Author's Note: Hah, yeah, no fancy entry at the beginning. Sucks huh? Well, anyways. So, after this chapter the updates go back to once every three weeks. Oh and, I have found religion :D So happy :) Anymahogany, without further adue, here is the next chapter of Fighting Darkness!
Disclaimer: Need I say anything? Hmm, the law actually states I have to! Darn. *Sigh* Juura, Kao and Kam belong to Juura99; Gary belongs to Fullmetal Gary where 'Naruto' characters belong to Kishimoto-sama-sensei-zombie-sempai! (Hah, Abridged quotes!)
Warnings: In this chapter? Well, swearing (as usual) boyxboy hints, OCs which by default results in DDR and SingStar- oh and violence which results in blood. Just to let you guys know that he humour is there for comic relief (just as Kakashi is in the episodes) and that in later chapters, the angst violence and more darker aspects will become more predominant.
Chapter 3
"Y'know, we really need to find more supporters!" Naruto exclaimed as everyone- minus the adults- sat in the front room together. Sasuke just 'Hn'ed as he stared out of the window and watched as the peach coloured clouds decided to release their load upon them.
"Shikamaru, what can you find on the internet?" Sai asked, looking over the shoulder of the spiky haired brunette. Shikamaru just sighed before seeming to find an article posted a few hours ago about the hospital break-in.
"Hey guys, this looks troublesome!" he told the teens gathered in the room. In an instant, everyone was by the brunette's side, looking over his shoulder. Kaoru and Kamari drew in a breath as they started to read the article.
Not twelve hours ago, a group of brave people broke into one of Lord Orochimaru's top secret labs and rescued the child he was using to test his drugs on. Now, I'm no anarchist (who am I kidding, just by writing this we're breaking the law!) but what these people are doing is right! My friend Byakugan agrees along with Byakugan-hime. They said to me:
"Yo, Akumaru buddy, these people have balls!" I had to laugh at that. Although, I'm not laughing at the current predicament. I regret to inform you guys that earlier this morning, we were found out. I admit, it's my fault, I forgot to hide our IP address. Byakugan-hime's ankle is swollen pretty bad and we're currently away from danger. Byakugan themselves is quite strung up on this but I don't blame him.
If by some chance the group of people who broke in and saved Haruno Sakura are reading this- and that's a big ass if- then we at Akumaru Jump support your decision and urge more people to be like this! Of course, we don't go and mean throw yourself to the dogs but that group obviously had it all planned out. I wouldn't surprise me if they didn't have inside help but from our sources, we can tell that all security footage was destroyed of that evening and boy is Orochimaru-kun PMSing!
Now, I must insist on going. Byakugan-hime is in need of my help but to that group out there, our prayers are with you and we can only stress at how much we will support you by giving our info. I'm sure you're smart enough to work this out to find us, even if our IP address is hidden. Remember, stay safe and keep your loved ones close!
Akumaru
"Who's Akumaru?" Cassie asked as she sat back down on the sofa and turned on the silver original X-Box. Sasuke shot her an annoyed glance.
"If we knew that, they'd be dead for posting this and supporting us!" he snapped back. Cassie sneered at him before plugging in the dance mat.
"Jeez, what's stuck up your ass?" she asked.
"Maybe the cereal bar from this morning," Kaoru joked, earning a snort from Kamari. Sasuke turned his glare to them as Shino, Shikamaru and Sai pondered the message.
"That wasn't funny. Those cereal bars are killer!" Naruto grumbled.
"Are they cereal killers?" Sai asked with a smirk, looking up from the laptop. Everyone apart from Sasuke snorted into their hands at the joke. The raven's scowl just deepened as he bore it into his look-alike's eyes. He didn't like the fact that the pale-skinned imitation had a good relationship with the blonde already. Something just didn't sit right with him.
"Whatever. Now the main issue is how we're going to find these guys!" Naruto interrupted, stopping the two boys from melting the polar ice-caps with the intensity of their glares. Sasuke just folded his arms and withdrew his signature 'Hn' before turning back to the laptop, to which Shikamaru was already typing away at. A series of numbers flashed across the screen before a picture of a map popped up with a blinking red dot. Shikamaru smirked.
