Disclaimer: I don't own nor have I contributed to Naruto in any way! Nope! None!
Sky-eyed Kitsune: Vacation is coming to an end…--sniff--…
Gomi-kun: -.-'
Sky-eyed Kitsune: DO YOU MIND!? I'M GRIEVING HERE!!!
Gomi-kun: o-o
Reviewer Replies-
To HoshitheHorse: I'll probably be crying buckets of tears when I write about what happened to Haku…--sniff--…so tragic! T.T
To Nemu Ame: Nomnomnom me likie cookies! Thank vuuuuu! Yes, I needed more angst, so Jiraiya is mean. I've never found a lot a lot of fics that portray him as an abusive drinker….O.o Thanks for the review! ;3
To scoggzie: O.o Dats a lot o' cookies! –grabs plate— X3 Thank you for loving this story enough to give me so many cookies! Yatta! Gomi-kun: Can I have one…? Sky-eyed Kitsune: NU! THEY BE MINE! –hisses— Gomi-kun: T.T
To mimiteufel: NOM NOM NOM SO MANY COOKKKIIIEEESSSS! XD
To nanamen: LOL! Your boss caught you? T.T I sorry! But your review made me laugh! X3 Arigatou! I'm happy that I deserve these reviews! I was a bit down recently because I had a reviewer (who actually did not flame but favorite one of my other stories) say that I wrote weird…but thank you for lifting my spirits!
To Ninjalicious Babe: Yayayayaya cookie!
To Ellwing: Lol!
To Angel of Lavender: Kyuubi is Naruto's alter ego cause he has a split personality, so yea, his eyes change color when he switches.
To anime-girl-cutie: Pwease…let me have the chocolate…I updated…T.T Haku's story will be told soon, and with it the reason why Naruto has a split personality!
To DesperateMeasures: It's not really soon…but I updated nonetheless!
To KitsuneyJenfner: I kno! Jiraiya sooooo mean! T.T
To cluelessninja65: Oreos and cheesecake!? O.O ZOMGZOMGZOMG! WANT!!! Wow, you review so much for my fics…I so honored!!!
To moonlit dew: Thank yoos! I wanted to make this fic different than the norm, and I likes me some emo!naru! UN!
Chapter Dedication:
Zomg, I luved ALL of your reviews! (I'm not sayin that to be lazeh! I means it!) This is for all yous reviewers that I replied to for this chappie…which is all of ju! Luvs ya!!!
Chapter Five: To Protect
Sasuke sighed in English as he sporadically glanced at his watch every two minutes.
He laid his head down on his folded arms on his desk as he listened to Iruka go on and on about "Paradise Lost".
Sasuke stared ahead of him where a blonde mop of spiked hair should have been.
Where was Naruto?
Sasuke thought back to yesterday. Everything seemed fine until…until he walked Naruto to his door and he saw his guardian. Naruto's face that Sasuke had tried so hard to get emotion out of had hardened back to a detached façade.
Naruto had said that Jiraiya was loud when he was home…but was that all?
Sasuke bolted up from his seat as the bell rang and students gathered their things to go to lunch.
Sasuke sped out of the room, down the hall, threw his books in his locker, and rushed out to the back campus.
He caught his breath, leaning against an elderly weeping willow.
He sat down at its roots thinly visible beneath the layer of dirt tacked to the ground by footsteps. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his black and navy blue phone.
Sasuke flipped it open and went through his contacts list, hitting the call button when he had reached the blonde's name.
Naruto had given Sasuke his number in case he needed to contact Kyuubi through him.
Sasuke heard the humming that signaled ringing on the other line.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
Pick up dammit!
"Hey it's Naruto. Leave a message."
BEEP.
"Naruto…uh…"
Sasuke cleared in his throat.
"Dobe, where the heck are you?" he said. "You were fine yesterday until…"
Sasuke sighed.
"I know you said that Jiraiya is noisy, but…is that really all?"
Sasuke paused a moment as if the phone would answer.
"Anyways," he continued. "If you're sick or something then ok, but if you're ditching school I'm gonna kick your ass when you get back here."
Naruto groaned and turned over, wincing as his sore body hit the mattress, even soft as it was.
His eyes fluttered open and he saw shreds of gold inhibiting his vision along with morning-sight-fuzziness.
