Summary: Uchiha Sasuke isn't someone Naruto would want to spend the rest of his life with - especially since his life as a fox demon won't end anytime soon. Too bad that his wishes don't matter to Sasuke; since suicide's obviously out of question, only one option remains... .
Author's note: This chapter has been beta'd by 'XxDreaming of RealityxX' and 'Dragon in the Mirror'
Warnings: Male slash, yaoi, lemons (non-elaborate), some violence, cursing, minor character bashing (mostly Kagome)
Disclaimer: Don't own anything T.T
"Talking"
"Demon talking"
'Thinking'
'Inner demon'
Dreams/flashbacks
Chapter 1: Narrow Escape
''Naru-chan, remember to never tell a soul about your true self. Never reveal your true heritage to anyone, even if you believe the other person to be trustworthy." the old man spoke to the young child seated on his lap. The small male had rather long hair for a boy, which was a considerably curious colour; it was blond, a little spiky but soft and silky nonetheless.The boy had a heart shaped face with wide, sky blue eyes and three thin, whisker-like marks on both cheeks.
These were not the only odd things about the boy though, his ears were slightly pointed at the end, something not usually seen on humans. Though he seemed to be small for his age group, all in all, the child was very beautiful and could easily be mistaken for a girl. At that moment, however, a frown marred his small face.
''Ne, O-jiji, why can't I tell people?" the boy whined, "What's so bad about being a demon anyway?''
''Naruto, there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. Being a demon is not a bad thing. You should be proud of your heritage. Every single member of your family before you was a demon." the old Hokage explained patiently.
''Then why can't I tell?" the child known as Naruto pouted, looking vaguely similar to a chipmunk.
''You know that Konoha is a human village, do you not?" asked the Sandaime. Naruto nodded a little bit too enthusiastically, his blonde locks flopping around his head.
''You should know by now that humans tend to be afraid of demons, Naru-chan. Especially after Kyuubi attacked the village. They know absolutely nothing of your kind, besides that you are nearly impossible to kill. Humans fear things they don't understand" explained old man Hokage.
''But Hokage-jiji you are human too, aren't you? Does that mean you're afraid of me?" Naruto asked timidly, a little confused.
The Hokage chuckled, before answering, ''I was friends with your grandfather, as I was with Minato, your father. Though I do not know all that much about your mother's family, it's safe to say that I'm not afraid of you, kit."
A tiny smile appeared on Naruto's cherubic face only to be replaced quickly by a scowl.
''I'm not a little kit anymore, jiji. I'm four years old. I'm a big boy now." Muttered the small boy, still scowling.
''That may be so, Naruto, but kitsune youkai are considered kits until they are at least one hundred and fifty years old. You'll be a kit for quite some time yet. About one hundred and forty-six years to be exact" laughed the Sandaime as he ruffled Naruto hair.
"Uwa! You're mean, -jiji. That's so not fair." Naruto pouted, ratheradorably.
'' Life is seldom fair, Naruto. By demon standards you'll still be a child but all your human friends will be long gone."
Naruto smiled sadly as he woke up, the last vestiges of his dream still dancing in his mind. He hadn't had a dream about his early childhood for a long time now. This particular dream was one of the first things he remembered of his early childhood. It was one of his nicer memories. He had found a young girl that appeared to be nice and willing to be his friend. He had been so excited that he wanted to share his big secret with his new friend.
Fortunately, he had asked the old man for permission beforehand. He really missed the old man Hokage. He had been one of the few people who had really cared for Naruto, in spite of him being a demon.
Without the Sandaime he probably wouldn't have lived through the first ten years of his life. The villagers of Konoha would have made sure of that. They never did completely stop hating him.
Sighing, Naruto climbed out of his sleeping bag. After having put on his clothes, he packed up his sleeping bag. Then, fully dressed, he exited his tent.
It was still rather early in the morning; he was currently camping in a forest. What he could see of the sky, between the treetops, was covered with heavy, dark clouds. It looked like it would rain soon. Naruto was just about to eat breakfast when he felt a familiar chakra signature heading his way. Groaning, he packed up his belongings as quick as possible, sealing them expertly into a storage scroll.
Carefully, he went about destroying all possible traces of his presence. He had spent the night in a clearing. It certainly was a beautiful place, well hidden; with trees surrounding it and a small creak that flowed through it. Naruto had hoped that he would be able to stay in that clearing for a little while longer.
"This is really fan-fucking-tastic! Does this stupid, emotionless asshole never give up? Stuck up Uchiha-bastard!" Naruto cursed under his breath.
