A/N- the angst ends after this chapter… for a while, then all the angst will be romantic and comedic for a short time as the mission starts.

THERE MIGHT NOT BE A UPDATE NEXT WEEK!

I'm in college now and classes are just starting to get really hard, I am already behind on my chapters. I had to finish typing this one today so I might skip next weeks update to type up some more hand written chapters (more like chapter fragments). Don't worry though I have too much done to just drop this story, AND it will be worth the wait! Next chapter the mission begins!

OK, so here is a really hard question so the answer will be a BIG Spoiler as a prize! The answer is not an anime.

I am not flat, but I am blue.

When you walk in my city beware of falling blocks.

Winning the game is my job.

I come from a place that connects all places.

The city I moved too is the size of a "tower".

For figuring out who I am and where I come from you could say that this Input is very important.

And the "net" is a very dangerous place.

Who am I, And where am I from? ß (Name of show is acceptable)

Summary- Naruto is not like everyone thinks he is, he hides his true self form everybody. The few who know about the other him know very little. When various events force Naruto to spend time with his team mates in situations out side of the norm he finds it hard to keep up the act.

Parings- SasuNaru, some KakaIru others not decided.

Rating- very much an R rated fic

Warning- sexual situations, foul language, self mutilation, attempted suicide, a very OOC Sasuke. And bitch Sakura!

Spoilers- for anyone who is not up to date on the manga

Disclaimer- OH FOR FUCKS SAKE I DON'T OWN IT!

XxXxXxX

Red Walkways

Chapter Seven

Intervention

or

A Fox's Apparent Past

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Sasuke took his walk down the crowded streets of Konoha wishing he had stayed home, but his feet kept on moving like they had someplace to be.

Then he realized the direction he was heading just as a certain apartment came into view, he could have sworn he heard a yell coming from the same direction as Naruto's home.

With the caution of one trained since birth he continued to close the distance between himself and the small dwelling.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Blood falling freely from his shoulder Kyuubi tried not to panic, he wasn't good at things like this… or anything human for that matter.

Not knowing how to snap his kit from this trance Kyuubi did the only thing he could.

Run and get help, so he did, leaving Naruto to take advantage of his chakra healing. ('Member he took all Kyuubi's chakra and put it in the seal, when its like that it acts like it normally does, healing him.)

The demon cursed when he got to the front door; with no chakra he was stuck in this form and as helpless as a normal, really smart fox.

Hoping for a miracle he jumped onto the window sill to see what he could do, almost falling off due to his wound, but his hopes were answered by one of the best sights he had ever seen. Sasuke was walking down the road just outside Naruto's apartment.

XxXxXxXxXxX

The cold night blew through Sasuke as he continued to stroll down the wayward street that his teammate's apartment was on. The lights were off… odd.

There was something brown on the window, Sasuke couldn't see why the dobe didn't clean it up... then it moved.

Stains don't move...

Sasuke moved closer to the widow, all senses on high alert, and the brown blob formed ears... tails... eyes... then it dawned on him.

"K-Chan!" the blood dripping from the small fox's shoulder was trailing onto the window sill when Sasuke saw it. He ran to the door ready to break it down, something was wrong, Naruto's pet was hurt and the blond was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke didn't hesitate to burst through the entry, he knew K-chan didn't have a lot of time if the amount of blood on the floor compared to the fox's size was any hint.

Kyuubi was never so happy to see a human before, in his long life, he watched as the Uchiha kid trampled the door down and ran to him. The sides around the boy became white as he drew closer, making him glow like an angel... Naruto's angel, the white grew until all was gone.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto looked down at his blade, the blood wasn't just his own anymore... he wanted it; he wanted this blood to spill... that time...

falling, cutting, get it out, GET IT OUT!

CUT IT OUT, SLASH IT OUT!

blood, so much blood. stabbing, turning, ripping.

STOP HEALING...

all he wanted was to see that blood...

and to die...

But now it's here, dripping from his razor, and all he feels it guilt... it went too far, it came to close to that time.

Naruto sucked I a sharp breath, his eyes became wide... what was he doing... what had he done?

A loud crash came from the front room, but Naruto didn't even notice.

XxXxXxXxXxX

The apartment was cold and dark, a vast difference from its normal inviting warmth that flowed between the walls. The apparent absence of the energetic blond that was normally bouncing around his home seemed to have a large impact on the vibe in the room.

Sasuke hurried to the kitchen area, his arms filled with the dead weight of the injured fox.

