestled between the two who both moved further away in their respective directions. "You two can chill out. The movie's about to begin," she calmly grasped the remote that would be the cause of Kiba's new bruise and pushed the enter button, selecting the "Play Movie" section.
During the movie, a few more punches were thrown, mainly from the fiery female in the center onto the two goofs on either side, but it was still an enjoyable night. The rest of it was spent finishing up what was dished out on the coffee table and enjoying a good movie. There were no more whispers, no more shadows, just the comfort of friends. The three passed out together on the sofa, Sakura the only one stirring a little later to get ready for her early morning classes.
The next few days passed by leisurely. Naruto and Kiba doing things they hadn't done together in years thanks to their job.
Most of it was to take the blond's mind off of things. Off of the "phantoms" in the school, off of the balls and music in the school, off of the fingers that were still pointed at him for Izumo's death. There were still people who were not convinced that just because Naruto was a good-natured person, that he wouldn't kill somebody.
Naruto tried to ignore it. Sasuke, Kiba, and Sakura stood beside him, reminding him that those people were no good, that they were just being ignorant, but the blond couldn't take much more of this. He had dealt with it most of his childhood and that didn't make it any less hard to deal with. If anything...it made it harder to deal with.
He began to talk to Shikamaru more. The man was in a family of lawyers (though he personally thought of the profession as "troublesome" and moved on to be a head electrician in construction) and he also held close ties with their boss, Asuma. Naruto figured if he could convince Shikamaru without a shadow of a doubt that he was innocent, things might start to go better for him.
The two were supposed to meet up at the school (even though Naruto fought it, not wanting to go back to the place without at least an army) and Naruto was to show Shikamaru exactly what happened. The brunet was also curious as to if he could see one of these "shadows." The blond hoped that they didn't see anything and wondered why someone as skeptic-seeming as the Nara would even slightly believe in these things that Naruto had seen, but if it got his name cleared, he'd do it. He just wouldn't like it.
"Hey, guess we're going to do a little 'ghost hunting,' huh?" Naruto said with a light laugh, though inwardly he was cringing at the thought.
"Yeah, I guess. I'm just more interested in figuring this whole thing out, but if one of your 'shadows' happens to show up, that'll just be more evidence on your side." Shikamaru drawled back.
The blond forced a grin, he didn't want to see "his shadows." "So uh I guess we go in then?" Naruto said as he walked past the door into the foyer. He clicked on his flashlight.
"Mm," the brunet said, following him in.
Naruto looked around for the breaker that would turn on all the flood lights they had set up to work with. Finding it, he flicked it on and the whole building lit up with an echoed snap. That was much better. He flicked his flashlight back off and stuck it in the pouch hanging off his belt.
"Well it's this way to the crow's walk," the blond said unneededly as he was sure the other knew where it was, he just needed to say something to keep the silence broken. He turned to go up the stairs and Shikamaru followed, staying quiet for the most part. The brunet's head turned slowly as he looked round. Probably watching for shadows, was Naruto's guess.
As they made their way through the halls, corridors, and up stairs, Naruto kept his guard up. His body stayed in alert, all five (possibly six) senses keen to any changes at all in the area around him. He was forced to jerk his head around a couple of times, but nothing too weird happened, nothing he couldn't explain anyway.
"Do we have to actually go all the way up there?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side to eye the brunet beside him.
Shikamaru replied with a sneer (for him it was anyway, to other people, it was probably just a smirk), "I need it to get a good assessment of what actually happened. Don't chicken out on me."
The blond would have huffed, but he had already had his pride damaged and wasn't looking for any more blows to it just yet. Instead, he puffed his chest out, subtly he hoped, and walked a little faster, chin more in the air. "I'm not chicken, I was just making sure."
They finally made it to the rickety old stairs and whatever courage the blond had forced up, was slowly starting to deflate now. He had planned on never being up on that landing again and yet, here he was (and without his army too). Just up and back down. Smooth as butter. Easy as pie. Nothing too bad. You'll be alright. Naruto's thoughts raced with encouragement, but he wasn't sure if they'd be enough.
The other having paused, Shikamaru just gave a short shake of his head accompanied by a low snort and took the initiative up them himself. His shoes tapped on the metal and he didn't take the railing, instead his hand grazed the brick wall. He turned back halfway up, "You have to come too."