'It's been nearly a century and a half. Doesn't seem so. Sasuke was always way too stubborn,' his youkai commented.
'Why thank you for your priceless words of wisdom. I'd have never figured that out without you,' the blond snapped a response, sarcasm evident on his tongue.
'How about you get a move on?' was the only answer the blond received.
Naruto sighed tiredly. He needed to leave now; as fast as possible would probably be for the best. A meeting with the Uchiha was just about the last thing he needed at the moment - especially since Sasuke-teme has been trying to catch him for about a century and a half. The younger Uchiha had gained the eternal Sharingan after killing his brother Itachi, taking his Sharingan eyes in the process.
After discovering Naruto's demonic heritage he became hell bent on making the young kitsune his mate. His goal to rebuild the Uchiha clan was not forgotten it seemed. His main reason for that was probably because it had been his grandfather, Kyuubi, who granted the Uchiha clan the Sharingan in the very beginning.
'And what a grand idea that turned out to be,' he thought bitterly as he was jumping through the treetops.
The insane teme wanted to use the young kitsune to rebuild his clan stronger than it had been before. He was completely ignoring the fact that Naruto had yet to mature or that he had absolutely no interest in the bastard whatsoever. It certainly wasn't part of Naruto's family planning to whelp one Uchiha kid after another. But most importantly, Sasuke wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. Oh god, how he hated that stubborn prick.
He had to admit that there had been a few really close calls where the Uchiha had almost caught him. But this time was different. Naruto was close to reaching his maturity and that meant he could finally take a mate and more importantly, reproduce. Usually this would be a reason to celebrate. But for the blonde it meant that one wrong move and he could end up with that jerk as a mate for eternity, which was a very long time even for demons.
So he had two options left to get the Uchiha to leave him alone. Option one was committing suicide. Though with time that option became more alluring, suicide meant he would have to die, so that was out of question. Option two was disappearing from the face of earth and that was something he could certainly work with at the moment.
From what he knew of his heritage, his grandfather Kyuubi had originally been from a completely different dimension. The old man Hokage used to tell him that originally Kyuubi came from a place that was called Edo. According to the old man, his grandfather had left his home after a huge row with his father. What they had been fighting over he hadn't been told though.
It was the old man that had told him that somewhere in Konoha, in the old Namikaze compound, there was something that could be used as a gateway to transport him to Edo. And it was this something that would help him to get rid of his little stalker problem. The Sandaime had said that he should only attempt to get to Edo in case of an emergency. He personally thought that a horny Uchiha after his ass did count as an emergency. The only problem now, was to keep out of Sasuke's grabby hands till he reached the place. Once he was inside the compound, he should have enough time to find that certain something. Even Sasuke-teme would need quite some time to get through the protective barriers, wards, seals and traps surrounding his father's compound.
The only thing he had to now do was to get there. Should Sasuke catch him before he found the way to Edo he was screwed, literally.
The Namikaze compound was located just outside of the shinobi village of Konohagakure. Naruto hadn't been anywhere near Konoha since he was fifteen. After the village found out about his heritage, well not as much his heritage as him being a demon, Naruto had avoided the place like the plague. Even though, nobody there remembered him anymore. Humans didn't live that long, not including Sasuke, of course.
Naruto had been traveling at breakneck speed for hours. He was aching all over. His lungs burned from the lack of air and his muscles burned with extortion. It has been days since he had left that beautiful clearing in the forest and he had been running ever since. He couldn't remember whether he had ever run this fast or for so long. But Sasuke was still closing in.
Hastily, Naruto bit his thumb. He could see the gate to the Namikaze compound just ahead. The old compound was still in good order, even though it has not been cared for in over a century. It looked like new, though the vegetation had spread quite a bit since his last visit. Still it was a beautiful structure in any case.
By the time he reached the gate the wound on his thumb had already closed up. But there was still enough blood to wipe it on the blood seal pattern on the wooden gate that protected the estate from intruders. Almost painfully slowly the gate creaked open. Before it could fully open Naruto hurried inside, closing the heavy door behind himself.
Now the search was on. He had no idea what to look for, or where to look for whatever he looked for. In the end he made a large number of Kage Bunshin to search every corner of the compound, whereas the original Naruto joined in the search of the basement.
To say the basement of the Namikaze compound was cramped would be a total understatement. It was filled with shelves containing scrolls, old unused furniture and everything was covered with a very, very thick layer of dust. A feeling of dread came over Naruto. 'Fuck! How am I supposed to find anything down here?' he cursed inwardly.