Naruto blinked and rubbed his eyes with his good arm, moving his hair out of the way. He focused on the green neon lights in front of him.
12:13 pm.
Damn it felt good to sleep in, especially after the night before—
Naruto closed his eyes again as the previous night's happenings rolled in his head like a movie clip. But this wasn't unusual.
Quite the contrary; it was almost like a ritual every time Jiraiya came back from a business trip to yell at Naruto and physically abuse him. Half the time he was drunk, and others he was amazingly sober. Naruto preferred him to have the lowest possible alcohol concentration in his body, for the drunker Jiraiya got, the harsher his beatings became. Soon after he would collapse and fall asleep, whether it be on the floor or the couch.
The next morning would follow up with a killer hangover in which Jiraiya wouldn't even so much as try to speak for fear of hurling his guts up for the millionth time.
Naruto knew that Jiraiya was aware he was abusing him, but he didn't give a damn. Naruto had never asked for an apology and had never gotten one. The closest thing to an apology that he had ever received was Jiraiya mumbling about Naruto not worth the energy and ordering the blonde to clean up the bloodstains he had left on the floor from the night before.
In other words, for Naruto, this was nothing new.
Naruto sat up, wincing and hissing as his skin pulled and scrunched the black and blue bruises on his chest.
For a moment he just sat there and stared down at his hands when he suddenly heard a faint beep.
He looked to the source of the noise and found his cell phone lying next to the digital clock, a blue light flashing on it to indicate a new message.
Naruto stretched out his good arm and grabbed the orange piece of plastic, pressing a button and holding it to his ear as he let out a wide yawn, displaying sharper-than-average canines.
"Naruto…uh…"
Naruto's eyes almost shot out of his head.
"Sasuke!?"
"Dobe, where the heck are you?" Sasuke's message said. "You were fine yesterday until…"
Naruto heard Sasuke sigh, and he cocked an eyebrow.
"I know you said that Jiraiya is noisy, but…is that really all?"
As Sasuke paused Naruto swallowed hard and touched his bruised chest. Sasuke sound concerned…the bastard sound concerned…
"Anyways," Sasuke continued. "If you're sick or something then ok, but if you're ditching school I'm gonna kick your ass when you get back here."
"As if," Naruto retorted aloud, shutting his phone. He placed it on the desk and stared at it for a moment.
So Sasuke was his math tutor…so what? They weren't friends or anything…right? Yea! Barely acquaintances! But why would the bastard, whom he had seen only hang out with his little circle of jocks and shun all others, bother to call and check up on him?
Naruto's thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and Temari and Kankuro stood smiling at him. Well…one smiling and the other bawling into the back of his sister's shirt.
"Hey Naruto," Temari said, walking into the room as her brother, despite being much taller and more muscled than his sibling, clung to her.
Naruto raised an eyebrow for the second time.
"Um….Kankuro?"
"NARUTO!!!"
Naruto winced as Kankuro released his sister and glomped the blonde ferociously, practically squeezing the life out of him.
"Naruto! You're alive! I thought Jiraiya had killed you! Are you ok!? How do you feel!? How many fingers am I holding up!?!?"
"G-get…..-wheeze-……..off…" Naruto choked.
Temari ripped her brother off the poor blonde who gasped for air and nodded thanks.
"Heh…sorry Naruto," Kankuro said.
"It's ok," Naruto said.
"You do that every time he gets hurt," Temari said, rolling her eyes. "He's probably used to it by now."
"True," Kankuro said, chuckling.
Naruto smiled, then swiveled his body in bed to look past Temari and her brother.
"Is Gaara at school?" he asked, and Kankuro nodded.
"We made him go," he said. "He wanted to stay and look after you, but we told him no since our University doesn't have class today."
Naruto smiled and nodded.
"Oh, and by the way," Temari interjected. "Gaara will be filling in for Kyuubi as Uchiha's bodygu-"
"No."
Temari's eyes widened at the rough command. She looked at Naruto's eyes as they swirled red and knew that his alter ego, Kyuubi, was speaking. His eyes always changed when the respected gang leader was talking.
"I'm fine," Kyuubi said. "If I sleep until I have to meet Sasuke I should have plenty of energy. I'm a fast healer."
Temari sighed but nodded.
Kyuubi's word was final.
