So, here's what I'm going to do. If/when I hit 70 reviews, I will take requests from all those who have given me feedback on this story for short one-shots. If we reach that point, I'll give more info. Please see the last chapter for the rules. Please don't leave a review on this story asking questions about this game (messages are fine, though).
This isn't simply a bribe (at least, that's what I'm telling myself). But if I reach that point, then I will feel obligated to show my thanks for those people who have helped me along the way. Also, I think that this would be a great exercise for me to develop my range as a writer.
Thank you to everyone who has given me feedback thus far. Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!
Chapter Five: The Beginnings of a Promise
With the terror of the possibility of running into Sasuke out of the way, Naruto felt as if a weight had lifted from his chest. And as he promised, he was trying to be happy in his new home. He was also trying to befriend Sasuke. So, Naruto had developed a new routine, one that led him to be slightly nocturnal. He slept most of the day, but in the late afternoon he would go exploring the house. After a week, most of his map had been filled in. Once the sun had set, he would eat dinner and then spend some time with his new friends. After that, he would go and visit Sasuke.
The first couple of days were tense. Most of the time, Sasuke would be working and Naruto would read some books. Occasionally, Sasuke would ask him what he did that day. Naruto had no illusions that Sasuke didn't already know his every movement, but he would tell Sasuke everything anyway. After a while, Naruto started telling Sasuke his opinions on the different rooms, decorations, and people who lived in the house. His commentary seemed to amuse Sasuke, who often supplemented their discussions with his own thoughts. The friendship formed was tentative, but it was there and it was a start.
Naruto never ceased to be surprised by Sasuke. Naruto knew he was strong. One had to be in order to survive what he had. But he was also incredibly gentle, in his own way. Naruto was beginning to enjoy and look forward to his time with Sasuke. He only hoped that he wouldn't disappoint him.
It was only about an hour before sunset, and Naruto was exploring the far corner of the house. He was about to head back to the kitchen when he came across a rather thick, imposing door. Curious, he decided to go inside. To his surprise, the door was an entry way to a stone stair case. It seemed unfinished, rough, in comparison to the rest of the lavishly decorated house. The apprehensive feeling that had been fading to the background in the past week was starting to rear its head again.
'Well, I promised I would try.' He would explore this last section before heading back. Swallowing hard, Naruto started his decent.
The stairs seemed to go on forever. Naruto was about to turn back when the stairs finally leveled out and he was faced with another thick door. He had a really bad feeling about what was behind this door. He scowled at how idiotic he was acting. 'If I'm going to be living with vampires, I'm going to have to grow a spine.' With that thought, he pushed open the door to reveal…
…more stairs. Naruto sighed. It was incredibly dark now. He felt along the walls as he took the stairs down, feeling for a light switch. The stairs finally leveled out and Naruto stayed close to the wall. He smelled the cold scent of stone and copper. Perhaps he was in a basement. Finally, his hand brushed against a switch. He was not expecting what he saw when he flipped it.
It was a torture chamber, right out of the middle ages. Tables with straps, rusted knives, and heaps of chains littered the room. One wall looked like it was used simply to chain up victims to the wall. The room was full with devices that he was positive he didn't want to know how they were used and what looked to be an Iron Maiden. And to his horror, the spikes on the inside were caked in dried blood.
Naruto knew that he was frozen. He also knew that he was starting to hyperventilate, if the lightheaded feeling was any indication. Beyond that, Naruto's mind was blank. Somewhere above him, there was a creak. It was all that was needed to send Naruto running.
By the time he reached the top of the stairs, he was breathing heavily. He couldn't run anymore, but he knew he had to keep moving. It wasn't long before he ran into a familiar face.
"Naruto? Dude, you look awful."
'Thank you, Kiba, for that wonderful observation,' Naruto thought. He wanted to say it out loud, but he didn't have the strength to force the words out.
"Are you all right? Where are you going?"
'No. I don't know.' Naruto kept moving. Every once in a while, his shaking legs would stumble, but Kiba was there with a firm grip on his elbow. He didn't ask where he was going again, but just helped Naruto to get there.
Finally, finally, Naruto made it to Sasuke's study. He looked for Sasuke as soon as he opened the door. He could have sworn that he was at his desk, but the next time Naruto blinked, Sasuke was in front of him.
"Naruto, what happened?"
All Naruto could do was shake his head and reach out a trembling hand to Sasuke. Concerned and confused, Sasuke took it and pulled Naruto close to him before shooting a glare over Naruto's shoulder to Kiba.
"What happened to him?" The question was followed by a low growl. Kiba immediately backed up, hands held in front of him.
"I don't know. I found him like that. He was coming from the East wing. No one was over there so I don't have a clue."
