.

Moving Memories
22: Sound of Mind

~ (^.^) (^.^) ~

"No," Naruto murmured automatically, his voice softened by shock. "No, he can't go."

For an excruciatingly long moment, he was unsure of what to do, wavering between commanding that Kankuro return and doing nothing at all. On one hand, Kankuro's bond was still somewhat active. Naruto could just make him stay and oversee things. But on the other hand, Naruto could feel the intense aversion Kankuro felt toward this whole ordeal. It would be cruel to make him sit through it if he wasn't willing. While it was reckless to let him go, it was also wrong to make him stay.

Naruto turned an uncertain gaze to the sight of Gaara watching him expectantly. Temari watched him too, though with more curiosity than anything. Naruto knew she would have the same perspective as Kankuro and disagree with Naruto controlling her kin so easily, but she was also understanding of Gaara's perspective too. The look in her eyes expressed that she was, more or less, just interested in how he would handle the situation. While Temari took on a passive role, Gaara made silent but clear demands.

Naruto began to feel slightly panicky. Unsure of what else to do, he just relegated his bond with Kankuro down to nothing, making it completely dormant so that Kankuro would be in control of himself entirely. Then, he shrugged.

"I can't make him stay," Naruto said, riding the border between the truth and a lie. It was a better excuse than, 'I don't wanna' though. "He's in complete control of himself."

"Then take it away!" Gaara snapped.

Conflicted, Naruto chose to lie. "I can't," he claimed, hoping Gaara was ignorant enough about bijuu to be confused.

"What do you mean?" Gaara snarled. "You're a bijuu!"

"Yeah, not a god!" Naruto argued. "Our bond is too weak. He won't listen to me unless it gets stronger."

Gaara narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "So make it stronger."

"I don't know how," Naruto lied.

Quick to his wits, he suppressed himself to hide any indication of a lie from Gaara. All the while, he actively implored Gaara's aura too, doing his damnedest to interfere with and manipulate any suspicion from the vampire. He was still quite new to bijuu life, but he was just skilled enough to scrape by. After a few tense moments of silent scrutiny, Gaara let it go and turned his attention back to the plan.

"Sit," Gaara growled, pointing to the couch.

Naruto was relieved to sense Gaara's attention turn elsewhere, but he couldn't be put completely at ease. Inevitably, dread began to seep into his gut. Kankuro was the one who was supposed to be able to control Gaara. What would they do without him? Surely Temari would be enough to subdue the man if need be, but Naruto couldn't help it if he'd become used to Kankuro's presence. Without it, he simply couldn't rest assured. It felt like Gaara was the one in total control now, and Naruto didn't like that at all. In the end, all he could do was what he was told. He moved slowly, so as not to excite Gaara or anything. Once seated, he received new instructions.

"Call."

Naruto looked up at Gaara, whose eyes he'd been devoutly avoiding. "Don't you think... that..."

A low, rumbling growl caused him to trail off. Gaara's tolerance was, obviously, waning.

"Go ahead Naruto," Temari quietly permissed.

Naruto looked over at the woman uncertainly. She was the only hope for controlling Gaara left, and she looked at ease. So maybe Naruto was underestimating her. Maybe she was perfectly able of keeping her brother at bay. When Naruto rooted through her aura, he noted that she was most worried about getting through the ordeal smoothly. She didn't wish to agitate Gaara, obviously hoping to cause as little friction as possible. It was obvious she wasn't up for a fight, but she also looked ready to bare down should one arise.

Deciding he could do nothing but trust Temari, Naruto did as he was told. His phone call to Kiba was brief. The length of the explanation he gave was that Gaara wanted to see him and he needed to hurry. What followed was intriguing for Naruto to watch.

Gaara began to pace the floor tirelessly. Naruto had to question how sane the man was, but one peep into his aura confirmed that he was exceptionally sound of mind. Still, his stability was declining and that began to become apparent in the steadily deteriorating state of his behavior. He was slowly beginning to act less like a man and more like an agitated beast. He'd definitely rediscovered his connection to Kiba and was currently using it as a sensory link to monitor the man. He obsessed over every tiny fluctuation in Kiba's energy field, hissing or growling or releasing some other guttural noise from his throat periodically as he reacted as if he were there.

There came a point, though, when Gaara just stopped and watched the elevator doors raptly. Kiba had arrived. They all anxiously waited for Gaara's lover to finally present his face, or perhaps it was more accurate to call Kiba prey. Naruto was no longer sure.

