Eight days from Konoha
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A small amount of relief came when they re-measured the spread of the poison and found that Anko's suggestion of continuous movement had indeed slowed the growth by a millimetre an hour.
However, the ANBU were still tense and worried, which seemed to give them the adrenaline they needed to keep running far longer and faster than they would have preferred to on a regular journey.
The sun was threatening to break above the horizon again when Naruto had physically forced his team to rest.
Itachi, ignoring Naruto's request to stop, had slung the protesting chibi captain over his shoulder, intent on continuing until he collapsed. The rest of the team, too, seemed to share Itachi's sentiment, and continued studiously until Naruto had decided that tying them to a tree would be a great idea.
And so, they were forced to rest. They sat in a circle, Naruto happily slurping cup Ramen while humming into the otherwise dead silence of the group. Now away from any threats and closer to allied territory, they had allowed themselves the luxury of a fire, and Naruto was delighted to once again be able to eat his favourite food.
None of the others were touching their meals. It didn't take him long before Naruto sighed, set his cup down, and glanced at each of his team-mates.
"Ninja die every day." He stated flatly, losing his carefree disposition suddenly. "They die quickly, they die suddenly, and they die unexpectedly. I'm here, I'm walking, and talking, and eating. This is one of the best case scenarios for a death of a Ninja, when there is time to prevent it. And we do have time to prevent it. So if I have to sit in this funeral party for the next eight days, I may have to re-tie you to those trees and continue on my own." He blinked at each one of his ANBU, daring to continue moping.
It took a few breaths for the rest of his team to internally calm down over his conversation of death.
Slowly, they reached for various items for food or drink, and the silence and tension was lessened immensely. Naruto's bright smile returned, and he leaned easily on Itachi's knee, picking up his Ramen again.
Pretty soon, Anko had gone back to picking on Genma, and Itachi had once again lost himself in his Uchiha mind. The group appeared almost back to normal. Naruto just hoped it would stay like this.
… His arm really was itching.
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As usual, Itachi took the first watch. He crouched easily in the shadows of the trees, where he would usually scout out the surroundings with his Sharingan until his eyes began to hurt.
But today, Itachi wondered if he were fit to do this protection job. He found himself continuously losing focus and being distracted. With good reason, too.
He had potentially gotten Naruto killed.
His lipped twitched in as much of a sneer of disgust as Itachi's limited facial expressions could manage. Naruto was right, he had been distracted. And it hadn't been him who had gotten hurt, it had been Naruto, the one he was trying to assist. An image of Naruto covered in sickly, spider-web green veins, lying motionless as he drew his last shuddering breath- Itachi's jaw clenched painfully.
"Are you cold?" Asked a voice softly. But Itachi still jumped.
Naruto slid down beside him, laying his head down in Itachi's lap, looking up at his face. His wide blue eyes reflected the stars, his pale, soft face shining in the moonlight.
Itachi glanced away from his painfully young face.
"Why aren't you asleep." He managed tensely.
He reluctantly threaded his fingers through soft blonde hair; he didn't feel like he should be touching the fragile boy any more than he had to. Naruto grabbed his free hand and began playing with his slender, long fingers. The older boy didn't resist.
"I was worried that you were upset." Straight to the point, yet his innocent young voice making his words sound tactful. That was Naruto. He felt the boy trace his long fingers with his tiny ones.
Itachi smile was tight as he looked down at Naruto, his eyes not quite able to meet his bright blue ones.
"I'm alright, Naruto-kun."
Naruto reached up to poke him in the nose, a soft frown creasing his face.
"Don't lie." The trilling voice held authority. "Itachi-chan, don't make me say 'It's not your fault.' You're smarter than that. You don't need me to tell you."
The Uchiha sighed almost insensibly. "But it was-"
"No."
Itachi blinked "I-"
"Nup."
"You-"
"You're not throwing this Uchiha Pity Party."
"I could have-"
"I know I'm invited but I'm not coming."
"Maybe-"
"Don't make me smack you on your stupid head."
"There-"
"Shhhhhhh!" Naruto put a finger to his mouth as he sat up, shushing the Uchiha.
Itachi's shoulders slumped, wisely not saying anything.
Naruto smiled at his silence. "Good. Now, it's Anko's turn for the watch. Up you get." Naruto shoved his shoulder gently.
Itachi rolled his eyes. "I'd actually rather-"
"Up!" Naruto hoisted him up, awkwardly, his short form barely getting him far, sticking the Uchiha in an awkward crouch. Itachi turned the tables around and grabbed Naruto under the arms, swinging him up onto his hip. Mercifully, Naruto had discarded the weights he usually wore during the day - over fifty kilos on each limb.
