Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Notes: I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday. Can't believe this year is coming to a close so soon!

Inksprout: Yeah, Sushi and Naruto have a very tense relationship. I find Naruto to be a bit of a hypocrite when he speaks about Takeshi and how Sasuke should move on form that but he can't do that with his own child. But Naruto will also learn to come to terms with the past soon.

Poisoned Walls

She was old enough to move out. Heck her father was living on his own since he was no older than five years old.

Her bags were packed. She carried only two of them. They only had her clothing and a few pictures, none of them had her parent's faces. There were many with her and Takeshi, her brother's, her teacher's, the ones that truly mattered.

She would leave this village her father ruled; go to one of the sub villages, where she would work, where she would learn to be happy again.

She could do it. She had to do it.

With her bags she walked down the stairs.

But Sushi wasn't alone; Naruto sat on a stool in the kitchen eating some packaged ramen. The view from the kitchen obstructed by the lounge room.

She opened the door but before she could step outside a small voice called her.

"Sushi?" Looking up the top of the stairs she saw Jiro, her sweet innocent baby brother. Even at the age of nine she called him her baby brother, he would always complain but she knew that he liked it on some level.

His large green eyes looking at his sister with confusion. "What are you doing home?" She whispered sweetly. She had hoped he wouldn't have to see her like this. Taking the first steps out of the dark past and into the bright and uncertain future. Sushi had wanted him to remember the times they played board games, or when she read to him, or scared his pants off with horror stories. She didn't want his last memory of her to be her walking away, her moving back, her goodbye.

"Are you going somewhere?" His voice was loud and confused. The question attracted her father's attention as Sushi heard his footsteps coming out from the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked looking at his daughter, taking note of the two packed bags.

Sushi ignored him, "Are you sick?" she asked her brother who shook his shaggy blonde head. "We got the day off."

Nodding her head she looked at her father, the man who was a host, who defeated one of the world's most fearsome shinobi. But to her he was none of those things.

"I'm leaving." She whispered. Her heart began to thump wildly as soon as the words slipped out of her lips. It became real. She was leaving.

The thought made her feel free, like she had finally been able to rid herself of the painful silence she had been suffering these many years.

Naruto's eyes narrowed in confusion, he ran his large rough hand through his shaggy blonde hair, and Sushi could see the likeness between her brother and her father. They even acted the same.

"Leaving? Going to a friends?" His voice started to become a little aggressive.

Her words were calm, "No." Her voice unshakeable, "I rented an apartment a little ways from here. I'm moving today."

He was angry, what person wouldn't be? She understood. "No you're not!" He tried to grab the bag in her hand but she moved just a little bit faster than he had expected.

"Jiro, I left you a book on my bed," She didn't take her eyes off the man in front of her; she didn't want her brother to see them fight.

"When were you going to tell us? What about your mother?" He asked with a slight growl.

"I thought it would be easier this way. No need for fake sadness or pretend goodbyes." She whispered.

Naruto laughed, "Easier?" He said harshly, "For whom? You? Don't be selfish."

It was her turn to laugh, a sad desperate laugh, "For all of us. I need to leave."

There was a deep flash of anger in his eyes that scared her a little, "You need to leave?" He whispered, "You aren't going. It's not fair of you to go. You shouldn't be allowed."

"Why? Because it'll make me happy? Why won't you let me be happy?" Her eyes started to burn, she had kept this to herself for years, and finally she was going to free herself.

"YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE HAPPY!" Naruto's voice thundered through the house. He heaved, "You should be just as miserable as I felt; you should feel it every day of your life! You should never be allowed to be happy!"

Burning tears slipped from her eyes before she could stop them. "I do," She whispered, "If it wasn't for Takeshi you would only have one child." Her friend was there for her when no one else was, and she couldn't be with him when he needed help the most.

His jaw clenched, "I… you're my daughter. And I care about you even though you… even though you…" He couldn't say it. Her eyes started to burn again but she couldn't, she wouldn't.

"You pushed me aside. You've always pushed me aside. That's why I'm leaving. This house, with the two of us in it, it's poison." Sushi would not cry; she couldn't because it was the truth.