Kankuro, having been monitoring the situation too, felt the same way. He'd been monitoring Gaara closely, analyzing how his brother was being affected and gauging the severity of the situation as it slowly shifted. Kankuro was less concerned about Kiba's actions and more interested in how they were affecting Gaara, but in the end he too was confused about whether Kiba was being perceived as friend or dinner. That was what lead him to intercept Kiba in the lobby.

Just as Kiba's finger was about to press into the up arrow to summon the elevator, Kankuro stopped him by his wrist. Kiba's head turned, their eyes met, and Kankuro felt the air rush from his lungs like a long-awaited gust of wind.

He'd known Kiba since Kiba was just a small child. He'd looked into Kiba's innocent, human eyes and that was the first time he'd ever felt anything other than uncertainty of humans. He'd always been conflicted. He was drawn to them like predator to prey, but he was taught that they were not his to just make easy meals of. He didn't know how he was supposed to interact with them. But when he'd met Kiba for the very first time, there was no confusion. Kiba was innocent, and Kankuro could do nothing to stop the same brotherly love he felt toward Gaara from transpiring. Kiba was his to protect. And though he was a grown man by now, there was still so much innocence left in his eyes that Kankuro didn't want to see wash away.

How could Kankuro do this? How could he let them put Kiba at such a risk? But, then again, wasn't it fair to let Kiba be in control of his own fate?

Kankuro could see many emotions twisting and twirling in Kiba's eyes. The brunet was predominantly curious, so Kankuro chose to erase all confusion and relay the full truth candidly.

"Gaara wants to change you," he informed.

He saw the many emotions in Kiba's eyes hone into one, singular reaction—fear. But that quickly shifted into hope, and then uncertainty.

"That's against everything he—" Kiba cut off and made a slight correction to express solidarity. "—we stand for."

Kankuro nodded, not missing the intention behind Kiba's correction. He was picking up subtle cues already and making it clear that he was with Gaara thru and thru, no matter what Kankuro had to say against it. Still, there was an edge of uncertainty to his voice, as if he were questioning Kankuro, imploring him to explain what could cause Gaara to shift between such extreme views.

"I suppose he's desperate now," Kankuro mused.

Hope returned to Kiba's eyes and Kankuro knew that Kiba wouldn't question things any further. Even if they had fought so hard to be the couple that defied all odds, Kiba was quick to get over himself and renounce his principles for Gaara if that meant they could be close again. Kankuro should have expected as much. For as long as he could remember, Kiba had always looked at Gaara with such reverence. He would stop at nothing to be together. This was the man who'd shown Gaara blind devotion even in Gaara's most gruesome hour.

At that point, Kankuro could do nothing but fully resign to defeat. He'd just have to accept it now. He still couldn't understand why anyone thought this was a good idea or why they thought it would even work to begin with at all, but he realized that being half in and half out would only promise Kiba a painful death. There were so many factors to this situation that made it dangerous. There would be a very small window for anyone to get Gaara away from Kiba once he sank his teeth in. And, frankly, it was Kankuro's duty to guide his siblings. It was his responsibility to lead their coven as their father's eldest son, and he couldn't turn his back on them now. It was against everything Kankuro felt, but he loved his family more than even himself. And if that meant blinding his own eyes and standing at their side, he would fall in line.

He took a cleansing breath and released as much negativity as possible. "You'll be okay," he promised Kiba, even if it felt somewhat empty. "Dispel the fear. Latch on to the hope." He began nodding his head and Kiba mirrored the action.

"Okay," Kiba murmured.

"I can't take you in there if you're gonna be a mess," Kankuro went on. "He won't be able to control himself, so only feed him positive emotions if you can and just... just try to stay calm."

Kankuro wanted to slap himself for giving advice on how to survive an intentional attack he was about to facilitate. It seemed so fucking sick. It was what it was though, so he stuck to his guns and brought Kiba up to the suite. There would be no sense in making Gaara wait any longer. After all, he could tell that Gaara was teetering on the precipice of control by now. There was little time before he just started tearing down walls.

Next thing Kankuro knew, he was two steps into the suite with all eyes on his body. He looked around at the expressions of askance on everyone's faces, wondering how long he'd been standing there in thought. Just a moment ago, he was in the lobby. But now he was here, and he was grabbing Kiba's wrist tightly, preventing the brunet from entering the room any further. And everyone was watching him, expecting him to let Kiba go, to let the plans proceed.

Gaara's eyes, though, were trained unwaveringly on the contact between Kiba and Kankuro. Kankuro thought it a great feat that Gaara hadn't just snapped instantly. His breathing was heavy and his eyes bright as fire, but there remained a sense of control he hadn't exhibited for a long time. Kankuro understood that Gaara was stretching himself thin to wait. He was waiting for Kankuro to release Kiba. He was trying to respect Kankuro's feeling of responsibility for Kiba. He was trying to give Kankuro a moment to cope.

