Disclaimer: I in no shape or form own the characters or settings of Naruto or Fairy tail
AN: Hey guys! been a while huh? well a long while haha...sorry for leaving you guys hanging, been about a year since I updated this well I have no excuse except well...a writer's block and life...yes, dear old life and it's sweet problems but fret not, for I have returned and shall continue to update my stories once more.
Chapter 4: Distractions
The golden yellow rays of sunlight greeted Sasuke's eyelids, much to his dismay; the sun had risen, It was morning; his coal black eyes held weariness, slowly they opened up and Sasuke's gaze rested on the camp fire that was now extinguished. Lazily, he shifted in his seated position and observed his surroundings; His gaze slowly fell on a lone figure who lay huddled up on the rocky ground. Her scarlet hair lay unsettled and her back was turned to the avenger. His cloak lay on her as a cover for warmth. The cold night had passed but wounds hadn't healed, both physical and emotional ones.
He wondered as to what was next...would he leave for konoha directly? or would he take his time, his wounds wouldn't heal in a moment and his eyesight was blurring with each glance he took. He decided to take his time to reach the village. After all, a part of his vengeance was now complete. Danzo was dead but that matter settled itself into the back of his mind. The matter at hand was more pressing...Where exactly was he? the land of lightning? he had to wonder. The land of lightning did consist of more water than land and he mused as to if that is where he exactly was. Shrugging it off, he slowly raised himself to his feet, but on doing so, flinched in pain and halted his ascent midway. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself up and stood to his full height. His whole body screamed at him; wobbling, he placed one foot forward and began to walk. But much to his dismay, he couldn't and in the next moment; he fell, grabbing the back of the tree trunk; he collapsed onto the ground. Pain engulfed his whole body as he began panting.
My body...is this...the result of overusing the mangekyou sharingan?...how can I be this weak?! compared to Itachi...I overused it in just two battles. I need to rest a little more but...
His coal black eyes slowly turned towards the sleeping figure that lay a few meters to the right of him. His gaze stayed on her for a few seconds and then he slowly placed his back against the tree trunk; his right leg lay sprawled out on the ground before him and his left leg was folded in front of him. He closed his eyelids and hoped to rest some more.
"Sasuke..."
The avenger's eyes immediately snapped wide open and much to his dismay, a thick blackish red fog surrounded him. He grew confused as a voice called out to him once more by his name.
"Sasuke..."
His attention lay in front of him and then his eyes widened ever so slightly, in surprise but more so in horror. "No..." he whispered out in disbelief "You're not real" he shouted back, cold sweat hit his face as the voice warped into a stern one, but yet held a gentle hint of kindness.
"Sasuke!...is that anyway to talk to your mother?"
"My mother is dead!" Sasuke shouted, his eyes lit up in rage and the sharingan came online, his breath hitched however as another deep voice made itself audible to his ears.
"And whose fault is that?..you could have stopped me, Sasuke..."
Sasuke's cold red eyes slowly glanced over his shoulder to see the illusion of his brother standing behind him once more, robed in his akatsuki cloak and wearing the standard attire of the dreaded organization. Itachi's cold voice hit him harder with the next statement.
"But you couldn't because you were...too weak."
Sasuke's sharingan slowly swirled and faded into coal black eyes as the statement melted itself into his very being. He gritted his teeth as he moved to stand up, only to falter onto his knees and look up to the illusion of his older brother.
"You made me this way!"
"I did so that you would be able to avenge the clan and you did, but...who would have ever thought that you would let others choose your path for you."
"What?" Sasuke paused. "what are you saying?!" He questioned out in confusion, cold sweat hit his face and nervousness bit down on his whole body. With a callous smirk, Itachi bursted into a mirage of crows, blood splattered itself on the ground below Sasuke and screams tore through his ears, Itachi's cold voice rang out to him.
"The one thing the sharingan can't see through are...lies"
The avenger's eyes widened and in the next instant; he found himself sinking, turning his eyes to the ground beneath him, a sea of blood and he found himself drowning. With a scream, he awoke from his dreams, sweating. A gasp and the sound of whimpering reached his ears and his gaze lifted itself from the solid ground beneath him and forward. His eyes widened ever so slightly and his neck drew itself back to see Erza looking at him with a gaze of fear. The front of his akatsuki cloak lay on her shoulders while the rest of it was dragged across the ground beneath them.
"A-are you alright, nii-san?" she questioned, whimpering.
Sasuke took a moment to process what was happening at the moment, ignoring her question; he looked around and observed his surroundings. Placing a right hand over his face, he questioned himself for a moment on what exactly had happened. Itachi's voice rang through his mind much to his disbelief.