"Seeing as I just found them, I think I deserve a nap!" he said sweetly as returned to the comfy confines of the sofa in the room. Cassie giggled slightly before overtaking on the laptop and typing something in in what Sasuke could only presume to be binary. Cassie smirked as she typed in some more numbers, earning a shocked look from the people around her.
"This is what you get for taking triple science and A-level ICT at GCSE, along with further Maths." she smirked, her fingers flying across the keyboard. Her eyes widened though when it came to a stop.
"What the Hell!" she yelled, tapping away at the keyboard. Shino and Shikamaru walked up beside her, Shikamaru grumbling about troublesome computers as he did so. His eyes widened though as the whole screen went blue.
"SHIT!" Cassie yelled, practically jumping from her chair as white text scrolled across the screen.
Kakashi? It asked. All eyes in the room swivelled to Sasuke at that one word. Growling, Naruto violently pushed Cassie out of the way to reply.
No, this is Uzumaki Naruto. Kakashi is with us. Who the Hell are you? He replied violently. It was almost as if the word 'Uzumaki' had triggered a fuse in the writer as text came at an unstoppable speed.
Get Kakashi right now! I don't care who you are and I don't care if he's asleep. GET HIM NOW! Blue eyes widened at the rudeness of the message before he glared to Sasuke.
"Teme, he's your guardian," he pointed out. Sasuke's eye twitched and he walked the funeral march to his guardian's bedroom. Sighing, he pushed the door open. He spotted the other half of the cereal bar from earlier and decided that this was a good a way as any. He clenched it in his hand tightly and threw it towards the bundle of sheets. A hand brought itself up and caught the cereal bar mid-flight.
"Are you asking for a death wish?" Kakashi grumbled, sitting up in his bed. Sasuke scowled.
"I'm sorry your highness, but we have a computer-hacking messenger asking for you," he sneered. Kakashi's visible grey eye widened and Sasuke swore that he'd never see his guardian move as quickly for anything else except the newest 'Icha Icha' for free. Rolling his eyes, the raven left the room after the silver-haired man and entered the living room to see everyone in a heated discussion about who Kakashi was talking to. Cassie and Kaoru were full out yelling, Naruto and Sai were discussing with Shikamaru whilst Shino listened with interest, not making much of an input along with Chouji who was eating from a packet of crisps, whilst Kamari and Gary had disappeared from the room altogether.
"It could be a really hot chick!" Kaoru supplied, winking. Cassie made a disgusted noise.
"Urgh, you're such a sexist pervert!" she ground out, glaring at the boy with red hair. Kaoru just smirked before turning to Kakashi.
"I bet it's a really hot chick!" he told the silver-haired man. Annoyance crossed Kakashi's features.
"She's five years older than you," he deadpanned. Kaoru's face blanked before he turned to Cassie.
"HAH! I told you it was a chick! I don't mind if she's older. More experience." He smirked perversely before a hit to his head made him scowl. Naruto stood there, grimace in place.
"You have no respect for women! It wouldn't surprise me if one day you were beaten up by one because of your comments," he snickered slightly over his scowl. Kakashi then smiled before exiting the room to go back to bed.
"Expect some visitors at 3 this afternoon. Three of them are the ones you tried to contact. It so happens that my contact knows them too," he smiled, walking off. Everyone's mouths fell open at that before Shikamaru turned his gaping mouth into a yawn.
"I'm following his idea," he replied before making his way over to the sofa to lie down.
"I wonder where Kam and Gary are?" Kaoru and Cassie wondered before walking out of the room. Chouji left for the kitchen, dragging Sai with him to make him a bacon sandwich. Shino walked outside to spy on his bug collection which left Naruto and Sasuke alone together. Naruto yawned and stretched, making Sasuke realise that he was still in a pair of borrowed pyjamas which belonged to Gary. Sasuke rolled his eyes and went to the room with the blonde on his trail.
"Are you stalking me, dobe?" he asked, suddenly stopping and making the blonde walk into him. Naruto cursed before looking up into the raven's face.
"Teme, why would anyone want to stalk you?" he asked, repeating the question from earlier. Sasuke smirked, leaning in to the blonde's personal space.
"Well, you're doing it, so why don't you tell me?" he whispered. Naruto growled and pounced on the raven haired boy, taking him by surprise. The two fell to the floor with Naruto pinning Sasuke down.
