Disclaimer: I do not or will I ever own Naruto. (even if i wanna)
A/N: Chapter Threeee now up.
Things turn absolutely shitty for our favorite blond 8D
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.
A muffled groan slid past russet lips as a tanned arm groped blindly for the source of the noise. Fingers curled around a vibrating object and brought it up to the main body, flipping it open and putting it against an ear peeking from the messy strands of gold.
"..........hello?" was the husky greeting.
"Hey, did I wake you?" Sasuke replied.
"Mmmyeah, it's okay though. It was just a nap. You know how much I hate those, heh," Naruto said as he rolled over, back of his head on the pillow now as he wiped at the corners of his eyes.
He heard a snort, "I just got off of work. Decided to call. You seem to be busy a lot lately."
"Mm'sorry, I told you things'd get like this," the blond yawned, stretching his free arm out to the side before curling it behind his head.
"Mm. It's okay,"
"Everything cool?" Naruto asked, sensing a shortness in his fiancé's voice.
Another snort, more amused though, "Things are fine. You?"
"Mmmm pretty crappy. Watched a guy get killed right before my eyes by a rogue PVC pipe after hearing footsteps and giggling and he was my only way out of suspicion too. Sucks," Naruto groused, stretching out his legs.
There was a long silence, "You seem to be taking this pretty easy."
"Not really, it hit me hard, cupcake. I'm just...I don't know...blocking it out right now I guess."
"You shouldn't do that," Sasuke sighed, "If you need to talk, you can. I want you to."
"I'll be fine, 'specially after I got to hear your sexy voice," a grin turned the corners of the blonde's lips up, the first real one since he got home.
Sasuke snorted in reply, "Usuratonkachi. Don't try to change the subject."
"I love it when you talk Jap to me," Naruto purred in reply.
"As long as it makes you feel better, but really Naru—"
"Oh, I'm feelin pretty awesome right now,"
"Hn," the initial reply was short, but the blond could hear the amusement laced in his lover's voice. "Well hopefully you can come home soon to make me feel this 'awesome,'" Sasuke had given up on getting the blond to talk.
"I'll see. With all that's happening, my break can be veryvery soon or very far away from now. It depends," Naruto said, scratching at his scalp.
"Hmm.." a short pause, "Did you get that text problem fixed?"
"Uhh..oh yeah," the blond rubbed at his chest, "Yeah I have no idea what the problem is. I think my phone's just going braindead. I'll see if I can get an upgrade the next time I have the time, alright?"
"Mm, alright,"
"Hey, I'll call you later okay? I think I better get up. I've had a lot to do lately. I wish I could talk to you more, but yeah, I need to get this Shikamaru thing cleared up," Naruto said as he sat up.
"It's cool. Call me whenever you get the time. I'll have my phone on me," Sasuke's voice had a slight echo to it, must be in the bathroom, "I love you. Later, Dobe."
"See ya, Babeh. I love you," the blond clicked his phone shut, setting it down before he ran both palms over his face. He knew talking to Sasuke would make him feel better. If he did get fired, at least he could go home to the Uchiha. Spend a few days doing nothing but eating amazing cooking and watching movies. Leisure time before he got back on his feet and found a new job. Now that's thinkin more like an Uzumaki. Naruto grinned to himself before perking up at the sound of a voice.
"...Yeah I know, but you also remember what happened barely four months ago as well, right?....Yes....yes I know it's not gonna get far..can you just—......right. Okay..good...thanks," he heard Kiba sigh and click his phone shut.
Sliding off the bed, Naruto ran a hand through his hair, working out any cowlicks. He stretched his arms out behind him with a grunt as he walked to the bedroom door, opening it and stepping into the living room.
"Everything alright?" the blond asked before going over to the fridge to grab a can of coke, scratching idly at an itch on his groin before readjusting himself.
"Isn't that what I should be asking you?" Kiba replied, sitting back on the couch and peering over the back at his friend.
Naruto took a first sip after popping the top, "I'm fine. I just needed some sleep."
"Right," the brunet said, turning back to the TV, annoyed that once again, Naruto was hiding how he really felt. It used to annoy most people that Naruto was always unusually happy, but a few of them learned soon that really, there was no way he could be truly that happy all the time. Even fewer still got to see the blond when he couldn't put on his default personality anymore, couldn't hide behind his mask, when it was too much for him to handle. Kiba was one of these few, so he knew when there was something more. Especially now when he personally would be nowhere near as okay with this as Naruto was acting. It pissed him off because it felt like his best friend was refusing his help.