Startled from where he had been looking around (looking for shadows), Naruto quickly ascended the stairs after the brunet, his feet a bit more noisy. He wasn't sure if the noise was comforting or not, but decided worrying about it wasn't going to get him anywhere. It was too late after all.
They both were on the fourth level now. Both standing in the tiny 15x20 foot space. Naruto felt trapped again and cramped. It was much smaller than it had been those few days before. He felt his will threading off, thinning out the longer he stood there. The other male's presence helped, but it didn't do for complete security. After all, Shikamaru hadn't dealt with the shadow the other day.
"So, show me what happened," the other male spoke dully, scratching at the back of his head before shoving his hands in his pockets. Naruto was sure he was mentally preparing to take notes of this in his head since a notepad wouldn't seem too out of place right now.
The blond staggered forward, looking around as he thought back on what had happened. "Well, uh..I came up here lookin' for him. He wasn't here so I just.." he took a seat on the step much like he did before, the action sent his stomach fluttering, "Sat and waited for a while and..." He didn't want to relive this, he was already getting the chills, already darting his gaze to the steps, anticipating the re-arrival of his acquaintance from the other day.
Shikamaru bobbed his head forward, gesturing for him to go on, "And then..."
Naruto drug his gaze back to the brunet and swallowed though his mouth was slowly going dry, "And then I heard footsteps come up the stairs, plain as day. So I stood to greet whoever it was, thinkin' it was Izumo, right? And..there was nothing." The blond stood and gestured towards the stairs, eyes lingering on them, expecting some sort of re-enactment. "So I was freaked out, yaknow? And I kinda called out to him—Izumo that is—, but nothing answered. Then I kinda ..backed up against this wall here." Naruto stepped back against the wall, much like he had before. "And then there was nothing for a while. I go to step forward and then BAM! It comes at me!" He threw his hands up, a little disappointed to see the other unfazed. "So I struggle with him and try to throw him off because I'm way more than a little freaked out by now cause I can see his face and it's all..sunken in and white and there's only gaping blackness where eyes and his mouth should be and the whole figure is kinda fading in and out but overall it's like smoky black and—"
Was that a shriek? It reminded him of the one that he hadn't quite heard, but more heard in his head when the thing had fallen off the side. It made him suddenly stand very straight as cold jolted up his spine.
"I see," Shikamaru said, either not noticing or ignoring how the other had cut off like that. He instead went to look over the edge. The spot (now clean) where Izumo had fallen to his death right below. He rose back up and stepped away from the edge. "Well, have you had past experiences with hallucinations?"
Naruto jerked his head to the side to look at Shikamaru (away from the steps). "Uh..what?" he blinked owlishly, looking very young suddenly. He felt young, like a kid, a kid that was still afraid to be in his room even after mom had left the light on. Because the thing in the closet didn't care that there was a light.
"You know. Seeing things, hearing things, smelling even. Voices in your head. That kind of stuff," the brunet gestured one of his hands with each listing. His bored gaze lingering on Naruto, not even shifting sideways once.
"Uh..no..what are you saying? That I'm crazy? I assure you.." Naruto laughed nervously, almost forced, "That I am not. I have never seen or heard anything like this until now. What I saw is what I saw. Whether it ended up being Izumo or not doesn't matter because I didn't throw Izumo off the side." The blond gave Shikamaru a stern look now. This accusation against him ruling out the shriek he heard or the movement he thought he saw in the doorway across from them on the lower floor. "I was attacked. I protected myself."
A sigh passed Shikamaru's lips. He pinched and rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes in thought. A slight crinkle passed over his forehead but went away once he lowered his hand from his face. "I'll..see what I can do. It doesn't seem like you did this on purpose, more like you said..an attack, though I always thought of Izumo as a calm, nice guy, but whatever. I'm going to leave the shadows out though. Including that information won't help you."
Naruto grinned, partially from the fact that he had the Nara on his side and also because they could leave now. There was a heaviness on his shoulders and in his stomach that wouldn't leave.
He gestured Shikamaru to the stairs, mounting them behind the other. "Thanks a lot. This has been really stressful for me. I need this job. Plus, I'm not a killer..and I don't want my coworkers to think of me as one, y'know?"
The other nodded and paused at the bottom before walking alongside the blond, "It's understandable and not really a hard task, but you're welcome anyway. I like you as a supervisor. You do a good job." A faint smile curved the brunet's lips.