"Teme, I've had enough of your attitude!" he snarled, leaning in closer. Sasuke, unable to take being topped, flipped them over so he was hovering above Naruto.
"And I've had enough of your-" they never got to find out what Sasuke'd had enough of before Kamari and Gary came out of a room, hitting Sasuke's elbow with the door.
"As I said Gary, we should really-" Kamari was interrupted by himself as he saw the scene. Sasuke and Naruto were lying on the floor, mouths pressed to one another's. Gary and Kamari spluttered some incoherent noises and the two boys broke apart, blushing crimson.
"I'm so sorry guys!" Kamari squeaked, placing his hand over his eyes and tugging Gary down the hall who looked white. Sasuke and Naruto just stayed in their positions, apparently frozen, until Itachi walked down the corridor.
"My, my, little brother, at least wait until you're in the bedroom!" he smirked before walking past the two teens. Naruto had had it. He pushed Sasuke from on top of him and went to go hit Itachi. The elder just smirked and turned on the spot. When Naruto was in punching distance, he extended his fist; fingers curled...and flicked his forehead. Naruto fell onto his behind and just gazed up at Itachi in confusion. Itachi smiled softly.
"I went easy on you. Sasuke won't," he smirked after that and continued walking down the hall. Naruto whipped his head round to glare at the teen who had stood up and was brushing himself down. Only then did Naruto realise that they were still in their pyjamas. He sighed, standing up and walked to his room to get changed. He pulled his top off over his head and chucked it onto his bed. As he turned around to pull out a black t-shirt from his draws, he spotted the intruder in his room. A drawn out shriek was heard down the corridor in which Sasuke was walking down. As if on instinct, he ran to the blonde's room- briefly taking note of how Naruto looked without a shirt- before looking around for the cause of distress.
"SHINO!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke wondered why Naruto was yelling at Shino before he saw why. A huge spider with spindly legs and a fat body was crawling across Naruto's pillow. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as the blonde clung to him, still shirtless. He sighed and walked forward, grabbing a bedside cup and a piece of paper. He collected the harmless spider before opening the window and throwing it out. A brief spray of rain hit Sasuke's face, making it so that it looked like he had just been working out. Naruto swallowed at the image and 'meep'ed when Sasuke saw him looking. Blushing, he continued to get dressed without making eye contact. When the boys had gotten dressed (with many awkward silences) they walked down the stairs together and entered the living room. When they entered , they were met with wolf whistles from Cassie and strangely, Kaoru. Naruto growled at them.
"Guys! It was a complete accident!" he yelled, red in the face. The smile from Cassie's face disappeared and she just shrugged, challenging Kaoru to another round of Dance Dance Revolution. Naruto plonked himself down by Shikamaru's feet whilst Sasuke sat on the arm of the sofa by Shikamaru's head. One brown eye opened and he sighed.
"Guys, I can feel the tension from here. Can one of you please leave the room?" he told them. Frowning, Naruto stood up and left the room. Shikamaru sighed contently and settled back down into the cushions.
"I can feel the pressure, it's getting closer now." The TV blared the song as the two orphans danced on the mat. Sasuke tutted at that and decided to explore the orphanage. He exited the living room and turned right down a corridor he hadn't yet been down. There were rows of doors before he finally came to the entrance hall. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, giving off the image of old grandeur. He looked around him. Now that he paid attention, the house was more like a mansion. There were several floors with long corridors, royal red carpets mixed with burgundy too. There was a particular corridor that caught Sasuke's attention. It was dark and foreboding to the teen and so, being the Uchiha he was, he decided to go down it. It was dimly lit and the rain from outside did nothing to make it better. The windows were high up, showing him the pitch black storm clouds that were gathering. A flash of lightning illuminated a door with steel markings. Curious as to what could be behind it, he grabbed the silver doorknob and went to turn it. Just as he was about to push the door open, a hand caught his.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," I t was Shino. His dark glasses covered his eyes and he let go of Sasuke's hand and walked back down the corridor. Not one to be put off so easily, Sasuke turned the knob and pushed the door open. What he was greeted with was a massive library. Why had Shino not wanted him to see this? His answer was presented to him when he saw a blonde curled up on a puffy armchair, a lamp shining on his face. He was reading a book and he was engrossed in it. He approached Naruto as he would normally.