Perhaps it was because Gaara felt Kankuro's fears and insecurities clearly that the man gave pause. Perhaps it was because he knew that he wouldn't be able to temper himself once his lips finally met Kiba's skin. Maybe it was because he needed Kankuro there to protect them all. It didn't much matter why the man paused. It just mattered that he paused at all. Kankuro could appreciate that, so he used the moment to find his peace with this situation.

He closed his eyes to escape the stares and breathed deeply. And when he reopened his eyes, he locked them on Kiba's inquiring gaze. Sure that Kiba could, and should, be calmer but not sure how much time he had left to make that happen anyway, Kankuro just let the man go. His fingers didn't have a chance to move even a centimeter from Kiba's skin before Gaara was upon the brunet, but Kankuro had expected that.

One of Gaara's hands yanked at Kiba's hair to expose his throat while the other arm snaked around Kiba's waist and held him close. Kiba's initial reaction was to yelp as his hands flew up and grabbed each of Gaara's shoulders, but then he whimpered as an intense flood of venom rushed into him and began to burn his veins. His breath grew shaky and his hands fell limply from Gaara's form as Gaara slumped over into a possessive position.

Kankuro crouched too, his eyes locked on Gaara's. His lips pulled back into a snarl, the one thing that got through to a vampire in such an instinctive mode. Gaara could recognize emotions in this state, but he couldn't understand them. Words would be lost on him, so emotion was pointless to try to employ. Body language was clear and concise though, so Kankuro left no room for interpretation. He was instigating a fight, letting Gaara know that he too had a claim on that human, and he wasn't going to let Gaara get away with him so easily.

Kankuro tensed. He knew the opportunity would come at any moment. He had to be ready. There would come a point when Gaara would have to switch between injecting venom and sucking out blood. That was Kankuro's window, and he had to watch for it raptly.

Even though he began to worry about Kiba, Kankuro refused to let his gaze waver. All he could do to ease Kiba's pain at this point was rip them apart as gently as possible, and that meant that he had to wait until Gaara's fangs were retracted. Finally, Gaara reached the point where temptation was too strong to hold off any longer. He expected Kankuro to attack, so he was able to drop just underneath Kankuro's reach when the elder sprang toward him. Kankuro didn't even give him a moment to taste Kiba's blood though. As quickly as Gaara had maneuvered out of the way, Kankuro had turned and grabbed one of his shoulders. Not wanting to hurt Kiba, Kankuro pulled and slammed Gaara down onto his back. The initial shock caused Gaara to loosen his grip on Kiba as his eyes scrunched up in agony and he wheezed deeply.

Kankuro had to pause long enough for Temari to pull Kiba out of harm's way, but that was enough for Gaara to get the upper hand. He jabbed Kankuro in the throat and tossed him to the side, his eyes snapping to lock onto Temari. A loud hiss crackled the atmosphere and Temari turned so that Kiba was inaccessible to Gaara, hissing back just as vehemently. Kankuro wasn't kept down for long though. When Gaara tried to lunge at his sister, Kankuro grabbed his ankle and tripped him before throwing himself on top of Gaara. He pinned Gaara down by grabbing both of his wrists and sitting on his back. Though he was in a completely disadvantageous position, Gaara continued to thrash.

The sound of Gaara's voice was nothing if not animalistic. Kankuro tried to hiss him into submission for a few seconds, but he quickly realized that such was getting him nowhere. Instead, he just let the heat of the moment go and calmed himself. He didn't even try to dupe Gaara by fabricating anything positive. He simply let it all disappear and became as empty as he could be. If Gaara was going to conform to anyone's mood, it was going to be a mood like that.

In his last moments of consciousness, Kiba looked past Temari at Gaara with an expression that twisted sadness and pain into one. And all Naruto could do throughout the entire ordeal was stand by in awe and flinch at the more intense moments. Temari touched his arm gently, stealing his gaze from the exchange between Kankuro and Gaara. She gestured for him to follow and he walked up the stairs and followed her into the master bedroom, where she'd lain Kiba to rest. In a split second, she closed the door to block out the commotion from below and was back at the bedside.

"It'll die down soon," Temari assured.

Naruto nodded his head in recognition, but Temari could see that he wasn't entirely there. She could see, and feel, him zone into Kiba and slowly tune her out. She wasn't sure what he was seeking in Kiba's mind. He might have just been afraid for Kiba's sake. Or maybe he was just observing the change. In any case, she patted him gently on the shoulder and left the two alone.

