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Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last two chapters!
I hope you enjoy this one!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, if i did ItaNaru would be cannon.
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Epic Indulgence.
By Kittymarks
Chapter Three.
Kain sighed happily and rolled over, oh how he loved falling asleep in the park with the wind running through his hair and the flowers tickling his nose and the sun shining down on him through the trees while he lay on the grass next to Jae and his friends from the Narutoverse- wait he backtracked, 'friends from the Narutoverse'?. The blonde shot bolt upright and then gave a little groan of pain as his head started to throb. A laugh from his left made him crack open his eyes and look over to see Naruto propped up against a tree grinning at him, Sakura was giggling behind her hand while Sasuke was just glaring at him sullenly. Kakashi was high up in a tree looking around with a small crease between his brows and Jae . . . Where was Jae?
A deep chuckle from beneath him had Kain whipping his head around too see he'd fallen on top of Jae and the older boy was currently pinned to the ground, the bagpack he'd been wearing when he fell was crushed into the grass. Kain flushed and hopped off his friend and held out a hand to help him up. Jae took the offered hand with an amused smirk and Kain wondered idily why he never did Alucard cosplay from Helsing becuase he'd make a great vampire. Kain flushed a bit more and stomped over to where Naruto was getting up off the ground and hugged him again and twirling him in a circle, Sasuke stared with his eyes wide and his mouth gaping while Sakura just continued giggling. The younger blonde sighed and resigned himself to the treatment.
Kain just couldn't help himself, Naruto was his favourite anime character EVER. He had all the manga up to date, all the episodes on dvd, posters, keyrings, plush dolls and even Naruto cosplay. He never could understand how in the fanfictions he'd read the self-inserts didn't go around glomping all the adorable ninjas. Now that his idol was actually there in person . . . it was like meeting a famous celebrity and an old friend at the same time seeing as Kain would probably know them better than they knew themselves. Jae smiled at his friend and went to rescue Naruto from Kains clutches.
"He's not going to dissapear you know. You can let him go, I think Uchiha-kun is getting jealous" he murmered in his very best Orochimaru-amused-but-disinterested-at-the-same-time voice. Kain grinned at the younger blonde in his grasp and let him go shooting a wink at Sasuke who regained his composure and glared balefuly at the duo and muttered something about idiot blondes. Naruto bristled but Jae put a calming hand on his shoulder just as Kakashi hopped down from the trees. The crease in his brows had spread to faint worry in his eyes and Jae and Kain knew that when Kakashi got in the slightest bit worried things always went straight to hell in a basket.
"Oh shit" they whipered in unison and started looking for escape routes while the three genin looked on confused. Kakashi just nodded grimly, ran a gloved hand through his spiky hair and looked around at them all before speaking. His voice was calm and level but it still exuded a wariness that chilled the older teens to the bone. "From the landscape and the few plants I have identified we are somewhere in the middle of Iwa no Kuni" Jae and Kain stared blankly at him for a moment and then- "OH SHIT!".
There was a flurry of activity and cursing as the teens ripped of Kains white trench coat, flung it on the ground and stamped on it viciously for good mesure. The genins just looked on in vauge horror as Kain whipped out the matches from his kunai-less kunai holster and set the coat alight and then while it was burning he rolled it in the mossy ground to stamp out the smoke. Then Jae gingerly picked it up with his thumb and forefinger as though the smouldering fabric might bite him and flung it in the bushes. The two cosplayers stood back and admired their handiwork and clapped each other on the shoulders murmering aproval. Kakashi coughed into his hand and Kain turned slowly around to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes?" he asked innocently, Jae just stood ridged with his arms crossed over his chest looking blankly out into the surrounding forest. Kakashi sighed as Kain pulled off his plastic headband and stuffed it into his holster and tugged his hair out of its tiny ponytail. Sasuke and Sakura were slowly putting the pieces together as they looked into the bush that the Yondaime cosplay jacket had been thrown and back at Kain who was busy mussing up his spiky blonde locks. "Were in Stone country so you'd be in danger if you wore your cosplay thingie because they have a grudge against the Yondaime right?" Narutos voice piped up, serious for once and his blue eyes were narrowed as he looked at Kakashi for confirmation. The silver haired jounin nodded. His other teamates stared at him confused, wondering how he'd deduced that.
"Well done Naruto, thats correct. I think it would be prudent if you took off your own headbands until we reach the border. We will have to move fast." he turned to Kain and Jae. "Jae, I'll have to carry you on my back and Kain your going on Sasukes." he held up a hand to stop the teens and Sasuke from protesting. "We need to move fast if were to get out of here and while your proficent at fighting your no-where near proper genin level and you'll only hold us down unless we do this" Kakashi explained and Jae swallowed his pride and dutifully climbed onto the jounins back, Kakashi started to run in a north-west direction and was followed by a worried looking Naruto and Sakura. Kain and Sasuke eyes each other warily before Sasuke turned around and held his arms out at his sides, he tilted his head back.
"What are you waiting for idiot?" he asked and Kain snorted before hopping onto the younger boys back from where he stood, Sasuke teetered a little at the sudden weight and growled at Kain. The blonde just wrapped his arms around the Uchihas neck and sighed. "Sorry Uchiha-kun." Sasuke nodded stiffly and took off after his teammates. They lagged a little behind, by a meter or so for a few minutes before Sasuke opened his mouth. "Wh-why was your friend dressed up like Itachi?" he asked quietly and Kain winced at the anger and hurt lacing the younger Uchihas words.
