Title: The Hunt (3/4)

Pairing: NaruSasuNaru

Disclaimer: Don't own.

Summary: There are things, apparently, that you can't do without black haired pussies meddling in your business. Hunting down missing children happens to be one of them

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When Naruto woke up the next morning, Sasuke was absent.

It was still early. The birds were his only companions as made his way under the rusty expanse of the exhausted sky. Something told him that he had a fair idea of where Sasuke would be.

The interior of the building was even darker in the thin light of dawn. Naruto stared at the ashen walls and tried to guess at their original colour. Perhaps ivory, like the tusks of a baby elephant, or something which could be as easily manipulated to amend its tint.

Sasuke sat at the edge of the roof, a silhouette against the ruby vista.

'You're the boy of my dreams,' Naruto told him.

Sasuke considered him with a look that one might spare for a cockroach.

'I mean,' Naruto clarified. 'That you lived here. Before the fire. I dream about it sometimes.'

Sasuke angled his face just so that one dark eye could silently regard Naruto. After about a minute, Naruto realized that he was looking at his neck.

'Don't have to look at it that way, asshole,' he muttered darkly, slapping a palm over the bite mark. 'You put it there anyway.'

Then Sasuke smirked.

'Listen,' Naruto seethed. 'Don't act so cocky. Last night you nearly got killed, and you scared the shit out of me. You owe me answers, bastard, after what you put me through.'

There was a brief pause during which a gentle draft from the east bathed them in the scent of temple girls and marigold.

'The lesser you know,' Sasuke said, turning away again, 'the better.'

'Bullshit,' Naruto said, hotly. 'That's bullshit, and you know it. We're in this together, now.'

Sasuke snorted, 'now that's bullshit. You don't even know where I'm coming from.'

'So tell me,' Naruto said desperately, 'I can handle it, whatever it is!'

Sasuke finally turned to him, and Naruto took in the tired stance, the bandages and two appraising pits of obsidian before his breath caught and he realized that the sneaky bastard must have closed the gap between them completely, because all he could see and smell anymore was the other man.

He twitched as he felt something slim and warm touch the bruise on his neck, and in seconds, as soon as all the neurons in his brains were able to reconnect, he became aware of the fact that Sasuke's fingers were rubbing slow, deliberate circles on the spot where he had bitten him.

'Are you sure, Naruto?' Sasuke whispered into his ear, and he felt himself shivering as warm lips touched his earlobe fleetingly. 'Look at you,' he pulled back slightly, and peering into Naruto's eyes, said, his tone cold and flat, 'you're terrified. You can't even handle this. What makes you think you can deal with the truth?'

Naruto's entire focus zeroed down onto the digits playing softly on his skin, and slowly, it occurred to him that he was in deep trouble.

Then all the warmth left his body completely as Sasuke removed himself and walked towards the direction of the steps.

It was only the coaxing wind that reminded him to breath.

***

Naruto caught up with him by the maidan.

'What the fuck was that bastard?'

Sasuke's face was pinched and hard. 'Nothing. A mistake. Forget it.'

Naruto caught him by the unharmed shoulder and jerked so that they were facing each other. 'That was not nothing. God, why are you so…stubborn? Why can't you just trust me instead of playing all these mind games and pulling these twisted stunts and –'

'Naruto,' Sasuke said without a flicker of expression on his face. 'Shut up.'

Distractedly, Naruto wondered if enough gnashing could turn enamel to powder.

'What do you MEAN shut up? I'm not going to – '

Sasuke kissed him.

It was hard, almost a crush of lips, and Naruto winced as he felt teeth scraping the soft skin at the corner of his mouth.

His brain screamed at him to pull away because this was wrong, no matter what his tearing lungs and evading breaths told him. This was wrong, and Sasuke was just a fuck up, a mad fuck up who did crazy things to people and –

Sasuke lifted his mouth and breathed harshly, into Naruto's ear, 'I told you to shut up, idiot! There's someone here.'

'Wha –' Naruto's mind took some time to thaw, 'huh?'

