Chapter 5

A name is sometimes just that

Being hurt once, Sasuke knew exactly what he would do even if not being fully conscious of himself. The pain would come in waves, hitting him sometimes harder, but always hit. He knew that when he felt strong enough to walk, he would walk. He would walk, not caring about being hurt, or where he went to. He would walk until he fell or find a way of easing out the pain, whatever came first.

So when finally feeling an adrenaline rush, he dressed the kimono beside the bed and went out. Automatically his body moved silently like he always did when he consciously went on a demon hunt. He ignored the fact that it was a beautiful sunny day afternoon. He had ignored that also eight years ago.

Ironic how the world shows you its best sides when you don't give a damn!

He walked slowly, for hours, until the rush was gone. Feeling his legs bucking up, he sat, and eventually lay down. His mind was still blank. The raven didn't notice he had curled up in a ball and was sobbing.

How did he ever cope with the pain eight years ago? The pain almost torn him apart.

He remembered he had jumped into a river. No, he hadn't tried to commit suicide, he simply thought it was a good idea at that time. Which was. After a good time under water he came to the surface with a reason to live, although it hadn't been such a good reason. Sasuke at that time decided to live to avenge his clan, it wasn't a coincidence he was the best demon slayer of his village.

He still hated demons, a lot. But he didn't hate Naruto, and he really didn't dislike Tsunade either. Even if the male demon had tried to kill him, he couldn't blame him. He's uncle had controlled him. The Kyuubi was afraid of him, it was a compliment, not that he ever doubt it.

But was hate a valid reason to live? He had thought so until now, but now it simply wasn't enough.

My brother is alive! I can always search for him.

Sasuke stood up to his feet.

He remembered what Danzo had said about Itachi being a father. It wasn't an uncomfortable thought. He loved his brother pretty much, and the thought of himself as an uncle pleased him a lot. The idea of having a family again made him feel overwhelmed. Then again he didn't know if he could deal with the fact that his brother had killed their clan. He probably never did have a choice. And what the heck! If he had nephews or nieces he wanted to know them! At his age he would be like an older brother to them, no more 'foolish otouto' for him! At least he hoped so.

Sasuke's mind swam in probably scenarios. A faint but genuine smile ran across his features. Now all he needed to know was where he was. For that he would need to go to the village. However he didn't know how things were going, he would have to go unnoticed. Which, would be hard since he felt like he would faint any minute now. He needed to rest, he had to find Sakura. But again, he was too weak, and the mountain was dangerous, demons on the side. This left him only one possibility.

The black eyed boy looked to the clear path where he came from. Reluctantly, and shakily he started to walk. It was his best chance.

On his way he had to stop more than a couple of times whenever he felt his head dizzy and the path got blurry and dark to his eyes. When it wasn't his head it was his stomach. How many days had it been since he had eaten? He never did eat after that lunch when the announcement was made, too concerned about Sakura. Of course he would deny this if he was asked, mainly because the green eyed girl would either scold him or hug him. Neither was acceptable, his pride was already suffering enough.

The sun was becoming red in the colorful sky, making the black haired teen feel frustrated. He couldn't be lost! He was an Uchiha! Ok, he was more dead than alive, and he was about to pass out, but that didn't mean he couldn't find his way to that god forsaken castle!

"Damn it.", he muttered to himself.

His pride would take a long time to heal after this.

"Hello, there little one."

Sasuke turned slowly, only now sensing the bear demon beside him.

Scratch the 'his pride would heal' he was pretty much sure that his pride would never get over the fact that he was weak enough for a demon to sneak up on him. The said demon was ogling him, looking a bit to much hungry.

"He looks as delicious as he smells."

The black teen would be in rage if he only was able to focus in anything besides standing without wobbling. Another demon had just sneaked up on him.

The boar demon licked his lips.

The black eyed teen knew he was going to die, worst than that was the fact that he was about to become a meal.

Half the demons that came looking for the Kyubi's power were like this. They would come from a far distant land, earning for more power but they would turn out starving beasts because they were smart enough not to raise attentions. When they finally get to the mountain they weren't able to find the Kyuubi so they wondered living quietly to not attract the hunters. These couple of demons probably had lived basing their diet on animals, so they would get out of their radar. However for demons, animals wouldn't be enough after a time.

