Chapter 7: Demons
Sasuke leaped nimbly from rooftop to rooftop, a strangely nostalgic sensation washing over him as he traced a familiar path over the buildings of Konoha. Even if he was now the leader of another village, that didn't erase the countless hours he'd spent up here, soaring above the city streets, practicing stealth with Naruto and Sakura by spying on Kakashi. His destination made him more uneasy than anything. Usagi's simply answer of "training" to his question about where her parent's were had left him with a slight suspicion that he was being set up, and her sly, mischievous smile as she told him where exactly they were "training" left him with no doubt that something was weird about this. Still, he didn't really have a choice. This could not be put off.
True, there had been things he had wanted to do before night fell, but now that the daylight was gone he had to get on with what really needed doing, and for that he would need Naruto and Gaara's help.
Sasuke put his foot on the wall surrounding the village and pushed off into the forest, ignoring the rather obvious way the chuunin on guard duty determinedly ignored him. True, as an outsider he was not technically supposed to be allowed to come and go as he pleased, but it wasn't as though anyone from this village, much less a scared chuunin, was going to oppose him considering not only was he a native but also an extremely powerful Kage.
As he sped through the woods toward the waterfall, unhindered by the Kage robes he had left behind in his guest quarters, he let his mind wander back to the Hokage Tower, and what Usagi had told him. It was strange really, her seemingly unexplained hatred of Neji. He knew, of course, that all her rantings about him leeching off her family were utter nonsense, you simply did not go through the things Neji had been through with Naruto and Hinata and come out able to be dishonest to one anther. But if it wasn't a child's instincts then what was it that had her so spooked of the man?
He thought back to a conversation with Naruto from almost a year ago. When Usagi had been a small child, well, a smaller child, she had been stricken with terrible night terrors. A few times a month she would wake screaming and crying, completely hysterical. The only thing that seemed to calm Usagi down on these nights was Naruto, being held in her father's arms while he stroked her hair soothingly. However, every once and a while Usagi would wake to find that her father was away, and then nothing besides the passing of the hours till dawn could bring her down from her state of terror. Hinata had called everyone she knew to try and help her daughter, but the child seemed to want nothing and no one besides her father. Finally, at her wit's end, she had called her cousin. Neji had come immediately to sit by Usagi's bedside to try and calm her. Hinata had watched as, sitting by her bed, Neji had begun to stroke Usagi's skin gently, brushing over her chakra points to gain control of her chakra network, attempting to use its power to sooth her adrenaline loaded body. The moment Neji's hand had touched her skin however, Usagi had let out a howl that would have made Akamaru wince. Wild eyed, she had screamed hysterically for her mother to get him away from her, that he was hurting her, that he was killing her. Pulling Neji from the bedside, Hinata had held her daughter until morning and her husband's return.
Sasuke arrived at the waterfall just as the moon reached its highest point in the sky. The night is half gone, Sasuke thought to himself, we have to hurry. He touched down a few yards from where Naruto sat by the pool at the waterfall's base, a few large boulders blocking his view. Stepping around them, he suddenly found them to be a tremendous blessing. Naruto, as he had previously gathered, was reclining on the bank, his long coat acting almost like a blanket as he leaned back on his elbows, looking out over the water. What he was looking at made Sasuke look tactfully down at his feet. Hinata, standing on the water's surface, was going through the motions of a rather complicated looking technique. However, she seemed to be doing it quite naked.
The moment she saw him Hinata let out a small yelp and, losing all concentration in the face of her embarrassment, sink through the surface of the water with a loud splash. When Hinata finally crawled out of the water, Naruto's coat immediately fell onto her naked form, and she was able to stand up to see her husband on his feet, looking lazily at Sasuke, who was still looking at the ground.
"What's the matter Sasuke?" he asked gruffly, "You look like you just saw something you weren't supposed to."
"Not at all," Sasuke replied, forcing himself to meet his friend's eyes, "what could I have seen?"
Naruto nodded in response as Sasuke stepped forward, holding out a scroll to Naruto while Hinata wrapped the coat tighter around herself, the darkness thankfully hiding the deep blush that stained her cheeks.
Naruto too the scroll from Sasuke and unrolled it. His eyes flicked over the paper. His face turned grave. At last he looked up at his friend.
"You're sure?"
Sasuke nodded. Naruto's eyes shifted a moment, focusing on nothing but speaking volumes about what was going on behind them. At last Naruto nodded in response, and Sasuke turned on his heel and headed off back towards the village.
Naruto turned to Hinata with a strange, almost sad smile. "Hinata-chan," he began softly, forcing himself to meet his beautiful wife's questioning eyes. This woman had been there for him from day one until the end. She had stood by him when he had needed her, given all the help she could, seen him when he'd been invisible. Instead of answering the silent question, he pressed his mouth tenderly onto hers and poured all the love he felt for her into one last deep kiss.