"Well you don't have to say all that." Naruto smiled sheepishly and rubbed at the back of his neck, "I just do what I can y'know. What's b—" the blond stopped mid-sentence and stared down the opposite hallway, the one that led to the other set of stairs that went down to the second level. He widened his gaze and froze all movements, trying to catch on to what he'd heard again.
"What—what are you looking at?" Shikamaru arched a brow at the blond before turning to look down the same hall. He saw nothing and tilted his head to eye the other before looking back at the hallway again.
The other's voice made him wince, did he not hear that? Did he not realize that he shouldn't talk now? Naruto guessed that maybe only he felt that noise was to be avoided.
"Shh..." was all the blond gave in return. He edged towards where they were headed, trying to get out of the line of sight of the hallway as slowly and as sneakily as he could. Some natural instinct he was guessing. He was sure he wasn't acting rationally, but this was the best plan he had right now.
Shikamaru wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but he decided to keep going in the direction. He walked slowly (not as slow as Naruto, but close) feeling like he should, fitting in with the conditions right now.
Naruto had calmed slightly, they were nearly down to the stairs they were going to. Nothing else had made a sound from the other hallway. Maybe he'd make it out without another traumatic event.
Hard patter of feet. Slamming of a door.
Naruto leaped out of his skin. His heart pounded against his chest as his skin crawled and his breath caught. Whatever it was had pattered the fuck out of the door. Where the fucking hell was it now?
He was turned now, walking backwards into the other hall. Shikamaru was in his view, giving him confused and worried looks, but he ignored it, looking past the other to what was behind him, slowly speeding his pace back up. He nearly tripped on the steps, but wheeled around and took them swiftly, speeding towards the other stairs.
Shikamaru tried to keep up, but adrenaline wasn't hurrying him along like it was Naruto so he soon fell behind. Though he was sure the path the other was taking, he didn't want to lose him. The brunet didn't know what was freaking him out so much, but the emotion was catching on.
"Wait, dammit. Where're you going so fast?" but it was lost in the empty space. The only sign of the other was the faint thudding of his shoes hitting the floor. Was that even him? Shit, now Naruto had him paranoid.
Naruto had slowed, realizing he's left the brunet behind. He didn't want to go back, but he didn't want to wait here either. He contemplated making it all the way outside, but that would mean abandoning the other male and the blond just didn't do that sort of thing. He sighed and turned, running back to find his comrade, fucking good morals.
The Nara edged across the floor, his steps slowing considerably since he had entered the gym area. When had they slowed so much? He didn't have to be that careful crossing it. His ears were open, listening for sounds, his pupils wide and scouring every doorway and corner. He was so alert and he didn't even know why.
The thudding returned, it seemed from behind him. It was probably Naruto, but what if it wasn't? He had said with sarcastic amusement that he'd wanted to see these things that had the Supervisor so freaked, but when he thought about it, he didn't really want to. Wait, hey now, when had he accepted these things were real? It was just the atmosphere, he was just caught up in the moment.
Still, he hid just inside a classroom just in case.
The blond slowed when he reached just outside the gym room. He should have run into the other by now. Where the hell was he? He craned his neck, twisting and turning his body in different ways as he wandered into the wide, wooden-floored room. In the back of his mind he realized he had sprinted across the weak floor, not too smart on his part, but at least he was okay.
He skirted one of the columns, not realizing he'd almost run into it. He kicked something with a step and bent down quickly to pick up a broken piece of PVC pipe. They used this, but how did it get broken..and here at his feet?
He didn't worry too long with the details. He had a weapon now. He felt a little safer, but where the hell was Shikamaru? He didn't want to call out his name, but figured he had to. Until he heard the creak of a door. Fuck name-calling for now.
Naruto jerked towards the noise. Most of the doors around him were wide open, the dark rooms inside wide and daunting, hiding things that only the building itself knew about. He heard the rapid thump of feet he had heard upstairs again and he yanked his weight away from the direction it came from, immediately reversing his course. Was that a giggle?
Fuck, fuck, fuck, Shikamaru, where are you, you bastard?
The blond crossed into the middle of the room, now viewable from any room nearby, but he could also see every room nearby himself. Whatever it was already knew he was here, it would do better for him to know where it was before it came at him. He held the pipe close to him as if the tighter he held it, the more immune to danger he was.
