Chapter eight
"Hopefully the thieves will stop too" Kakashi said.
"Unless they're way past the rain by now" Naruto replied and thus took the words right out of his mouth.
"That might be true, but there's not a whole lot to do about it" he said and pulled on a sweater.
It was getting cold, the downpour extracting what little warmth was left of summer in the air.
Once again they sat down opposite each other. Naruto wrapped his arms around his knees and stared into the distance. Neither said anything, let the persistent sound of rain do all the talking. They sat like that for a while. The rainfall created curtains of grey that swept across the lands, as if moving in a breeze you couldn't normally see.
"This entire thing feels like when we were looking for Sasuke. Do you remember?"
Kakashi nodded, didn't want to interrupt, was desperate to finally get him to talk about how he felt.
"This entire set up- running around, searching, turning every rock until you finally catch a whiff..."
He wanted to ask him many things. Did you care very much for him? Or had he done it for Sakura, whom he had loved?
Why do you go to such lengths, Naruto?
"Well, then you succeeded. You brought him home." For better or worse.
Naruto looked down, his shaking hands turned into fists, ready to punch a hole through any untrue word. He meant what he said. Kakashi listened, he knew this was a sacred moment, he was about to tell him something that he'd been carrying for such a long time, it was only now that he was so far away from it, now that he had lost all connections back home, now that he no longer could imagine the sights that he spoke of that he could allow himself to let such things into the light.
"I loved her ever since I first saw her." He meant Sakura. He didn't have to say it, Kakashi didn't need to ask.
"She was the light of my life. But she didn't like me. She thought I was annoying and loud, but I did those things for her. I thought that maybe if I was loud, she'd notice me. I thought it was better to be noticed and thought of as annoying instead of never crossing her mind. It didn't matter what I did. She only had eyes for Sasuke, everything she did was for him. Every time I saw them together, my heart got hopelessly torn."
It hurt to hear him say those words, he hurt right alongside with him, wanted to patch him up, make him smile, take it all away.
Do you still love her?
He wished he knew what went on in his mind, he almost wished he still loved her, indefinitely and without a doubt, so that his own futile hope could go and die in a ditch somewhere. Because, as it was now, he couldn't keep himself from wondering, hoping, even for a second refusing to give up. A roulette with his emotions.
What the hell do I do to quit you?
Kakashi stood up, needed to stretch his legs and think of something else than Narutos distraught face. Naruto got up as well, maybe he thought they were on the way again.
He stood behind him. "Any change?"
Kakashi shook his head and leaned against the cave wall, Naruto chuckled, his bad mood gone or maybe put away by force.
"The things I'd do for some ramen..."
He laughed too, couldn't help it since he saw him smile, their little hideout felt warmer, less foreign.
"I could really do with a bed. I hate sleeping on the ground."
They continued like that for a while, Naruto talked about an old arm chair that he liked to sit in when it was cold and Kakashi talked about equally simple things, but deep down he didn't really mind being right where he was. All the furniture and comfort in the world didn't do a thing for him. At least not when he was around.
He was standing close, describing an episode with Sai and one of their competitions, Kakashi laughed, Naruto laughed, pleased, his breath smelled like rain and Kakashi crossed his arms to physically get a hold of himself. He'd been on the verge of loving him for a while now but never allowed himself to dwell on it for more than a moment, refused to think of that ravaging warmth inside him that threatened to make a blur out of anything that didn't touch his hands, out of anything that wasn't the same colour as clouded gold, all that which did not remind him of music or running until his legs faltered or coming home. If he wasn't careful he would forget everything, everything that did not devour him.
He felt a shiver like he was falling asleep but he might as well be dying, dying just when he was fighting to live.
Eventually the rain ceased and they hurried along. This far north the nature had changed and there were less trees, they were up in the highlands and the clouds gave no sun, no hope on improvement. They had been running for long, but every time they reached the horizon a new slope appeared farther away, mocking them on their littleness, because of how small they were compared to a hill that was created out of nothing more than mud and stone and rocks and it still managed to elude them. It tired them out.
Kakashi lost count on how many little hills they passed when it suddenly gave way to something entirely new; a massive mountain range spread out in front of them. It looked infinite, no end in sight, haunting. Its peaks were clad in white, slowly moving chaste clouds that only existed right where they were.
"This must be the Land of Earth," he said and racked his brain for a probable reason to bring the scroll there. He couldn't think of anything.
"I'm just glad we're finally here" Naruto said, looking tired.
Kakashi pulled out a general map of the north-west, cursed himself for not bringing a better one.
According to the map, pointed out by a red line that went between the squares, there was a trail that led somewhat directly to the ninja village. Though it did not seem to be the same trail that they had in front of them. They discussed for a while if it was better to look for the proper road or to head after the thief, and they had just agreed to the second alternative when Pakkun told them to be quiet.
"Something's coming." He listened in for a while. "It's something small. Most probably a carrier bird."
Just as he'd predicted it was a bird, a black one used for long distances.
"Isn't that...?" Naruto asked.
"Mm," Kakashi agreed and stretched an arm out for it to land on.
It was from Konoha, a proud one with big unforgiving eyes, one of Tsunades own fowls. He read the message with a sinking sensation in his stomach, the black wings always came with bad news. This time was no exception. He read it out loud to speed things up.
"She says at least three other villages has found out about the scroll and has sent shinobi in this general direction, secretly of course. Worst case scenario Land of Earth knows we're coming," he concluded and sighed.
"My, this became troublesome."
Almost all the villages had signed a covenant, stating that they would not attack nor use force when dealing with the other countries. It seemed that stealing valuable information from a neighboring village still was okay.
He read the letter again. "From what I gather they won't be showing up immediately. No one wants to look bad so they use smaller groups with less resources to track the thieves and thereby us. We probably have a day or two."
"So just because the scroll is no longer in Konoha that means it's fair game?" Naruto muttered. "So much for signing papers," he continued, and Kakashi could do nothing but agree.