Naruto wasn't though. He just got tired of depending on other people to help them. He made it his responsibility to be the cheery one, even when times got rough. Be the strong shoulder to lean on. It ran over even into times like this, when he was really the one most needing support.
After a while, half of the can was drained. "So who was that on the phone?"
"Asuma. He needs to see us tomorrow in his office," Kiba replied dully.
"Did you tell him anything?" the blond asked, slight dread creeping up on him.
"No, don't worry. He has no idea you were there. Luckily Shikamaru was always very vague with people when he had to be somewhere,"
He felt a bit of relief, but there was still something tugging on him, "That's good, but why does he wanna see us?"
Kiba turned full in the couch, cocking his head to the side, "Really Naruto. We're both the supervisors in charge of that site. Somebody just died on it. Don't you think that's reason enough for him to want to see us? I mean especially when it was one of our own guys and someone with a decently high position too. We're gonna have to get somebody to replace him, and that's gonna be tough. Shikamaru was a genius at what he did."
Naruto shrunk away, embarrassed slightly at how right Kiba was and how dense he'd been to not even think of that. "Yeah...that makes sense. Sorry."
A dark brown brow arched, "You've been acting weird lately. 'Specially since you came home not even two hours ago, you were freaking out and quiet. Now you're all chipper and happy-go-lucky 'Oh, what? A guy was just killed in front of me. That sucks.' You don't need to hide things with me, Naruto. I've seen you worse off before so there's nothing to feel you need to be more of a man about."
Frowning, Naruto took another drink before he replied, "It still bugs me, okay? I'm not hiding anything. I'm just...I don't wanna dwell on it—"
"Naruto!" Kiba shouted, louder than he meant to, but at least it got the other to pause. He sighed and ran a hand roughly over his face. "Look, man, it's hurting the both of us more if you hide things. Stop acting like it's okay. It's not okay!" He brought his gaze up to the other; an almost desperateness shone in them.
"I..." Naruto started then closed his mouth, looking down at his can. He couldn't make eye contact, it was making his resolve crumble. "Just let me deal with this how I want. I didn't even know Shikamaru that well, he's not worth us both fighting like this," the blond said with a light laugh, looking up at the brunet.
Kiba opened his mouth to retort, "This is about more than just Shi—" the only words he managed before the door swung open and Sakura stumbled in, overloaded with groceries. "Hey, guys, a little help please?" she said with a grunt.
Both men instantly got up to help her unload all the bags into the house. It didn't take long and Naruto shut the trunk before carrying the final packs of soda into the house, glad that he had something to distract him and Kiba from whatever it was they were getting into earlier. He set them on the counter and then started helping Sakura with putting some into the fridge.
"Wow, what a day," she started. "So I walk into class and the teacher just looks at me and so I get confused and look around and there's nobody there. Hah, I forgot that we had no class today. So of course I'm embarrassed and I kinda nod and leave the room quickly," she paused to toss a bag of chips to Kiba who placed them on top of the fridge. "Gave me enough time to study in the library before my test in Anatomy class. I'm pretty sure I did okay on it. I finished pretty early so I decided to go out and buy a few groceries for us, since we were running low," the girl continued on about her day, placing all the boxes and cans where they belonged.
"Well that sounds great. I'm sure you made an A though. You always do, "Naruto stated in an amused tone.
"Not always," Sakura retorted with a snort, "And it's not my fault I actually take the responsibility to study every now and then, unlike you two who barely made it through by luck." She smirked and looked up at the two men.
Kiba gave her a playful glare, "Hey, now. At least I did better than this guy here," he said, jabbing a thumb towards the blond, the mundane quaintness of Sakura's day seemed to have made him forget about his and Naruto's almost-confrontation earlier. "I think if it wasn't for you, he'd still be there, trying to gain enough credits to just get his degree."
"Alright you two, let's just drop this, okay?" Naruto said, narrowing his eyes at both of them.
"Says the guy who made mostly Ds in Algebra 101. How do you even do that?" the Inuzuka said with a snicker, putting the cookies out on the counter by the fridge.
"Hey, I told you that the teacher was retarded. She didn't even know how to use the freakin math program we had to use on the computers. Plus she didn't like me. She never learned how to say my name right."
"Hah, nice excuses, Nafreelo," Kiba said before he chuckled.
"How in the hell did she get that from my name? Half of those letters aren't even in it!" the blond said, throwing a hand up to exasperate his point.