"Dobe, what are you doing?" He was ignored as he advanced. Annoyed by this, he got closer and realised that Naruto's eyes were glazed over. Sasuke peered over the blonde's shoulder to see what he was reading.
The world was doing fine in that morning. The children ran in the streets, laughing. People walked their dogs in the park on the green grass.
Sasuke's eyebrow raised slightly at the sentence.
"Nice fairytale there, dobe." He was ignored further. Sasuke huffed. It was no fun if Naruto wasn't reacting to his teasing. He exited the room and walked down to the hall. An incessant knocking was sounded at the front door. Sasuke checked his watch on his wrist. Time must've flown by because it was three o' clock already. Kakashi pushed past Sasuke and opened the door to four people who were drenched to the core. They stepped inside. Everyone had now crowded in the entrance hall to see the newcomers. A brunette with tattoos, another brunette with lavender eyes and a girl with purple hair and lavender eyes. They introduced themselves as Kiba, Neji and Hinata in that order. The fourth was a woman with a large chest, blonde hair and hazel eyes. Her name was Juura. Kaoru smirked and elbowed Cassie who just elbowed him back harder.
"Sexist jerk," she muttered. He just smirked and waltzed up to her.
"Hey there prettiful, how are you?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows. She just glared at him before hitting him over the head.
"Shuttit you! Children should be seen and not heard!" she barked at him. Cassie smirked at this and smiled smugly as Kaoru retreated.
"So guys, these are the people who cleaned up your mess at the hospital!" Kakashi smiled and looked to the people who were shuffling their feet guiltily. They smiled nervously before they ushered the guests into the living room. Shino handed the four newcomers a fluffy towel each. Kiba and Naruto had hit it off immediately, and already in a deep conversation about their favourite type of car. Sasuke sat in the corner with the white eyed brunette, glancing to Naruto every few seconds with something akin to jealousy on his face. After a while Neji snorted and shook his head.
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"It's so obvious. He really is oblivious," he commented as he walked off to join his cousin who was also talking to Naruto. Sasuke growled slightly and Gary walked up to him, eating another chocolate bar.
"Y'know, I've know Naruto nearly all my life and I can safely say, you really get on his nerves-"
"No shit, he grates on mine too,"
"BUT, throughout all of my years, he's never trusted someone on first meeting. They've always had to gain his trust somehow. Just think about why that is. You've seen the books he reads right?" he asked, taking another bite of the treat and sucking it.
"Yeah, those fairytales. What is with those?" Sasuke asked. Gary shrugged.
"Personally, I don't know, he's never told me. But I overheard from Iruka-sensei and Itachi-san that the reason why Naruto-kun's parents were killed were because they knew the Uchiha's and that Orochimaru's men couldn't trust the Namikaze's and Uzumaki's to stay put after the Uchiha massacre." He told the raven. Onyx eyes widened.
"Naruto's parents knew mine?" he asked. Gary nodded.
"Apparently they were best friends. I'd ask Shikamaru though if I were you. He knows everything." He told Sasuke once more before disappearing to talk to Juura. Sasuke walked over to where Shikamaru was talking to Chouji about different fighting techniques using shadows for help and dragged him away.
"Why are you being so troublesome Uchiha?" he asked as Chouji walked off to the kitchen to grab some more crisps.
"What do you know about Uzumaki and his parents- concerning my ones too?" he asked. Shikamaru sighed.
"I'm guessing Gary told you. Well, Naruto-kun is the only surviving Uzumaki, just as you are one of the last surviving Uchiha's. He feels it is his responsibility to revive his clan but that's nothing to do with parents. Your parents though, had an arrangement with Naruto's." By this point Sasuke was intrigued and leant in closer to hear.
"Your parents and Naruto's both had an agreement. The agreement was particularly made as well. Both your mother and Naruto's got pregnant around the same time, completely planned. The plan was that the two of you would end up together. If you were both boys or both girls, you'd be best friends but if one of you was a girl, you'd end up something more." Shikamaru explained. Sasuke frowned.
