Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, neh.
Author Stuff: So I discovered I'm not the only one whose writing schedules have been messed up from all this back-to-school drama. I do apologize to the readers who are still here and still patient with me. Ha ha ha...
So I have this mortal fear of re-reading my long writings. It's just over such a long time that I actually start improving and when I read the beginning, I realize how horrible everything is. I'm pretty sure I gave the OC a way too big part but it's pretty important to the story. Though it makes everyone flinch, it makes me happy cause it's the original story (like i say on my profile page). And I apologize that the last bit in the chapter might seem a little random.
Well, anywho, onward!
Sasuke scrunches his face as he opens his eyes; they burn from a sudden light. Instinctively, he snaps them shut again, the darkness as comforting as a cool whiff of wind.
"Sasuke."
A familiar voice calls him, cold and impassive. It reminds him of his brother.
"I saw you open your eyes," the caller hisses. "Open them, Prince."
Breathing raggedly, Sasuke slowly rubs his dry lips together. His tongue feels parched, like someone had sprayed sand on it. He rolls back his shoulders then grits his teeth. He's stiff, as if he'd been lying in the same position for days. With his pale features, he muses, and his back's rigidness, he could probably pass off as a real corpse.
He parts his lips to snap back but is caught suddenly as a fire erupts in his throat. He gasps loudly, his stiffened spine cracking into an unnatural angle.
Jolting to a sitting position, Sasuke growls. His eyes open, suddenly red-rimmed and taut. Ravenous hunger vomits into his throat. His hearing is blotted with a crackling sound.
"What did you do?" he seethes when his eyesight focuses. His black orbs center on a silver figure before him. "Kimimaro."
"Not so crazy, I see," Kimimaro answers, tilting his chin. His lip curves as he regards Sasuke with amusement. "Good, royal blood isn't wasted on you."
Sasuke sits upright on a white table, in the center of an expanding warehouse. The place is familiar, but he doesn't pay attention. "What did you do?" he repeats through clenched teeth. His irises roll manically from the bright lights.
"You're familiar with the--let's say--magic of royalty," shrugs Kimimaro. He starts to stalk around the table, the corner of his eye stuck latched onto the
Uchiha. "Your brother is."
Another spasm of aridness makes Sasuke twitch to the side; his talons grab the sides of the table. "Stop it!"
"Alright."
The pain stops then, and Sasuke huffs in meak relief. The boiling sound in his ears disappears, and all he can hear is his short, short pants.
"There now, so dramatic," Kimimaro sniffs.
"Why am I here?" Sasuke demands. "What happened?"
"Orochimaru was supposed to kidnap you," says the older man. "But since he failed, he sedated you instead, with a vile of an old substance. Yes, it's a good thing for you that you were treated early. The poison could've left you comatose for--well, call it the rest of your life," he finishes quizzically.
"Poison?" Sasuke repeats groggily. Now that the hunger has receded, his slug-paced pulse begins to convulse in his head. Terrible, knotting aches echo in his head. "Damn it, what am I doing here? Why did you mention my brother?"
"Your brother," Kimimaro crosses his arms, continuing to circle him, "is scum. Respectable, but scum all the same."
"Is that what you think?" Sasuke's feral eyes grow sharp as his muscles tense. "I agree, my brother is scum. But the same God forsaken frozen blood of his runs in my veins too. If any outsider wants to attack him, I take it as a direct offense."
"I see," the Kaguya smirks. "The two of you make a brother complex. That's heavenly."
"Isn't it?" replies Sasuke satirically. He slides off the concrete bed and stumbles awkwardly into an angled stance. His knees quiver beneath his jagged pants, but he purses his lips to cover up the falter. "Now tell me where I am."
"Oh, you're hardly in a position to be asking questions," Kimimaro snorts, stopping in front of him. He's at least four inches taller than Sasuke, and despite the age difference, looks only a year or two older. Their eyes share a similar glow, however.
Sasuke almost sneers. "My position is prince of the Uchiha clan, as it will be for all eternity."
"And what a magnificent card to play," a hissing voice remarks from the shadows. Sasuke restrains a flinch, his popping shoulder blades making a valley at the back of his T-shirt. His hands tighten around his leather bracelet.
Striding past Kimimaro, Sasuke makes his way towards the speaker beneath one of the warehouse's pillars. "Orochimaru! Come out and fight me!"
"Hmph," Orochimaru smacks his lips. The light casts an eerie shadow beneath his cheek bones. "Are you sure that's what you want, prince?"