Sasuke departed from Konoha's cushy white bus as the rest of the soccer team unloaded. He looked around for his handsome red-head bodyguard, but didn't see him.
"So where is he?" Neji asked as he, Lee, and Shikamaru got off the large vehicle behind Sasuke, all sporting their soccer bags over their shoulders which held their uniforms.
Sasuke pulled back his navy sleeve and looked at his watch.
3:32.
He had said 3:30…so where was he?
Sasuke looked down as his black cell phone that hung from his wallet chain buzzed. He unclipped it and held it to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hello Uchiha."
Sasuke's eyes widened a bit.
"Kyuubi?"
"Yea."
"Where are you?"
"Left side of Otogakure's garden wall. Meet me there and I'll follow you as your so called 'bodyguard'."
Sasuke flipped his phone shut as the line disconnected, and he smirked at his friends.
"I'm going to get Kyuubi."
Sasuke turned the corner into the garden along the wall of Otogakure, his body unwillingly shaking.
"C'mon…get it together! You met the guy!" he said to himself. "He doesn't even look that dangerous…"
"Hm, that's interesting. I thought you hired me as a bodyguard because I was."
Sasuke froze.
He swallowed and turned his head to the left, his face belying his inner shock.
Kyuubi stood leaning against the building's red brick wall, his hands in the pocket of a pair of black jeans carefully ripped at the knees. They were tight around his hips, shaping his body as the black pants ran into a fishnet shirt covered by a long-sleeved ruby red button-up left open. Through it Sasuke saw his tan complexion and muscles softly carved over his torso and a complex tattoo over his belly button. His crimson hair stuck up in wild spikes, shards of it framing his face and brushing against his shoulders. His red eyes flared and illuminated his whisker-like scars that seemed to be painted on his skin with a delicate kanji brush. Between his pink cherry lips he balanced a cigarette that let out a thin stream of steady smoke, and on closer examination, Sasuke noticed that Kyuubi's ears were both double pierced with a small silver hoop and stud.
Sasuke swallowed again.
He knew why Kyuubi and Naruto were related now.
They were both damn hot!
"Like what you see?"
Sasuke blinked and Kyuubi smirked.
"You left your eyeballs on the floor Uchiha," Kyuubi sneered, and Sasuke glared.
"Sorry, I was expecting something out of the ordinary," Sasuke retorted, and Kyuubi laughed lightly.
He pulled his cigarette from his mouth with his middle and index finger, letting a stream of smoke escape his lips.
Sasuke grimaced as the cloud hit his face; he couldn't stand smoking.
"Bold one, aren't we Uchiha?" Kyuubi said. He used the wall to snuff out his cigarette and flicked it into a nearby trashcan since no ashtray was available.
Kyuubi walked up to Sasuke, a bit shorter than the brunette but still defiant. Sasuke's eyes widened a bit as he now noticed a bruise over Kyuubi's beautiful cheek. Not only that, but scanning him, Sasuke also saw that his golden chest was littered with the blue tinted stains.
"Take a picture," Kyuubi spat, glaring hard at Sasuke. Sasuke smirked.
"Got in a little too much trouble to handle, did we?"
Sasuke only had an instant to blink before he found himself rammed up against a brick wall with a tan hand wrapped around his throat as fiery eyes engulfed his own onyx ones.
"Shut up," Kyuubi said, his voice perched on a dangerous ledge.
Sasuke blinked again. How the hell did he pin him so quickly!?
"That reminds me," Kyuubi said, not releasing Sasuke. "You called Naruto. Why?"
Sasuke flared a bit.
"I did call him and not you so that's his business."
"His business is my business," Kyuubi growled.
"What, just because you're related and some crazy ass strong gang leader you think you run his life? Pfft."
Kyuubi narrowed his eyes as he slowly lowered Sasuke to the ground and released his throat.
He turned his back to Sasuke as said brunette rubbed his abused windpipe.
"Don't…"
Sasuke looked over to Kyuubi and his eyes widened.
Kyuubi stood there, his head tilted up to the sky as the wind rustled his hair. His eyes were soft embers as if trying to caress the clouds above him.
"Don't…say that," he said quietly. "Naruto and I…we're…….too close for words. More than just sharing the same blood. It's…complicated. But I will never control his life."
Sasuke blinked.
