Happy Thanksgiving, kids.
(Anti-Meridian finally came out on iTunes! YESTERDAY!!! 'BOUT TIME!! DX)
Thanks to: CelticReaper, grumpywinter, Namikaze777, DarkRavie, Mrs-N-Uzumaki, TheFinalFighter, Mos ad Interficio, Geor-sama, 62635377-nameless
this was not proofread... because the person I asked to do it went offline. -cry-
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Did you hear the thunderous voice of Dr. King?
The ghost of hope still strikes its brilliant lightning.
Through the dark our hearts will scream,
for a world we've only dreamed.
And the past, it will decay,
so sing goodbye to yesterday
and I believe.
And we will burn, the starless night,
the truth will ring through depths of twilight.
Liberty, our hearts ignite,
let hope still ring through depths of twilight.
Brave Saint Saturn, Anti-Meridian, Through Depths of Twilight
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She watched beside the others as Sora transformed, surrounded by bubbling red as his skin started turning black. It was terrifying and painful how the red chakra burned their senses and lashed out against their skin. Yet Kiba, Akamaru, and Chouji tried their best to hold Sora back or to bring him to his senses. The others too.
None of it worked.
She cringed as Chouji was swatted away like a fly by Sora's (the Kyuubi's?) chakra-covered arm.
Ino's knees went weak at the thought that Naruto could actually experience this sort of pain and… terror. It was hard to imagine that what was happening to Sora could happen to someone like Naruto. Sora was now in a hunched over position, his human features almost all gone. He opened his mouth and an un-human screech/growl left his mouth as a mass of chakra surrounded him.
Yamato-taichou yelled, "Get away from it! It's an attack!"
The blond jumped out of the way along with everyone else. She felt a blast of heat and pain as the sonic attack finished out. A pause was had as the smoke cleared to show a 30 foot in diameter crater.
She sucked in a breath of air as she felt a flutter pass by in a flash of orange. Naruto ran towards Sora, "Snap out of it!" He went to punch the seemingly-mindless Sora and got a similar treatment as Kiba had.
He slammed into the side of the freshly-created crater.
Naruto growled and picked himself up, "Sora! You can fight it, I know you can!" He ran towards his newest friend and grabbed him by the shoulders, "C'mon man! Remember the fun we had at-!"
A clawed and burning chakra covered hand gabbed him by the throat and thrust him into the crater's side. He choked and grabbed at the arm before being released, sucking in air and coughing from the dust and lack of oxygen. 'Dammit…' "Sora…"
Naruto coughed one more time and wiped his chin before walking towards Sora again, "Please, you have to remember who you are!" the blond boy grabbed the Kyuubi-influenced teen by the shoulders, "You can't let that fur-ball win! Don't let it control you!"
Sora growled, the four-tail's soulless eyes returned his gaze. Naruto held tighter, feeling his hands burn. He gritted his teeth, holding off the pain. "Please…"
Yamato-taichou and the others of the rookie nine watched uneasily as everything panned out in front of them.
Naruto felt his teeth and nails grow as the Kyuubi's chakra ran over his hands from Sora's body, and started to react to the real thing. He cringed as his skin burned. He growled out, "Sora!"
Yamato-taichou moved quickly, "Hokage-shiki Jijun Jutsu - Kakuan Nitten Suishu!" He leapt forward as the kanji for sit appeared on his hand.
Naruto felt Yamato-taichou slam his hand onto his back and jump away. The blond was boggled as he felt nothing happen and Yamato was equally confused. The captain jumped back up, "What in the world?" he looked at his hand confused and then back to Naruto and Sora.
Naruto cringed as he felt Kyuubi's influence. A dark chuckle reverberated in his mind.
Yes… the anger, the hate! Give in and I shall help you take care of this… imposter.
Naruto growled and jumped away from Sora in his three-tailed form. He fought with himself and pulled out a piece of Sora's gauntlet, "Like hell, fur-ball!" He plunged the piece of metal into his leg, echoing his actions when he promised himself that he would never run away from a battle again, "I won't let you control me anymore! No go back into your cage and leave me alone!"
Kyuubi growled, You'll regret this, brat…
Much to Yamato and the other's amazement, the Kyuubi chakra that had surrounded Naruto dissipated. Naruto gasped, his skin showing random huge burns. He pushed himself into a standing position and walked over to Sora slowly and painfully once more, grabbing him by the shoulders once more. "Sora… You need to remember… REMEMBER! SORA!"
The monks stared at him coldly, separated from them and looked down upon.
He hated the feeling.
Slowly, the figures of the monks started fading away, 'Who… am I?'
's..a..'
'What am I?' the boy clung to his knees tighter.
'so…a'
The darkness closed in around him, 'Who… who is calling me..?'
'So..Ra..'
The boy looked up towards the ever shrinking pin of light, 'Who… is it? What do you… want?'
'Sora… SORA! REMEMBER!'