He was wearing down. His heart had been thumping rapidly too long, his breath kept getting caught and was being held for too long, his muscles had been tensed up for too long. He just wanted to find the other male and go. Why wasn't he showing up?
There was a short couple of pants and something ran behind him.
Naruto leaped across the room, hands flailing outward and the pipe was thrown and forgotten instantly. A loud shout left his mouth and he backed up to a wall between two doorways, eyes darting everywhere for what had just been so close to him. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but his mouth was too dry. He stayed clutched to the wall, chest heaving with shakily drawn breaths.
"Naruto, is that you?" a familiarly dull voice called out. Though it was lower and possibly more broken than usual.
"Yes! Oh fuck! Shikamaru! Where are you?" the blond turned his head towards one of the doorways nearby where it sounded like the other's voice had come from.
Shikamaru stepped nervously from a doorway, edging towards the blond as he also darted his eyes around. "What the fuck is going on? Where'd you go?"
Naruto pushed up from the wall, "I don't know what the fuck's going on, but I was just running ahead. If you kept going you'd have me—"
He was cut short as he caught something in his peripherals that, unfortunately, was caught too late by the other.
The lost piece of pipe zoomed past Naruto, launching itself straight into the brunet's chest. Time slowed as blood slowly splattered from the wound, some shooting up through the hollow of the broken pipe. The blond jumped back, eyes momentarily whirling to make sure another one wasn't aimed at him.
Shikamaru's head turned towards the pipe protruding from his chest, then up to Naruto as he slowly fell to his knees, eyes wide in disbelief. The wound had made pierced straight through the layers of flesh and bone, jabbing his lungs, gashing through his heart. Low grunts were all that escaped his lips as the pain tore through him, shortly followed by a numbing coldness. He blinked a few times at the blond before slumping forward, soon going limp on the floor, a rattling sigh the last sound to ever pass through his lips.
Unable to do anything, Naruto simply watched in horror as someone else died in front of him. Someone he actually had gotten to know. His mouth opened and closed as he fought with himself to say something or do something. The other didn't move once his body hit the floor, the jar of the impact the only motion now and even that had ceased. He realized it was obviously too late for the brunet and panic overrode moral duty and Naruto ran. Ran for his life. Ran across the weak, wooden floor, ran down the debris-coated stairs, ran straight out the door, leaped in his car, started it up and sped away from the building.
The whole way, he was in a daze. Unable to pull any single emotion or thought from the swirling tempest in his head. The only thing guiding his movements was the primal instinct to retreat from the danger on his life. His eyes stayed wide and unblinking, focused on the road. His breath was all ragged panting, alternating between his parted lips and his nose. His heart was beating so hard it almost hurt. His muscles tensed and twitched with the energy running through them, every nerve ending sparking like mad.
Eventually this rush passed and Naruto slowed down, the other thoughts now free to torment his brain. Thoughts of what he was going to do now. How he would ever bring up the nerve to go into that school ever again. The fact that his job was in jeopardy again since his hope at clearing his name completely just died, and he was the only one there. Fuck, what would people think now? No, they didn't have to know he was there.
That settled somewhat and then he had to turn into a gas station. His head fell forward onto his hands on the steering wheel and his mouth fell open as a strangled cry rang out in the closed space of his small Civic. He jerked the car into park and put his hands over his face. The last moments of Nara Shikamaru passing through his head again and again.
He suddenly felt cold and very alone. His adrenaline rush was leaving him and he felt tired too, worn out, like he had spent all day running. He fell forward more against the steering wheel, subconsciously taking care to avoid the horn. He fought off the urge to cry, he didn't like crying. He hated it, it made him feel weak, but even so he felt his eyes sting and he was sure a tear had escaped by then.
Half an hour later, feeling numb and ready to collapse, Naruto pulled the car into Drive and made his way to Sakura's house.
"Hey, man, you need to get out. I don't want you drownin' on me," came Kiba's low voice, tinged in slight humor. Sad humor.
Naruto kept his forehead pressed against the tiled wall of the shower, only his eyes turning to acknowledge that the other was in there. He had wanted to hide it, tried to hide it, but his friend knew him too well, was right there on the couch when Naruto had came in, blood streaked across his clothes and body completely exhausted.
The brunet had of course leapt up. Obviously there was something enormously wrong. Blood gave off that impression quite immediately.