Humans like him had high spiritual power. All the people from his village had, it was what allowed them to use nature elements and spells of all kinds. And Sasuke being the most powerful had a really big amount of spiritual power. On another hand, he was weak so his spiritual power was as equally low. He couldn't find the reason why they located him in the first place. Heck, he didn't know how he was able to stand much more thinking clearly enough to figure how the demons had tracked him out.

Scratch that, he knew it was adrenaline, his body was starting to awake under the eminent danger. His heart was pumping the blood in his veins, rushing to his legs.

When the bear demon came close and sniff him, the epiphany came.

His scent!

Now he clearly remembered. Demons relied on their noses most of the time, so they wouldn't use their power. They should have smelled him while hunting, but if they were trying to avoid demons hunters they should have run. They couldn't have possibly had felt his low spiritual energy because that would require them to use their power which would let him to feel their presence.

Somehow they felt compelled to find him, risking their lives.

Why?

Forget the why. His brain had started to tell him that the distance between him and the demons was too short for his liking. His chances were not good. He didn't have his sword, or kunai, or shurikens. Against two demons he couldn't keep his hopes high, even if what was left of his pride told him that being an Uchiha was more than enough to stand up and beat the hell out of them.

God, from all the stupid sins he could have, why did he had the one that would cause him certain death?

He shouldn't have left Naruto. He wished he was still lying in bed, with the blonde demon right on his side, stroking his hair.

The raven's body had frozen, face hiding by his long bangs. The two demons closed up on him. When they were about to reach him, he had vanished in thin air.

Sasuke was too busy trying to fight his pride with logic than paying attention to were he was running. With a last effort he had called a fire substitute: a decoy, with the rest of his already dangerously low spiritual energy.

Running for his life was more troublesome than he previously thought. Everything in his body hurt. He felt his chest and legs on fire, he could hardly breathe. However what was really killing him was not his pain, it was his pride! He was running for his life like a helpless little kid, and his pride was taking it too hard. He could guess the look on everybody's face in the village if they knew he was acting like a coward.

God, he was fighting himself not to turn around and face those demons. He really didn't want to run. He wanted to fight until the end. He wanted to die with dignity!

Scratch that. His pride wanted him to die with dignity. His rational side told him to live. He had a reason to live now, a good one nonetheless. He was going to find his brother.

Fate however loved to take his plans down.

Sasuke collapsed on the floor. His body had reached its limits. Panting, the black eyed boy tried to get back on his feet with no success. His vision started to blur again. Desperation hit him when he felt the two demons approaching fast. He could hear the rustling made by the bushes being rudely parted aside. Once again he tried to move.

His body didn't even budge.

When he heard them preparing to charge at him, he braced himself for any incoming pain. He hoped his death to be has painless has possibly.

Slowly, the world went black.

To say Naruto was pissed off was an understatement. He was beyond angry, when he realized the Uchiha had left him. He felt like a dagger had been stabbed at his chest from behind. It hurt like hell and got him angry at the thought of being betrayed.

And he knew he was at blame.

Naruto was not judgmental it was not his nature to judge living beings such as demons and humans in the base of their actions. He knew there was always a deep reason beyond the actions. Personalities were formed with the environment, education and genetics. He knew that better than anyone, and yet he had confused a name with a person. How could have he stepped so low? He knew he was deeply attracted to the human boy, was that why he felt so betrayed to find out he was an Uchiha? He didn't mean to hurt him. It was killing him, even more than it should. It was not a normal guilt. He felt that what he did was worse than trying to murder him.

He left his castle running on his small fox form, directly to the village. It was most likely that the human had return to his home. Being a little fox had lost of advantages. Besides the fact that the humans couldn't sense him, his small stature allowed him to be discrete and enable him to fit in the tiniest places ever.

Arriving to the village Naruto hide in the shadows, sniffing the air to find the human's scent. It would be easy, even if the scent was barely there. The Uchiha heir had an incredibly distinct scent. He would be able to find him wherever he was. He had to admit that Uchi… Sasuke had a great scent, a mixture of a lot of other smells each one so different than the other: like vanilla and spice; the first snow of the year and a really strong flowery scent...

