Posted: October 17, 2006
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Warnings: Shounen ai, spoilers for anyone not keeping up with the manga, & AUish. Anything involving Akatsuki and bijuus after the timeskip is completely irrelevant to this story, and as such, never happened. Actually, this applies to everything after the timeskip except the part where Naruto, Sakura, and Sai meet up with Sasuke.
General: Takes place after chapter 308 for those of you thatare keeping up with the manga.
Thank yous: goheh-remix, vogueanthem, and Nox (betas) as well as everyone who has reviewed SF. Much love!
Summary: The invisibility started with one silly wish upon a star. Good thing Sasuke's doormat personality, Sai's attempts at matchmaking, and a mission gone wrong were all quite normal in the life of Naruto Uzumaki... Wait. What? SasuNaru
Previously:
"The soft hum of something whirring through the air was the only the warning Naruto had before he heard Sakura's sudden - choked - scream. He turned quickly to where she was, only to see her body disappearing to the ground below. A sickening thump echoed in the silence and Naruto barely had a second to process the streaks and spatters of blood where she had just been--
Then he was dodging to the left, inches from being struck by a kunai, and meeting Sasuke's furious gaze with a look of shock.
'Please… not Sakura…'"
Surface Flaws
Chapter VII
"Go
and hide and run away
Run away, run and find something better
Go
and ride the sun away
Run away like it's simple
Like it's
right...
Give
me a day, Jamie
Bring back the lies
Hang them back on the
wall
Maybe I'd see
How you could be
So certain that we
Had
no chance at all"
- Still Hurting (The Last Five Years)
Both Naruto and Sasuke dropped to the ground moments later, unable to miss Sakura's crumpled form lying small and fragile before them. Naruto gasped as he landed beside her; she was unconscious - most likely from the fall - and bleeding profusely from a wound to the side. Her lips were parted slightly as she struggled for air - gasping and clawing to breathe.
Both boys stood deathly still, staring at her and tried to think of what to do. Though neither would admit it, both Sasuke and Naruto were drowning in the irony that their medic had been the one injured. Without her advice, both were completely at a loss as to how they should handle the situation.
"Naruto, try to wake her up. I'll take care of these guys, there aren't that many." Sasuke's voice was loud and rough - like gravel - in the silence, and Naruto found that he could do nothing but nod as he collapsed to his knees in the sticky puddle of blood beside Sakura. She looked so pale and he didn't want to touch her for fear he would break her; but he had to. Eventually, a trembling hand reached out to shake her shoulder gently.
He had no idea what he was doing.
"Sakura?" His voice sounded so fucking weak; he wanted to curse himself for the way it caught in his throat and came out choked. She was so pale and there was so much blood. He put a hand to her forehead and smoothed her crinkled brow. "Wake up," he croaked urgently.
Naruto felt a shudder rush through his body and strained to turn and look at Sasuke, trying to find some comfort in his presence. The boy was standing, tense and alert, with a scowl on his face. Catching Naruto's gaze, he snapped, "Try to stop the blood flow and get her conscious."
The blonde winced at the harsh tone of his teammate's voice and pulled his bag from his back. He could feel the warmth of her blood soaking through his pants and drying in a startling red mess on his knees - it sickened him. Her clothing was ensanguined and Naruto wanted to kill whoever had done this to Sakura, but he needed to make her better first. So he reached inside his bag, groping around hurriedly until he found his water flask and bandages.
"I'm gonna wash your cut out; it's probably gonna hurt like a bitch," Naruto told Sakura's limp form as he unscrewed the cap. There was a grunt to his left and the boy looked up from ripping off his sleeve to see a man in all black fall out from behind a nearby tree.
Naruto soaked the sleeve and muttered a quick, "Fuck," before hastily pressing the compress to Sakura's bleeding side and wiping away the dirt that had sunk into the wound. The girl hissed out a breath and shifted, though she was otherwise unresponsive.
There was the ring of two kunai clashing and Naruto instinctively tensed. He shifted until Sasuke was in his view and saw the boy glaring rigidly at his opponent. Their enemy's eyes were wide with something like fear as he stumbled out of the Uchiha's reach.
"You…" he stammered, falling onto his bum and landing with an inelegant thump.
Sasuke glowered and stalked toward the man. "What?" he demanded, pulling the man to his feet by the collar of his shirt. Naruto raised an eyebrow; there couldn't be just two men… He closed his eyes and focused on the surrounding forest, listening - searching.
There it was, the breathing of another--
"Sasuke, watch out!" Naruto yelled, tensing and preparing to dive into action just as the dark-haired boy ducked, narrowly avoiding a kunai to the head.