Sasuke stared hard at Kiba before nodding his head once. "Go and get a glass of water." Naruto wanted to make a jibe at Sasuke about his lack of social skills, but he was still focusing on keeping the room upright. For a moment, Naruto thought Kiba would argue with Sasuke, but he was gone in the next second.
With a strong arm still wrapped around his shoulders, Sasuke guided Naruto over to a chair. Once Naruto was firmly sitting, Sasuke crouched down in front of him and looked up into his face.
"You are very pale. And you are still shaking." Naruto meant to ask him if there was a question in that observation, but it came out as a whimper. Sasuke raked his eyes over Naruto, looking for any sign of injuries, before he rested a cool hand gently on Naruto's forehead. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed into Sasuke's hand.
It was amazing to him. A week ago, if anything had scared him he would have blamed Sasuke run away from him. Now, he ran to Sasuke.
"Anything I can help with?" There was another voice from the doorway. Kakashi, if Naruto had to guess. It was confirmed by Sasuke saying the man's name. And Naruto would bet that Iruka wasn't far behind. The small gasp from the doorway confirmed Naruto's suspicion.
"Sasuke! What happened to Naruto?" Naruto cracked open an eye to look at Iruka. Kakashi was leaning, as if nothing was wrong (as if there wasn't a blood encrusted torture chamber beneath his feet) against the door frame. He had a firm grip on Iruka's arm, keeping him from going to Naruto's side. Sasuke's growl of frustration brought Naruto's attention back to the man in front of him.
"I do not know." He seemed to want to say something else, but Kiba was back with the glass of water. He gave it to Sasuke, who handed it to Naruto. Naruto tried to take a sip of water, but both of his hands were shaking too badly and he required Sasuke's steady hands over his to get the glass to his mouth.
Kiba was shifting from foot to foot. Finally he said, "I'll go see if anyone knows anything," before dashing out the door again.
Naruto sucked in a breath and held it, focusing on Sasuke's face and reminding himself about growing a spine. He forced a wide smile on his face. "Were you aware that your house has a torture chamber?"
Sasuke remained a statue for a couple more seconds before his face melted in relief. "Ah. I had forgotten about that."
"You forgot?" Naruto cried out in disbelief. "How could you forget about it?" The sight of that room would haunt him the rest of his life.
A crooked grin twitched itself to life on Sasuke's face. "If it makes you feel better, I inherited it from this house's previous owner. No one has used it since then. If it would make you feel better, I can have it cleared out." Naruto thought about it, but he shook his head.
"No, I don't want to be a bother. And it doesn't seem to bother anyone else." Sasuke grinned at him before standing and turning to Kakashi. If Naruto hadn't been watching him, he might have missed it. Sasuke was speaking, but it was in another language that Naruto didn't recognize and it was pitched lower than how he normally spoke. The words blurred together, but Kakashi seemed to be able to understand them. He nodded once, and then both he and Iruka turned and left.
"What language was that?" Sasuke looked back at him before turning and walking around his desk to sit back down.
"It is an ancient language developed by the first of the vampires. It is passed down from sire to fledgling."
"Ah." Naruto sat sipping on his water and controlling his breathing. Sasuke had gone back to work, and the scratching of his pen helped to calm Naruto.
"Sasuke, you spend a lot of time in here working." Naruto started the conversation. He wanted to get his mind off of what he had seen. And what better way to do that than to pester Sasuke? "You should leave your study every once in a while, get some fresh air or something."
The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched. "I would think that it would be comforting to you, to know exactly where I would be."
There was guilt, now, bubbling in his stomach. "You don't have to do that."
"I have a great deal of work to catch up on, regardless. So, please feel no guilt."
Naruto toyed with his glass a bit, before standing back up. "Well, then, I think I'll go pester Kiba for a bit. I should probably apologize for scaring him, too." Naruto turned to leave, but he stopped and turned back to Sasuke. "Unless you would like to join me?"
Sasuke smiled lightly at him, before shaking his head. "Have fun."
Naruto grinned back at him, before giving him a slight wave.
When Naruto entered the lounge, Kiba seemed to be having a serious discussion with Neji. He didn't want to interrupt, but he caught Kiba's eye and smilled and waved at him. Kiba seemed to relax, and waved back. Naruto was looking around the room to see who else he should bother when a flick of pink drew his attention to his right.
It was Sakura. Naruto hadn't seen her since that day. In all honesty, he hadn't thought much about her either. She seemed fine, though, so he supposed Sasuke had kept his promise. She was sitting at a table, sitting across from Shikamaru, but she was currently looking steadfastly out the window. Naruto chewed his lip a bit before cursing being a nice guy. He walked over and sat down between her and Shikamaru. They seemed to have been playing a game of some sort, one that he hadn't seen before. There was a loud clearing of a throat behind him, and turning around confirmed his suspicion that it was Kiba. Kiba was looking at him like he was crazy and motioning for him to come back. Naruto shook his head, and questioned his own sanity before turning back to face Sakura.