Hinata felt him press the scroll into her hands as he broke the kiss. "Get dressed," he whispered in her ear, "then find Gaara and give this to him."
Hinata nodded, and with that Naruto left.
-Later-
Gaara was reclining on the wall surrounding the Hidden Leaf Village. He and his companion gazed out into the darkness of the forest, not speaking but merely watching, as though waiting for something. The chuunin guards had all cleared out when they'd seen the Kazekage coming, and now it was only the two of them on the wall.
Without turning to the child sitting beside him, legs swung out over the wall and pale eyes looking straight ahead, Gaara spoke.
"Things been quiet since I left?"
Mizu nodded.
"Your parents alright?"
Another nod.
"Temari?"
Nod.
Gaara stared out into the shadows of the forest for another moment before he spoke again.
"Your sister been alright?"
At this Mizu paused, then frowned slightly. He seemed like he was almost confused, not by the question, but more by the answer. At last he nodded slowly.
Gaara took another few moments to look out over the forest.
"You should try to be closer to her," he told the child, "she is your sister, after all. Siblings should be friends."
More silence. Then . . .
"Where's Kazuo-san?" Mizu asked quietly. Mizu hardly ever spoke, in fact Gaara was one of the only three people who had ever heard him speak. The other two were Usagi, on a rare occasion, and Kazuo. Kazuo was one of the closest friends of the Kazekage, and as such he and Mizu were also very close.
Gaara paused a moment. "Injured," he said at last. He didn't tell Mizu that Kazuo had been injured after disappearing for three days, and had turned up outside the village gate looking like he'd been eaten and then spat up. Mizu was only a child, after all, and he needn't concern himself with the recent events that had lead to Kazuo's injuries.
"Gaara-san," came a high, quiet voice from behind them. Gaara turned his head slightly, and Mizu leaped to his feet when he heard his mother's voice.
Hinata stood on the nearest rooftop, her long hair a little wet and a scroll in her hand. "I'll trade you," she smiled shyly in the dark, "a message from my husband, for my son."
A small stream of sand coiled around the scroll and carried it into Gaara's outstretched hand. He opened it and examined its contents carefully, his face as expressionless as ever. Mizu looked up at him expectantly, and after a moment Gaara looked up at the child and nodded before turning his attention back to the scroll.
Mizu stood up and jumped the two or three feet to the rooftop where his mother stood, and a moment later the two of them vanished, leaving the Kazekage alone on the wall.
-Later: Some Time Between Midnight and Dawn-
All three of them could easily see past the genjutsu. It wasn't hard really, all that hid the door were shadows. They flew apart as the Kages approached, revealing the crumbling columns and cracked stone that made up what was left of the entranceway to an old temple. The temple itself was underground, and all three of them hurried down the uneven stairs into the pit of shadows.
No one asked how they knew their way, but despite the fact that none of them had been here before the route was undisputed as they wove their way through the maze of stone hallways, strange markings peering down at them from the walls and the only light the glow from the rasengan Naruto held in his hand, ready for an attack. Some invisible force seemed to draw them onward, as though pulling them towards something. As they drew closer to their destination however, their way was marked by something far more obvious. The stench of blood.
They rounded the last corner and saw the light at the end of the long corridor. They could not afford to hesitate as they moved forward, weapons at the ready.
They saw her as soon as they entered. The cavernous room must have stretched up all the way to the surface. In the exact center, on an alter surrounded by an intricate network of carvings etched into th floor, was a girl no more than sixteen years of age. Her short brown hair was spread out around her head, and the kimono that she wore was draped delicately across the alter. Her eyes appeared to have been gouged out. Some of the stitches on her lips had come undone and the rest were surrounded by blood, suggesting she had been alive when her mouth had beens sewn shut. Every one of her major arteries had been opened, and alter, kimono and surrounding area were all drenched in he blood.
To someone watching from the shadows it did not seem as though a battle started. It seemed as though the three men standing just inside the doorway had simply vanished. But every few seconds two of the forces moving at lightning speed throughout the room would collide with each other, causing the two to slow down a moment so that they could be seen, steel against iron, sand against shadow, pure chakra against pure darkness.
And then Naruto fell out of the air.
Sasuke and Gaara were instantly at his side. The army of unearthly warriors paused, shrouded in shadows, awaiting their opponents' next move, watching them, taunting them. Naruto lay immobile on the floor, Sasuke kneeling beside him, Gaara standing defensively in front of the two of them. Sasuke put his fingers to Naruto's throat and felt for a pulse. Then he froze, unable to move or speak as terror gripped him, a look of shocked disbelief clouding his face. He turned to his remaining companion.
"He's dead."