Sakura sighed, brushing past them to relax on the couch. "I don't know, but really, that's old news. Will you ever let it go?" she said, turning in her seat to gaze at the two in the kitchen.
"Hey, I'm not the one who brought it up this time," Naruto said, pointing over at the other male still arranging the cereal boxes.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Nafreelo. Chill your ass down. It doesn't matter anymore," Kiba said, giving Naruto a coy grin.
"How was your day?" Sakura asked, voice raised over the two idiots' bickering, making the other two go instantly silent. "....Not too good I'm guessing."
Kiba gave the blond a shove. Naruto frowned back at him, "Well, we lost our head electrical engineer today." A hand was brought up to ruffle through golden spikes.
"Ah, how'd it happen?" Sakura asked, sipping the tea she had poured herself.
As Naruto went through his experience, Kiba distracted himself from the tale by fixing himself some tea. He'd already heard it once and didn't care for another run-through, it only served to remind him about why the two were fighting. His ears only picked up on what he hadn't heard before.
"Wow...Naruto. Are you okay?" Sakura said, setting her tea down on the coffee table and getting up off the couch.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just....crazy...I don't feel safe there anymore. What if it's me next time? Or Kiba..." the blond lifted his eyes to his best friend.
"Hey, man, don't worry about me. I'm better than some dumb shadow or whatever," Kiba said, turning around and flexing a bicep. "They'll have to try a lot harder than random, flying PVC pipes, whoever or whatever they are." Naruto snirked in reply.
"Don't worry about it, Naruto. You can ask to be re-assigned if you're really that worried," Sakura said, wrapping her arms around the blond. "I don't want anything to happen to you two neither."
Naruto returned her hug, sighing against her neck, "Nothing better happen to you either."
"Why would anything happen to me? I've never been to that school," she said, light amusement in her voice. She jerked when another weight pressed against her back, Kiba hugging them both.
"You're like our sister, we're just looking out for you too," the brunet said with a grin.
"Yeah, you're just as important to us as we are to you," Naruto brought his arms up to hug Kiba as well.
Sakura snorted, "You two are getting too sentimental. I thought that was my job."
"Maybe we've been hanging around you too much," the Inuzuka replied, still grinning.
The other two both just snorted, Naruto relaxing more against his two closest friends. The school didn't seem too bad anymore. He'd show it who could still hold his own.
"Please, take a seat," greeted Asuma, lighting a cigarette.
"Yes, sir," replied the two men, taking a seat each. Naruto fumbled with the seam of his jeans, already nervous from not knowing why their boss wanted to see them. Kiba seemed generally nonplussed, just simply watching the Sarutobi as he took his first drag. He'd probably already been told, but refused to even hint that he had more information than he let the blond in on.
The few minutes seemed to drag on. The man behind the desk, pulling out a few papers and putting them in front of himself, looking them over before he finally spoke.
"Since I've already spoken to Kiba and informed him specifically not to tell you anything, I'm sure you're curious as to why you're here," the larger man said before taking another pull from his cigarette.
"Kinda," Naruto replied, not sure what else to say.
Asuma cleared his throat, idly tapping his cigarette in his ashtray, "Well, thanks to recent events, a lot of people—mainly co-workers and the people funding this project—are getting worried. Now I have had a lot of talks with these people and it took a lot of convincing to just have this as a consequence of the two deaths on this site."
Naruto waited for his boss to continue on baited breath. He couldn't even start to guess what "consequence" the Sarutobi was talking about. Was he going to be fired?
"So from now on, Kiba here is going to be our new supervisor and you'll be taking his place as assistant," Asuma's gaze met the blond's, "I'm sorry Naruto, but that's the best I could do."
Blue eyes flitted over to his companion who didn't return the look, instead he was taking interest in something under one of his nails.
Naruto turned back to face Asuma, "That's alright," He was relieved that he wasn't fired, but demoted? There was a sinking in the pit of his stomach. He suddenly felt very much like a failure, a feeling similar from childhood. Kiba would make a good supervisor, yes, but that was the position that Naruto had fought tooth and nail over for the past ten jobs, making sure he always did his best.
So this is why Kiba kept it from him.
He swallowed, trying not to let his emotions get to him. He had no right to be angry. Shadows or not, fear or not, something had happened on his site and he hadn't taken the authority to put the safety of his men up above his own. While it was too late now to maintain his position, Naruto vowed to make up for it. He was going to stop whatever it was and keep all of his men safe.