Beneath Naruto's hand, Sakura shifted and he had to return his gaze to her, though he continued to watch Sasuke from the corner of his eye, gauging whether or not he was needed. There was a choked scream followed by the deafening thump of a body and Naruto instantly knew he wasn't.
He swallowed and steeled himself as one of the men suddenly spoke in a stifled voice. Hastily raising his gaze and completely taking in the scene, Naruto realized that Sasuke was choking the last of their adversaries.
"Your eyes."
Naruto gently pulled Sakura onto his lap; her head fell into his neck and her shoulders slumped, pulling her down.
"What about my eyes?" Sasuke's voice rang hard and impassive through the air and Naruto cringed, knowing that tone all too well. He awkwardly began to wrap the bandage around Sakura's slim torso - fastening her life. Blood was soaking through at far too quick a pace. He watched Sasuke and the man as he worked - ignored the bodies of their enemies surrounding them - and pulled the binding tight against Sakura's body.
"…" The man released loud and tired breaths as he grappled against Sasuke's grasp on him. Naruto continued to stare a moment, his gaze wary, then turned back to Sakura and tied off the dressing.
"You'll be okay," he whispered to her. She was so pale… Naruto put a hand around her head, pulling her close to his chest. Before them, the man in black let out a strangled cough as Sasuke's grip tightened and flexed around his throat.
"How the fuck would you recognize the Sharingan?" Sasuke commanded quietly, dangerously so, and shook the man abusively. Naruto felt his gaze harden against his initial instinct to stop Sasuke. This man had been involved in Sakura's injury.
"Answer him," Naruto ordered from his spot on the ground, and both Sasuke and the man started, realizing his presence for the first time since they'd begun their fight.
"I'd rather die," the man spit out and glowered rebelliously at Sasuke.
Naruto snorted and tied off Sakura's bandage with deft fingers before gently laying her on the ground and turning an amused expression on the man. "That's not a very hard request to fill," he said slowly - viciously - despite the knot growing in his stomach at the thought of someone dying at his team's hands.
But this man had almost killed Sakura.
Almost.
"There's only one other man with these eyes," Sasuke hissed, his face pressed close to the man's and an ominous glint in the angry red of the Sharingan. "You've been in contact with Itachi…"
And before Naruto could blink and tell Sasuke to stop - fucking don't do it - a kunai was drawn across the man's throat and he was on the ground in a crumpled pile of red and black and red and black and…
Naruto felt sick.
"Why the fuck did you have to kill him?" he demanded venomously. He was trying to breathe but his chest felt so tight and everything just looked so vivid with life - and maybe he was overreacting but…
Yamato's eyes widened as the sword left his body, drawing blood from it like a ribbon. The ballet of death. Red blood everywhere - red like Sasuke's eyes…
Sasuke's eyes narrowed in superior annoyance and he made his way to the blonde's side, where he fell to his knees as well. "He deserved it," he said deprecatingly, placing a hand on Sakura's forehead. "She should be fine."
"Yeah, thanks to me." Naruto scowled at Sasuke and tried to blink away the hatred staining his vision because Sasuke should not have killed that man. A weight settled in his stomach and Naruto swallowed around the lump in his throat; Sasuke did a lot of things that he shouldn't have done…
…like going around kissing people without thinking of the consequences.
Naruto shook his head, trying to return to the present - to the fight they'd just had, which was so much more important than any kiss. He was still sore about the kiss and it was affecting his judgment, he decided, trying to think of anything but it. The flask of water on the ground caught his attention and Naruto tore his gaze from Sasuke rather dramatically and reached out for the bottle.
Warmth.
He stared at the hand covering his and tried to shake the dizzy feeling from his head. "I'm trying to put my stuff away so we can get the hell out of here when Sakura wakes up," Naruto snapped, pulling his hand free of Sasuke's and snatching up the flask. He pulled his bag onto his lap and deposited his flagon, not missing the hollow thump it made when it hit the ground through his bag - just like the hollow feeling he was trying to fill inside.
Fuck.
"She'll be asleep for a while," Sasuke commented in an all too familiar drawl and shifted closer to Naruto. Somehow, he managed to keep his gaze strictly on the pink-haired girl as he suddenly attacked his blonde teammate with the scent of salt and sweat and blood and anger and so many other things that Naruto did not want to be smelling. The blonde tensed and tried to shuffle away, but he couldn't.
He didn't really want to.
"I think you're scared," Sasuke said, moving in closer - too close. He smiled at Naruto, his grin nothing but jagged white teeth and deceivingly delicate pink lips that lacked any sort of flaw.
Naruto snorted, though the noise sounded as it would have if he was still a prepubescent teen, and he blushed. "Scared of you? Don't kid yourself, bastard." The lump in his throat couldn't be swallowed away and Naruto wished that a breeze would pass through them because the proximity was stifling and all he really wanted was to take off his jacket because it was too fucking hot.
