Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21
Chapter 22
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Several emotions flooded through Sasuke's body at the words Shisui had spoken. Anger and sadness that yet another one of the people he'd trusted most when he was younger had betrayed him. And his hatred of Itachi...was now doubled. His elder brother had put people he cared about in extreme danger...again—and it tore at his insides that he had no idea of how to change the current situation.
Hinata suddenly perked up and looked at Naruto. "Naruto-kun—the dragons!"
Naruto and Sasuke looked at her with blank stares of confusion. "Huh?" was Naruto's answer.
"I read something once that said dragons are a bridge between our world and the spirit world. If you summon one, it might know how to stop this!" Hinata answered urgently.
Shisui laughed at what he believed to be their complete lunacy. "Dragons don't exist, you idiots."
Naruto ignored him and pulled the contract scroll off his back. He stared at it for a moment in uncertainty before unrolling it and using his summoning ring to draw blood from his thumb.
Shisui's smirk began to fade. Although he still believed there was no way dragons existed he also didn't feel it was wise to let them continue with whatever they were doing. "Don't ignore me!"
In a flash, Shisui had a hold of Hinata's throat.
Naruto looked up from having just placed his fingerprints under his signature. "Hina-chan!" He rushed forward to help her but Sasuke held him back.
"You finish that! I'll help her!" he said as he began trying to remove the hands that were cutting off Hinata's breathing. It wasn't doing much good though, seeing as how the hands he was trying to grab were non-corporeal.
Naruto flashed through the summoning seals faster than he ever had in his life. "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"
The cloud of smoke that had emitted from Naruto's jutsu distracted Shisui enough that his grip on Hinata loosened. Sasuke took the opportunity and pulled her to safety. He placed the coughing girl on the ground and watched the clearing smoke.
It was roughly fifteen feet long and ten feet tall. Its long, sleek, black body shimmered in the moonlight. Its horns, claws, the row of ridges on its back and the fan on the end of its tail were a golden yellow. Blue eyes looked out from its face and a blue, teardrop shaped jewel rested in the center of its forehead. The dragon blinked and looked around for a moment before settling its gaze on Naruto. "What just happened?" it asked in a distinctly female voice.
Naruto quickly got over the amazement he felt at seeing a real live dragon. "I summoned you to help us!"
"Summoned? How did you?" the dragon asked.
"I'll explain later. Right now we need your help!" Naruto pointed at Shisui. "He's trying to kill us!"
The dragon blinked in confusion. "Kill you?" She blinked again, this time in realization. "Wait...you're alive?"
"Of course we're alive!" Naruto retorted.
"Then what are you doing in the spirit realm?"
"We're in the spirit realm?!" Hinata squeaked.
"Well, yes. It's an easy fix though. Hold on a moment." She held up her three-clawed hands and the jewel in her forehead began glowing. She took in a deep breath and exhaled a shimmering cloud of mist, which she spread wide with her hands. As the mist circulated the air around them wavered like the ripples that radiated off the roads on a hot afternoon.
As the world around them began to phase back to normal Sasuke noticed his mother standing in the doorway to his house. The look of sadness on her face was almost more than he could stand. "Wait!"
This brought Shisui out of the trance he'd been in and eyes widened when his mind registered that he might be about to lose his captives. "I won't let you!" He lunged forward but his outstretched hands grasped nothing but air as Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and the dragon faded out of existence. He screamed at nothing. "NOOO!"
Sasuke turned to the dragon. "We have to go back! My mother's still trapped with him!" he said desperately.
The dragon smiled serenely at Sasuke. "She's fine. When I brought you home I also repaired the barrier between heaven and hell. That boy is back where he belongs and so is your family."
Sasuke sighed in relief, but he still couldn't help but turn a longing stare toward the spot his mother had been standing.
The dragon looked around for a moment. "I wonder how the barrier was cracked in the first place."
"Shisui said he felt a change of some kind when I punched that wall over there," Sasuke explained, gesturing toward the wall.
The dragon looked thoughtful for a moment. "I assume this compound used to be your home, correct?"
Sasuke nodded.
"And what happened here?"
"My older brother murdered my clan," Sasuke said with practiced emptiness.
The dragon frowned. "I see." There was silence as she thought for a moment. "I think you managed to hit the heart of the spiritual energy of this place. And because you're related to people who died so tragically your blood acted as a catalyst," she said, indicating the small cuts on Sasuke's knuckles.
Sasuke nodded and then grudgingly said, "Thank you...for fixing this."
"Not a problem. We dragons are the guardians of the barrier. It's kind of my job," she said with a bemused smile.
"Are you okay, Hina-chan?" Naruto asked as he helped her to her feet.
"H-hai. My throat is a little sore though." Hinata put her hand to her neck and activated her healing chakra. The bruising slowly began to fade.
Naruto turned to the dragon. "Thank you so much. If you hadn't helped us..." He didn't even want to finish the sentence as he looked down at the girl he loved.
The dragon smiled. "Now that you're all safe, could you tell me how I was pulled out of my realm?"