He heard footsteps, and instinctively pushed Sasuke away.

'Well,' he heard Kakashi say behind him. 'This is certainly interesting.'

***

'Oh,' Jiraiya said lewdly, licking the froth of his drink off the tip of his index finger, 'the brat has a hickey.'

Naruto felt his face heating up, and he carefully avoided Sasuke's steady gaze.

'He does?' Ino ran forward excitedly to confirm the fact. 'Oh my God, who finally took pity on you?'

As he stuck his tongue out at her, Naruto saw Kakashi sip his thandai with a knowing crinkle of his eyes.

'Weren't we here to discuss something important?' Sasuke asked irritably.

Jiraiya nodded complacently. 'Yes. Starting with how you got that injury.'

Sasuke frowned. 'It's a minor wound. Nothing to talk about.'

'A minor bullet wound?' Kakashi asked pleasantly, hands cupping the cool steel of his glass.

Ino and Sakura gasped.

'I said it's nothing.' Sasuke said through grit teeth. 'Nothing important.'

Nothing important. Naruto resisted the urge to smack Sasuke. Or do something equally drastic like spill everything he knew. Which wasn't much, but whatever.

Because, honestly, Sasuke needed help. The guy was screwed up in the head, and did sick things to people like kissing them randomly, and he deserved to get run over by a bus for simply existing! Or lynched by a mob. Or punched to death by Naruto.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, and Naruto saw the hardness that most people didn't even know the man harboured within him.

'Listen, Uchiha,' he said, the softness in his voice a clear threat. 'I don't know what your business is, but if it's anything that's going to harm Konoha, you better think twice before proceeding. We're not as forgiving a bunch as we are accepting.'

Sasuke raised his chin defiantly, and said nothing.

'Now,' Jiraiya continued placidly, as though the previous conversation hadn't occurred, 'like Sasuke said, we were about to discuss something important?'

'First off,' Naruto cut in, glaring at Kakashi, 'what the hell is he doing here?'

'Oh, Kakashi,' Jiraiya said cheerfully, 'he's an old pupil of mine. We've seen many good times together.'

Watching their eyes glaze over, Naruto decided that he really didn't want to know what it was that Kakashi had learnt from Jiraiya.

Sasuke exhaled loudly and pointedly. 'What does he know that can help us?'

Jiraiya beamed at them. 'Well, after seeing your distress, I decided to drag Kakashi into the business. He's very well informed, you see. He's what one might call a wanderer, earns his living from all over the country.'

'How did you know that Sound was taking the kids?' Naruto asked him.

Kakashi held his glass out for a refill. 'Thing is,' he said, looking at Naruto. 'I've been down south for a while before this, you know. And there were plenty of child disappearances there, too. Coincidentally, Sound was running its show there at the same time.'

Naruto's skin started prickling. Down South. Cases of disappearing children. He had heard about this, but had had no idea that the same circus was responsible for them.

'And also, when we were young.' He heard himself say. 'When the kids started disappearing from the slum.'

'Which was,' Jiraiya said, 'twelve years ago. And when was the last time Sound was in town?'

'Twelve years ago!' Sakura gasped.

The same year, Naruto thought, that the building was burnt down. And now, twelve years later, the only two survivors are at the same place, and incidentally, so is the circus.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Sasuke sat, completely unperturbed by the conversation.

What the fuck are you hiding, bastard?

Aloud, he said, 'So it's the same people kidnapping all these kids? What the hell do they want?'

Kakashi shrugged. 'No idea. I wasn't even sure if it really was Sound that was taking the children, I just had my hunches after connecting all the dots. That's why I took the both of you to the circus yesterday, so that you'd go in as spectators, and see if you could figure something out. But apparently, you found the necessary evidence without even having to step inside.'

Naruto grimaced. 'Yeah, this jerk of a guy had seen Konohamaru inside the circus.'

'Should we tell Sarutobi? And Kurenai, and the rest?' Sakura asked. 'They'd want to know.'

'Absolutely not. We're not telling anyone anything yet.' Jiraiya said firmly.