"Fine then, I won't."
And Naruto had the strange sensation that he'd been here before. He fell back to the ground with a thump as Sasuke lunged forward, lips latching onto his and pulling and biting and tugging and asking. The blonde shivered and tentatively pushed back, trying to think as his body exploded and nothing but soft blues and pinks and - Sasuke - filled his vision.
His hands grappled with the other boy's shoulders, trying to push him away and pull him closer simultaneously and he felt this unnerving need to be perfect - for Sasuke.
Then the boy on top of him moved to lightly kiss his jaw, before whispering a searing "Naruto" against his ear and-- suddenly it didn't feel so good and Naruto was pushing Sasuke away.
His face was flushed and hot and he felt like he wasn't in his body even though he could feel the hand gripping his stomach and squeezing and shaking and--
"I suppose this one didn't happen either, bastard?" Naruto all but growled, livid; then he heard a shuffle and he glanced over to see nothing but the wide-eyed expression of shock and apprehension on Sakura's face.
Memories of all the times she'd been betrayed and forgotten ran through his mind and settled on one incident with chilling clarity.
"Naruto, don't you dare go over there. I will not lose you too…"
And for some strange reason Sasuke's response instantly meant nothing because Naruto was sure he'd just hurt Sakura worse than any kunai ever could.
-----
Naruto watched with horror as Sasuke's figure flashed towards Yamato and lunged. He tried to scream - to move - but Sakura's arm was around his waist, holding him in place. The blonde tried to break free of her grasp, but she wouldn't let up.
"Naruto," she whispered - broken - "Don't you dare go over there. I willnot lose you too…"
He wanted to keep fighting against her but he couldn't - and her words weren't what stopped him, though he liked to believe they were.
Sasuke was drawing his sword from the ANBU's stomach. Yamato's eyes widened as the sword left his body - drawing blood from it like a ribbon. The ballet of death. Red blood everywhere - red like Sasuke's eyes.
Naruto snarled and felt his chakra lash out, burning Sakura. The girl yelped and nearly released her grasp on his waist but something held her in place.
"He's gone," she murmured into his ear, her voice soft and soothing and torn and so quiet as Naruto watched Yamato's body fall to the ground with a deadened thump. A small cloud of dust rose around his corpse and his head lolled to the side, his wide-eyed expression staring Naruto in the face, somehow more alive than anything he'd ever seen.
"No," he choked out and ripped Sakura's arms from him. "No, no, no. Captain, get up. We need to bring back Sasuke-teme - get up." He rushed forward, seeing only Yamato and was about to bend to shake the man awake - alive - when he caught sight of Sasuke from the corner of his eye.
Naruto stopped and tried to quell the urge to kill Sasuke because he'd come here to save him. He would be damned if he didn't do this.
It took all the effort in the world for him to draw in just one breath and open his mouth to demand, "You're coming back with us. To Konoha."
Sasuke snorted at Naruto's tone and crossed his arms over his chest with a smug expression. "What's waiting for me in Konoha, Naruto? Everything I cared for there is dead," Sasuke challenged in a droll tone. His gaze had wandered to Yamato, becoming distant, and his jaw was clenched tightly. Naruto bristled and shook his head, determined to convince Sasuke to return. The other boy glanced up at the movement and raised an inquiring eyebrow.
"We're not dead, Sasuke. Sakura and I are there - here - and we're not going anywhere," he insisted and walked towards his wayward comrade until they were a hair width apart, breathing hot and harsh against each other's faces - daring the other to step back. Naruto knew that if Sasuke really wanted to kill him, this would be the moment, but somehow he put faith in the fact that the boy had left him alive once and would do so again.
Suddenly Sasuke's eyes lifted to a point over Naruto's shoulder, and the blonde turned slightly as well to see Sakura's face, her eyes wide with shock and apprehension. She was watching him closely - actuallywatching - and he forced a strained smile. It was going to be okay. He was going to bring Sasuke back.
"I need to kill Itachi…" Sasuke suddenly said, and he sounded almost tentative, like he was making excuses and Naruto found himself 'tching' at the attempt.
He shrugged his shoulders, face amused despite the severity of their situation, and remarked, "Itachi's after Kyuubi. Your best chance of ever seeing him would be when you're with me."
And Sasuke's eyes flickered for barely a second with… fear… and he stepped forward urgently, though the insistence was very well contained, and to stare Naruto in the eye. "You had better make coming back worth it."
-----
Naruto stared at Sakura's face and then looked back to Sasuke, his expression simply oozing bitterness, despite the sudden panic fluttering wildly within his stomach like a flock of startled birds. 'Here's your worth it, bastard,' he thought sourly.