He was getting rather desperate now. After hours of searching, even with the help of several Kage Bunshin, Naruto still had not found anything to solve his problem. He was running out of time. The protections around the Namikaze estate were nearing their breaking point. It was only a matter of minutes until Sasuke was able to break them down completely.
He was getting through. He could feel the barriers breaking. He would finally claim his elusive little mate, even if he had to use force.
'You can't escape me, dobe. I'll never stop going after you. What an Uchiha wants an Uchiha gets!', the raven thought, smirking in a sinister way.
Following the trace Naruto's demonic chakra or rather, youki left behind, Sasuke made his way to the basement, evading the traps expertly.
Naruto was in panic mode right now. He had found a very old and absurdly complex seal on the floor of the basement, hidden by a thick layer of dust. He was damn lucky that he had raised the dust with his frantic searching or he wouldn't have discovered the thing at all. The only thing he had to do now was to figure out how to use the damn seal. But the barriers had fallen.
He could feel Sasuke getting closer to his current location already. He had dispelled his Kage Bunshin once he had found the seal. Now he cursed himself for his stupidity. It would have been a useful distraction. He definitely needed more time to figure out how the seal worked. He just hoped the seal was what he was looking for and not just used for storage or something.
'So much for my great understanding of seals. How old is this shitty seal anyways? Why did Grandfather have to use such an insanely difficult seal? An easier one would have worked as well. But no…' he cursed internally.
'Would you stop ranting? You're wasting time,'his inner youkai reminded him.
'Finally stopped sulking?' the blond asked cheekily.
He hadn't expected the senbon that gauged itself into his forearm, though he certainly felt the sting. Confused he inspected his forearm and found the offending needle buried deep into his flesh. Something about the needle wasn't right. Then he saw it and gasped. The senbon was covered with a black substance. He felt it entering his bloodstream. It was spreading fast. Within seconds he started to feel weaker. It had to be poison. Sasuke had poisoned him.
"Don't look so surprised, dobe," chuckled the Uchiha, stepping out of the shadow.
'Well, fuck. How come I didn't notice him? I should have known not to get distracted in such a situation. Oh god, Kakashi and Ero-sennin would be ashamed of me' the blonde thought angrily.
'Now is really not the time for spacing out. Pay attention, you idiot!' Naruto's inner demon scolded.
Sasuke hadn't changed at all since the last time Naruto saw him, or better yet, had run from him. He was tall, nearly a head taller than Naruto himself and he was of course well built, no surprise there. He wore what looked quite a bit like the standard ANBU uniform, though it was all black, and he had his beloved katana strapped to his back. His face was very aristocratic looking and very handsome. His hair hadn't changed in all this time, it was still black with a bit of blue mixed in and still reminded the blonde of a chicken butt. But what made Naruto shiver were those cold Sharingan eyes.
"Poison, Sasuke?" asked a panicking blond inwardly cursing: 'Damn. What the fuck is this shit? That poison is spreading fast. This stuff is strong '
'Do something. Seeing how fast the stuff is acting, we better act now before we can't move at all.'
"What's wrong with poison? You were a ninja, too. You should know how useful it is. Poison is a tool like any other. Besides, this one is not lethal enough to kill a demon and I grew tired of chasing after you. I admit it was fun at first but it's time you stop running, dobe."
He was coming closer to Naruto and he saw no way out. His body was frozen. Whether it was from the poison or because of his fear of what was to come, he couldn't say.
"So, Naru-chan, ready to become my mate?" said the last Uchiha smirking darkly.
"Sasuke I already told you. I can't be your mate," whispered Naruto.
Though Naruto was whispering Sasuke heard him. And he didn't like what he was hearing. He's been chasing the blond kitsune for nearly a century and a half and his dobe still dared to deny him what he wanted.
"I do not care if you are unwilling, Naruto. I am not above using force," Sasuke hissed, his Sharingan spinning wildly. Naruto could feel anger rolling from the raven in waves.
With a lot of effort the blonde managed to move his body into a defensive stance with a kunai in his right hand. He wouldn't go down without a fight.
That Naruto still choose to fight him enraged the Uchiha even further. Before Naruto could react, he was lying on his back. Sasuke's katana was running right through his left shoulder. His own kunai viciously stabbed through the palm of the hand that had been holding it, pinning it securely to the ground. The wounds were bleeding heavily, the katana barely missing a lung. Naruto was too shocked to even make a sound of pain.