Bang

A low muffled pound reached Sasuke's ears, then again, and again until it became a rhythm. He looked around the room spotting for the first time that the blood on the floor was trailing into the hall, as if the K-chan had dragged himself to the main room.

The pounding continued.

Was Naruto in the house?

Sasuke looked back at the fox, he didn't have time for this he had to help K-chan first. It only took a few minutes for him to clean and dress the deep cut. Finished, he moved the animal to the couch and hoped he lived; then left to find where the pounding was coming from.

Unknown to Sasuke, Kyuubi was healing at normal speed again; slowly his chakra was seeping back to him.

XxXxXxXxXxX

A low morbid hum of depression seemed to fill the hall, the lights were off, and a disturbing, moist substance dominated the floor where Sasuke walked. The thick sticky texture told him that it was blood. Fallowing the trail brought him to the bathroom; the door was open with the knob hanging from its socket.

Fear gripped Sasuke as he stared at the door handle, did Naruto do that? The dread deepened at he traced the trail of blood into the bathroom. He followed the smudged streak of crimson around the corner into the room.

Knees to chest, arms bloody and hanging loose at sides, underarm up, his head set lightly on his knees, blank eyes... pool of blood around him.

Sasuke stopped breathing, for one terrifying moment the burnet was sure the blond was dead, the light rise and fall of his body and the rhythmic pounding of the back of his head hitting the tub, were the only things keeping him from doing... doing... he didn't know what he would do if the other boy died... his Naruto.

He had his hand on the blonds shoulder... when did he cross the room? Blur...

"Naruto?..."

Was that his voice?... why did it sound so... so... he didn't know what the sound was.

Naruto slowly turned his head, looked Sasuke in the eyes, the Uchiha shivered.

A slow, low but convicted whisper pasted the blond's lips.

"it...was...to...close..."

Sasuke wasn't sure what the blond meant by that.

He nodded anyways...

Arms rapped around Naruto pulling him close, he took every bit of comfort he could get. both boys sat together, Sasuke let himself absorbed what just happened,

while confirming that the blond was alive.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

"what happened?"

Naruto started at the Uchiha at a loss for words, K-chan was on his lap.

"I... I don't know... I just snapped..."

Sasuke noted that the other was almost back to normal, only a bit off here an there. Odd how he recovers from this so fast… how long has this been going on? From the way Naruto reacted his other fits aren't normally this bad but…

'I am so sorry Kyuubi'

"Kit, if you say that again I really am going to get mad. I told you it wasn't your fault... besides it was my..."

'Your what?'

"it was my selfishness that got me trapped in you... my fault your life turned out the way it did."

'Now it's your turn to shut up, we'll talk about this later.'

Naruto abruptly cut the fox off.

"What set you off?" Sasuke hadn't found Naruto's reply odd; he had "snapped" himself over stupid things. Its what happens when you're always on an emotional cliff, he had lost many of his furnishings during these fits.

"I don't know…" Naruto hesitated, he had to organize his thoughts, he wanted to talk to Sasuke, maybe he really could help, but he had to be sure not to give anything away about Kyuubi.

"I woke up in the wrong kinda mood. I saw this old lady this morning. I had seen her before, she looked at me with those eyes… then this morning when I saw her, she didn't know I was there… and her eyes, they were like a grandmother's."

Sasuke stayed silent, he knew what Naruto meant by "the eyes". People looked at himself with "eyes", their eyes hold respect and admiration, but they look right through him. He could only imagine what Naruto's "eyes" were like.

"And at that moment I wondered… is that what she would be like is I talked to her and wasn't Uzumaki Naruto? I wished to be anyone but me"

A firm hand clasped Naruto's arm forcefully, the blond looked up into hard black eyes and his voice died in his throat.

"DON'T you ever say that again; don't scare me like that again…" Sasuke's voice softened and his grip loosened. Naruto stayed silent, he could feel that Sasuke had more to say.

"Don't say you don't want to be Naruto, because if you're not Naruto… Then who am I? And… and if you go away, then where… where will I go?" Sasuke's voice was thick with emotion and his eyes were glassy. (Not that he'd ever let the tears fall.)

Naruto reached up and put a hand over Sasuke's which still rested on the blonds arm. The burnet was more like him then he thought, Sasuke's emotions were slowly slipping from his control just like his own. Naruto knew that Sasuke, like Kyuubi, was a constant that kept him from drifting away and perishing in his own pain, but he never thought he was like that for Sasuke. The Uchiha had always seemed so strong, like a brick wall that you could slam your fist into but never move. That was until that day in the bathroom, and then Naruto saw that Sasuke was a lot like himself, but he never thought he was this similar. Sasuke was right, they were so much of each other, and they practically raised one another. When Sasuke left, Naruto fallowed… he didn't know what else to do. Sasuke has every right to be afraid of what happens to Naruto, if the blond wasn't Naruto, or disappeared, where would Sasuke go? The Uchiha was in the situation place he was.