What, did the guy have some kind of split personality or something? One minute he was ramming up Sasuke against a wall, and the next he was cloud-gazing!
"Huh?" Sasuke said stupidly, unable to get anything else out.
"Forget it," Kyuubi said, shaking his head and turning back to the brunette. "You brought me here as your bodyguard, so let's get this show on the road."
Lee poked his head out of from the corner of Otogakure High's hallway, blinking his bug eyes as they shifted left and right. He pulled back with a yelp when he heard footsteps behind him, and he let out a screech when he was spun around.
"Lee! Shut up!" Neji snapped, slapping a hand over the darker brunette's mouth. Shikamaru nodded beside him.
"So troublesome," he sighed. "You'll give us away if you keep on making loud-"
"Noises?"
The trio turned around and immediately had the wind knocked out of them as they were pinned up against the hallway walls by three Oto High students.
"Your right, that does give you away," the one gripping Neji said, his voice low and a white bandana covering most of his face, save for his left eye.
"Trapped like rats!" the girl holding up Lee agreed. Her long black hair back in a simple ponytail.
"Filthy rich rats!" the other young man constricting Shikamaru's throat scorned, his black hair standing in tall spikes.
"Cough it up richies, unless you want to wake up breathing through a tube!" the girl said.
"I think I'll just hit this one for good measure!" the black spiky-haired one said, reeling back his fist. "I need to vent my anger somewhere after all!"
He whipped his hand forward and Shikamaru closed his eyes.
He heard groans and gasps, and suddenly he was released as he heard things slam against the wall.
He peeled open one eye and couldn't help but gape.
Sasuke blinked.
How the hell was Kyuubi so fast!?
In one second it seemed, he had kicked the bandana guy in the gut, slapped the girl's face, and twisted the last boy's arm back, finally shoving them all so hard that they hit the wall with a loud slam.
Sasuke gulped.
Kyuubi approached the three Oto students, standing a meter from them. He glared down at them, his crimson eyes burning.
"What the hell-" the spiky-haired one groaned, cradling his arm and lifting his sore body, when he stopped as soon as he saw the redhead above him.
The other two looked up and froze as well.
"K-Kyuubi!?" the girl finally stuttered, struggling to her feet with her companions.
"Dosu. Kin. Zaku," Kyuubi said emotionlessly, looking at all three of them in order.
"You know them?" Sasuke asked.
"I used to," Kyuubi said.
"Kyuubi-kun!" Kin said, running up to hug Kyuubi only to be shoved back to the wall again.
"Kyuu…I thought we were your friends?" Kin said, picking herself back up and holding her shoulder.
Kyuubi scoffed.
"Friends?" he relayed soullessly. "Backstabbers maybe, but never friends."
Zaku grinned and approached Kyuubi, and the air suddenly seemed to tense as they became a mere inch away from each other, Zaku and inch taller.
"You know you missed us," Zaku said, and suddenly pulled Kyuubi forward, crashing their lips together.
The group gasped, and Sasuke's mouth hung open a little.
They all only had time to blink once as Kyuubi tore away, mashed his knee into Zaku's gut, and punched him so hard that he flew back and slammed into the opposite wall.
Nobody moved as Kyuubi's eyes blazed and his pupils almost looked like black slits. He turned his head to Dosu and Kin, who stiffened. They gasped as Kyuubi held them both up against the wall by their throats, digging his dull nails into their skin as their hands clutched the redhead's in an attempt to free themselves.
"Leave," Kyuubi said, his voice amazingly level.
But that was all it took.
Kin nodded frantically and Dosu blinked.
Kyuubi turned his head to look at Zaku, who averted his gaze to the floor.
Kyuubi released his captives and they went scrambling down the hall like rats, Zaku hot on their heels.
The room was quiet for a moment as Kyuubi turned to the trio still against the wall.
"Hi," Kyuubi said, walking to Sasuke's side.
"Hello," Neji said slowly.
"H-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-" Lee stuttered.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru mumbled.
"Sasuke! I'm open!"
Sasuke's eyes darted to the right as Lee ran a bit ahead of him, flagged by only one Otogakure soccer opponent. He kicked the ball through the legs of the opponent in front of him, shooting it to Lee who kicked it into the goal. The goalie lunged, the ball brushing the tips of his fingers as it hit the net and Konoha's team cheered.