For longer than Naruto could track time, he sat there tuned in to Kiba and watching his every move. Their close relationship made it easy for him to utilize his third eye on the brunet, so it wasn't hard to experience Kiba's change entirely. He could feel when they were just getting to the climax, to the peak of the transition. Just as the moment approached, a loud scream jolted him out of Kiba's body. His head snapped toward the direction the scream and he felt the emotion paired with it bowl into him intensely. He steadied himself and then hurried out the door to look over the banister.

"What's wrong?" he asked, slightly panicked.

There was no immediate response, but Temari finally glanced up at Naruto and answered, "Their bond is breaking."

"And that hurts?" Naruto asked, having to raise his voice to be heard over another one of Gaara's cries.

Neither Temari nor Kankuro answered that question, as the answer was obvious. Naruto understood by the expressions on their faces that Kankuro and Temari were too concerned with Gaara's pain as they watched him clutch his chest to really care what Naruto was saying anyway. So he just turned back to Kiba.

Across the room, Kiba's form grew ever-stiller on the bed. His chest, moving almost imperceptibly at this point, filled with what little breath the expansion would allow. Naruto watched Kiba's chest lower slowly on an exhale until it just... stopped. Gaara finally fell silent, but Naruto was more absorbed in the shock of the fact that Kiba was fully dead. He knew this had to happen, but logically knowing was a whole other thing than physically seeing Kiba actually die. Naruto's breath got caught in his throat and it really dawned on him how different things were going to be from then on.

In the midst of Naruto's awe, Kiba's chest kicked back into action. There was a tiny jerk before it slowly began to lift again as he drew in a prolonged breath. Naruto felt a presence at his side and he looked over to see Gaara timidly moving past him. He studied Gaara's profile, noting the tear streaks on his face, the bright blue tint of his eye, the way his lips were parted by his ragged breath. He still held one hand gingerly over his chest and he walked as if it hurt to move quickly, but he edged closer to Kiba nonetheless.

Despite the physical discomfort he must have been feeling after his long struggle with Kankuro, Naruto got the impression that it wasn't anything physical that made Gaara move so slow. It was emotional. Gaara was finally able to see Kiba through clear eyes after so long of looking at him through a haze of bloodlust. And beyond that, he was looking at a whole other man. Kiba was no longer a human. He was a vampire now. He embodied everything Gaara had tried to keep from tainting his perfect existence.

A shuddering breath caught in Gaara's throat and he froze when Kiba's eyes blinked open. Naruto felt himself being tugged backward carefully until he was behind both Temari and Kankuro, but his eyes never left Kiba's body.

"He's gonna wake up in a craze, not understanding what he's feeling or why," Kankuro informed in a whisper.

"Gaara will soothe that," Temari added.

Even though the concept had never been explained, Naruto understood why the bond had to be broken for Kiba to change. When Kiba, the human, died, so did everything they'd ever known as a couple. Kiba was a changed man now. He was no longer going to offer the same love. Rather than transcend, their love was reborn. Their bond was shattered and rebuilt to be made stronger. Naruto knew he was about to witness what the true power of love could do. It was a strong force for humans, and it was even stronger yet for someone like Naruto. But it was amazingly strong for vampires, and it was this love that had finally saved Kiba and Gaara from themselves. He knew that they were all about to see something beautiful, the reuniting of two souls destined to be one.

Kiba's eyes darted back and forth across the ceiling a few times, staring as if it were some strange creature. Naruto released a relieved huff of breath when he saw the movement of Kiba's eyes because it was confirmation that Kiba was definitely alive. He was probably going to be inaccessible for a while, but he was totally alive again. Well, vampires never liked to refer to themselves as living, but the point remained. Seeing Kiba's body literally come to a complete halt had made Naruto feel like he couldn't breathe until he was certain Kiba's body was functioning again. But it was, and so he could breathe freely.

Of course, Naruto had formed a trend of breaking many vampires with that simple act alone, and this situation was no different. Kiba's head snapped to Naruto and his nostrils flared, at which point things got out of control very quickly.

Kiba became an instantaneous blur. He vaguely began to retake shape in the small space between Naruto and Kankuro's back, and Naruto could see it happening just a split second before it did. His third eye did him no service though. Seeing it in his head was all good and dandy, but there was physically no way for his body to react that quickly. Yet, somehow he found himself looking at a profile view of Kiba's face anyway as his body leaned heavily to the right. His shoulder just barely cleared Kiba's line of motion.