Despite his preference for moving under his own power, Naruto sat contentedly on Itachi's hip, fiddling with his long ponytail, swinging his feet back and forth
"Anko." Itachi nudged his comrade with his foot. "Time for your watch."
He dodged a flying Dango stick.
"Wassaugh- MY DANGO you …. Person… ugh…" Anko rolled over. Itachi's eye twitched, covering Naruto's small head protectively with one hand in case of further projectiles. He jerked his foot to send the somehow deadly food items away from the unconscious ANBU, before trying again.
Two foot nudgings later, a grumbling ANBU was reluctantly awake. Itachi pulled off his weapons pouch and his outer cloak, the whole group leaving off their masks as they travelled.
He deposited the small blonde onto his futon before sliding over to his own. As he rolled to get comfortable he met still-open blue eyes.
"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sighed Itachi. The boy was still sitting up, tiny frame swamped by a nightshirt.
He didn't understand where the boys' hyper disposition came from, even Itachi - semi
insomniac that he is - was tired and ready for bed, exhausted by the day. But Naruto's eyes always seemed bright and alert.
Naruto said nothing, instead pushing back his fuuton's covers and crawling over to Itachi, wriggling himself under the blankets with him. Itachi - slightly surprised - slid over slightly to make a little more room for the baby blonde.
Naruto snuffled into Itachi's chest, sighing as he closed his eyes. He clenched tiny fists into the older boys' shirt. Itachi smiled faintly as he wrapped an arm around the small body, noting with relief that it was still at a respectable temperature . Despite his visibly paler complexion, he didn't appear to have a fever.
Itachi stayed awake until the little blonde's breathing evened out.
He drifted off to sleep wondering what Naruto was dreaming about.
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Itachi awoke last the next morning; a rather strange and rare occurrence. His arms were empty of the small blonde captain, and Anko and Genma had already had their usual what-to-eat-for-breakfast fight and had even managed to cook the food before Itachi had awoken.
It had been barely four hours since they had stopped to rest, but the brief reprieve had lessened the tension from the Ninja's shoulders somewhat. It would keep them functioning better for the day ahead.
He sat down beside Genma just as the food was served into each of the bowls.
After the meal, Genma and Itachi packed the camp as Anko unbandaged, checked, and re-bandaged Naruto's arm. Itachi glanced at the wound from across the camp, eyeing the tint of green illness which had spread almost to his elbow, and past his wrist in the other direction, towards his fingertips. The centre of the impact had begun bruising, like a shadow following the sickly taint.
Itachi was beside Anko in a flash.
"What is it?" He asked tensely.
Anko gently smoothed the bruised skin under her thumb.
"I'm not too sure." She admitted." I think it's the reaction to the Kyuubi's chakra. It usually circulates harmlessly through Naru's chakra coils, but because it needs to spread out to fight the poison, it's breaking his body down where it lingers too long.
Itachi's mind flashed briefly with the image of tiny Nine Tailed Foxes battling in tunnels made of Naruto's veins, attacking tiny green goblin creatures with swords and leering grins. He mentally shook the stupid thought from his head.
"Is it doing more harm than good, then?" Genma asked curiously, inspecting the bruise for himself.
Anko bit her lip, twitching a shoulder helplessly.
"I- no. I don't think so." She decided tentatively. Anko and 'tentatively' were not two words often used in the same sentence, and both Genma and Itachi noted her reaction. "I can actually help with the bruising. While the Foxes' chakra will continue to damage him, I should be able to keep him healed with salve enough that it doesn't cause too much trouble. It might just be stiff and painful." She finished sympathetically.
"No, it itches." Naruto corrected with a pout.
Anko retrieved her healing cream from her pack and applied it liberally to the boy's arm.
After assuring everyone that other than itching he felt fine, and yes, he could still travel under his own power, the Team left camp, Naruto happily clamped onto Anko's hand as they jumped through the trees.
While they pushed hard, they made certain that they had more breaks than usual, and gave Naruto as much food and water as they could get him to accept, so that when they finally stopped for the night, it was acceptable that he left his dinner unfinished, claiming to be full.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... …
It was not, however, acceptable that he did the same thing the following morning, five hours later.
"I'm not hungry." Naruto pleaded his case to a hands-on-hips Snake ANBU with a pout.
"Yes you are." She insisted, attempting to shove the food into his mouth.
"Are you spoon feeding me? Hey, Noooo!" Thin limbs flailed in protest.
Itachi sipped his tea with a small smile on his face, eyes closed, trying to calm himself into tranquillity whilst ignoring the scuffle behind him. He took a pleasant sip of tea, breathing out a warm breath contentedly.
There was a loud crash and some giggling, and Itachi reluctantly opened his eyes to find Anko climbing out of a hole in a tree, mock scowling at a giggling blonde.