Light burst through as a hand appeared in front of him, a shock of blond hair blinding him in the sudden light. Naruto smiled at him, "Sora… c'mon. Don't let it win. Don't you remember?"
Sora blinked and took Naruto's hand, harrumphing grumpily, "What are you talking about, looser?"
Behind Naruto the rookie nine slowly appeared with smiles on their faces, "If you go back, you'll understand."
Sora gave Naruto an irritated look before-
He opened his eyes and blinked, trying to lighten the glare of the early evening light, "Wha…?"
Naruto smiled exhausted, "I'm glad… you're back."
Sora sniffed, "Whatever… looser…" Black enveloped the young monk once more.
Naruto followed shortly thereafter.
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It had been two days since Sora had left on his own to explore the world.
Ino felt a sense of loss at not being able to remember where she put Naruto's jacket. It had started to really piss her off, but she was too prideful to actually ask Naruto if he remembered or knew where it was.
She figured he'd been through enough at the time to just not remember at all.
The three-pronged kunai sat in her lap as she fingered it carefully, its edges still holding a sharpness to them that could still cut skin, as she contemplated. A light chilly wind came from her window and caressed her in an oddly comforting embrace.
Suddenly, it wasn't quite so chilly and she felt something warm envelop her from behind. She sat up straight before turned to see Naruto crouching in her window awkwardly. "Uh… Hi Ino-chan." he smiled nervously, regretting the fact he wasn't able to make a clean escape.
Ino blinked, "Naruto-kun…" her expression changed to agitated, "You do realize that it's improper to go to a lady's room through her window, right?"
Naruto sat on the ledge and blushed while rubbing the back of his head, "Uh, well, sorta…"
He wasn't looking at her but the floor. She shifted the warm cloth he'd put on her and put her arms through the all-too-familiar sleeves, "What do you mean by 'sorta'? Are you serious?"
Naruto chuckled awkwardly, "Well, I mean… I know most things because of Ero-sennin being slapped for doing inappropriate things, and some things I just observed, but uh…"
Ino stared at him, "Oh my gosh, you've never been given a proper lesson in etiquette that could be considered common sense?" she smacked her forehead, "No wonder Sakura gets so frustrated with you… and.. And no wonder you never notice Hinata!"
Naruto tilted his eyes and scrunched them all fox like as he sat beside her on her bed, "What do you mean by that? Hinata-chan looks at me funny? I mean, I know she stutters and crap but-"
Ino whacked him on the head, "Idiot, she's liked you for years now! She's just to shy to tell you she likes you!"
Naruto blinked confused, "Well, I like her too but…"
Ino gave him a look, "She likes you like you like Sakura."
He paused before his eyes widened a bit, "What!? Are you serious?! She's so… creepy, and she-"
Ino waved a hand, "Yes yes, say what you want, but it doesn't change the fact the poor girl has liked you since we were in the Academy."
Naruto paused and thought a bit, recollecting all the weird stuff Hinata did around him. Now it all made sense, "So, she passes out because of me too?"
Ino nodded, "Yup."
Naruto sighed heavily, "Well that sucks."
Ino smirked, "Yeah well, that's just how things happen sometimes…"
The two sat in silence a moment before Ino spoke up, "So, do you need me to teach you how to properly treat a girl?"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "Uh, do I treat girls badly?"
The blond girl sighed heavily. It was going to be a long day, she knew it. "Ok Naruto… let me start with this…"
Two hours and one rather scarred 15-year-old-boy and embarrassed 15-year-old-girl later, and you had one spectacularly awkward atmosphere.
Naruto cleared his throat, "Well uh, thanks for clearing all that up for me…"
Ino huffed, exhausted, "Better now then never. Now get out so I can rest."
Naruto grinned and saluted, "Yes ma'am." With that the boy jumped out the window with a little more speed than he might have usually left normally.
Ino slumped and put the tree-pronged kunai back into its box and then laid back on her bed. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily before she curled onto her side, "Naruto, you doofus…"
She fingered the hem of her sleeve, before a moment of brilliance struck her.
Naruto had returned the jacket to her.
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Sorry for a short chapter and… being rather anti-climactic.. Though that's my opinion. You'll have to let me know… and if you haven't watched the Sora arc, you better so you can understand just all of what was really going on at the time and.. Yeah. What I was hoping to move me forward in plot road blocked me… and I never did go back to re-watch the episodes. But hey, at least I finally figured out how to start this chapter, even if I jumped a huge chunk of episode-related plot.
I got the job, and my computer's been acting pissy. Fun times, fun times.
Oh yeah, and Kishimoto's suddenly giving us PLOT! EPIC PLOT! So… that's also been a part of why I haven't updated. Yet, he's taking his sweet time so.. I'll try and think of something so I can update next week instead of leaving you all hanging with such a short chapter.
Sorry about that… -sigh- (I really hope Kakashi isn't dead…)
..HOLY CRAP, FFNET CHANGED IT'S ACCOUNT LAYOUT!! HOLY CRAP!!! HOLY CRAP!!!
Please review!