The act was instantaneous. The time it took for Kiba to get from one end of the room to the other was amazingly quick, but Naruto's reaction had to be even quicker. Yet, it felt as if Naruto were watching Kiba from a rift in time, as if time had slowed down incredibly. He could feel his body shifting further away from Kiba, and he was fully aware of every millimeter he covered. He shouldn't have even been able to conceive of such quick motion. Yet, he was enacting that motion himself so easily.

Kiba's eye snapped to Naruto's face and broke the moment. Before Naruto's mind could worry about anticipating anything further, Kiba was gone. The next place he reappeared was on the bed back across the room where Kankuro had thrown him. The force exerted was more than Kankuro had intended to use, but he also hadn't intended Kiba to be so quick. It wasn't that he was necessarily faster than anyone. He just had no delay time between thought and action. His instinct drove him, so his reflexes were capable of being totally unhindered.

Having already been in motion to grab Kiba, Gaara came to a halt where Kiba had just been standing. And since he was there right in front of Kankuro's face, he figured he might as well express his disapproval of that action. He hissed at Kankuro, who responded with a defensive snarl of his own.

"Gaara!" Temari hollered, struggling to hold Kiba back.

Both brothers snapped their heads to their sister, not even having noticed that she'd moved. Kiba was too quick for anyone to waste any time sneering at each other. Someone had to have hands on him at all times, and Temari was struggling with that at the moment. Though she clung firmly to his back and tried to hold him in place, he kept throwing her arms off as if they were toothpicks, scratching her up in the process.

"Help!" Temari yelled just before she lost all traction and fell on her ass as Kiba pulled away.

Gaara snapped into action. The way he grabbed Kiba and slammed him down onto the bed by his chest should have seemed rough, but his voice came out so soft and soothing that it could be considered nothing but loving.

"Shhh," Gaara cooed.

Unlike the damaging demeanor he'd used against Temari, Kiba didn't lay a harmful finger on Gaara. He tried to push at Gaara's chest for freedom, but the expression on his face changed immediately. There was fear and maybe a bit of agony. When Gaara gazed into his eyes deeply, he did settle significantly.

"That's your friend," Gaara said softly. "Naruto. You don't wanna hurt him. Focus here, on me."

Gaara stroked a hand down Kiba's face, and Naruto thought it was extremely daring to take that hand off of Kiba's chest. Kiba didn't try to get away though. In fact, he fell almost completely still, as if the entire world were held in Gaara's eyes alone. Gaara had returned to the man Naruto had met so many months ago. His eyes were soft, lighting only for the man in front of him. His tone was gentle, special for Kiba. His touch was careful. His entire being shifted to accommodate Kiba, to express an unspoken yet unmistakable vow of love.

"Amazing," Naruto whispered, entranced by it all and forgetting the threat to his life. "He's just... cured..."

"Cured?" Temari repeated tensely, having taken up a protective stance in front of Naruto again. "No."

It didn't matter who Naruto was referring to, Kiba or Gaara. This was not a cure.

"The first few moments of feeling the bond to your mate are euphoric, I hear." There was a slight change in her voice, climbing up past the tense alertness she displayed and making her shoulders relax ever so slightly. "They could care less for anything that isn't the other right now..." she added softly. And Naruto would bet that if he could see her eyes, they would be full of longing. She was with Kisame, but maybe they weren't as serious as Naruto had always just assumed they would be.

"But there's no cure for the thirst," Kankuro added, glancing back at Naruto. Temari glanced sideways at her brother, who returned her gaze when he added, "The bond is a cure for nothing."

Temari nodded in understanding, thankful for her brother's attempt at comfort.

Kankuro looked back at Naruto. "It's strong and it can keep you out of some very low places, that's for sure," he conceded, "but it can drag you down too. It's not always a good thing. For now, they may be lost in some euphoria, but Gaara will remember that he was feral only a couple hours ago when Kiba's urges push past that. Neither of them have the will necessary to resist, which is why you have to go."

"Oh, right." Naruto suddenly remembered that his friends were still dangerous creatures, no matter how tender the moment seemed to be.

"There's a studio one floor below that you can hang out in for the time being," Kankuro informed.

"But—" Naruto began to protest, wondering why he couldn't just go across the hall like he always did.

"Suite 1," Temari interjected, catching on.

"Now, Naruto," Kankuro demanded when Naruto opened his mouth to voice his thoughts again. "They're not gonna be this lucid forever."

Somewhat begrudgingly, Naruto did as he was told and left. Upon reaching his destination, he had to pause to just be impressed by the space of suite one. When the elevator doors tried to close him in again though, he jumped out.