'WHAT?' Naruto raged. 'They're their kids, of course we should –'

'Naruto,' Kakashi interrupted. 'It's too dangerous. You don't know who you're dealing with. There's a reason I didn't enter that circus myself, you now.'

Naruto crossed his arms angrily, 'I don't care what why you di –'

'I was afraid that I would be recognized.' Kakashi pressed. 'Listen to me. About five years ago I met this guy in a paan shop. We got into a fight for classified reasons, and then we went into an alley and got pissed. There he told me that he was looking for someone. Had been for seven years.'

Naruto looked at him in puzzlement. 'What does that have to do with anything?'

'So he told me that finally, after years of searching, he had found a lead. Sound. He went into the circus the next day, and as far as my knowledge goes, never made it out.'

Kakashi paused for a long, laden moment.

'He was strong, one of the strongest fighters I have ever come across. He told me his name was Zabuza.'

***

They decided that they would have to tell a few people. Kiba, Shikamaru, Neji, Lee, and Chouji. Later, that evening, they would enter the circus, blend into the audience and look out for anything suspicious.

'And remember, don't do anything rash.' Kakashi said, staring pointedly at Naruto. 'One wrong step can mean one kid dead.'

At around eight, Ino called the rest over so that they could finalize the plan.

'For the last time,' Shikamaru argued, exasperatedly, fifteen minutes into the discussion. 'The women stay here.'

Ino threw an anklet at him.

'But why can't we help?' Sakura protested.

'Because seven men are enough. Besides, Jiraiya will never let you come.' Neji told her.

'Which is why we're having this discussion while the stupid fart is downstairs.' Ino said heatedly. 'We're coming.'

She chucked her other anklet when Kiba started snickering.

'No girls,' Naruto agreed, and then before Sakura could release her wrath on him, hastily added, 'because, you're our back up. No body outside this room has any clue about what's going on. We need people who know the entire plan to stay back, so that they can bring reinforcements incase we fail to turn up.'

He winced as a sandal hit his face.

'Don't say stuff like that, idiot!' Ino screached. 'Fine, we'll stay, but only because you lot are a bunch of chauvinist pigs, and not because you might get yourselves killed by some circus clowns. Because it'll just be pathetic if you do.'

Then she threw them out saying that she had had enough of seeing their ugly faces.

They were begining to make their way over to Iruka's when Kakashi stopped them.

'I just need to talk to Naruto for a second,' he said, smiling, motioning for the rest to continue.

Naruto followed him to the shade of Jiraiya's doorway. He could hear Ino grumbling through the open window above them.

'Do you trust Sasuke?' Kakashi asked abruptly, as he turned to lean against the cracked cement work of the wall.

Naruto regarded him apprehensively. 'Why do you ask?'

Kakashi shrugged. 'No reason, really. But following someone you've barely known for a fortnight to a rickshaw driven by a complete stranger – it's little too trusting, don't you think?'

Naruto scowled at him. 'I can take care of myself.'

Kakashi smiled and that infuriating crescent made its appearance once again. 'Of course you can.'

Then he just stood there, staring at Naruto like he was sizing him up.

'What?' Naruto finally snapped. 'Just spill whatever you have to.'

Kakashi pushed himself off the wall. 'I'm sure it's nothing significant, but you should know all the same. When Sound was in the South, Uchiha Sasuke was there too. I saw him with my own two eyes.'

***

By the time Naruto reached Iruka's, he was frothing at the mouth.

Enough time had been wasted playing Mr. Nice Guy.

He was going to find Sasuke, and beat the shit out of him till he gave Naruto some answers.

Only Sasuke wasn't at Iruka's.

'He went back to your place,' Kiba told him, making a face. 'Said we were giving him a headache.'

Naruto reached his house to find all of Sasuke's belongings gone.

He ran.

***

Sasuke was walking by the trash cinema hall when Naruto saw him.

He ran up to him, and without further ado, punched him hard in the face.

Sasuke glared up at him from the pavement; roughly wiped at the blood spilling from his split lip.