The blond stood, putting out his hand which Asuma met with his own and shook, "I'll continue to try to do my best, sir. Thanks ." Naruto kept his face serious, betraying nothing of what he felt. He was going to do this right. He would earn his place back as supervisor by the next job.
Kiba also shook hands with their boss, "Thank you, sir" Then they turned to start to exit the Sarutobi's office.
"You two take care," the Sarutobi said as he waved shortly.
"Will do, sir," the two replied before the door closed behind them.
They walked in silence until Kiba spoke up, "Hey, man. I'm sorry about that. I would've told you, but like he said, I wasn't supposed to."
Naruto didn't look up from his feet, "It's cool. You'll be an awesome supervisor."
"Heh, I'll try, but I have some hard shoes to fill. Most of the men like you better and respect you more. That's gonna be tough to gain for myself," the brunet said with a breathy chuckle.
The same men that Asuma just said wanted me fired. Naruto snorted and turned towards his friend, "I'm sure you'll do fine. It's just like being an assistant, just you get blamed for more and are more of the run-to guy."
The Inuzuka grinned in return, not picking up exactly what emotion the blond was feeling; he assumed it was good. It'd be silly to get mad over something like this, "That's...a lot more of a change than you make it sound."
"Well I'll still be there. I'm not going anywhere. I'll just be the lowly assistant," the blond returned, pushing the front door of the office building open for both of them.
"Maybe your 'shadows''ll take more of a liking to me now, since I'm the one in charge," Kiba joked, hoping that wasn't really true. Didn't matter that the shadows weren't real, they could be.
"Heh, maybe."
Unlike before when it had taken nearly a week to restart construction, it had started back in a few days. It helped that not many of the workers knew nor worried with the details of their pausing. Most of them just worried with getting the work done for the day. Most just assumed it had been for the time taken to promote Kiba to supervisor. The higher ups and those that simply held the talent of figuring things out were the only ones who were the least bit knowledgeable of what had really happened.
"Dude, how do you do it?" Kiba asked in an exasperated tone before he moved a clipboard to his mouth, hands too busy signing papers in the second. Heads of certain teams were all around him at the doorway to their small work-trailer asking for certain changes in plans to be approved and making other suggestions, such as an early lunch.
"I dunno. I guess it just works with my ADD," Naruto said from where he was slouched over blueprints, making the adjustments that Kiba had requested. It was a lot less demanding as the assistant, or maybe that was just because his brown-haired friend wasn't pushing as much of the work off onto him as most supervisors did. Whatever it was, Naruto wasn't enjoying it much. He got distracted too easily without there being four things at a time that he was supposed to be doing.
"Maybe I should hand over some of this stuff to you then," the Inuzuka replied with a low groan. He stepped inside and fell back into his chair as the men that had come to see him left with a wave and shut the door.
"If you want to, I don't mind," Naruto said, erasing a mistake he'd made.
Kiba rolled his head against the back of the office chair to eye the blond, "What's with you lately? If it's about me getting your job, then man, you need to really chil—"
"It's not. I'm fine, really," Naruto said with a grin, "I'm just trying to make sure I get these right."
The brunet continued to eye him for a moment before a rough snort left his nostrils, "Yeah sure. You're fine and I'm King Arthur." He turned to look up at the ceiling, "Well, Mr. Fantastic, do you mind running to the house to pick up our lunches? It's about that time."
"You sure you'll be able to handle it while I'm gone?"
"I'll manage."
Setting down the drafting tools, Naruto stood with a stretch, rolling his kinked muscles and returning the blood flow to normal after being stuck hunched over the plans for so long. "Allrighty then, but remember you can call me if things get too rough for ya'," Naruto wiped at his nose before pulling his keys from off the table and heading out the door.
"You remember to keep your phone on this time," Kiba replied, turning in the chair to grab up the office phone that had started to ring.
Naruto sighed as he walked down the short, wooden ramp that led from their trailer, work boots thudding against it. He hadn't meant for it to happen, but things between him and Kiba had been strained lately. Maybe it was just the stress. Normally Naruto could deal with something like this, no problem. He also seemed to be telling himself that a lot lately.
What was going wrong with him? Were these weird events really affecting him that much?
He shrugged it off, shaking his head briskly to toss the stray bangs that were tickling his nose.
No, he was fine. They seemed to be over anyway. There hadn't been anything since the Shikamaru incident. He had felt like he was being watched a few times and there had been that time that he thought a dark figure passed by his doorway, but those could be just passed as him being too paranoid, too ready for the next event.