"Well, it's been a week." There was no answer. The entire room was a silent. A quick glance to his right showed that even Shikamaru looked semi-alert. "I'm still alive."
Sakura finally turned to look at him. "That can be fixed."
There was a growl behind him, and Sakura turned to look back outside. Naruto turned to see who had growled, but it was too hard to tell. Everyone was on their feet, tensed and ready to pounce. Even Kakashi and Iruka had entered at some point and were looking concerned. The attention gave him some courage, so he turned back to Sakura.
"Well, since it looks like I'm going to be here a while, I thought maybe we could be friends."
"Friends?" Sakura sounded shocked, offended. "Friends?" She was standing now, and sounded more angry than shocked. "I'd rather rip your head off!" Sakura hit the table, which broke down the center and collapsed. Naruto stared wide mouthed at the wreckage before movement from the corner of his eye caused him to turn. Kakashi was standing by his chair.
"Well, you and I both know that you can't do that," Kakashi said. "So you might as well be friends." Sakura snarled and seemed to consider on whether or not she could attack Naruto before Kakashi could stop her.
"Sakura. Leave." Sasuke! Naruto turned to see Sasuke standing in the door way, seemingly none too pleased. Sakura growled again. "Now." Sakura threw Naruto one last nasty glare before she turned and stalked out of the room. Sasuke finally turned his attention to Naruto and raised an eyebrow in question. It was Neji who answered.
"The little idiot wanted to be friends with her. Sakura was not amused." Sasuke sighed a exasperation before crossing the room to stand beside Kakashi. Naruto stood to face him.
"Well, I think that went well." Dark chuckles were heard around the room. "What brings you down here, Sasuke?"
Sasuke scoffed. "I felt Kakashi's panic…"
"I wasn't panicked! I was concerned. Poor Naruto must have lost his mind."
"…and decided to come down and investigate. You wanted to be friends with Sakura? It was foolish to approach her so soon."
Kakashi voiced his agreement. "What would you have done had she followed through on her threat to kill you?"
Naruto shrugged. "She wouldn't have. Besides, Shikamaru was sitting right there."
Shikamaru snorted. "Apparently we underestimated his stupidity." Naruto turned to glare at him.
"Apparently I overestimated you in general."
Kiba guffawed. "That's for sure." Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. Sasuke sighed and interrupted before an argument could break out.
"Let us go for a walk outside, Naruto." Sasuke's hand on his back ushered him out the door and into the garden. Behind him, he could hear raised voices.
They walked in silence for a while, before Naruto had to break it. "Got you out of that study, though." Sasuke chuckled.
"I am positive that there would have been a better way to do that than to try and kill yourself."
"That wasn't what I was trying to do," Naruto mumbled. "I was trying to be friends with Sakura."
"I rest my case. Sakura has enough of a temper without you trying to be her "friend." I suppose I'll have to talk with her again." Sasuke sighed, not looking forward to the conversation.
Naruto shrugged. He didn't want Sakura to get into any more trouble because of him. "It's not her fault. She's jealous. You can't blame her for that." Sasuke chuckled.
"Should I take that as a compliment?" Naruto blushed and let the conversation stall into silence again. He was lost in his thoughts when he happened to glance at Sasuke. Sasuke seemed so much calmer, almost happy. It was hard for Naruto to imagine everything that Sasuke had been through when he saw him like that. He wondered if Sasuke ever thought about his past. Like always, the filter from his brain to his mouth seemed broken, and he voiced his thoughts before he could stop them.
"Do you regret it?" Well, that didn't make sense. He should learn to voice his questions better.
Sasuke turned his head to look at Naruto. "No." Naruto was surprised.
"You don't even know what I was asking about."
Sasuke's grinned widened. "I do not need to. I regret nothing in my past."
The answer shocked Naruto. He stopped in his tracks. He regretted his entire life, the orphanage, foster homes, everything. It seemed incredible that Sasuke, who had lived through so much more than him, didn't regret anything. "Why not?"
"Because everything in my life has culminated in this moment, and in this moment I am happy. Every step along the way, the death of my family, Itachi, being turned into a vampire, even deciding to take the long way home one night twenty-six years ago, has led me to you. Regretting my past would mean I regret my present- you. And I never would regret you."
Naruto was speechless. What does one say to that? He grinned weakly at Sasuke before attempting humor. "Oh, I bet you say that to all of your chew toys." He reached forward with his right hand and hooked his index and middle finger with Sasuke's to assure Sasuke his tease wasn't serious. Sasuke hooked his fingers with Naruto's and grinned back before leaning forward to murmur in Naruto's ear.
"Is that an offer?" Naruto's jaw dropped. He was sure that Sasuke was teasing him back, so he leaned back slightly to tell the Bastard that he was a bastard, but it was then that Naruto finally noticed how close Sasuke actually was.