'You can't keep running away from me forever, bastard,' Naruto said, smiling grimly. It felt good hit him, to be able to finally channel all his frustration into something physical and real.

Sasuke pushed himself up to his feet. 'Get out of my way.'

'Why did your brother try to kill you?'

Sasuke's fists clenched even tighter and Naruto thought that maybe he was going to hit him back. It wouldn't be too bad if he did.

'I said,' Sasuke said, his words tight and restrained. 'Get out of my way.'

'Or what?' Naruto mocked. 'You're going to kiss me again?'

He almost didn't see the fist coming.

And it was the best feeling he'd had in a long time. Fists and dirt and the taste of blood. There was the pain to focus on, and the idea of getting Sasuke beneath him; sweat pooling at the corners of his eyes and Sasuke's gaze up on him, wild, desperate, and maybe a little bit murderous.

'Why were you leaving, asshole?' Naruto almost didn't hear his own voice breaking. 'Why the fuck were you leaving?'

Sasuke kicked him in the stomach, 'Why can't you just,' he groaned as Naruto pushed him onto the ground, 'Why're you so –'

And finally he did have Sasuke pinned to the ground beneath him but there was nothing of the essence of victory in the weight of the air between them.

A dark stain was rapidly spreading through the white of Sasuke's cast, and Naruto remembered with a jolt.

Sasuke's wound.

'Shit,' he groaned, 'shit.'

Sasuke sat up very slowly, his dark eyes measuring.

A part of Naruto's brain realized that there was something very wrong with the situation. He was straddling Sasuke in the middle of a street, where anybody crossing the maidan would be able to see them, and all he could think of was Sasuke's mouth, only inches from his, and Sasuke's scent, sweat, dust, and the underlying tone of mint and tea.

And that just showed how good Sasuke was at screwing people over. It had been no more than two weeks and the bastard already smelled like home.

'Naruto,' Sasuke said, and something about his tone made Naruto look up. 'I…'

He noted a flicker of wistfulness in the depths of obsidian before something collided, hard, with the side of his head, and the world turned black.

***

Naruto didn't know much about dreams or predictions or Extra Sensory Perception. He had definitely heard Jiraiya use all three while seducing young girls, but didn't have much idea about the concepts himself.

His dreams were just graphic strokes of unconscious; he let them be because that's what he supposed people did with their dreams.

He had never understood though, why he dreamt of the fire. But he did, very often, and in time he learnt to treat it as an illustrative fixture. He didn't expect it to go away, but he did expect to get used to it.

He had never wondered, not once, if the dreams had been trying to tell him something about his providence all the while.

***

There was too much light behind his eyelids and somebody was repeatedly slapping his face.

'Naruto,' he heard. His name. 'Naruto.'

He opened his eyes to the white of the afternoon sky.

'Thank God. He's awake.'

Another voice, 'What the fuck happened?'

Sakura's face floated into his vision. 'Naruto. Hey, you can hear me, right?'

Then the right half of his face nearly exploded as pain tore through his senses, and he recalled.

His throat was parched, and his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth, but he said it anyway.

'I'm going to fucking kill him.'

***

The circus, in the evenings, looked like Diwali.

There were lights, fluttering, dancing lights; lights reflecting off the surfaces of streamers, electric paper, glittering paint on the faces of clowns and the mirror work on the dresses of the performing girls. And then there were sounds, growls which rose from covered cages, people laughing, wind teasing, the fanatical beat of music and drums and life – and so this is where they keep the children, Naruto thought. At the epicenter of happiness, where no one would think to look.

'Where should we start searching?' Neji asked, his hair catching the fluorescence of the grounds as he turned to Shikamaru.

Before Shikamaru could reply, a tinkling voice spoke up behind them, 'Search for whom, handsome?'

Naruto spun around to find a girl with two short ponytails smiling at them. Her eyes flickered back to Neji.

Neji looked unimpressed. 'Who wants to know?'

The girl's smile grew wider, 'They call me Tenten. You're gonna watch me throw knives in a while.'

Naruto said, 'We're looking for a boy named Konohamaru. Do you know him?'