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke starts to continue forward when Kimimaro appears in front of him with stern eyes. "You forget, prince, that I am royalty as well." He flicks his hand, aiming to hit Sasuke across the face, but Sasuke evades it by a hair, unbalancing himself as he leans back. Eyes narrowing,
Sasuke back steps and then slides past Kimimaro. His hands go for the knife that would normally be nestled in the hidden pocket of his heavy jeans, but he touches only a heap of cloth.
Grunting beneath his brother, Sasuke aims the flat of his fist towards his older adversary when he realizes he's touching nothing but air. Stiffening, he flicks around, when Kimimaro's arm hooks its way around his neck. Sasuke gasps. The crook of Kimimaro's arm pinches his throat's skin.
Sasuke's nose wrinkles from the close contact and forces himself to keep his eyes peeled on the floor while he struggles. He hears Orochimaru chortle throatily.
"What you're doing here, is that what you want to know?" Orochimaru grins. His teeth are sharp, his fangs stained of faded blood. "Well, I'll tell you. Your brother's traded you in for yourself."
With a bemused arch of his brow, Sasuke pauses in his spasmodic movements. His lips press together in thought, but the anger in his eyes turns the expression into a grimace. "What?"
"Sasuke's where?!"
Naruto can't even catch who has mouthed his immediate thought. His eyes are too busy trying to peel answers from the older Uchiha before him.
Just moments ago, Ino, Temari, and Naruto had returned to the mansion after school to be met by Itachi and--as Naruto loved to call them--his lackies.
The raven-like vampire had been standing against the main stairway railing, his gaze fixed expressionlessly in mid-air. The others--Kisame, Sasori, Kabuto, Zetsu--stood in an almost crescent around him, strewn over the stairs like rag dolls.
And then Itachi had turned slowly, his sculpted features brandished under shadows, and he'd looked calmly at them and said, "Sasuke's with Kimimaro."
GUFFAW.
GUH FUCKING AW.
The tallest boy, Kisame, shakes out his blue-tipped spikes and laughs. "Damn, Itachi. I think you made this one shit his pants."
Naruto's face reddens, and his shoulder blades pop out like that of a bear's. He rolls up each sleeve, taking a step forward. "Why you--"
"Hold up there," Temari grabs his shoulder. "I wouldn't go near Kisame-sempai."
Grumbling, Naruto protests but to no avail to the vampire's strength. "But he said--"
"Weren't you just worrying about something else?" she says.
The blond's eyes widen again in a way that says 'Oh!', and he turns back to Itachi, who's turned to exchange words with Kabuto. "Why's Sasuke with them? Are you crazy--?" Ino kicks him by now but his mouth keeps spilling. "--And he's your brother, and he's younger, well not that younger since you're a vampire but--"
Itachi turns in their direction again, eyes keen. "Tell me how you would've revived him, then."
"What?" Naruto's mouth is agape, like a fish.
"Sasuke can take care of himself," Itachi shrugs. "After all, he's my brother."
"But that guy who attacked him's supposed to be like a psycho, right??" Naruto exclaims. His brows crease nervously.
"A cannibal," Sasori corrects him blandly, "actually."
Naruto's eyes pop as he faces Sasori, completing the fish silhouette. From the corner of his eye, he thinks he sees a slight smile creep onto Itachi's face, but when he double-takes around, the Uchiha's expression is unreadable.
"I think I understand," Temari says quietly. She crosses her arms and frowns. Ino by her side, chews on her lip.
Ino twiddles her thumbs, the straps of her back slumping past her shoulders. "Why Kimimaro? How could you trust him?"
"He doesn't." Kabuto breaks from the crescent. His dark eyes are narrowed and stern. "You're half-witted if you think he would."
Ino's teach make a low shrieking sound as they grit together. "Why you--"
"I'll be less evasive of the entire subject," Itachi cuts in quickly. His tone is curt, his expression annoyed. "Kimimaro, being an ancient, obviously has the antidote for his minion--no, partner's poison." He sighs softly, his milky lids falling a little. He runs a hand through a dark bang, out of habit. "I wouldn't even begin to waste time searching for another antidote. I'll admit, I know little of the poison but its severity. We had a deal. Kaguya will cure him, and in exchange, Sasuke stays with them for a week."
"A week?!" Naruto yells, jumping ten feet in the air. However, no one pays him mind now.
Ino, ignoring the blond, protests bemusedly. Her blue orbs hold an unidentifiable eagerness. "But you'd trust him--?"