Naruto froze, but it was nothing compared to the stillness that Sasuke sank into. At least Naruto was still breathing, even if it was fast and shallow. Naruto slowly looked up to Sasuke's eyes to gage his reaction, but Sasuke's eyes were turned down and over Naruto's shoulder. Naruto thought about what Sasuke had said, about having no regrets, before shifting slightly, closer to Sasuke. Slowly and carefully, Naruto brushed his lips over Sasuke's. It was just once, and it was just a brushing of lips, but a jolt went down Naruto's spine. He smiled widely up at Sasuke, whose eyes were now focused carefully on Naruto's face. For a moment, Naruto was concerned he had done something wrong, but then Sasuke smiled at him, genuinely.
"No, I could never regret you."
They circled once around the garden before they headed back to the house. To Naruto's dismay, Akatsuki were back in their usual spot on the patio. Karin was with them, but she ran out to meet them as they approached and walked back with them.
"Naruto! Haven't had a chance to see you in a while."
Naruto grinned back at her. "Hey Karin. How've you been?"
"Fine!" She paused and looked over to the patio before turning back to Naruto. "So, I was thinking we could meet up tomorrow afternoon, catch up?" She shot a look at Sasuke, and Naruto had no doubt that she was asking for Sasuke's permission just as much as she was asking him.
"Sure, I'd like that."
"So, two in the afternoon? I'll make you lunch." She grinned at him, knowing that he couldn't refuse.
"That definitely sounds good."
She opened her mouth to reply, but another voice interrupted her. "Taking your pet out for a walk? Perhaps you should get a shorter leash." Sasuke growled and stepped in front of Naruto, blocking his sight.
"Well, Hidan, Sasuke could always have you neutered. That'd be fun. I'd love to do that. With or without orders." Naruto was surprised to see that it was Shikamaru who was speaking. He supposed that he was trying to make up for his lack of aggression earlier this evening. He wasn't alone, though, but backed by most of the rest of the coven. It seemed like every one had returned from hunting.
Kiba was sporting a feral grin. "I agree with Shikamaru. It'll be lots of fun. I'll help."
Hidan snarled back, but didn't take his eyes of Shikamaru. "I'd like to see you try."
"Enough. Fight on your own time, not mine." Sasuke's hand was on his back again, pushing him back inside. Naruto looked up at Sasuke in surprise. Everyone spoke of Sasuke's temper, and yet he was seemingly brushing this Hidan off. But as he and Sasuke walked through the doors, he noticed the look Sasuke shot Kakashi and the slight nod he received in return. Alarmed, he turned to look to see if anyone else had noticed it. To his horror, Akatsuki were all on their feet, baring their fangs at Sasuke's back. Sasuke's hand on his back remained gentle, and he was still smiling for him. "I think you have caused enough chaos for today. Time for bed."
Sasuke stayed at the bottom of the stairs as Naruto headed towards his room. He looked back at Sasuke only once. His face was relaxed, but he looked so small from the top of the staircase. Naruto chewed his lip in concern. How could Sasuke stand up against Akatsuki? He remembered what Kakashi had told him- they were the worse criminals of history that Itachi could find; together with Itachi, they had wiped out entire villages. How could Sasuke, with his "no-kill policy," compete against them? They were merciless killers, and Sasuke seemed to be so gentle and careful. Everyone had told him that Akatsuki followed Sasuke's orders, but why? It made no sense. Unless…
…unless it was an act. The thought hit Naruto like a board to the back of his skull. They were simply biding their time. Itachi was alive and hidden away somewhere- Sasuke couldn't kill him. He was merely sealed away. It stood to reason, then, that a seal could be broken. And the immortal Akatsuki had all the time in the world to wait for Itachi to be found and woken up. And then…what would happen then?
'Then they'll betray Sasuke.'
Naruto didn't know why he was in Sasuke's room. All he knew was that he had to see Sasuke, make sure he was ok. Sasuke was standing in front of a mirror, looking at his reflection. Naruto called out to him, and Sasuke turned to face him. He smiled at Naruto, but Naruto couldn't see it. Instead, he was watching as Sasuke's reflection started to move on its own. He saw it happening moments before it happened, but his call of warning was too late. The reflection had already punched a hole through Sasuke's chest.
Naruto ran to him and covered the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Sasuke covered his hands with his own. He was still smiling at him with blood pouring down and over his lips.
Naruto woke himself up screaming. It was the first time that he had had one of those dreams in quite some time. And even though his dreams weren't entirely accurate before, there was an element of truth to them. So, he decided to take it at face value.
Sasuke was in danger.
But he'd be damned before he let anyone hurt him. For once in his life, he had something worth protecting. So, Naruto swore to himself that he would find some way to save Sasuke.
And he would start today.