He had ushered the blond quickly to the shower, helping him undress since Naruto didn't seem willing to (able to) move on his own. There had been a bombardment of questions, none of them met with answers just yet, though they had marched around the blond's mind the entirety of the time Kiba was asking.
Now, he figured, he should probably answer those questions before even he forgot the answers.
The curtain was drawn back and the water turned off. Kiba draped a towel over his friend's head and tugged him from the tub. "Alright, buddy. Just sit down here." He led him further, into the guest bedroom that the Inuzuka occupied, guiding him to sit on the bed. He settled down beside him, attention turned to his best friend who still had that not-quite-there look in his eyes, something very rare for the blond. The last time I saw that look was—
"Shikamaru's dead." Naruto stated very plainly. Like it was just a fact of the day, a final score of a sports team (a losing sports team).
Kiba blinked a few times, he wasn't prepared for that even though he knew it had to be something pretty heinous. There had been blood.
"What?...How?"
"Pipe. Straight through his chest. Came out of fucking nowhere. I dunno how it happened besides that," the blond continued to just stare forward, not looking at anything. "I lost sight of him because I heard feet. Running. I ran ahead, but I lost him so I came back and it just...happened. Right after I found him...."
"Jesus. What the fuck's going on?" Kiba asked more to the air than to the young man beside him. He didn't expect him to know.
Naruto turned his dull eyes onto the brunet, red outlined with purple was draped beneath them, lining the bottom half of his socket in a half-moon shape. "He was going to help clear my name. Now he's dead. How's that gonna look." He snorted bitterly and his short-lived grin was just as callous. The blond turned to look back down.
"Don't worry about that, man. They gotta know you didn't do it. It'll be fine. We'll worry about it tomorrow, okay? It's too late now and you just witnessed somebody die. Take a nap. You want any food or drink or anything before?"
"No, thanks," Naruto replied and he moved to get up, but was stopped by a hand on his arm.
"You can sleep in here. I don't mind," Kiba rose, leading the blond to the head where he could slip in the covers. "Just put on some boxers first. I don't want your junk rubbing where mine goes." He tried humor though it was met with indifference. He sighed and grabbed a pair he had taken from the other guest room, handing them to his friend.
Naruto grabbed the ones handed to him and slipped them on, not saying anything. He tensed only slightly when he was pulled into a hug. He blinked a little, life glinting slightly in his eyes before he hugged Kiba back gently. It was rare for the other male to even offer something like that and here he was shoving it on him.
The blond pulled back when Kiba did and pulled on as big a grin as he could manage (as he could fake). He didn't like people worrying about him, it wasn't their job, their responsibility. He could take care of himself. "I'll be fine, dude. A nap sounds great, but if you could bring me some water, that'd be cool too."
The brunet squinted his eyes against the burning in them and nodded, happy to get away before the first tear slipped past. "Sure, I'll get you some water. No problem." He quickly walked away, pinching his temples as he did, but that didn't keep the tears from flowing. He knew when Naruto was faking it.
The covers were tugged back, Naruto sitting down and into the sheets as he waited for Kiba to come back with the water. He didn't really want it, but if he asked for it, maybe that'd lessen his friend's worry. Darkened blue eyes focused on gently sun-kissed hands, not taking them in. He wanted to call Sasuke, just hearing his voice would help, but he was tired. Very tired.
"Hey, here's your water," a voice said softly.
Naruto snapped his head up, he didn't realize he had drifted off. He took the water, taking a long sip and put it down on the nightstand. "Thanks, man, just..go watch TV or whatever. I'll be fine," he smiled up at Kiba. The brunet having been watching him with curled brows.
"You don't have to fake it, I know you're hurting," the brunet said and Naruto looked down.
"I'll be okay, alright? Just..if the police or anybody talks to you before I wake up....I wasn't there today, yeah? There'd be no way to clear my name if they knew I was the only one there with him," the blond said, eyes momentarily lifting to the wild ones above him.
"No problem, get some sleep," Kiba replied with a hidden sigh, ruffling the golden locks before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him. He didn't know what to do when the other got like that. It was heartbreaking even for someone like the Inuzuka. So like the blond, Kiba hid his emotions from his friend, crumpling in front of the door he had just exited, face instantly buried into his hands.
Naruto shifted in the covers as he got comfortable, just focusing on sleeping, escaping into unconsciousness. Things would be better after he woke up, they usually were.