Speaking of the devil, he had just found it.

The trail was old, too old, which meant that the human wasn't in the village. However he felt compelled to follow it. The demon could find some information about the human, other then the fact that he gives food to starving cute little animals, and the fact that he was attractive, had great smell, was awfully cute when someone licked and sucked his neck…

He should probably stop there before he crawled in the next hole in deep shame and guilt. Tsunade was right; he was acting like an obsessed jealous stupid human. He needed to find Sasuke quickly so he could crawl to him and beg for forgiveness. After that he could get back to the snuggling and licking.

The scent lead him to the center of the village, where the houses almost look the same as the previously on the outside. He entered one that looked particularly old. That was strange. The Uchihas were known to live in the frontier of the village in a big and impressive compound in a private area. Why would Sasuke's scent be here?

In the inside the house looked better, still old but amazingly clean. It was also small and without a doubt, Sasuke's home. It consisted in a medium size room, a little kitchen, and a bathroom, the backyard was bigger than the house itself. The fox demon sniffed the room where a small dark wooden table was set in the middle of it. The scent of Sasuke was definitely stronger there.

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes.

An Uchiha actually lived here, in a modest plain small house. It was clean and livable but… so empty.

The fox took a better look at the empty room, taking small steps. There was a closet in one of the walls of the room. He opened the door with his nose, finding sheets and blankets perfectly folded. The human's smell was impregnated in those. Naruto took those with the help of his sharp teeth, laying them in the floor and spreading them. The fox curled on top of the mess of sheets lost in the strong desirable scent.

The human lived alone, there was no other scent beside his. It was lonely. The entire house screamed it. Nobody deserved this. This feeling that fed an empty hole with more emptiness. No wonder the human didn't dislike him being beside him, how long had it been since he was like that, living alone.

Naruto had also been lonely. He knew the feeling. Being sealed for twenty years had almost driven him crazy. And when he was finally released, Uchiha Madara had transformed him into an obedient pet and made him destroy the village, killing innocent people. Since sixteen years ago he had to deal with his guilt, and three elders that did nothing but lie. He had hated the name Uchiha since then. What that man had done to him, using his blood trait to control him against his will, it infuriated him, and it scared him the fact that a little flickering of red eyes could overpower him.

But Sasuke was not that evil sick man. He was a lonely kid, for some reason he didn't know. He should know. All the times he came to the village he should have looked for information about the Uchihas. To know if they were planning anything that involved him, to even know if they were alive! However he only came to the village on the announcement days, to know what the elders were offering him.

It had shocked him the fact that they choose a girl to be a sacrifice, and he planned on rejecting it. He had been mad and he decided the next time the elders showed up to him he would clearly show his anger and spite. Naruto didn't even plan on showing up at the small shrine where he knew the offering would be, although as soon as he sensed one of the elders he changed his course. He never expected to find a dead elder and a near dead Uchiha.

The demon's stomach clenched. He had a bad feeling. There was a good chance Sasuke never did get out of the mountain and turned out lost in his way. The golden fox was fast to jump on its fours and dash out of the village.

He looked for hours. His heart felt tighter in his chest every minute it passed. It was hard to find his trail, when his spiritual aura was so low. Tsunade would kill him. On second thought if the Uchiha was dead he would kill himself. He wouldn't be able to stand another death on his conscious.

Suddenly he felt it: Sasuke's spiritual aura… and two demonic auras

Running he turned an hundred and eighty degrees, changing his little fox form for a larger one. By the time he got to where Sasuke had fallen he was a golden fox with the size of a bear and eight tales fluttering in anger. The two demons in front of him never had a chance.

Before you think anything... the reason why I took so long was because my little brother took over the computer. He found an online game and he spents most of the day playing it. And when it's not my brother it's my mom. She's forcing me to go to the beach! I hate it, because my skin is sensitive and too white for the matter, I caught a sunburn on my foot! My foot! And the rest of my body is itchy. And seriously I could blind someone with the whiteness of my legs. I hope you're having a better vacation than me, don't forget to review and I do not own Naruto. I'll try to update soon, but my brother is comming tomorrow and is staying until sunday. Wish me luck. Oh! And there will be lots of fluff and kinky stuff in the next chapter that's a promise.