First to demand his attention was the far wall, which was covered entirely in glass. He noticed that the studio had the same adjustable tint feature as the living suites above because that was all that could explain why it was so dark in the bulk of the space, except for the window pane farthest to the right, which was only tinted about half as much as the rest. The lighting let in by the tinted windows was dim. The tint at its highest could make a room fairly dark, but Naruto knew the suites above well enough to know that the tint on the darker panes was only at about halfway, which was enough light to see the features of the room just fine.

He glanced around the left half of the room, flippantly noticing the lounge area nestled next to the windows and the different types of storage cabinets that were directly to his left. He glanced briefly to the right, long enough to note that the area was a kitchen, and turned his attention to the most interesting part of the room. The bulk of the right half of the space was taken up by two columns of tables covered in various pieces of art. Most of the pieces were paintings, but not all of it was on canvas. Naruto could see pottery, old furniture that had been painted over, and a variety of other knickknacks that had been given an artistic touch.

Naruto mused that the space was probably Gaara's. Perhaps his art had been cathartic for him as of late. He tried to imagine Gaara in his usual crazed state painting a picture, which made him smile in amusement. The room was so quiet that Naruto could hear his footsteps echo when he started to moved toward the corner of art. Most of the art strewn about the tables was in line with the brightest window pane, so he was able to make out their features fairly well. Focusing his eyes as a bijuu could do helped too.

He meandered slowly around the table closest to him. He paused at each piece only momentarily, but he stopped for a prolonged period at a sculpture of a woman that was set on the ground between two tables. She was a few inches shorter than Naruto and only the basic cast form was complete. The molding clay to create the features had just begun to be put on. Almost everything below the neck was just a hard cast, but even so Naruto admired her form. There was some molding on the chest where two clavicles took slight shape. There was some clay on the neck, but most of the molding had been focused on the face so far.

Her features were beautiful. There was a small, pixie-like nose that peeped out. Her lips were thin and delicate. It was her eyes that really caught Naruto's attention though. They were, by far, the most detailed pieces on her form so far. They'd clearly been worked on tediously. He stepped closer, peering carefully at the detail, but his concentration was interrupted by a quiet sound. His heart started slightly and he whipped his head toward the windows. He leaned to see past some of the taller art pieces and realized that there was a form sitting right in front of the window. It became clear to Naruto by what he saw that the person was painting and the noise he was hearing was brushstrokes.

Naruto watched the motion of the person's hand, not moving or saying anything. He just listened intently. Shouldn't he have heard a person in a room this quiet? He focused to zone in on the sound of life—a heartbeat, slow and steady. Then came the slight whir of breath, which Naruto decided was abnormally slow. He was watching the person's hand as it painted strokes across the canvas, and there was no indication that the person wasn't breathing properly. Yet, Naruto decided that there was no way anyone could breathe that soft and slow.

Just when he made a final decision about what type of being he was seeing, the figure paused and turned their head. With the light behind them, though dimmed, it was difficult for Naruto to make out any definite features. What he'd seen so far was basically a silhouette, but he could see a slight smile on the person's profile as the light curled around their face. He didn't need his sight to know this person though. Hell, he didn't need any of his senses. Just his heart would do.

"You like her?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto's eyes flitted back to the sculpture and he nodded. "Very much."

"It's not quite right yet," Sasuke pointed out, his voice suddenly very close. "The feel is still off."

Naruto glanced to his side to see Sasuke standing beside him just a couple feet away, staring straight ahead at the sculpture. He could vaguely sense something spark in Sasuke's heart as he looked at the piece of art, but Naruto didn't try too hard to unravel it. He didn't hone in on it at all. Just as he didn't need to be a bijuu to recognize Sasuke, he didn't think he needed to be one to understand the man either. It almost felt like using his senses to dig into Sasuke deeply would ruin the integrity of whatever he found. He wanted to be connected Sasuke by the heart and not embellish anything.

So he'd let Sasuke set the pace. Sasuke could decide for himself how much he would open up and how much Naruto would receive from him. Naruto himself was open to anything Sasuke had to give. The question now was how much Sasuke was willing to share. And how open was he in return to Naruto? The answers to these questions were the things that would, inevitably, determine how prepared they truly were for each other's company.

Sasuke stepped forward and paused before hesitantly raising his hand and touching the face of the sculpture. It'd been a long time since Sasuke had touched this particular piece. He'd only just recently been able to take it out of storage and place it where he could see it again, but to acknowledge it so directly was something new. He was glad to be sharing this moment with Naruto, because it felt like a chance to prove how much work he'd done with learning to open up.

His fingers moved carefully across the apple of one cheek and the semi-constructed bridge of her nose before diverting up and around to trace the shape of the eye socket. Once his fingers reached full circle, he paused again.