"I'm sorry I wasn't as strong as you when I was young, I'm sorry that a grown man was able to overpower me. And I'm sorry that for a split second I let go of my brother's hand." Her eyes burned into his, "I'm sorry it hurt you and mother so badly, but I'm even sorrier that it wasn't me. And I know given the choice… you would have preferred he lived instead of me."

Naruto opened his mouth and closed it without getting anything out. There was nothing he could say. The words pained him deeply and even though he had thought about it countless times he couldn't deny how he felt. She let go, it should have been her.

"I had to live with the fact that he died because of me and the way you were towards me made me remember it every day. And I shouldn't have to feel like that. This house, these walls, they contain nothing but mere poison. I hate it here. I want to feel happy for once in my life."

There was a chilled silence. Naruto looked down at the ground, his eyes clouded and his expression unreadable.

"I love you Dad." Her words shook him, looking at her in surprise.

"But I can't be here anymore."

Carrying two bags, filled with clothes and pictures, and a lighter heart she stepped out onto the Welcome mat. It was snowing.

All Sushi could think was how soon for the first time since her brother died the snow will melt soon.

For the first time, she felt free.

And she loved it.

Takeshi had no idea why she had called him again and again and again. She had drawn blood countless times, sweet talked him, slapped him, and offered him chocolates.

She was crazy. She really was. Her pretty looks were tainted by her unstable mind. Her eyes gave away her favourite sport, her blood lust, her sexual needs, her love of giving pain and seeing her prey struggle for their life.

This was not a person to be tempered with. Every time he was taken to see her the change was clear. She would be happy or sad, her mood swings came fast and left just as swift. But her had never changed, her insanity lingered close behind her facade.

Takeshi wasn't a fool, to live is not always to be happy, to live is not always to win.

To live is to survive.

And sometimes surviving is the worst thing possible. But he needed to live. He had his family, his friends, he had to save Akemi.

But most in importantly he had Sushi.

He knew her inside and out, her fears and fantasies, he knew how she hated being alone, how she feared living.

She had survived but she didn't win her battled. He remembered holding her most nights as she cried. The nightmares she was forced to suffer and treatment by her parents. Of course they loved her but sometimes they would over look her, they would ignore her.

Sushi always believed it was her punishment.

Takeshi could only hope that should anything happen to him, she was safe.

"I like snakes." Her voice cut clear across the room. She said it in such a fond way that he wondered if she had kept them as pets. "I love to swallow their still beating hearts and wash it down with their warm blood."

Clearly not.

"There's an after taste. I can almost taste their soul as their heart becomes trapped in me."

"Are you wondering why I've got you here again?" She turned to face him, her eyes glittering with deep madness.

Takeshi shook his head, his unkept dark hair sweeping against his dirty cheeks. "To steal my blood… maybe drink down my soul while you're at it?"

She let out a laugh, throwing her head back and letting out a dark spine chilling laugh that chilled his blood. "Oh no. Not today. You see Takeshi, I can call you that right? When we sell a product we want to make sure the buyer is getting what he or she has paid for."

Takeshi faked a confused look, he needed her think he had no idea what was going on; he needed more information if he was to get out of here.

Her laugh was chilling, "Oh my sweet lovely boy, he paid for your eyes." Takeshi's heart stopped.

"We are doing tests to see if we can force your…talents… out in one way or another."

"And… my cellmate?"

She picked up a glass and threw it across the room; it shattered upon hitting the wall. Her mood changed in a spit second and Takeshi couldn't help but jump a tiny bit. "That boy is ungrateful. He doesn't even want to be here! He doesn't even want to be here in the same room as me! Can you believe that brat?"

Takeshi had to hide a smile.

"I mean, what is he here for?"

Her eyes narrowed at him, "Why do you want to know?"

"W-Well, it's just that he's been here just as long as me…"

"No he hasn't." Her voice was intertwined with confusion. "He's been here for almost a year."

Takeshi felt a stab of fear, had he been lied to?

"Although, I guess it would feel like a much shorter time than that… he was submerged for awhile…"

"Submerged?"

Suddenly her demeanor changed, "Are you pumping me for information? Don't think I'll tell you anymore than that my little love."

Her face cleared and she smiled. Opening up one of the large drawers she pulled out a large bunch of white roses. She walked over to him and leaned over.

"I thought I'd buy you flowers, do you like them?" She whispered in his ear. "Very much so." He answered. Takeshi knew if he wanted to live he had to play by her rules.