"They'd arrange for us to married?" he asked. Shikamaru nodded. Sasuke looked to the blonde who was chatting to Juura now. She had a look of annoyance about her but the softness in her eyes betrayed how she felt. Sasuke imagined the blonde as a girl. He smirked. He'd still be a dobe, he knew that. But marriage? A frown placed itself on the raven's face and he stared at the blonde, unable to tell how he'd feel. At that moment, Naruto turned to see who was watching him. Cerulean met onyx and the raven felt his breath catch in his chest. Yeah he thought if he was a girl. He turned away from the blonde to face Shikamaru who had a knowing look on his face.
"You like him." Was all was said before the lazy genius returned to the sofa to nap. Sasuke just shook his head before walking up to the pink haired girl who was shyly talking to Itachi. She seemed to have forgiven him for the shaking of the night before and they were talking about first aid with Tsunade and Shizune.
"Sakura, right?" the girl nodded, turning away from the elder Uchiha.
"What would like Sasuke-kun?" she asked. Sasuke's eye twitched. Nobody had ever called him that and it made him sound like a kid. He dismissed it before asking her a question.
"Your parents. Where are they?" he asked. Sakura bit her lip before replying.
"They should be at home." She replied before turning back to Itachi and talking to him once more. Sasuke sighed and turned around to see Kamari staring at him.
"What?" Sasuke asked. Kamari just frowned before looking the Uchiha up and down.
"I'm sorry about earlier. If you're uncomfortable around Naruto-kun now, I'm sorry." He apologised. Sasuke hadn't expected this but just nodded to the redhead before walking to the blonde woman who was talking to Naruto.
"Hey there Naruto." He greeted non-chalantly. Naruto spluttered before regaining his composure.
"What do you want teme?" he asked the raven. Juura looked at the scene with interest, noting the small, barely existent blush on Naruto's cheeks as he talked to the raven. Only when he said something hurtful to the male blonde did she step in.
"Jeez, you're such a bastard Sasuke-chan, why don't you go play Dance Dance Revolution?" she sneered when she saw the flash of hurt in the cerulean blue eyes. Sasuke glared at her.
"What makes you so superior?" he snarled. Juura growled.
"If I were you, I'd be kissing my feet seeing as I destroyed the video footage of you in the hospital!" she snarled. Naruto stood awkwardly between the two of them.
"Um, guys?" he tried to but in.
"Shut up dobe, this doesn't concern you," Sasuke told him back, still attempting to glare Juura down. It was only when Sai came up to Naruto and asked "What's happenin' dickless?" that both glares were redirected to the pale raven. He sweat dropped and backed slowly away. Earning snickers from Kaoru and Kamari as he did so. The pair continued to glare at him until he was forced to run from the room. Naruto giggled slightly, catching Sasuke's attention. Whiskered cheeks blushed slightly and he turned away from the raven and began talking to Juura again, who kept on throwing dirty looks to Sasuke. At about 4.30 pm, Kakashi came into the room with Iruka to discuss what was going on. It was basically a recap of what had gone on last night and after many discussions, everybody had agreed to some extent as to what was going to happen next. Sakura was going to be taken home; Kiba, Hinata and Neji were going to stay at the orphanage whilst Juura was going to go back to her apartment. When all had been said and done, Kiba and Naruto relaxed in their room.
"So Naruto, what's up with the Uchiha kid?" Kiba asked, chewing on a lollypop stick from earlier. Naruto shrugged and leant back into the cushions of his bed.
"I think he hates me," Naruto whispered, rejection lacing his words. Kiba frowned.
"Is that an issue?" he asked. Naruto sighed.
"He's the first person who, when I've only just met, I've trusted. It scares me because usually I don't just accept people. Especially since his brother almost killed me." He told the brunette. Kiba chuckled. Naruto stared at him as if he'd lost his mind.
"What?" he asked defensively. Kiba shook his head and stared at Naruto with a knowing look.
"You've never heard of love at first sight, have you?" he asked the blonde. Naruto stuttered.
"Wh-what? How can I love that bastard? He's obnoxious, evil and always rude to me!" Naruto pouted. Kiba just shrugged.
"Whatever dude, all I know is that you're hugging the pillow he used pretty tight." He mocked. Naruto's cheeks turned beet red at that.
"I swear you've been sniffing it too!" he joked afterwards. Naruto growled before whacking Kiba over the head with it.
"Dude!" Kiba's pleas for mercy could be heard all over the orphanage that evening.
WAHEY! That took forever! A whole weekend! Anyways, I'm off to watch Red Riding Hood ^^ Review guysh!