"These are perfect," he murmured reverently.

Naruto paused sympathetically. While Sasuke wasn't flaunting his emotions too openly, it was still obvious that this was a tender moment for him.

"The eyes are everything," Naruto eventually pointed out. "Windows to the soul and all that crap."

Sasuke smiled and pulled his hand away. He looked back at Naruto over his shoulder with a light curiosity and asked, "You think I should I paint her?"

Naruto's eyes shifted to the sculpture to seamlessly avoid having to meet Sasuke's gaze. If he did, he knew he'd be sucked in. They weren't ready for that though. They were still feeling each other out. The last thing Naruto wanted to do was hole into Sasuke when he wasn't even sure the man was open to his presence yet. He shrugged casually, but Sasuke was wise to his covert tactic of avoiding. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke was tuned into every crevice of Naruto's being.

"I think you oughta do whatever pleases you," Naruto replied.

"But I want your opinion," Sasuke insisted, his gaze stuck to Naruto's face.

Naruto could sense the energy rolling off of Sasuke's body, and he decided that he didn't really like it. Sasuke was preoccupied with proving a point, so much so that he was forgetting to worry about the subtleties, which was all that mattered to Naruto. Naruto almost sighed, because it was clear that Sasuke was the one who was overly eager, which was known to be his domain. In the end, his answer was based on that fact alone.

"Color would make her..." Naruto trailed off, knowing the point he wanted to make but unsure of what word to use to make it.

"Real?" Sasuke suggested, but Naruto shook his head no.

"Fake, actually," Naruto said definitively. "It'd be distracting. It'd pull away from what she's really trying to say."

And Sasuke really needed to get her message before Naruto would accept him again.

Sasuke smirked, amused by the fact that Naruto was so confident that he could understand Sasuke's art so easily. "And what's that?" he asked.

Naruto could sense a slight smugness to Sasuke's tone, but he ignored it. Instead, he answered very seriously, "Nothing."

Sasuke almost chuckled at the pure simplicity of the reply, but the coolness to Naruto's expression as he finally looked at Sasuke's face drained all the humor away immediately. Even as Naruto's gaze scanned everything but Sasuke's actual eyes, there was an intensity to it that put Sasuke in the same serious mood.

"Then again," Naruto went on, "she's saying everything, anything you wanna hear."

Sasuke's lips pursed in thought and he looked back at his art piece, stepping back a step to appraise her more fully. Then, he nodded thoughtfully. "So... she's appeasing?" he asked curiously.

"Mmm, not exactly," Naruto disagreed. "I guess I shoulda said anything you need to hear," he corrected.

Sasuke had to recognize that Naruto's reply was sort of deep. Maybe he did understand after all.

"She certainly has a knack for putting the truth on display," Sasuke assured. His voice wasn't restrained at all, but the emotion emanated from it in heavy waves. He stood still and silent for a few long moments just to let Naruto feel what he was feeling before eventually asking, "Would you pay for her?"

A memory flashed in Naruto's mind. He walked through an art gallery full of art that did nothing to him. It all sat vaguely unrecognized on the walls around him, but there was one piece that sang volumes and reeled him in. It was clear and concise in his eyes as he remembered very nearly every little detail in it. In that gallery was where he'd first met Kiba. He never did get the art piece he wanted so badly.

I would like to have a piece of you in my home...

The words vibrated Sasuke's entire being, but Sasuke didn't know where they came from. He honestly didn't know whose thought it was. Naruto's, or his? He felt like it wouldn't even matter at this point though, like they were getting so close to one that it was silly to even try to separate.

"You selling?" Naruto asked, bringing them both back into the present moment.

Sasuke snorted softly and shook his head no. "She's nowhere near done. Just wondering."

"You like her too much to give away," Naruto guessed. "I always imagined you as someone who gets too attached to their art to sell," he added in a playful tone.

If what Sasuke felt hadn't been so heavy, he might have laughed and been thankful of that light tone. Alas, he was stuck in his head, thinking of his attachment to this particular piece and how it wasn't something to be made light of at all.

"I'm very attached to her," Sasuke admitted softly, and it was clear to Naruto this was another tender moment in the happening. "—so much so," Sasuke went on, "that I had to stow her in a dark corner for a long while, because I couldn't look at her, let alone sculpt her."