"No," says Itachi resolutely. "That would make it all to easy for him, wouldn't it?"
"So what are we gonna do?" Ino frowns. She twirls the tips of her streaming hair through her fingers.
"We're going against Kimimaro's plans," Temari guesses aloud. She watches Kisame in question.
The vampire grins a sadistic grin and raises his three center fingers. "Three days," he breathes excitement. "In three days, we're infiltrating Kaguya's lair."
Naruto sighs cautiously, afraid that if he's too loud, everything would be too obvious. His eyes squint towards Sai and Shikamaru, and he envies them for having so little to worry about.
The three boys sit on the closed high school's front lawn, staring at the street. Temari sits beside Shikamaru, their arms close but not quite touching. Ino sits behind Temari, her knees folded to her chest. Her lids lower in a way that makes her look defeated. Sai, beside Temari, sees this from the corner of his eye but says nothing.
"Hey, how about we go to the warehouse?" Naruto says with forced cheer. "I haven't been there since Sa--I mean, since I moved to Iruka's."
"Not today," Shikamaru coughs. He watches Temari with slow eyes, either passionately or cautiously.
Naruto frowns. "What?"
"I just don't want to hang out at that dirty place today, alright?"
"Sheesh, fine," Naruto grumbles. A silver car whizzes across the road, gradually carrying a slight breeze towards the group. He clutches his jacket more tightly around him. "Tomorrow."
Shikamaru gives him a dark eye but says nothing.
Temari holds a slight hand to the sky. "Winter's coming again, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it always starts with this kind of chill," Shikamaru murmurs to her. His line of sight matches her, and they stare together into the sky, seeing whatever lovers always see.
Ino stares at her hands, pulling her knees even closer. Sai's perfect demeanor cracks when he sees this, and his infamous fraud smile droops.
"What's wrong with you?" he asks in an unreadable tone. "Are you PMSing or something?"
Sai can swear her eyes flashed red for a second, and he distances himself by at least an inch before continuing. "I mean--er--" his pseudo smile returns like an automated curtain. "Is something bothering you?"
"No."
Ino stares at Shikamaru and Temari's backs before lifting her chin to look up. Her eyes squint and unsquint, as if she were scanning the skies. Curious, Sai tries to follow her gaze but finds it lost and hard to follow. Instead, he bends back a little to watch Ino herself.
Her long brown-blonde lashes nearly cover up her light pupils. Her eyes quiver spasmodically, stilling every few seconds only to visibly shudder moments later.
Sai recognizes many emotions in her expression. By her shaky state, he recognizes first that she's worried about something. To continue, he has to watch extra hard.
Sai bites his tongue, furrowing his brow. The clogs of his mind churn mechanically as he examines every unsketched line in her profile. No, it's too hard--
Something occurs to him then. Moving his neck unobtrusively, he sees the downward curve of her lids. What makes her look so different now?
Is it the iridescent sparkle at the edge of her iris, or the sleek glow at the ends of her golden hair? Sai's frown naturally returns. No, those were normal.
He twists his neck again and suddenly gets it.
Her eyes are sad.
Since he was little, Sai had always classified emotion into two categories: real and beautiful. Beautiful emotions were the glamorous expressions materialists often wore. No, they weren't fake. Rather, they were the angelic appearances that should be reserved for photographs and paintings. They were grace itself, yet Sai knew no was truely graceful.
Real emotions were real. Happy, sad, mad.
As an artist, Sai always preferred the former solely for its aesthetic.
Ino's cold exterior tarnished by "real" emotions, it occurs to Sai that she seemed really very touchable, palpable, a clipped angel.
"Why're you staring at me?"
Sai blinks, hearing almost a mile away, a boy's laughter. He blinks again and realizes its Naruto, laughing at Sai's own stupid expression. Grinnning,
Naruto howls, jolting to his feet, awakening the mood.
Ino takes her annoyed eyes from Sai, as if retracting her question, and looks instead at Naruto. She scolds him aloud and puts a hand on her hip.
Finally gaining the sense to defend himself against Ino, Naruto crosses his arms and argues in his loud, discordant voice. Then, stepping strangely, he slips and falls flat on the grass.
Temari laughs softly, and even Shikamaru cracks a smile. The blond sits up and rubs his head, pouting at the other four. Ino is ginning despite herself, and
Sai resumes his signature expression.
Shaking his head, Naruto slowly smiles as well. But the laugh is fleeting, and soon his brows angle themselves sadly. He remembers Sasuke, and slowly, still laughing beneath his breath, he sees the sky.