And then soon… if he did this right, she'll end up playing by his.

Sasuke had no idea how it happened, how he came to be sitting alone on the front porch. The moon lighting the stone cold walls around the Uchiha compound gave it an eerie feel.

This place had been left to him by his parents; he had done everything to restore it, to rid the blood from the dirt, to ensure that there were no markings left behind from the old battles. To make it a home for his wife and their kids, to make sure they felt safe.

The glow from the illuminant moon caused Sasuke to fall back into memories.

A well fitted tux, a scowl paced upon his handsome face caused him to stand out from others. It was a ball to form unifications between villages.

The women batted their eyelashes at him, smirked with perfected skill in order to lure men to their beds, it made him sick. They walked around in long dresses with high cut slits and low fronts. Like snakes they bared all before they bite.

The large hall covered in a golden glow caused from the well placed candles and lights.

His friends, a term he would use loosely at the time, walked around with their dancing partners all but one.

His eyes were drawn to her as she shyly walked down the red carpeted stairs. Her hands clutched together tightly, her cheeks a blistering red as she tried to hide herself under her long thick dark purple bangs.

Her black dress a flowed to the floor, it wasn't hugging her figure in an alluring way like many women there, but it did hug her naturally. Her cleavage wasn't exposed and her dress had no splits.

It was a very simple and plain dress that caused her to become a woman in his eyes.

She wasn't cute or sexy. She was beautiful and stunning. She was a complete classic, an undiscovered jewel, a diamond in the rough.

Sasuke watched as men swarmed around her like vultures picking at live prey. And he watched as she turned them away one by one.

She didn't know it but the moment he saw her… she had caused a great interest to stir in him.

Sasuke couldn't help a smile. She really was beautiful that night.

Once more the Old Man's words rang throughout his mind, "You can fix everything."

Sasuke stood up slowly and looked at the dark house, everyone was sleeping, everyone who wasn't him of course.

He sighed, "I'll do anything to make you happy." He whispered in the darkness. And he set off to find Naruto.

Sasuke wasted no time, first he had gone to Naruto's office only to be told that he wasn't there, upon arriving at his old friend's house he found the man sitting solemnly at his dining table. His head upon his interlocking hands.

"Are you praying?" Sasuke asked, cocking his head to the left.

Not even moving Naruto replied, "Sushi left." The man who was normally happy and carefree had been chained to the Earth and was pending trial by his conscience for the crimes he had committed against his daughter.

"Where?"

"Don't know. She just walked out of the door. Gone. I've lost two children, Sasuke. Two! I'm the bad parent."

"She said she loved me. Even after everything. And I couldn't say anything back." Naruto shook his head slightly, "I said I 'cared about her' I cared! A parent loves his child, would die for his child, and yet she was right. I would have preferred it if it was here in the ground." He sighed, a heavy depressed sigh and closed his eyes for a moment. "Sasuke, when you asked what I would do if Sushi was gay I said I wanted her to be happy.

"But the truth, Sasuke? I didn't want her to be happy. I think that years would have passed and she would lead a sad and lonely life because of me."

Sasuke walked over to the blonde haired man and punched him on the left side of his head. Naruto fell off of his chair, smacking his right side into the carpeted floor.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Naruto's blue eyes flashing at his old rival.

"You're a fool Naruto."

Naruto sighed, Sasuke never had a way with words, but to hit him like that, he shook his head.

"What do you want anyhow?"

"Naruto, I have no doubt that Takeshi is alive. I brought him up as a Uchiha, he would not have fallen to death so easily. At this very moment I'm not willing to leave my wife's side."

Naruto nodded.

"I need every bit of information you have, cases similar to my… similar to Takeshi's. I will follow them up as soon as I am able."

"I will give you everything you need."

"What are you doing?" "You wanted to know what it was to be submerged didn't you. You'll wake up in a few weeks… maybe months…"

"Hinata, whatever you do, don't push. It's too early."

"Kohana, there are a few jobs that we have if you're looking?" She smiled, a job is one of the first things on her list.

Katsu smiled, his bed smelt like the sun, she turned over and looked at him, his sleeping face relaxed and kind. Her father would kill her if he knew. "Why are you watching me sleep? It's rather bothersome." She couldn't help the small smile that lit up her face.

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