Chapter 10: Familiarity Breeds Contempt

The first few days on the road seemed to blend together in Sasuke's head when he tried to think back on them. Their first stop would be Suna, according to Sakura and Gaara. The trip would take an entire week if they were to drive straight through, which they all had agreed would be detrimental to their mission, and thus they stopped each night to rest and train, making the trip take nearly twice as long. Sasuke had readily agreed to the plan in the beginning, but after the first week he was starting to grow irritable.

It was night and Sasuke found himself sitting on a reclining chair in the rear room of Sakura's vehicle. The space was about the size of an average living room and consisted of a fireplace, an old radio that they regularly used to check the news, the worn recliner that Sasuke currently occupied, an L shaped sofa, several bookshelves, a rudimentary kitchen, and to the far side of the room, a set of bunk beds. Most sleeping nights were spent in here. Sakura would take the top bunk, Gaara the bottom, Naruto took the couch, and Sasuke would fold down the back seats of the cab that lay against at the front of the room.

Sasuke was alone in here at the moment. The other three, claiming it was too stuffy inside, sat around a fire they'd conjured outside the lift gate of the car. They had left the door open in an attempt to keep Sasuke included after he had bluntly refused to join them, and their laughter drifted in on the air.

Sasuke felt another stab of irritation as he glanced out at them. Sakura and Gaara has spent the majority of the evening attempting to teach Naruto how to fight more defensively, which he had failed miserably at. He sat beside the fire nursing his already healing wounds as his teammates poked fun at him.

Naruto smiled in good humor and even added to their jokes. He was usually good natured, and that stupid lopsided grin remained etched into his features when he was being engaged in a conversation. However, Sasuke noticed the expression of sadness that donned his face when he thought no one was looking. He'd noticed something else as well, but he wasn't entirely if he was imagining it or not. When he'd first met the blond haired boy, his aura had appeared to be that of a humans, and looked blue to Sasuke's Sharingan. When he had fought Gaara it had turned a deep orange, after which it'd settled back into a rich gold color. That one seemed to be his natural color, but every now and then, Sasuke had begun to notice flashes of red that lasted less than a second. He was completely unsure of what they meant or if he was really even sure that he was seeing them at all. It was typical for auras to change slightly based on a variety of things, but Sasuke had never really paid much attention to it before. He'd simply looked to see which ones were human and which weren't.

Sasuke was not sure why he'd even noticed it, but then, he'd begun to notice a lot more about Naruto in the past week. He had chalked it up to the proximity of sitting beside him for twelve hours a day, but even now that Naruto was some distance away, Sasuke found himself watching the boy. The other two had turned their conversation inwards and were debating some political issues that Sasuke had no interest in. Naruto's gaze was focused on the fire, and the expression on his face was one Sasuke knew well, as it was one he too often felt. Loneliness. That's what it was.

An odd feeling began to rise In Sasukes chest, and he shook his head, returning to his reading. He shouldn't be this concerned about a half breeds feelings. Or anyone's, for that matter.

The book that lay open in his lap was in fact what had been in the package Naruto had handed him before they'd left. It was Itachi's journal. The material consisted of all the knowledge that his brother had collected over his many years of hunting. Everyone in his clan wrote their own as they traveled and hunted, passing their knowledge down to the next generation. He supposed that Itachi thought that he wouldn't be neededing his journal any longer and had passed it to Sauske. He was greatful, but knowing that he would never fight beside his brother again, saddened him deeply. What was more, Itachi had known they were leaving and was apparently ok with it. That eased Sasuke's consciousness immensely, but he still felt the twitch in his stomach the was jealousy over knowing Itachi had said goodbye to Naruto and not himself.

Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes. He couldn't concentrate at all today. The nightmare of the Shack he'd encountered as a boy had plagued his dreams almost nightly, allowing for very little sleep. His emotions and thoughts were a jumbled mess that frustrated him to almost a boiling point. Rubbing the side of his face with the palm of his hand, his eyes found Naruto's face once again. This time, however, Naruto was looking back at him with a curious expression. Their eyes met for only a moment before a loud crack of thunder pealed over the tops of the trees, and a flash lightning illuminated the cloudless sky.

Immediately they were all on their feet, and Sasuke joined them outside. The journal falling to the floor beside the chair. The night sky was still once again but the thunder had rung with the unmistakable tinge of magic. The echo made it almost impossible to discern the direction it had come from.

Sakura closed the hatch of the car as Sasuke doused the fire with magic, leaving them with only the light of the moon.

