Disclaimer: If you recognise it from elsewhere, then i dun own it.
Glad you all like the previous chappie.
On with the show!
Last Chapter
"Hey, dobe! I heard you ran into some trouble."
Naruto promptly choked on his ramen while Whisper half-turned to see who was behind them, chopsticks still at his lips as he chewed his tofu.
He blinked.
"Oh, look. A mini-Itachi."
Now
The boy behind them was around Naruto's age, clad in a black shirt, a blue jacket and black shorts…oh! And black hiking boots. His hair was kinda odd; long at front and kinda streamlining along the sides to point at the back. And, just like Itachi, the kid had red eyes.
And right now, the boy's hands were clenched, his eyebrow was twitching and he was radiating an almost tangible aura of what a little voice in his head called killing intent.
"I am nothing like my brother!" Whisper raised an eyebrow. If the kid wasn't so obviously human, Whisper would have mistaken the kid for one of Hiei's non-existent procreations just from his snarl.
"Of coarse you're not." Whisper soothed mockingly. "But you know, De Nile isn't just a river in Egypt."
Though the kid probably had no idea what the Nile was, he did catch the Denial pun.
"I am not in DENIAL!"
Whisper nodded wisely and said with a patronizing tone, "You just keep telling yourself that and maybe one day you'll believe it."
"I AM NOTHING LIKE HIM!"
The kid lunged at Whisper before Naruto could do or saw anything, Whisper swayed to the side and the kid's momentum threw him off the cliff-face.
"SASUKE!"
Everything slowed down, allowing the three foxes in one body to see and feel everything clearly in but a moment; Sasuke's startled look as he went over the edge, Naruto's anguished one as he called the dark-haired boy's name, the red fading into pained dark eyes as he realised Naruto cared for him even after everything he'd done…and the sudden blast of kitsune energy from Naruto.
Whisper knew he'd probably regret it, but he reached for his whip anyway.
(space)
Something had tightened in Sasuke's chest when he'd first seen Naruto eating with the older boy on the Hokage Monument. Something he'd thought he was beyond.
Jealousy.
He had been jealous of the beautiful boy sitting next to Naruto. It had hurt him when he realised that Naruto was no longer his best friend. It hurt even worse when he saw the evidence firsthand.
He had been replaced.
Sasuke knew Orochimaru had told him to simply observe this new nin who had managed to hold off the Akatsuki until help arrived, but he couldn't help it. He had to prove to himself and Naruto that he was better than this unknown nin.
"Hey, dobe! I heard you ran into some trouble."
While Naruto had choked, the boy had just turned around to look at him, cute as you please, and stated-
"Oh, look. A mini-Itachi."
This-this person compared him to Itachi. Itachi. Sasuke was so angry!
"I am nothing like my brother!"
The boy had just…looked at him. Looked at him like he didn't believe him.
"Of coarse you're not." The boy had mocked him. "But you know, De Nile isn't just a river in Egypt."
Denial? Him? Sasuke was not in denial. Denial was for the weak.
"I am not in DENIAL!"
The boy had just continued to mock him. "You just keep telling yourself that and maybe one day you'll believe it."
"I AM NOTHING LIKE HIM!"
Sasuke couldn't stand it; the anger at being compared to Itachi, being told he was just like that murderer, the jealousy of that nin sitting with the boy who was once his best friend, loneliness but being unable to go back, pain when he realised Naruto didn't need him.
Sasuke had attacked the nin, but he had forgotten the cliff. The boy simply side-stepped. Even with his Sharingan on his side, Sasuke had been unable to stop in time.
As he fell he twisted, and saw the look of bored indifference on the boy's face. A look he had seen on Itachi's face every time they fought. A killer's mask.
Then…something changed.
The odd gold-rimmed green iris bled into a spiral and started spinning. Something flicked in those eyes when Naruto yelled something. Sasuke felt that whatever Naruto had said demanded a decision and had been decided. It took what felt like an eternity for Sasuke to realise that Naruto had called his name. Too late.
Sasuke was falling.
His eyes closed.
Something sharp wrapped around his ankle and tightened.
His eyes opened.
"Whoa." Was heard from the blonde.
The boy had used his whip to grab Sasuke's ankle before he fell out of reach.
"I just know I'm gonna regret this later."
Quote: 'It's impossible to make any plan foolproof because fools are so ingenius.' One of Murphy's many laws. Courtesy of -PsychicLunar-