"The one thing the sharingan can't see through are...lies"
What did he mean?...Sasuke wondered, lost to his own thoughts; Erza on the other hand tilted her head to the right in a confused gaze and called out to him once more "Nii-san?"
It struck Sasuke's attention and the avenger slowly but surely turned towards her with his coal black eyes boring into her. "Go to sleep..." he told her, no hint of emotion in his bland voice, Erza's eyes blinked in surprise at the sudden command, she ignored him and pressed her question to him. "Are you alright? nii-san?...you were shouting, did you have a nightmare?"'
Sasuke's cold gaze turned on her and he had to marvel in surprise at the girl's courage, he ignored her question and then yet again, he ushered out a command to her
"Go rest, I won't tell you again." and with the command given, his gaze turned to the camp fire that was put out. I should get moving but what he said, lies? could it be?...he thought out and then he turned his gaze towards his front to find Erza still in front of him, keenly observing the avenger. They spent the next minute in silence as Sasuke contemplated how to question her.
"Erza..." Sasuke stated, his voice cold and bland. "Why did you lie?"
"Huh!?" Erza gasped out in surprise, Sasuke's whole demeanor had changed at the moment and she could sense a faint sense of warmness from him, she however looked away in surprise "I didn't lie, nii-san"
No choice then...
Sasuke's coal black eyes swirled into the sharingan and his cold voice rang out to her "I'll ask again, why did you-"
His black eyes widened ever so slightly and his ears perked up at the sound of footsteps, it was faint but the sound of a breaking stick was all that took for Sasuke to raise caution, his face contorted into an unsatisfied frown. Erza's head slowly wobbled from left to right, the avenger's eyes quickly turned to her and locked itself with her eyes. The sharigan protruded and disappeared as Sasuke let out a command.
"Release"
Erza blinked a few times and in a moment came out of her trance, in a second; Sasuke scooped Erza and placed her under his right arm and held her by her waist, he quickly acted and placed his left hand on her mouth effectively stopping any question she may have on the matter. Her eyes moved frantically and locked itself onto the right side of Sasuke's face. His face was marred with dust, yet his coal black eyes gleamed with sharpness as he waited for the origin of the sound. A few moments passed and the sound of footsteps penetrated his ears. Erza's eyes darted frantically from Sasuke to the ground below her and in a few moments, she realised why exactly Sasuke had hoisted her up next to him.
"I thought I heard something over here..."
"I told you it must've been your imagination"
Two men, Sasuke observed; one clad in a bright purple coat and the other in blacl, each wore a inner shirt neatly tucked away behind their respective coats, a combination of light blue and dark pants adorned their legs and with leather shaped boots. Sasuke watched as the two of them examined the campsite below them.
"It wasn't my imagination, looks like somebody was here..." the shorter of the two deduced, kneeling down to examine the burnt collection of wood; he studied the worn out camp fire before turning his head to his colleague.
"Looks like they still are..." the taller of the two exclaimed.
Sasuke's coal black eyes widened in surprise and he jumped off the branch of the tree he was currently on with Erza by his side dodging what appeared to be a bolt of lightning. His eyes regarded each of them for a moment and he stood to his full height with Erza still under his arm.
"Well, what do we have here?"
"Heh...listen here pal, you look pretty banged up; how 'bout we take that little girl off your hands?"
Sasuke glared at them, he knew what they meant; and what they meant wasn't a good sign for Erza at all. Their faces disgusted Sasuke, lust was screaming off of them and he knew that if he let Erza out of his sight for a minute...no, he could think of the consequences later.
"So how 'bout it? hand over that girl and we'll let you go...hell, we'll give you some cash while your at it..."
"How 'bout it? we'll make it worth your while"
Through all this, Erza stay motionless and looked up to the avenger's face; she couldn't make out what his thoughts were, was he actually going to give her up to them? she wondered and yet though doubts still plaqued her mind, her heart was completely at ease.
"Hey..." the shorter of the two began "What's he doing?"
Erza perked up at the slow crackle of electricity, her eyes widened as she watched him raise his right hand, it sparkled with electricity; she knew that attack, it was the same one that had taken down the magical turrets back at the tower of heaven, it was also the same thing that he had used to take down the gate that held them hostage.
"Leave..." Sasuke stated, his cold black eyes boring into their very souls.
The two assailants wore a look of surprise on their faces as they watched the avenger's right hand light up with blue electricity "Hey..." the shorted of the two began "This guy...is he a lightning mage? I haven't seen electricity of that color at all.."