He knew what was coming next. Sasuke would force himself on him. The thought of being taken by force scared Naruto more than anything.
"S- Sasuke. Plea- please don't do this. I don't want to be your mate. I'm so young still. Not even of mating age yet. You once said you considered me your friend! Don't do this to me!" the blond pleaded, hoping to reach Sasuke who, once, was like a brother to him.
"That was a long time ago, Naruto. Too bad for you. I don't care about what you want anymore!' snarled the enraged Uchiha. Viciously he ripped at Naruto's clothes to expose the blonde's chest ignoring the fact that it was jolting the sword lodged deeply in the fox demon's shoulder. The blood flow increased, pooling on the basement floor, while Naruto whimpered in pain.
"Get off! Please! Get off me! Sasuke! Get off! I'm too young to mate! I don't want to! Get OFF!" the blond continued to plead, his eyes tearing from pain and the fear of what was about to happen. But the other male wasn't listening.
Naruto's inner youkai was panicking as Sasuke forced a leg between his tights. His poor heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he felt a distinctive hardness brushing against his leg. There was absolutely no way he would be mated to that traitorous bastard. But his body was nearly too weak to move, even though he was still trying to struggle against his captor. It was useless, his right hand was still pinned to the ground with his own kunai and his left hand was not of much use either. He wouldn't be able to escape this time. The poison had spread too much already and the blood loss was making Naruto dizzy.
"When we were kids you always talked about how you wanted a family of your own when you grow up. Well, Naru-chan, here's your chance. You'll look adorable when pregnant with my child." Sasuke whispered into the blonde's ear, rubbing his clothed erection against Naruto's tights at the same time.
'Oh god,' the young kitsune thought at that, shivering in disgust, 'That's not really happening.'
But Sasuke had been too sure of himself and hadn't thought about sealing away Naruto's youki. He had underestimated the blonde kitsune and his unwillingness to be bound to him for life, yet again.
'Maybe we still have a chance,' the blonde's youkai said, while Naruto was sluggishly trying to keep Sasuke from ripping the remainders of his clothes of him completely. But for the moment Sasuke seemed to be content with the amount of skin he had already revealed, he continued rubbing himself against him and lapping at Naruto's throat, seemingly searching for the right place for the claiming bite that would declare him as the blonde's mate.
'Now or never. We still have our youki. Use it. NOW!' the demon within the kitsune urged.
In a last desperate attempt to throw the Uchiha off of himself the blond flared his youki. The surge of power disturbed the dust around Naruto, uncovering the seal while covering him in dust. Sasuke was thrown backwards and hit the basement wall.
As Naruto's youki flared, the unexpected happened. The seal that was carved onto the floor of the basement activated. Naruto's blood combined with his flaring youki had activated it.
'Well fuck,' was his last thought before he disappeared from the Namikaze estate and the Elemental Countries in a flash of bright golden light, never to be seen again.
In the Palace of the Western Lands, Rei Inu, grandfather to the Demon Lord Sesshomaru, was having a very, very bad day. He was currently in a meeting with the council of elders.
The council, that had been established millennia's ago to advice the Lord of the West, had once consisted of wise and intelligent demons of different fields of expertise. Now it consisted of simpering nobles and old farts who thought themselves important. Rei Inu really didn't know why his grandchild kept these useless individuals around. The only thing these people were interested in these days was thinking of ways to get more power and influence, preferably though trying to mate their equally useless children to the most influential person they could find. Unfortunately his grandchild was the most influential individual as far as it concerned the Western Lands.
'I should have gotten rid of that stupid council when I was still the Lord of the West, it had been just about as useless then as it is now. Whoever thought a council would make ruling the land easier should be killed,' he thought.
The room they were holding their meeting was spacious and beautifully decorated, with big, decorative vases in every corner which were refilled with fresh flowers nearly every day. The only furniture it contained though was a grand round table and several rather comfortable armchairs.
'We can't have these very important people uncomfortable, after all,' he scoffed internally.
The only other beings in the room, besides Rei Inu and the three elders were the personal bodyguards of the old farts. Their hands on their swords ready to eliminate any threat in the blink of an eye. Any other person would have been intimidated, except Rei Inu.
'Pah, I could have used these so called bodyguards as a chew toy when I was a pup.'
While the council of elders held no actual power over the Western Lands, as they were still only advisers to the Lord, they unfortunately made all decisions concerning the inuyoukai clans, like mating, burials and all kinds of ceremonies for example. At the moment they were very interested in the mating one certain individual to one of their children preferably.