He got into his car, distracting himself from recalling those memories. Buckling himself up and pulling out, he drove the short distance to Sakura's house. There were always a couple of sandwiches waiting in the fridge. Sakura made them in the morning between classes when she made herself lunch, specifically because she knew that the two knuckleheads tended to forget to make it themselves and were going to spend themselves broke on fast food if she didn't do something about it herself.
A grin spread across the blond's lips as he flipped his turn signal on. She's gonna be one heck of a wife for some lucky guy. That is if he didn't kill the guy first for doing anything funny. Probably why she rarely gets boyfriends, he thought with a low snicker.
Sakura had always been a sister to the three of them. Even Sasuke had gotten close, the stoic man not seeming to enjoy the attention of many people. So any person that got through his barrier was special. Sakura was special. She'd come a long way since Naruto had first met her in middle school, but she had always held a certain charm. That charm remained with her even as the four of them grew up.
There was no way they were going to let anything happen to her.
Naruto paused his thoughts, pulling into the driveway. He stepped out and shut the door behind him before walking up to the front door and unlocking it.
The house was empty, as he expected, and held the same eerie quiet that it seemed to reserve just for him. There was no way he was in danger though. Even if those shadow-things were intent on killing, they were in the school. He'd heard of vengeful spirits haunting a particular person rather than a building, but he really couldn't think of why any dead people would be holding a grudge against him. Yeah, he was fine.
He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. It shut much too loudly for his tastes, though he wasn't sure why he wanted to be quiet. He was in no danger, after all.
The fridge opened with its usual slap and he reached in to grab the bags that their sandwiches were in. As he pulled them out, he jerked with a low squawk as his phone suddenly blared his ring-tone and vibrated in his pocket. Naruto quickly placed the sandwiches on the counter and shut the fridge, pulling his cell up to his ear after checking to see who was calling him.
Sakura's voice rang out over the small distance between the phone and Naruto's ear, "Hey, Naruto, can you do me a favor?"
Bringing the phone up, he replied in a bit higher tone than he meant, still jumpy from the sudden overload of his senses, "Uh..sure. What is it?"
"Where are you right now?"
"At your house," the blond said, arching a brow in curiosity.
"Perfect. I'll be running there between classes. I forgot my homework for Astronomy lab. Can you go ahead and put that out on the coffee table for me? So I don't have to waste time looking for it in case it's not where I put it?"
"Yeah sure, lemme go into your room and you tell me where you think it is," Naruto said, pushing off from where he had rested against the counter before walking to her bedroom. He walked in, past a full-body dummy woman that he assumed she'd gotten for a class. There were parts of her cut away to reveal her inner organs. It looked like it was used for anatomy or something. A new addition to the room as far as his knowledge went. Its dull gaze loomed at him from its plastic face that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to prick upwards.
"Okay it should be in my desk, on the right side under some folders I think," her soft voice drew his attention away from the creepy mannequin and he went to looking where she directed him.
Pulling open the single drawer on the right, Naruto pulled up the folders she had mentioned and found the Astronomy handbook hiding beneath, "Found it."
"Good, now put it on the coffee table and I'll be there in a while to pick it up after you leave," Sakura sounded obviously pleased.
Naruto caught her before she hung up though, "Hey, Sakura, when'd you get this mannequin-dummy thing?" He turned back to the plastic woman. The eyes seemed to watch him from the opposite wall and were giving him the creeps, but he figured that's how they were made.
"Huh?"
"This–i'm guessing—anatomy doll thing. It's on the wall opposite your desk," he stepped towards it, tilting his head. The lights were playing tricks on him again because he could have sworn it was following his movements.
"Naruto, I don't have any kind of mannequin-doll," she replied very plainly.
Blue eyes grew impossibly wide as he stared at the doll, daring it to move while he watched, but also hoping it didn't take the challenge. He backed up quickly, guiding himself with just the instinct of how the room was set up. He refused to let it out of his sight until he was far enough away, "Wh-wh-whaddya mean 'you don't have one.' I'm looking right at it." His mind instantly whirled towards the direction of what he was pretty sure was going on right now.
He stopped once he was outside the doorway and ran a hand up the side of his face, gaze not leaving the figure across the room.
"I mean I don't have one, Naruto. Are you sure it's not Kiba's?"
"Why would he have one?" Naruto nearly spat into the phone. He wanted to get out of the house, but he didn't want to lose sight of the doll. Instead, he rocked from one foot to the other, debating.