"Better be careful..." the taller one whispered.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, the two of them weren't leaving; he had enough chakra to take them both on but he wondered as to how long his stamina would last. His eyes slowly scanned the two of them infront of him, neither of them moved an inch. All three of them waited for the other to make the first move. Growing impatient, the taller of the two attacked first.
"Don't get cocky!" he shouted, Sasuke's right hand flickered with electricity even more violently and he glanced downwards to the little girl he currently held.
"Close your eyes..." he stated. Erza's eyes widened and she looked up to the avenger "W-Why?"
"Just do as I say" Sasuke answered back, his tone now exhibited a slight hint of irritation and she had caught it.
Erza followed and in an instant; a scream of pain tore her ears. She opened her eyes and watched as the taller of the two assailants fall down onto the ground. Blood began flowing and his body was drenched in it. Sasuke's eyes slowly turned to the second assailant, the electricity in his right hand never died down and he could feel the fear revealing itself from the shorter of the two.
"Unless you want to end up like your friend here" Sasuke began, his voice calm and concentrated "get lost..."
"Y-You..." the man began, his lips quivering with rage and anger "How could y-you?!"
Erza's lone eye turned towards the man, she studied him; his knees were giving way, his lips quivering, his whole body was shaking whether from sorrow or from fear she wasn't sure, all she knew was that he couldn't fight any more. Firmly her resolve began to build at the same time as chakra began building in Sasuke's right arm, the same blue light lit up and Erza's shouted at him.
"Nii-san! don't!"
Sasuke blinked, and in surprise he looked down to the little girl huddled up under his left arm, "I already gave them a warning...they didn't listen" he stated.
Strange...he thought to himself, why was he explaining his actions to this little girl, he barely knew her! what kind of power did she posses over him that he let himself explain his actions to a child nonetheless!
"Don't kill him please" she pleaded. His eyes held indifference, and only coldness resonated; he spared a glance to the assailant and then back to Erza, his tone grew with irritation "Do you realise what you're saying?""
"Y-yes..." she quivered under his gaze.
Sasuke grew silent and then looked to his foe infront of him. "Tch..." he muttered in irritation "take him and leave..."
His left eye morphed into his mangekyou sharingan and a deathly aura surrounded he glared down the shorter of the two assailants, slowly he turned around while carrying Erza, she let out a small sigh of relief as they both turned away, she was thrown into the air above. Her lone eye widened as she let out a small shriek, it died down however when her lone eye saw the sight below her.
A knife had planted itself straight into the back of Sasuke's left arm where she had been huddled up just a moment ago, he let out a grunt of pain as he looked down onto the one who had attacked him.
"You think I'm just going to let you go after you killed him?! I'll send you to hell!" he shouted in anger and malice, his eyes widened in rage as he shouted out an attack
"Fire make:Volcano!"
Sasuke's ears perked up at the mention of an attack, his thoughts scattered as he began deducing what kind of attack this was, his answer came all too swiftly as his coal black eyes looked to the ground below him, a red circle had formed beneath him; one with words and symbols he had not seen, those that he could not understand. His eyes widened as he felt a simmer of heat and then both him and his assailant were covered in fire. Erza's eyes widened as she called out to him in worry, what she had failed to miss however was that the flame arose to meet her and consume her being as well, she brought her arms up in an attempt to shield herself from the attack, but it never came. Rather she felt the heat from the fire disappear and felt a certain warmness and as her eyes opened, the first thing she saw was Sasuke's face, the attack hadn't reached him, she felt relief seeing the avenger unhurt. He landed on a tree branch and watched as the fire slowly died down leaving nothing but a few mounds of ash in it's wake.
Sasuke's eyes held indifference as he surveyed the surroundings "He almost had me...that suicidal attack...fire make, I should've finished him when I had the chance." his eyes went on then to Erza whose lone eye did not meet his, rather it went to the wound on his left arm, her head slowly bowed in shame
"He got hurt because of me..."
As if hearing her thoughts, Sasuke's voice reached her ears "I was careless..." to a certain extent it was true, he had thought that on hearing Erza's plea the assailant would back off, he was naive, he wouldn't be suffering from the wound if he was more aware. Erza's ears perked up at the statement and she turned her head to answer
"That's not true!" she shouted, Sasuke's eyes widened at the sudden outburst "Y-you got hurt because of me..." she whimpered and Sasuke let out a quiet sigh and slowly looked down once more to the burnt corpse.
"Fire make...is it another variant of fire style jutsu? why haven't I heard of this before?"