Kyuubi lay on the grass, not bothering to watch as he closed his eyes and let the wind ripple through his hair.
The coaches Gai and Kakashi for the winning team clapped and the opposing coaches Orochimaru and Kabuto glared at them.
The two teams formed lines opposite from each other and walked forward, sneering as they passed each other before breaking off and heading to the locker rooms to change.
Sasuke walked up to Kyuubi, sweaty and tired, and said redhead opened one eye.
"Can I help you?" he said.
"Bodyguard time," Sasuke said, and Kyuubi groaned and stood up.
Sasuke sighed contentedly as he pulled a shirt over his newly showered body and stepped out of the locker room with his bag on his shoulder.
He placed his hands behind his head since he didn't have to watch out for any threats now that he had Kyuubi protecting him.
Sasuke felt a shiver run up his spine as he exited the building and the wind hit his damp hair.
"G-get off!"
"C'mon, you know you like it."
Sasuke turned his head at the noise and walked down the side of the brick wall, dropping his bag as his fists curled and his teeth grit together.
Naruto was pinned against the wall by Zaku holding both his wrists, said boy grinning with a glint in his black eyes. He brushed his lips against Naruto's, and the blonde turned his head away and struggled to free his wrists.
"Get off me Zaku!" Naruto said, attempting to pull away.
Zaku smirked and turned his head to nibble Naruto's ear.
"C'mon Naruto, is that the best you can do?" he said. He pulled Naruto's wrists up together above the blonde's head and held them with one hand, using the other now free one to run up and down Naruto's form fitting black tee-shirt.
Naruto's face flushed red and he looked away from Zaku's grin.
"Why is it that every time Kyuubi disappears, you get so weak?" Zaku taunted. "Is he too strong for your body to handle at once? Or maybe you're just too weak."
Naruto gasped as Zaku captured his mouth in his own in a quick and hard kiss.
Sasuke bit his lip and his mind raced.
What did that guy mean by Naruto's "body"? Was Kyuubi hurting him?
"Kyuubi would have me against the wall with a broken nose in a second," Zaku breathed as he broke the swift kiss. "You'd think that with the two of you being so…close, he'd rub off on you."
"Zaku, let me go!" Naruto said, his blue eyes fearful as he struggled, but to no avail.
"Call Kyuubi Naruto!" Zaku said, his eyes narrowing. "Call that brother of yours back here!"
Sasuke's eyes widened.
Brother!?
Naruto turned his head away and shut his eyes tightly.
Zaku smirked.
"I wish Kyuubi was this submissive," he said. "Then again, his anger turns me on…just like you're doing now."
Zaku moved in to capture Naruto's lips again, when he was suddenly flung back to the ground with a yelp, and Naruto slid down the wall as his wrists were released.
Naruto looked up from his position on the ground to see Sasuke standing defiantly in front of him.
Zaku hled his bleeding nose, obviously broken, and stood up, glaring at Sasuke.
"Leave. Him. Alone," Sasuke bit out, his eyes promising death. "Next time I see you near him, I promise to give you a proper beating that even Kyuubi would be proud of."
Zaku turned into a blur as he suddenly sprinted from the scene with his tail between his legs, sure that he would have nightmares of Sasuke's death glare for weeks.
Sasuke turned around to Naruto and leaned down, the blonde flushed.
"Dobe, what are you doing here? Are you ok?" Sasuke said.
"Y-yea…thanks," Naruto said, amazed to see the concern Sasuke held evident in his eyes.
Naruto held a hand to his head as his vision suddenly became fuzzy.
Sasuke caught Naruto as he fell forward, knocked out.
"Must've gotten too worked up…" Sasuke thought, standing up with Naruto in his arms.
"Looks like we're going back to my place. You'll feel better when you wake up."
Sasuke looked down at Naruto, light in his arms and his breathing steady.
"Are you really Kyuubi's brother?"
THERE IS ABSOLUELY NO RAPE OR SEXUAL ABUSE IN THIS FIC. THAT LITTLE SCENE ABOVE IS THE CLOSEST THING THERE IS TO EITHER OF THOSE. I DO NOT WRITE EITHER OF THEM IN ANY FICS. NOT. NOTNOTNOTNTOT!!! x.X
Sky-eyed Kitsune
Translated by Gomi-kun