"Naruto, calm down. I'm sure there's some reason it's in there. Maybe Ino left it after a study session and I just forgot. I'll be there in a few, try to stay calm," though her words attempted to calm him, he wasn't swayed by the anxiousness he heard in her voice.
He jerked as he realized he had looked down, he didn't mean to, but he did and when he looked up...the damned thing was gone. Just like he knew would happen. He knew it. He fucking knew it.
Naruto started twisting around, ignoring the voice that started to get louder from the phone, Sakura nearly screaming at him to answer her after his long pause. He dropped the phone as his gaze caught what he was looking for, the same mannequin with its dead gaze locked onto him. Though instead of it being in Sakura's room, it was at the doorway of his own bedroom.
A hard shiver rang through his body as his mind instantly went to defensive procedures. His muscles momentarily tensed up and his breath caught. He was sure this was the same as in the school, but..but...it wasn't supposed to be. He was supposed to be safe.
He watched it carefully, trying to figure out how it had gotten over there and if he had a good chance to get outside the house. A creak dashed through his thoughts and his eyes widened as the mannequin slowly turned its torso towards him.
There was not much more movement before Naruto had bolted towards the front door, throwing himself out, but not before looking back and seeing the jerky, unrealistic movements of the mannequin following after him. He let out a shout and yanked the door closed behind him. Tripping over his own feet, he backed rapidly into the front yard before falling.
He paused, breath rushing in and out of him as he watched the door in a locked gaze. His arms and legs were shaking and he felt a cold sweat starting on his brow. He didn't hear Sakura drive up, he only acknowledged a presence when he felt hands grab his face as she squatted in front of him.
"Naruto. Naruto, what's wrong? Naruto!" Sakura yelled, shaking the blond roughly.
He blinked and turned his focus to the fiercely shining green irises before him. His brow wrinkled lightly before he replied in an almost choked voice, "The doll-thing..it was after me. It chased me out here.."
Delicate brows knitted as Sakura fought back a sigh, "Naruto, there's no way that a 'doll-thing'—that I'm not even sure I have—'chased' you outside."
"It shouldn't be here. Why is it here? I was supposed to be safe," Naruto looked at Sakura, an almost desperateness to his eyes that worried her, "It wasn't supposed to be here! Only at the school.."
"Naruto, snap out of it!" Sakura shouted, slapping him hard across the face. She hadn't meant to be so rough, but he was starting to scare her. She merely panted while she waited for reality to snag her friend and pull him back; waited for what he'd say.
A hand slowly rose to his cheek as he looked from the door to the ground to the girl sitting in front of him. He caught his breath as his mind was jarred free and allowed to think about something other than the thing that had chased him outside.
"I'm sorry," she said low, eyes darting down before locking with his again. "I didn't mean to hit you." Sakura leaned forward, dragging the blond to her and into a hug.
Naruto returned her hug and allowed her to try and smooth away the anxiety from what had just happened. Her hands felt nice on his back and he finally dropped his gaze from the door. He wasn't sure what to say, she'd probably not believe him no matter what he said. So he decided to keep quiet.
After a while, Sakura pulled back, "I need to get to class soon, Naruto. I'm already late. So I'll just step inside and grab my book okay? You wait here."
"No!" Naruto shouted, hands tightening around her lithe arms. "You can't go in there. You'll die!" That was the trend that went with these freaky events and he was not going to let the—whatever it was—get Sakura too. Not this time...
She sighed, unable to hold it back, "Naruto...it's just a mannequin...that I'm not even sure really exists. What can it do? Now let me go, I can't be any later to class." The stern look on her face fixed onto Naruto before she yanked herself from him.
"Okay...okay...but if anything happens, you call for me and run straight out here," Naruto returned with his own stern expression, catching her eyes to show he was serious. He knew Sakura was stubborn and he shouldn't be giving in, but maybe this time, as long as he didn't run away, things would turn out for the best.
Sakura smiled lightly, ruffling his hair before she stood, "Alright, but I really don't think there's anything to worry about." She felt silly, motherly, and foolish trying to calm Naruto down. She hoped she was right and there was nothing to worry about, but she knew the blond didn't get this freaked out easily so there had to be a good reason for his fear.
Though, there was nothing else she could do about it, she really did need to get to class.
"I'll go in and grab my book and be right out, I'll definitely let you know if anything 'weird' shows up," she grinned and turned towards the house, walking up and grabbing the doorknob. As she did, the mannequin's head peeked past the sheer curtains of the window alongside the front door, slowly, head jerkily fixing upon the young woman.