It seemed the three Elders, inuyoukai far older than Rei Inu himself though not necessarily wiser, decided it was time for his grandson, Sesshomaru, to find a mate for himself.
'How come these people are even on the council? Being old doesn't guarantee being wise. I should really talk to Sesshomaru about replacing them with someone competent,' he thought.
"Sesshomaru told you already that he hadn't found anyone who he was even slightly interested in. You can't expect him to mate with someone he could barely tolerate," said Rei Inu trying to keep calm, "The poor sod wouldn't survive for long. You know my grandchild's short temper."
They had been discussing this matter for several hours now and he was still unwilling to let them force a mating onto his oldest grandson. Yet they just refused to see reason and back down. They already called for Sesshomaru to discuss the matter with him personally, hoping he would come to his senses.
'Kami. If they hate their children so much why don't they just kill them outright? None of their spoilt offspring would survive a day with a pissed off Sesshomaru. It would be less cruel to just off them, really.'
"Rei Inu, Sesshomaru is over five hundred years old. Any other male of royal blood would have been mated the same year they came of age. He had over three hundred years to find a worthy mate. Since he is not able to do it himself, we will find an appropriate candidate for him," said Itomaru; the oldest out of the three elders.
"I won't let you force my grandchild into mating. I'm not my father. I won't condemn my grandchild to a loveless relationship. This will not be a repeat of my sons first mating," growled Rei Inu, his eyes bleeding red.
'The only good thing Sesshomaru's mother had ever produced is my grandson. Good riddance to that cold hearted bitch,' he thought furiously.
'And of course they would decide who would be an appropriate mate, preferably one of their children. Could they be any more obvious?' another voice taunted.
He was boiling with anger and his inner demon wasn't helping, edging him on. Who knew what Sesshomaru would do if he was forced into this. The repairs to the palace where still going from the last time his grandson's rather short temper exploded. He had laid waste to a complete wing of the palace in a temper tantrum.
"Very well then. Let's see if you can persuade my grandchild to settle down. But don't say I haven't warned you," he finally said.
'I hope he turns his anger on them. Maybe he'll kill one or two of them in his wrath, wouldn't that be nice.'
'We really don't need a repeat performance of the last tantrum. The repairs would cost a fortune.'
"Should Sesshomaru decide to throw another temper tantrum because of your decision you will be paying for the repairs for everything he destroys in his wrath," Rei Inu warned.
Rei Inu was still thinking on what to do and how to keep the collateral damage to a minimum when everything turned bright. A flash of golden light had appeared out of nowhere, blinding everyone in the council chamber.
The first thing Rei Inu noticed once his eyesight had returned to normal were the guards. Each of them had their swords drawn. They surrounded something that looked suspiciously like a young girl with ripped clothes covered in blood and dust.
At a closer look he discovered that the young youkai crouching on the floor was indeed a male and not a female as he had thought a first. The boys smell identified him as a young kitsune youkai. But what shocked Rei Inu was the condition the boy was in. A long katana was lodged deeply into his shoulder while a knife was sticking out of his palm. Both wounds were bleeding sluggishly. His chest was bare and a good part of it was covered in blood.
Slowly and awkwardly the kit began to move. His eyes were a deep red, his inner demon in control, obviously. The dust made it difficult to distinguish his facial features or his hair color.
With a pained whimper and trembling hands he yanked the knife out of his palm. Then he pulled something that looked like a thin needle out of his other forearm and before any of the shocked bystanders could stop him, he slashed his forearm with the knife that was previously sticking out of his right palm.
All he and the other occupants of the room could do, as a black substance seeped out of his wound mixed with his blood, was gape. The sickly sweet smell of the black essence told them that it was poison.
The increased blood loss caused the kitsune to sway. Wanting to help the injured kit, Rei Inu made his way over to the bleeding boy. His movement, though, alerted the young youkai to the other people in the room. A look of pure terror appeared on his dirty face, his still red eyes scanning the room for an escape route. Before Rei Inu could reassure the boy that no harm would be done him, he had already fled through the door and into the palace, the katana still sticking out of his shoulder.
'Damn, that boy can move. He shouldn't be that fast considering his current state,' he thought as he hurriedly went to follow the injured boy.
Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, was on his way to the council meeting when he first met Naruto.
Oh man, I'm sorry for the chaos. Had to make some last minute changes. Anyways, Please REVIEW