Sasuke had been inviting Naruto almost too eagerly to explore his aura, but Naruto hadn't experienced all that much this meeting nonetheless. It was almost as if Sasuke were giving Naruto permission to peruse him freely, but he wasn't doing what Naruto was. Naruto wasn't giving Sasuke freedom to unravel him. He was just being open. Sasuke wasn't going to hold Naruto back, but he wasn't letting himself go either. He was stuck somewhere in between, and as his emotions grew more raw and pure, that in between space grew smaller. As many strides as he'd made, there was still some aversion to emotion that he had yet to escape. It was building up so tightly in his heart then that he began to feel uncomfortable, so he blocked it off bit by bit, making Naruto think the encounter was coming to a close before it ever really began.

"I loved her so much that I couldn't name her for a very long time," Sasuke added, trying to balance his inclination to shy away with some remnant sense of openness, to prove that he wasn't afraid to be vulnerable for Naruto.

Naruto gave another sympathetic pause before asking, "What'd you eventually decide on?"

For a split second, Sasuke considered lying. But that would be to undo everything he'd done, so he forced himself to embrace the truth. Still, he could only manage a murmur of the word. "Ren."

The name did something to Sasuke, something he couldn't escape. There were too many unresolved issues between he and Ren still, too many wounds to seal up. While he'd come to peace with her absence, he'd yet to even touch on her actual loss. When it came to her, he found that he only knew two settings. He was either totally unmoved, or completely undone. And even then, neither of those reactions actually involved an outward expression. He could crumple to pieces on the inside but look no different on the out.

As much as he wanted to let himself be freely seen by Naruto, Sasuke could not help but confine the emotions inside. Then again, as much as he tried to control himself, he could not help the way his heart reacted with such severity either. Pain ripped through him as if unimpeded, but he was able to dial that down into an outward expression of nothing further than a thick gulp and the trembling exhale that followed. As for what made its way to Naruto, the leakage ended up being so small that it could be ignored. After all, Naruto had his own reaction to experience.

He felt a lot of things all at once—shock, pain for Sasuke's sake, curiosity. In the end, it helped Sasuke calm down to focus on Naruto and how little he felt what Sasuke was feeling.

Sasuke thought he understood though. Because Naruto already felt so much on the subject already, he just didn't have the capacity to focus on Sasuke. Of course Sasuke wasn't parading his pain, but Naruto could find it all on his own if he really tried. Thus, he wasn't trying. Plus, he didn't seem to be open to Sasuke the way that Sasuke was open to him anyway. Sasuke was in and around Naruto's aura as if it were his own. Naruto wasn't even trying though, so maybe he just didn't understand how to be that connected to Sasuke yet. But Sasuke couldn't give him that. Naruto had to find it for himself.

Naruto still didn't understand the details, because Sasuke still hadn't divulged, but he did understand that Ren's tragedy was what had made Sasuke who he was. This was her. These were her eyes, her perfect eyes. Unsure if it was appropriate, or if it would even be fruitful, to ask about her story, Naruto chose to make a simple observation to start.

"You look similar," he pointed out. "Now that you're healthy again, I can see the resemblance well."

Sasuke said nothing at first, but he did smile softly to himself. That was enough to relinquish him of the heavy grip on his heart and urge him back into casual territory. So Naruto had noticed all that Sasuke had done to improve himself. Naruto could feel the smugness fill Sasuke's aura again and things shifted right back into seeming like Sasuke was only here to prove a point.

"I have a proposition for you."

Yep. Here it comes.

"No thank you," Naruto immediately interjected, already able to predict where things were going.

Sasuke looked back at Naruto and the blond averted his gaze, looking down at the ground. He could vaguely feel the complexity of Sasuke's reaction. The man felt a lot of things in one moment, and Naruto knew that what he'd say next would only further hurt Sasuke's heart too. It wasn't going to be easy to say this to Sasuke, not when the raven was so damn eager to get things underway, not when he was trying so hard to show Naruto that he was ready.

Naruto bit his lip and worried it hard. "I... I'm not..." His voice began to disappear with his conviction.

Sasuke understood though, so he wouldn't force Naruto to say it. There was a sadness in his eyes that he didn't want Naruto to see, so he looked away as he said, "It's okay."

Naruto looked up at the back of Sasuke's head and Sasuke shrugged, adding, "Whenever you are, I'm ready."

Thinking it was best to leave it at that, Sasuke flashed away. It seemed like an instantaneous thing to Naruto, and he was slightly shocked to hear Sasuke's voice coming from far away again.

"I owe you something."

Naruto looked over to see Sasuke back at his stool, paint and brush in hand as if he'd never stopped painting in the first place.

"If you want it, it's on the counter to the left of elevator," Sasuke informed.

To be continued...

Author Note: I have read this chapter so many times, and I think I finally have it right. None of my chapters are beta'd (though I am looking for one!), so please excuse any errors. I believe there are 4 chapters left! Yay!