Naruto's breath caught before he jerked up, limbs flailing as he tried to stand, "Sakura! Get away from the door! It's still in there!"
The rosette turned towards him, a brow arched in concern. Simultaneously, the mannequin's head flitted from sight. "What are you talking about?"
Naruto stopped in his tracks, still watching the window, brows curling as he waited for it to make a reappearance. He wanted it to, so maybe she'd believe him, "It was in the window."
She turned her head to look in the window, leaning her body a bit so she could see better. Seeing nothing, she turned back, a hand perched on her hip, "Really, Naruto. There's nothing there. Stop scaring me."
"I'm not lying! Let me go in there with you, I don—" Naruto attempted before he was cut off by a hand in his face.
Sakura hardened her gaze on the taller male, "I'm fine, okay? It's right inside the door. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."
Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but she pressed her finger against his lips before turning and going inside, the door shutting behind her.
He pulled his hands up to run through his messy locks, wondering if he should risk the Wrath of the Haruno and follow her inside anyway. It was better to get punched if nothing happened than for her to end up dead if something did, right?
Though he didn't have to make that decision for himself as a scream pealed from the other side of the door, or what he was sure was the other side of the door. The sound seemed to come from all around him.
Naruto wasted no time thinking about where it might have come from, though. He was certain he knew where it had come from, and that location needed his presence right then. Hands instantly wrapped around the doorknob, turning it to open it. However, the damn thing was stuck, so Naruto raised a leg and jabbed his heel at the door roughly until it did open, slamming against the opposite wall.
"Sakura?" Naruto shouted into the thick air of the living room, rushing inside the house. The lab book wasn't on the coffee table, but Sakura was nowhere to be seen either. A rough chill ran up his spine as he continued to search the house, looking in the kitchen, Kiba's room, his room, the bathroom, repeatedly calling her name. Finally all that was left was Sakura's room and he ran in there. It was the last place, she has to be in here.
He wasn't met with pink hair and green eyes, instead he came face-to-face with the same thing that had sent him outside the first time. The blond leaped back as he almost ran into the mannequin, the thing who's face wasn't the dull gaze from before. Instead it had morphed into a thing unlike anything Naruto had seen before. Sockets lacking eyeballs and curved, razor-sharp, drastically tapered teeth lined its mouth which was tugged up into an inhuman snarl was what greeted him.
He couldn't move backwards fast enough.
Tripping over the back of the couch, he landed on the coffee table, the piece of furniture crushing under his weight and splintering beneath him. Widened eyes remained focused on the direction of Sakura's room as his hands fumbled for a large enough piece of shattered wood to use as a weapon.
His fingers curled around a table leg just in time for the mannequin to round the end of the cough, a low rasping sound coming from its toothy maw. Naruto rolled backwards, leaping up to his feet as it lunged at him. He jabbed the wood into the junction of neck and shoulder, the makeshift-stake slipping in easier than the blond expected.
The mannequin-creature let out a shriek and backed off, but Naruto wasn't going to let it escape to wherever it had come from. He jumped forward, tugging at its arm and pulling out the wooden dagger before jabbing it into its chest. Eyes hard with fury, he stabbed at it multiple times, blood surprisingly spurting from the wounds before he allowed it to crumple on the ground.
He stared at it, watching for any jerk, any motion. His heart thumped wildly in his chest and he could still feel the cold sweat stinging his skin, adrenaline burned through his veins. "Fuck," he bit out with a seethe, tossing the wooden spike down at the thing. The blond took heavy steps across the remains of the table, heading towards Sakura's room with a slightly wobbling balance.
"S-sakura?" he said in a choked voice, body still recovering from the encounter. He turned into her room and looked around, hand pressed against the door frame for balance. "Sakura, it's okay. I got it...I'm here." A loud sigh left his parted lips as he continued to scan the room for any signs.
Finally deciding she wasn't just going to walk up to him, Naruto fully entered her room. He turned around the foot of her bed and froze. Beneath him laid the horribly marred body of Haruno Sakura.
A short gasp escaped his lips as he fell to his knees beside her. Shaking hands reached out, tugging her limp form over to himself. She was dead, blood coating her clothing, staining the carpet beneath her. He was too late, he should have gone in with her. I am such an idiot.
A choked sob left his mouth as he turned her face over in his arms, hands pushing the strands of pink-dyed hair from her face. She'd been dying it that color since he could remember. He was sure her natural color was dirty blonde, but he never saw for himself. He wouldn't be able to see for himself.