"Um, I'll tell you later okay? If Kakashi says its fine. Its just that, well, you know we come from a different world?" he asked and Sasuke nodded. "Itachi is, to Jae and a whole load of other fans, a really cool guy. I know what he did to your family and now that I'm here I can't condone that and I know Jae can't either but before you have to understand that admiring Itachi was like admiring your favourite cartoon or actor. It wasn't a bad thing because he wasn't really a person that you could know and that liking him wasn't something that could have repurcussions. Its innocent." he murmered and Sasuke narrowed his eyes and scoffed. "Innocent!". Kain just sighed again and adjusted his legs against Sasuke waist. When had things become so comlicated? And how the hell could he tell Sasuke that Jae admired Itachi because he was intelligent and calm, strong yet peaceful and did everything he could for his younger brother.
They had been running for around an hour when Kakashi held up his hand and they stopped. "Lets take a small break." he said as he let Jae hop off his back, it was more for Sasukes benefit than anything else. The genin may have been the best in his class but running at top speed for an hour with another body sitting on his back was begining to take its toll. "Naruto, you carry Kain for the next hour" Kakashi called over to the blonde and Naruto nodded while Sasuke gratefully took a sip out of the water bottle Jae had taken from his bagpack. "What? Am I fat or something!" Kain pouted and Kakashi sighed and ignored him. The blonde scowled and sat beside Naruto who eyed him warily. "I'm not going to attack you, ya know!" he muttered as he leaned against a tree and the younger blonde nodded and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Lets go!" Kakashi said ten minutes later and Kain hopped onto Narutos back as Sasuke and Sakura took off running, this time Kakashi and Jae ran last, keeping look-out from the back. Every so often Kain glanced behind him to see Jaes black ponytail whipping in the wind as the tall boys eyes darted from tree to tree. They were running really fast, the trees blurring as they 'whooshed' past and Kain tried to get comfy which was impossible because Narutos back was actually bonier than Sasukes and the ridges of his spine made sitting uncomfortable. Kain grumbled something under his breath and leaned his head on Narutos shoulder, the younger blonde hair tickling his nose.
"Soo, whats Konoha like? I mean, Ive seen cartoon pictures and all but whats it like in real life?" Kain asked and Naruto tilted his head a little so that he could see Kain and the trees in front of him at the same time, his blue eyes lit up. "Its awesome and huge and busy and its got the greatest raman EVER and the Hokages mountain is gigantic and the old man and Iruka sensei are really cool and did I mention that the raman rocks?!" Naruto chattered enthusiasticaly and Kain looked at him eagerly and nodded for him to continue, still overjoyed that he was having an actual conversation with THE Uzumaki Naruto.
Jae smiled secretly at his friend from his perch on Kakashis back, the last time he'd seen Kain this happy was two Christmas ago when he had gotten his first Obito cosplay outfit complete with goggles, he hadn't taken the goggles off for months. The silver haired jounin was still looking worried and Jae had two of his plastic kunias gripped in his left hand just in case. They wouldn't do much but at least he wasn't totaly unarmed, he thought about asking Kakashi for some real kunai but the thought of handling a real weapon with the intent to kill made him queasy.
He wondered whether or not Kain would feel the same and quickly dismissed the thought. Kain would and had handled real weapons before so the blonde would probably have no problem with asking Naruto for a few kunai, his aim sucked but at least he'd have them. The idiot would probably never think to ask and Jae sighed experatedly and adjusted his grip on the plastic knives. Kakashi shot him a curious look before deciding that he didn't care and returned to scouting for danger.
Jae scowled and looked back up at the dense foiliage above them. Wasn't stone country supposed to be made of rock? What was with all the trees and shit, Jae sighed again and sneezed as the wind made some of Kakashi silver hair tickle his nose. The jounin shook his head and glared back at Jae who smiled sheepishly. "Blame your hair, it tickled me!" he protested and Kakashi narrowed his eyes and looked back ahead. Jae flipped his own hair over his shoulder and bit his lip, what where they going to do?. Being in the Narutoverse was great, a dream come true but they couldn't stay there. Jae had a family and Kain had an older brother and an uncle waiting for him at home, they were going to be so worried when the boys didn't show up for dinner.
Naruto shot glances at the teen sitting on his back when he though Kain wasn't looking, they had stopped talking after Naruto had run out of things to say about Konoha. The older blonde actually enjoyed listening to him talk and Naruto was intruiged and confused, he knew that Kain knew about him from that manga in the other world. Naruto shuddered, that was so creepy having someone know everything about him and writing it down for the world to see, his stomache clenched at the thought of millions of people knowing about the Kyuubi. The older boy even looked a little like him but more like the Yondaime, Naruto decided after watching him pose in the cosplay thing. It was like they were doubles, or Kain was the Yondaimes son (A/N: irony huh?) but that was impossible because he was from another world. Narutos head was begining to hurt and he groaned as thoughts of paralel universes and dimension hopping. He couldn't wait until they got back to Konoha and the old man Hokage could figure all this out.
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Please read and review and lemmie know what ya think!
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