"We should split up and look for the source of whatever that was." Gaara suggested

"I'll go with you. Naruto, Sasuke?" Sakura replied almost too quickly. Sasuke rolled his eyes and Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. Sakura and Gaara often did this, and Sasuke suspected that they could really care less about where the sound had come from and just wanted the chance to be alone together. Though there were times he was also certain that both of them also had an unrequited crush on Naruto.

"We'll go south." Sasuke replied blandly and headed off without waiting for a reply or to see if Naruto followed. A few moments later, heavy footsteps sounded beside him as the demon boy caught up.

"Ten bucks says they're sleeping together." He said to Sasuke when they were out of earshot. He laced his fingers behind his head in a relaxed manner as the walked.

"Obviously." Sasuke spat back at him. He wasn't in the mood for joking or games. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep. There was a pause in Naruto's step, and he stayed quiet as they continued on.

Neither if them spoke as they walked. The rhythmic crunch of their boots in soft earth combined with the smell of pine on the light breeze that danced around them, had lulled Sasuke into a much more relaxed, almost sleepy state. Sasuke estimated they'd gone about a mile before he stole a glanceover at his lteammate. Naruto was still walking with his fingers laced behind his head, gazing up at the stars with a slight smile on his handsome face.

After some time, they reached the end of the path they'd chosen. The forest had dissolved into a small clearing that ended in a steep cliff. They stopped here, staying some distance apart. The warm night air blew through Sasuke's hair as he took in picturesque landscape, bathed in glowing moonlight. Under different circumstances, he would have like to stay here for awhile. But they were out here for a reason, and he decided to break the silence and the awkward air that he'd created between them. "Do you hear anything?"

"Yeah, I thought I'd keep it to myself just to be helpful." Naruto replied in an overly sarcastic tone.

His teammates attitude was justified, given Sasuke's equally bad behavior as of late, but he was too tired to care and rounded on the blonde, "You..." he began, but the threats and insults that'd sprung his mind, died there as a blast of lightning threw them apart.

Sasuke hit the ground hard and was winded. He blinked rapidly, his vision was blurry and his ears were ringing. He struggled to his feet gasping for breath as he whirled around wildly seeking the source. He could make out Naruto's form about twent yards away. The boy shouted something at him but Sasuke couldn't hear. He staggered and almost fell over again. Another flash, but this one seemed to come at him in slow motion. There was no time to react, but suddenly he was moving backwards and again hit the ground. This time though, Naruto's arms were around his waist, having pulled him out of the way just in time. He pulled Sasuke up to his feet and pointed toward the edge of the forest they had just come from.

A man in a ragged black robe stood staring at him. His greasy black hair hung in his face as he began to laugh maniacally.

"Who are you!?" Naruto shouted, uselessly at him. The man only laughed harder. Sasuke gathered his wits and tried to focus. There was something odd about this magic, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

Another flash of Lightning, and this time the dodged it more easily, and Sasuke returned the spell with his own of fire. The man vanished a reappeared close behind them, sending daggers of ice flying towards them.

Sasuke tried his spell once more but the man disappeared again. This wasn't going to work, he was too fast. Naruto seemed to be thinking along the same lines and quickly met Sasuke's eyes and a plan was wordlessly formed. Another blast of ice pushed them back to the edge of the cliff. Naruto summoned his blades and ran towards the sorcerer. He vanished again when Naruto reached him, but Sasuke was ready, and aimed his fire the moment he reappeared.

The flames hit their target has he materialized just behind Sasuke, but the man remained standing, still laughing maniacally. He drew a dagger and charged at Naruto. The flames searing through his flesh went unnoticed. Naruto engaged him, parrying each wild slash that was thrown at his as fast as he could manage. The fight had brought them back towards Sasuke and the edge of the cliff. Sasuke saw him take a single hit to the side of his torso before the flames had eaten away enough of the man for him to finally fall.

Naruto looked back at him in disbelief, panting heavily from exertion. A smile had just begun to cross his face, when a blast like a bomb erupted from the charred corpse, sending them both flying over the cliffs edge, and Sasuke's world went dark.

A/N: I have two more chapters after this that are already written, though they need some editing. Relationships are a bit slow to develop, as my original outline for this story saw it coming out to around 35 chapters, and I wanted them to feel more genuine and believable as the story goes on. I also had some explicit scenes planned, but will have to post them on a different site.

How do you feel about chapter length. I usually write to what feels like a natural stopping point for each chapter, but they are feeling a bit short to me now.