His brain was a tempest of thoughts, emotions. This wasn't supposed to be real. It was the stuff you saw in movies. Things like this didn't happen to real people. He should have gone in sooner. He should have saved her. Why were there things like that mannequin, that shadow, whatever had been running around in the school. Those things weren't supposed to exist, they were imaginative things that people came up with for stories to scare their drunk friends.
He buried his face in her neck, like he'd always done when she was comforting him. What was he going to do now?
Nobody would believe him, not even Sakura had. He knew that he couldn't stay here. The cops would pick him up and they were sure to believe him even less than his own friends. He was definitely not going home to Sasuke, there was no way in hell he'd bring this upon the most important thing in his life.
He sighed, breath catching on the sobs that were frequently causing his body to quake, tears dropping onto the girl beneath him. Whatever he did, he needed to do it quickly.
As much as he didn't want to, he released Sakura, setting her down gently back onto the floor. He reached in his pocket for his phone, which he didn't find. Of course, he'd dropped it earlier. Knees popping, he raised himself and walked outside the room, but only found the shattered remains of what used to be his phone. Shit...
He figured it was a bad idea, but desperately needing a phone, Naruto went back into the room and reached into Sakura's pocket, pulling out her own. He flipped it open and picked out Kiba's number from her contact list. Tearing at his bottom lip, he waited for the brunet to answer.
"Hey, baby-doll, what's up?"
"Kiba, Sakura's dead," Naruto winced as he said that. It wasn't the best way to start things and it only served to hurt him more as if saying it made it more true. His gaze drifted to the body beneath him, but he covered his eyes with his free hand, forcing himself to look away.
"Wh....what? Am I hearing things right—are you playing some kind of joke 'cause," the brunet let out a nervous laugh that was a tone higher than his normal one, "that shit isn't funny, Naruto."
"I am not joking, Kiba! Why the hell would I joke about something like that? At a time like this especially!" Naruto shouted back into the phone, brows furrowing in anger.
There was a long silence from the other side. The blond drug in a shaking breath, about to say something before he was cut off.
"Are you..serious? What the fuck happened?" the Inuzuka's voice came out strained, gravely convinced.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Naruto said with a sigh, walking from the room. He rested against the arm of the couch. He tried to calm himself down through another pause in their conversation.
"Tell me anyway. I wanna know what the fuck happened to her," the brunet's voice cracked, it was obvious he was breaking. His voice tapered off at the end, from probably pulling the phone away before he openly sobbed.
"She was...coming to get a book for class. I was picking up the sandwiches when she called and—and...I saw a mannequin. I asked her if it was hers and she said she'd never seen it. It chased me outside where she found me and then she went inside to get her book and I heard her scream; I came running and I had to fight it, but," a sob escaped the blond's lips, "it was too late. She was already dead. Kiba, she's dead," another sob left him and he covered his mouth, head ducking as he fought against the tears.
There was a long silence from Kiba's side, "I'm sick of this weird shit. What the hell's going on? Why the hell is it going on?"
"Like I fucking know!" Naruto snapped. His lips trembled and he covered his face with his hand, rubbing at the flesh roughly.
"Chill, dude. I know you don't know. I just—this is really hard to swallow," Kiba said before giving a quavering sigh. "You need to get out of there before the cops find you...I can't believe she's dead..." There was another moment's silence as the two finally let it sink in that one of their closest friends was dead.
"I know..it's....hard on me as well...," Naruto cleared his throat, "I'm...checking into a hotel. I'm not telling you where though. Because if this..thing—whatever it is—is after me, I'm not letting it get you too. Tell the cops I disappeared or whatever if they ask anything. I'm not sure what else to do about that." The blond huffed out a sigh, hand raking through gold locks.
"Man, you better tell me where you'll be. I'm not letting you go through this alone, but I'll make up some bullshit for the cops if they ask. You get somewhere safe and I'll see you after my shift at work is done."
"I'm not. I'm ending this tomorrow night. If I end up dying..well...at least you and Sasuke'll be safe. I've gotta go. I'll see you when this is over. Thank you, Kiba. You've been the best friend a guy could ask for," Naruto clicked the phone shut before the other could retort. He took in a deep, lung filling breath before standing. He wasn't sure how, but he was going to end this. No more people were going to get hurt because of this thing—ghost shit or whatever it was.
He walked past the tattered door and got into his car, reddened eyes giving Sakura's house one last look-over. "I'm going to get them for you, don't worry," the blond said to the body inside, jabbing the key into the ignition.