The dragon shook her head in disbelief. "I read about summoning in school, but I was always told our contract was gone."
Naruto blinked rapidly. "You have school?"
"Well, I'm certain it's vastly different than what you're thinking of, but yes, we have school," the dragon said with a light chuckle.
"What's your name?" Hinata asked with a polite smile.
"I am called Kazehana. And your name is?" she asked as she turned to Naruto.
Naruto smiled. "Uzumaki Naruto. Will you accept me as your subordinate?" he asked eagerly.
Kazehana raised her eyebrows. "I...I don't even know if I can. The contract has been out of use for so long." At Naruto's dejected expression she frowned. For some reason she couldn't put her finger on she felt an immense need to not disappoint him. "Well...lemme talk to my father. I'll see what I can do," she said with a reassuring smile.
"Okay. How long do you think it'll take?"
Kazehana scratched the back of her scaly neck in thought. "Ummm. I'm not really sure. Summon me again in a half hour I guess." She held up her hand. "Ja." And with that, she vanished in a puff of smoke.
Naruto turned to his brother. "You okay?"
Sasuke set his jaw. He hated being pitied or comforted. "I'll be fine," he grumbled. "How about you?" he asked Hinata.
Hinata nodded fervently. "I'm fine. Domo arigato," she said with a low bow.
Sasuke nodded in satisfaction. "I'm gonna go train." He began to walk off. "See you guys later."
Naruto shook his head at Sasuke's issue avoiding no jutsu and turned to Hinata. "C'mon, Hina-chan. Let's get you home."
Hinata nodded and leaned on Naruto's shoulder as they headed for her house, feeling immensely relieved to be in the living world again. "Naruto-kun?"
"Hm?"
"You l-look handsome in your kimono," Hinata said with a blush.
Considering what they'd just been through, some corner of Naruto's brain found the comment so out of place that it was amusing. He chuckled lightly. "Thanks."
Sasuke had no idea how he'd wound up at TenTen's door, but even as he stood on the front stoop of her house he was angry that it had happened. In fact, his thoughts had been turning to her a lot of late and it bothered him. He barely heard her as she walked up behind him.
"Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke shook his head to clear away his reverie. "Yo, Tenten. I was just...ah..." he tried to think of what to tell her but words failed him. Come up with an excuse dammit! he inwardly berated himself.
Tenten cocked her head to one side in curiosity. "Did you wanna train?"
"Hai!" Sasuke answered with relief at having been spared from trying to get his treacherous brain to do what he wanted.
Tenten smiled. "Great! Just let me put this inside," she said, indicating the bag of groceries in her arms. She ran in the house and reappeared a moment later with a few kunai. "Night training will be good for your aim," she said enthusiastically before running off towards her backyard.
Sasuke frowned. "What do you mean by that?" He ran after her. "Oi!"
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" The smoke cleared and Kazehana once again stood before Naruto.
"Hey, Naruto. He said everything should be fine" she said with a wide smile. "I think it's going to take me a while to get used to it though." She laughed. "Oh, dad said to ask you—Are you related to the Namikaze clan?"
Naruto grinned. "Yup! That's my dad's side of the family."
"He'll be happy to hear that." Kazehana noticed a woman with long, blonde pigtails standing next to her newly appointed subordinate.
Naruto noticed where the dragon was looking. "Oh yeah! This is my mom," he explained.
Tsunade gave a short bow. "It is a great honor to meet you. I must admit—when my son first told me he had a dragon contract I thought it was a fake."
"A fake?" Kazehana repeated with some disbelief.
"This may be odd for you to hear, but not many people believe dragons exist anymore," Tsunade said with a bit of embarrassment.
Kazehana's eyelids fluttered in shock. "But...we're the guardians of the spirit world barrier! How can they not believe in us?"
Tsunade frowned. "I think the truth was distorted to keep people from looking for the contract."
Kazehana hung her head. "Of course. I should've suspected something like that—after what happened."
"So you know about the village?" Naruto asked gently.
Kazehana snorted. "How could I not know? The other summon clans never let us forget it," she said with some bitterness.
Naruto frowned.
"Anyway. Um...what's the name of your village?"
"Konohagakure. My mom is the Hokage," Naruto said proudly.
Kazehana's eyes widened. "Oh! Please forgive my rudeness, Hokage-sama. You've had to crane your neck to talk to me."
Tsunade let out a short laugh. "No no. It's fine. You're tall—it's kind of unavoidable."
"I don't have to be tall. That's the point."
"Huh?" Naruto said.
Without another word a white glow surrounded Kazehana and she slowly began to shrink and change shape. When the glow faded a human woman stood before them. Her skin was a medium tan and her hair was black with a few golden yellow streaks and reached her shoulder blades. Her eyes were the same blue they had been in her dragon form. The only clue that something was 'off' about her was that her forehead gem was still in place. Well, that, and the fact that she was stark naked.
Naruto's hands flew to his face as he attempted to cover up the blood coming out of his nose but the red liquid just oozed its way between his fingers. He turned around hurriedly.