Now that he thought about it, it should have been obvious, the trauma he lived through as a child and the way he is looked at today. When he left the village it wasn't just crazy revenge filled actions it was something else… but what? Some people said they saw it coming, his hatred for his brother and his thirst for power… Naruto had seen it as well, but he never thought the brunet would do something like he did. It was the first time Naruto had ever been wrong about something like this, but there was a factor that he couldn't of possible counted into his analysis, what was it? It had to be there… because of all the time they had as a team, no one could leave something like that behind. Everyone who knew of the Uchiha tragedy shrugged it off as something that was bound to happen, and when he came back they said that it was a given, that his former actions were a laps of judgment. But none of them were there for the last fight at the Valley, none of them saw the look of Sasuke's face or heard the things he said… it wasn't the same Sasuke from before. Then he was found, and it was the old Sasuke, he even admitted that he didn't know why he acted the way he did, he was just driven… but he couldn't remember why…

Naruto's raging thoughts were cut off as the hand around his arm tightened again, this time pulling him forward onto a warm chest. Kyuubi was trapped between the two boys, Sasuke's arms tightened around the blond and his face was pressed into his neck. Naruto blushed but put his arms around Sasuke in return.

"Please never do anything like this again… if… if you are stressed like this… come see me…"

Naruto knew what an offer like that meant, and he knew it went both ways. Sasuke really wanted to help him and was willing to expose himself for Naruto's well being. The blond nodded against Sasuke's hair.

Suddenly the warmth on Naruto's neck was gone and in its place something soft and warm pressed on his forehead. That's when he realized Sasuke was kissing him. Slowly the brunet pulled away and placed his forehead where his lips had just rested and looked into blue eyes.

"I can't make you promise not to do it anymore, obviously, so promise, you will come to me at times like this."

"I promise" looking into Sasuke's dark eyes Naruto couldn't do anything but agree and fall hard for the man before him.

'I am in so much shit…'

Everything seemed like it might turn out fine, Kyuubi assessed as he looked up at the two boys from his seat between them.

"Yes you are"

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto was sprawled across his bed; Kyuubi was curled up on his chest listening in on his Kit's thoughts.

'What do I do? I can believe this is happening to me, and I came so close to the that time… are you sure your not mad at me?'

"I'm sure that if you ask again I will be mad at you…"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I'M FALLING FOR UCHIHA SASUKE! It was supposed to be a physical attraction thing… then he had to go and be all worried about me."

"Not without good reason."

"That's not the point." 'What am I going to do?'

"Tell him."

"Are you crazy! He'll think I'm out of my mind!"

"Like a fox"

"What? You are a fox…."

"Never mind, the point is, have you ever thought that maybe he likes you back?"

"That would never happen."

"What about what he did for you today?"

"He sees me like I did him, someone like him to talk to, to be himself around, a friend and nothing more."

"…" Kyuubi gave up.

'Hey, Kyuubi haven't you had any love problems in your life?'

Naruto jumped and let out a yelp, when there was suddenly a man straddling his chest. Kyuubi in his human form looked down at his Kit. It's about time he told him something after everything the blond did for him.

The fox moved off Naruto and settled on the other side of the bed.

"I had a lover once… his name was Karasu."

Naruto perked up, moved to lean against the head board. Kyuubi was talking about his past so he couldn't miss a thing.

"You mean Karasu no Bi?"

Kyuubi nodded "one in the same."

"What happened to him?" Naruto flinched at the look on the demons face; he hoped Kyuubi wouldn't clam up.

"He died…"

Naruto flinched this time, sore topic.

"You don't have to talk…"

"No I'll tell you what happened, it's the least I can do."

The blond nodded, and thus the story began.

"I had met Karasu long ago when he was so young he couldn't even fly yet. The young raven had shown great potential, so I offered his parents a chance for me to train him. His parents were lowlifes; they took the honor of having one of the Ten train their child and practically threw Karasu at me. He was three at the time. We never saw them again"

"How old were you?" Naruto questioned.

"I don't know I lost count long ago of my years."

At Naruto's disgusted look Kyuubi let out a chuckle.