Unperturbed, Anko jumped up with her own smirk and began to chase the laughing blonde around the camp, making aeroplane noises as she 'flew' the spoon towards his mouth.
They were all relieved that Naruto still seemed to possess his usual personality and giddiness.
But despite Anko's best efforts, he still left his bowl unfinished.
"Right!" Anko gave up, wrapping her hand around the boys' wrist, halting the chase. "Since you didn't eat your food, you have to submit to my will! We're carrying the whole way! How do you feel about that?" Grinned the purple-haired girl
Naruto's smooth cheeks popped. "No! I won't let yo- hey! ANKO! LET ME DOWN! NOW! NO! 'TACHI! GENMAAA! HEEELLLPP! OI! THAT'S IT! I'LL START SINGING! I SWEAR! LALALALAL LOOLALALALALALALALAHAHAHA LALALALALA LOLOLOL LILIL LAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Naruto continued to alternate laughing and singing obnoxiously, fidgeting for a good portion of the trip until Anko finally let him run a few hours later.
As retribution however, he continued singing the whole way, and that night the ANBU all had terrible nightmares of chasing a purple singing dragon, trying to kill it.
… … … … … .. .. .. .. … .. … … … … …
When I first discovered , I was 12 years old. That's almost 10 years ago.
If you had have asked 12 year old me if I saw myself reading and/or writing Fanfics at my age, the result would have probably been a 'no.'
Because even back in primary school, I knew this was pretty nerdy. True, I wasn't yet into the more 'geeky' anime like Naruto as I am today, but I was pretty discrete about mentioning my interest in fanfiction for sure.
But you know what? Writing fanfiction in my younger teen years taught me so much. It increased my fluency, my understanding of paragraph structure, my ability to phrase words and create flowing sentences that a lot of my peers never developed, even into the final years of High School
I learned to touch type well before it was required to be taught in school. When the only computers we had was a handful shoved in the back of the library.
Through reading the wonderful stories of authors from around the world, I developed a vocabulary that far exceeded the level of my peers. I used words and metaphors in ways that won competitions and earned A grades on assignments, simply from reading and writing fanfiction.
But even though I had a few teen friends who were also into reading fanfiction, even they kept it on the down low, knowing it was a pretty embarrassing thing to admit.
And to be honest, I never thought that being my age, with a full time career and prospects of marriage on the horizon, that I would still be reading and (after recently picking it up again) writing fanfiction.
But you know what? Screw it. My peers and my family who always thought it was a little weird will never understand what we here have at . We can read the amazing works of people in countries we have never visited, read their ideas, thoughts and fan theories.
This community is beautiful. For even with the flamers who can't figure out that if they don't like a story they don't have to read it, here is an entire site full of people with the same happy secret, the same brilliantly creative minds that others outside their respective fandoms could never understand.
I have learned more from this website in terms of language and writing than I have in schools, and I went to some pretty nifty schools. Those fancy ones you had to get selected to go to.
There are times that I have caught myself thinking of something as canon when in fact it is simply a fan theory created for one or more fanfictions on this site.
And for those authors who write so well, so in character and so fluently that their own ideas blend seamlessly into the original story, I applaud you.
For not many people will understand the gift you have. You with the ability to work your words in ways that can make my heart clench and squeal in happiness. There are many, many published authors who can't make me feel that way
And your works can, and they do it for free.
Those paid writers who stick to their strict deadlines and their editors, a lot of them don't have the soul that some writers on here do.
Do you know why?
Because even if a story receives no reviews, no favourites, no acknowledgement, it is still awesome.
Because you wrote it for you. Not to make anyone happy, to put your feelings and thoughts out there and you got it out there. That's a piece of you sitting on the net for you to look back on ten years later - as I have done - and cringe and laugh at how far you have come.
I'm redoing/finishing this story for myself, so that I can look back at it and say 'I did that. I finished that, and it's a story I have always wanted to read, and maybe others will too.'
So, in summary, to all the teen, pre-teen and older writers and readers in this site: Never be embarrassed by this often-touted 'geeky' interest. This website and all you people are amazing, interesting, funny, and educational in ways that outsiders can never appreciate.
And while I had this word thrown at me a few times in my younger school years, you know who the real 'losers' are?
Them.
They miss out on all this awesome website has to offer, where the characters and stories they love are expanded on exponentially in so many different ways.
So, if because of your love of fanfiction, or for any other reason, you encounter these and many more words:
Loser
Geek
Nerd
Freak
Just smile and remember:
There is a community of hundreds of thousands who appreciate you and what you can share with us.
Where you can be yourself, and let your hopes, dreams and soul become words and stories and laughs and tears.
Just remember
You are awesome