Slowly he jumped down from the branch and placed Erza down onto the ground and he began his way to examine the burnt corpse. Erza stood still as she watched the avenger kneel down besides the small pile of ash, Sasuke's left eye twitched in pain as he glanced down to the wound on his left tricep.
"This'll have to wait...first."
His coal black eyes turned towards the lone young girl behind him. Erza's lone eye didn't meet his gaze, for fear of shame of what she had done. Sasuke's eyes grew passive as he decided his next train of thought, he glanced to her and then to the tower that lay in the horizon, the tower where he had escaped from, he had found her sprawled out on the beach; gasping for air and he had to wonder what became of the other prisoners? and then there was this strange variant of jutsu, fire make...it baffled him, Orochimaru knew every single thing that was there to know about jutsu and yet why didn't he know about this? and finally the girl behind him possessed a strange power capable of levitating and using weapons, was it a bloodline limit like his sharingan? questions droned and ate away at his mind, he silenced them at once and then his gaze lay fixated on the tower before him and his cold voice tore through Erza's shame.
"Erza...tell me what happened to the other prisoners" he stated, his voice defiant.
The scarlet haired girl let out a gasp and looked away once more from the avenger, caught in her emotional turmoil, she stuttered "I-...t-they said that they w-wanted to t-take control of the tower and s-stay there" she whimpered and Sasuke let out another audible sigh.
"You're not telling me everythi-gah!" his strain of questioning was cut in half and he was sent rolling to the side and his chidori blade was sent flying, he stopped as his back hit the trunk of an adjacent tree; panting he slowly raised his head upwards and his eyes widened to see the man who had killed himself in the suicide attack a few moments ago, alive and well. "What?!...what is he!?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed as a sick grin adorned the man's face.
"You thought you got rid of me huh?" he questioned, he cocked his neck to the side "I'm going to make you pay, you bastard"
Erza's eyes widened as well at the sudden appearance of their assailant, Sasuke's chidori blade flipped in the air and slowly but surely planted itself beside her, she gasped as the man took steps towards Sasuke; he had withdrawn a blade and moved to cut down the avenger in vengeance.
"Tch.." Sasuke grunted out in agony, he couldn't move...he wasn't completely healed yet, slowly he moved his right arm up but before he could, the assailant planted the blade in his right forearm impaling it to the ground, a shout of pain made it's way from the avenger's mouth as he writhered in agony.
"Oh no...I'm not letting you use your magic again, I'm gonna blow a hole right through your heart just like what you did to my friend and you know what I'm going to do next?"" he shouted and Sasuke gritted his teeth. "I'm going to torture that little sister of yours and then sell her to some greesy bastard, she'll be worth the dough I get."
The avenger's coal black eyes lit up in fury at the mention of Erza "S-stay away from her" he growled out in anger. "Heh..." the mage in front of Sasuke scoffed and then the avenger watched as a ball of flame was conjured up in his right arm,
"Say goodbye to your sister, pal!" and as he moved to thrust it into the heart of the avenger, with the little chakra that Sasuke had, his eyes moved to warp into the sharingan and cast a final desperate genjutstu but before he could however, his eyes widened "What?..." and the ball of flame died down, it took a moment for him to register what had happened, his coal black eyes slowly moved downwards to see Erza behind the man, his chidori blade in her grasp impaling the stomach of his assailant.
"W-what?!..." the attacking mage growled out, he turned around slowly and met Erza's defiant lone eye, with anger and pain blazing in his eyes and blood now flowing down his mouth, he raised his right arm to strike her, Erza moved back in fear and Sasuke took the opportunity and pulled out the blade from his forearm, summoning the remaing strength he had left; he pierced the man's leg with his blade striking him off balance, a scream of pain tore through the forest and Sasuke grabbed his chidori blade and slashed away.
"Die..." he stated, and in an instant, the man fell dead at his feet, blood freely flowing from his body. Panting hard, Sasuke's eyes shifted from the man slowly to Erza who stood in shock, "Heh..." a small smile played out on his lips and the next moment, he lost conciousness and his body fell to the ground.
"Nii-san!" Erza called out frantically as she zipped to the avenger's side, blood flowed freely from his wounds and the young girl desperately tried to wake him up but to no avail, a small whisper however etched into her ears, whether it was an illusion she did not know but yet it sounded so real to her.
"Thank you..."
AN: Guess I'm a bit rusty huh?...I'll get back to writing how I used to, well you know the drill...questions in the reviews, will answer them in the next chapter, until then adios!