Then Sakura shifted and Naruto was leaning towards her with wide concerned eyes and asking in a pressing voice, "Sakura, are you okay?" She nodded. "I mean do you think you can maybe move because I can carry you and redress your wound..."
"Naru--"
"…you don't think it's good enough. I mean I kind of did it in a hurry because we were…"
"Naruto…"
"…attack. You bled a lot too, so I don't think you should be moving. Besides, you wouldn't want to reopen…"
"Naruto, I'm fine," Sakura interrupted in a loud, stern voice and forced herself into a sitting position, wincing; her hand instantly grasped her side with delicate intent. There was the sound of labored panting as she fought down the pain and adjusted to the new position. Naruto tried not to look at Sasuke - tried not to even think about Sasuke because - fuck - Sakura knew.
Naruto paled.
Sakura… knew.
The pink-haired kunoichi finally composed herself with a heavy sigh and dared a confused glance at Naruto, then Sasuke. Her mouth opened and she drew in a breath - she was screaming in the silence with the need to speak - and then clamped it shut.
Her eyes clenched closed and Naruto wanted so badly to know what was going through her mind because he'd betrayed her. He'd kissed Sasuke and liked it. But she was supposed to kiss Sasuke - had been since forever - and Naruto just knew that he'd broken her heart even if she wasn't showing the hurt - even if she'd said once upon a time that she no longer loved him.
"Are you…" her voice was like a knife through the tension in the air and her eyes slowly opened, staring fixatedly upon the ground, "together?"
Naruto's head whipped to look at Sasuke and he felt anxiety bubble in his stomach - felt the rejection warm and acidic in his throat - and shook his head stubbornly. "Hell no!" he exclaimed - convinced himself.
They weren't together because the kiss had never happened.
Naruto glanced at Sasuke from the corner of his eye and saw the brunette's furious expression, and wanted so badly to hiss, "We aren't together because you're a fucking bastard."
But he kept his mouth shut so tight it hurt and turned back to Sakura who was watching them intensely and without reserve.
"All right then," she said slowly - suspiciously - and cautiously rose to her feet, her face clenching with the effort to keep from crying out in pain. "We should find herbs for my wounds."
Naruto jumped up and hooked his arm through hers. "Sasuke and I will do that but first we should set up camp here for the night," he suggested and pleaded with his eyes for her to sit back down. A huff of exasperation passed her lips but she acquiesced and gingerly lowered her body to the ground with Naruto's help.
"Fine."
And she didn't sound angry with him, and Naruto had no idea what to think or do because Sasuke was supposed to be hers. So he settled with beginning to pick through his bag, trying to figure out why she hadn't killed him for his betrayal yet and blocked out the world because… sometimes it was just too confusing.
-----
Pain - ripping, searing, clawing, biting, tearing, spitting, burning - pain. Blinding, raging pain so powerful it paralyzed.
"You don't get it."
Numbing pain - wet and hot and salty and frustrated beyond fucking belief because how could you not get something when no one told you what you don't get?
"What don't I get?" A wretched scream, ripping, searing, clawing, biting, tearing, spitting, burning - pain.
"It was always worth it…"
And blackness like hate engulfed everything - dragging him under - through the lullabies of dreams never had and into something so much worse.
Naruto sat up with a gasp, his hands clamped to his stomach, clinging to the sweat-soaked fabric of his shirt. He inhaled deeply but the ripping pain in his belly continued to knock the breath from him and he slowly moved to his knees, then his feet, all the while fighting for air.
It felt like it took one-hundred years to do so, but Naruto finally made it to a standing position and stumbled from the tent, not daring to look back at Sasuke's sleeping form. He grappled the ground with his feet, fumbling to find his way in the impenetrable darkness and finally managed to find a tree, which he leaned against gingerly.
He didn't quite know how he had managed to get to the tree but he didn't quite care, because suddenly he was wrapping his arms around its cool trunk and leaning to the side and puking; the gags shook his body and he felt sweat fall from his face - wet and hot and salty.
Finally, he leaned back and slid down the tree, careful to be on the side opposite his puke, and let his head fall back in exhaustion because he couldn't go back to the tent when he knew he was going to be invisible in a matter of moments.
Naruto wearily lifted up his shirt despite the darkness and stared down at the glowing red design of the seal marring his stomach and felt sick all over again because it looked so weak and he was getting dizzy and the seal was shifting around and the world was shifting and--
--blackness like hate engulfed everything - dragging him under - through the lullabies of dreams - never - had into something so much worse.
AN: eheheh ; Sorry for the long wait team!!! I love you guys to pieces. The first scene however would not write itself, and to be totally honest I'm still not satisfied with it. But I decided that I had to post so I hope you all managed to wade your way through that one horrid scene and come through to the end. Thanks for reading ♥
-TJ