"Let me explain, when a demon is born, which doesn't happen very often, about every two hundred years…"

A confused look from Naruto,

Kyuubi sighed, "Most demons are not that much stronger then a Senin or a high Jounin, so some are killed by humans, other killed by other demons, plus there aren't a lot of us to begin with. Only ones with power like the Ten live for as long as we have. Most demons are killed before they're five hundred, if they make it past that there normally set unless they piss off a stronger demon or meet a human like your Hogake. This is not counting the half breeds; they normally live in exile hated by both sides, though the demons do take in some of them."

"their like me." Naruto stated.

Kyuubi gave a tentative nod.

"Anyway back to the age thing, demons age like humans until the age of eighteen, once they reach that point, age doesn't matter between mates to a degree since after sexual maturity demons looks only age one year for every few hundred."

Naruto cut in again "you look about 23 so you have to be almost three thousand years old!"

"You don't have to remind me" Kyuubi grumbled.

"Continuing where I left off before I was so rudely interrupted, it wasn't for another few years after he reached maturity that we got together anyways. I never looked at him as anything but a trainee until he was eighteen, it was like a light was switched and we realized that we were never meant to have any other type of relationship then the one we started then. After that we were lovers for five hundred years, and he grew into one of the most powerful demons of his generation, thought it would take thousands of years for him to reach the level of the oldest ones."

Kyuubi stopped to take a breath, bracing himself for the next part.

"Everything was fine until that day… me an' Karasu had been traveling through Gobi's forest. His forest lays just off of Youkai no Yobi ((1)), it consist of mostly large pine trees and it was a dry summer mouth when we walked through. We were only a few league's form the city when a brush fire caught, obliterating a large portion of the Okii-Matsu ((2)) that's the forest name. Me and Kara' were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gobi came after us and we played touch and go with him for days. On the 5th day of the chance I suggested we split up. I didn't want to fight Gobi with Kara' there, he was still too young in demon years. I knew the wolf would follow me, and if he didn't Karasu be able to fly out of his reach until I got to him. When we split I was supposed to go to Heiya no Hi ((3)) and circle back to Youkai no Yobi, Karasu was supposed to do the same in Sand…."

Kyuubi paused; Naruto looked on with rapt attention, completely absorbed in the story, the demon looked him strait in the eyes with his piercing red gaze.

"I attacked Konoha out of anger. When I reached Heiya no Hi I was intercepted by Konoha Nin and they slowed me down, I could feel Gobi watching. I saw his eyes before he left, he fully intended to find and kill my raven, Karasu couldn't fly forever, and I blamed Konoha. I didn't mean for it to go so far, I only meant to kill the ones that had stopped me, but they attacked harder then I expected and I got trapped."

Another pause and a breath,

"It's my fault Karasu died. He died because of my weakness, it's my fault, and I could have been stronger… but the drug…"

Kyuubi stopped talking abruptly.

"What drug?" Naruto didn't miss the plot holes in Kyuubi story.

"It's nothing." Kyuubi felt horrible, he couldn't tell Kit the whole story… it would crush him. Though he should have known the blond would find the story faults.

"Ok…" Naruto didn't pry on that topic, but jumped to another.

"You said you attacked Konoha out of revenge, because they delayed you, and Gobi must of killed Karasu. But they couldn't have delayed you that long. You said you saw Gobi before you were sealed, and before the attack on the village, couldn't you have tracked him down? And that brings up another point, why did you go to Konoha if the nin you wanted dead were already in the Heiya? And…"

Naruto knew he went to far when Kyuubi locked eyes with him, hi gaze full of rage.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW WHELP! I MAY BE A DEMON BUT I'M NOT PERFECT! YOU'RE JUST A BRAT ANYWAYS!" Kyuubi stormed from the room, opened the door and ran out as his fox from, Naruto let him giving him the leeway on the seal he needed. The blond knew he was being a jerk, but he also knew he wasn't getting the whole truth. He knew Kyuubi wasn't doing it to be evil, like before he felt no evil intent, the fox seemed to be protecting him… but form what?

A/N- Next chapter it the mission!

Glossary (still evil!)

Youkai no Yobi- I know its back grammar in Japanese, but like "fireday" Is Tuesday in Japanese we are going to pretend that even with the No in there it means Demonday ok! Yay for pretending!

2. Okii-Matsu – means big pine… I know original.

Haiya no Hi – roughly translates to Valley of Fire, try to guess where that's near… come on guess!

(a narusasu talk but not much abut their relationship, kyuubi blur past)