Tsunade couldn't cold back her laughter as poor Kazehana stood there in utter bewilderment. Naruto, meanwhile, was waving his right arm out behind him practically chanting, "Clothes clothes clothes!!"
Kazehana looked down at herself. "Oh! I forgot about that!" She looked at Tsunade. "I am so sorry!"
Tsunade took pity on the humanoid dragon and handed her, her jacket. "It's alright. We'll just make sure we have something for you to wear from now on," she giggled. "I forgot dragons have a human form."
"I thought you didn't believe in us before now?"
"That hardly stops dragons from being in storybooks," Tsunade answered plainly.
"Good point." Kazehana looked at Naruto. "You can turn around now."
Cautiously, Naruto looked at Kazehana, who was wearing his mother's jacket like a makeshift dress.
Kazehana shifted her weight nervously and coughed to clear her throat. "Sorry I embarrassed you."
"It's okay," Naruto replied.
"There's something you have a right to know before you take my son as your subordinate," Tsunade said seriously.
"Huh?"
Naruto looked at Tsunade with wide eyes as he realized what she was about to say. "Kaa-san, no!"
Tsunade's expression became stern. "Wouldn't you want to know in her place?"
Naruto sighed in defeat and looked down. "Yeah..."
Tsunade sighed. "Almost a year ago, Naruto was kidnapped by a traitor from our village. They performed experiments on him—trying to give him the niji chakra." Silence. "They succeeded."
Kazehana was shocked and angry. The very thought of what she knew had been done in order to create niji chakra sickened her. "They...they killed members of the summon clans...for power?!" she growled.
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut. "Yeah."
Kazehana swallowed as her eyes filled with tears. "Do...do you know the names of the summons they killed?"
"Only one," Naruto replied sadly. "And he was my friend. Gamakichi...from the frog clan."
Kazehana gasped as her hand flew to her mouth. "I knew Gamakichi had died, but...but they never said how."
"I understand if you don't want me as your subordinate now," Naruto said softly.
Kazehana wiped her eyes. "You didn't kill them." She sniffed and smiled reassuringly. "Of course I still want you as my subordinate."
Naruto smiled gratefully. "Thank you," he said with a respectful bow.
Tsunade smiled at her son's response. He's grown so much.
"Anything else I should know?" Kazehana asked with a slight wince.
Tsunade smiled. "Nothing that he can't tell you himself if he wants to."
Kazehana smiled. "I should be on my way. It's getting close to dinner time."
Tsunade pulled a pocket watch from her waistband. "So it is. It was a pleasure to meet you, Kazehana. I trust you'll take good care of my son when he calls you."
Kazehana nodded. "Of course." She turned to Naruto. "Ja na, Naruto-kun."
"Ja!"
Kazehana left and Naruto and Tsunade began heading to their home. As Naruto's foot crunched a stick on the ground he looked up at his mother. "Neh, Kaa-san? How'd you know she'd know what the niji chakra was?"
"Gama Bunta told me about it when Orochimaru was still a part of our team," Tsunade replied. "In fact I'm sure it's what gave that bastard the idea to try it in the first place."
Naruto frowned, wondering if Gamabunta had also made that connection.
As Sasuke looked at the target in front of him his eyelids began to fall of their own accord. He looked at his pocket watch and frowned. It was nearly midnight. "Tenten."
Tenten tilted her head to one side. "Hm?"
"I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to Kakashi's wedding tomorrow," Sasuke said with a yawn.
Tenten stood, yawned and stretched. "Mm. Yeah. It is kinda late isn't it?" She reached up and pulled the pins from her hair buns, letting her hair fall in soft brown ripples to her mid-back.
Sasuke's mouth dropped a little. He'd never seen Tenten look so...so...grown up. The buns she always worn made her look childish.
Tenten put her hands up to the places the buns had been and began scratching madly. "Ugh! Itchy itchy itchy!" she complained.
Tenten's mini-rant brought Sasuke out of his trance. He suddenly became aware that he had been staring and a light blush crept its way up to his cheeks.
Tenten stared back, but her stare was one of confusion. Why is his face all red? Does he have a fever? she wondered. "Sasuke-kun? Are you okay?"
Sasuke made an odd choking sound. "I...I've gotta go!" He bolted out of the yard and down the street.
Tenten watched him go. "What the hell was that about?"
...TO BE CONTINUED
Dear oh dear. Tormenting Sasuke is just too much fun. I know it's an odd place to cut it off but next is the wedding so I had to. Lol.
Sorry bout the late chapter. Went on vacation for 10 days, then caught pneumonia, then got dual ear infections...so...yeah. Anyway.
Charu-san has posted MORE doujin goodness! YAY! To see them you can go to the COLAD homepage or go to her DA page. Don't forget to remove the spaces: charu-san. deviantart. com Go there! Go and worship the awesomeness that is Charu-san. :)
There's also new COLAD fanart that I'll be posting in the next few days. Watch for it. :)
At any rate. Expect the next chappy MUCH sooner.
Ja na,
Song