He heard Shikamaru moan despairingly behind him.

Tenten frowned, 'Konohamaru? You're going to have to describe him for me. Does he belong to the circus?'

'No,' Neji said. 'Never mind.'

'I can ask Kabuto, though,' Tenten said, 'he keeps track of everyone here.'

'No,' Neji snapped. 'I told you, never mind.'

Tenten scowled at them, 'Fine, geez, unfriendly assholes,' she muttered, turning away.

'So not everyone here is aware of the kidnappings,' Kiba said.

'She could have been lying,' Neji reasoned.

'I don't think so,' Naruto argued.

'Where should we start?' Kiba asked.

'I shall look into each tent.' Lee offered enthusiastically.

'We'll look suspicious,' Shikamaru said. 'Besides, it's too troublesome. I think we should wait until the show starts before sneaking out and searching for them.'

'God, whatever.' Naruto said bad temperedly. 'Let's just get a move on.'

As he turned away, he heard Kiba whisper, 'It's like he's pining over a girl.'

***

The first performance was that of Tenten's. She threw a dozen hungry knives at another girl standing against a board, and they sparked like lightening in the neon hue of the tent.

Right as she was moving off the ring, Kiba nudged him. 'Now.'

He edged, as discreetly as he could, towards the opening of the tent. The warm air promised rain.

Shikamaru, Neji, Lee and Chouji were already waiting outside.

'Now what?' Kiba asked, emerging behind him.

Shikamaru nodded his head towards the darker side of the grounds, and they all hurried for cover.

'These are probably their personal tents,' Naruto whispered, as they stood, half hidden behind a vermillion tent. 'I doubt if anyone's going to be here right now.'

The grounds were still streaming with people, but no one ventured towards their side. Naruto supposed that this part was off limits to outsiders.

'We should split up,' Neji said in a low voice.

A shadow trembled slightly near the row of trees at the edge of the grounds.

'Guys,' Naruto said, warningly.

'Yeah,' Shikamaru said in an undertone. 'Someone's there. Don't move.'

They waited for a few minutes, crouched behind the stretch of red.

Nothing

'I'm going to check,' Naruto told Kiba.

'Don't be stupid. Do you want to get caught?'

'We can't just sit here forever,' Naruto hissed back. 'Maybe we're just being paranoid.'

He crawled out of the cover and got to his feet slowly. Then, cautiously, he made his way over to the trees.

There didn't seem to be anybody there.

He moved a little closer.

Then it was a déjà vu.

The voice came, from the shadows again, and as frigid as Naruto remembered it.

'Uzumaki Naruto,' and the tone was just as mocking as it had been the last time. 'This was foolish of you.'

Naruto's blood froze in his veins. It felt as though the ground was defying all laws of motion, rooting him to the spot.

Hell. Oh hell.

'Our last meeting wasn't what one would call pleasant, now was it? Maybe we can improvise.'

Kiba and the rest. They had to stay hidden. Naruto had to make a sign.

His heart sank as he heard Kiba call him from the tents, 'Oi, Naruto, enough already. Get back here.

Itachi sounded amused. 'Your friend seems impatient to have you back. I wonder what I should do.'

'Sh-shut up,' Naruto managed. 'Leave them alone. Do whatever to me, but don't touch them.'

Soft chuckling. 'Loyalty. Even more foolish than I thought.'

Naruto held his breath.

'Count of three.' Itachi murmered. 'Count of three, lets see how you make use of it.'

Wait.

'W - what?' Naruto spluttered in disbelief. 'You're letting me g –?'

'One'

Naruto didn't need telling twice. He kicked at the unyielding grass and sprinted towards the tents.

Kiba stepped out, looking hassled. 'Naruto, wha –'

'RUN,' Naruto yelled, and dragged him by the sleeve.

***

A little deeper into the tents, and Naruto realized that they were in a fucking maze.

'Bloody hell,' he grit out.

Shikamaru came to a stop next to him. 'What the fuck was that?'

'Sasuke's br – the guy who shot Sasuke,' Naruto amended quickly, 'is here. He's a psychopath and he has a gun.'

'Shit,' Kiba said weakly, beside him. 'Where the hell did he come from?'

Naruto would give anything to know that as well.

Neji lifted the flap of a tent and peered inside. 'Let's go in here for the time being.'

The interior was pitch black and Naruto could smell the cloying scent of oils and Champa flowers. And maybe incense.

'What I don't understand.' He heard Neji whisper, 'is why this guy is after us.'

'He isn't,' Naruto said, 'that's why he let us go. We probably entertain him.'

'Let's go look for him,' Lee said heatedly. 'How dare he disrespect the vigor of our youth? Let's hunt him down an –'

They almost didn't hear it at first, it was so soft.

'Lee,' Naruto said, 'shh.'

It came again. A soft, lingering hiss.

'What is it?' Kiba asked.

'Echis carinatus. More commonly known as the Saw – Scaled viper.'

The voice was smooth, like the underside of a snake's belly, and made all the hair on Naruto's arms prickle.

'Holy fuck.' Kiba muttered, panic layering his voice. 'There's someone else in the tent.'

There was the sound a match being struck, and the first thing that Naruto saw was the gleam of firelight on spectacles.

'Welcome to my circus,' the voice said, silky and cool as before, only not from the direction of the man lighting the candles. 'It's always pleasant to make new acquaintances.'

As his eyes adjusted to the light, Naruto saw another man, pale and smiling, his jet black hair swaying lightly with the draft that blew in through the flap.

'We apologize for barging in like this,' Neji said shortly. 'We didn't kno –'

'Not at all,' the man was still smiling, and the look on his face was positively eerie. 'Let me introduce myself. I'm Orochimaru, the snake charmer. And this is my assistant Kabuto.'

The man named Kabuto was still lighting the candles, his face half hidden by the sheen of his glasses.

This, Naruto thought, felt very, very wrong.

'Now,' Orochimaru said, and twined his fingers together. 'You wanted to know what that was?' He inclined his head slightly towards a closed basket placed upon an unrolled mattress. Naruto recognized it to be the source of the hissing noises. 'Like I was saying, this little guy is the saw-scaled viper. One of the most poisonous snakes in the Indian subcontinent.'

Almost fondly, he added, 'its venom can paralyze you in less than an hour.'

'Naruto,' Neji whispered behind him, 'Something is very –'

'Now,' Orochimaru interrupted. 'I understand that you're looking for some missing children?'

Naruto's heart started pounding so loudly that he wondered if the creepy man could hear it as well. 'You know something about them?'

Orochimaru laughed, low and honeyed. 'Why, yes, I know something about them. In fact, I know more about them than perhaps even you.'

Naruto's brain started reeling.

Kiba said, 'You bastard, it was you!'

'Yes,' Orochimaru agreed. 'It was me.'

'Give the children back to us.' Shikamaru said, and Narulo distractedly marveled at the calm in his voice. 'And we'll leave without causing any trouble.'

Orochimar's smile was feral. 'Oh? But what would be the fun in that?'

'SHUT UP!' Naruto exploded . 'Shut the fuck up, you FREAK.'

'Anger,' Orochimaru said, sounding delighted. 'The fun begins!'

'Let's beat him up,' Lee suggested. 'Lets beat him up now and get over with this!'

'Yeah,' Naruto agreed. 'We're six and you're two. You're at a big disadvantage there, you sick freak.'

'Are you sure about that?' the voice came from behind them and made his heart stop dead in his chest. 'Naruto?'

The moment seemed to freeze.

Then Naruto turned, very slowly, to find Uchiha Sasuke standing at the entrance of the tent, his gun trained directly at him.

***

To be continued….

Terms:

Champa: A flower native to the Indian subcontinent.

Diwali: Diwali is a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and an official holiday in India. Adherents of these religions celebrate Diwali as the Festival of Lights. They light diyas—cotton-like string wicks inserted in small clay pots filled with coconut oil—to signify victory of good over the evil within an individual.

Author's Notes:*Dodges pitchforks*…..um, feedback?