Insanity's Slip
Chapter Twenty-Three
By Boejangles
Sakura frowned looking down at the small blonde boy. She wished so could understand what was happening. The boy had broken into a fever after his last fit of shaking. Her finger traced over the small black mark at the base of the boy's neck. She jumped when a groan passed through the boy's lips. Her eyes darted around in fear thinking the boy was about to start shaking again and Sasuke was not here to help. He had left to get more wood, to try and get his brother's outside temperature up and break the fever.
Glimmering blue eyes attempted to stay open against the burning sensation they felt. Naruto groaned again feeling a horrible pounding. He moved his hands to his head and sat up in a jerking motion that Sakura promptly screamed and then fell on her backside.
The blonde turned to his sister figure in confusion wondering what had happened, when a pain shot through him telling him he needed to more. He stood up in a quick motion and started walking toward the entrance, only knowing where it was because of the increased light.
As he was making his way out of their hiding, his brother was making his way in.
"Brother, you are well. I was so worried!" Sasuke spoke in a rushed voice, dropping the wood, "You should not be up, and you need rest."
The blonde looked up with very little recognition in his eyes, pain blinding his sight. "Get out of my way."
The older boy frowned at his brother's actions. "I will not move, now go back and lay down right now."
Naruto's eyes flashed red before black. "Never boss me around ever again!" His voice started deathly quiet then ended in a scream, as his arm wiped out and stuck the older boy sending him into a nearby tree.
The dark haired boy let out a scream as the wounds on his back reopened when slammed against the tree.
Sakura, who had followed the blonde after recovering from shock, stood wide eyed at what she had just seen. The kind innocent shy ball of sunshine had just punched his older brother into a tree. "Naruto"! The pink haired girl ran to her older teammate trying to make sure he wasn't hurt, while still staring at the blonde in confusion.
Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by clapping. "Bravo. We were going to threaten them to bring you out, but it looks like you handled the curse seal quite well. I am actually impressed you like. Now, I owe dickwad here my next month of pay checks. Oh well, now that you are alive we can kill you." With that the strange boy grinned.
The young blonde growled at the three new comers. "Leave or die."
"Aww, Dosu, I don't think he liked your introduction," the other male of the group spoke with fake hurt in his voice.
"Zaku shut the fuck up, less talk more killing," the only female said irritated.
"Kin, you whore, let me have my fun," the male shot back.
The blonde growled again and glared at the three. "Not fast enough," he spoke referring to his command to leave.
"Yo, kid, you can't talk to your elder like-" The boy was cut off as a black mass shot out of the child he was speaking to and shot towards him.
Naruto stood glaring at the three as the inky blackness bled from him and struck out towards the trio. The dark appendages that had grown from him twisted around the three and squeezed. "You talk too much."
The trio from sound struggled against the black mass, but they were bound and shooting chakra outwards to break it was only absorbed making the binds stronger. Kin screamed out and coughed up blood. Zaku and Dosu were struggling not to cry out like their teammate, only making pain filled grunting noises.
"Pathetic," was all the blonde said before glaring harder making the inky creature tighten one hundred fold around the three helpless ninja slicing them into pieces. The inky eyed blonde glared at the corpses before walking up to them. He reached down to the one who had first spoken and pulled out a blood soaked scroll. The black mass was raging wildly behind him.
The small boy's eyes shifted back to blue as the blackness was absorbed back into his body. He stared at the destruction he had caused wide eyed. He started to shake uncontrollably all color leaving his face. The young boy couldn't comprehend what he had done. Falling to his hands and knees he emptied the contents of his stomachs onto the dirt floor of the forest. When there was nothing left to come up, he dry heaved, until blood took over as the liquid leaving his mouth. The copper taste filled his mouth and overwhelmed his senses as he choked up another mouthful of blood. The boy's arms gave out and he fell into his own mess of stomach contents and blood.
The scroll the blonde had been holding rolled over to a shell shocked Sakura and Sasuke. The older boy was the first to react and ran over to his brother; pushing the fact the boy punched him into a tree to the back of his mind. He rolled the boy out of the mess to keep him from drowning. He looked down at the liquid, horrified at how much blood his brother had just spilled without receiving a single injury.
The only female looked green and ready to be sick herself. She reached down and picked up the bloody scroll barely registering it was the one they needed. She lost the battle over her stomach and bent over sending everything she had eaten the past day onto the earth.
Sasuke used his shirt to clean up his brother, trying to concentrate on the little thing to keep from panicking. However, he lost his resolve when the small boy in his arms started convulsing again like he had before he woke. "Sakura, get your shit together, we have to get him to the tower now." He looked down at the younger boy, "Don't die."
The pink haired member of team seven looked over at the two males and paled at the condition of the youngest one. "Naruto…"
"Move it!" The older male screamed.
The red fox growled fiercely at the black creature. "Leave him alone"!
The inky creature simply laughed in response. "You are killing him you know- tearing him apart little by little from the inside out. If you keep it up, he will die. Just sit back like a good little fox, let me be in control, and everyone will live happily ever after."
"Never!" The fox shouted back, moving to look at where the blonde was cowering in the corner. "Naruto, come to me."
The black creature frowned and looked at the child then to the fox wondering what it was thinking.
Naruto slowly used the wall to stand up looking from one creature to the other. He took a small step towards the fox.
The dark monster frowned and moved to stop the boy.
"Naruto! Run! Run dammnit, come to me!" The red creature screamed seeing the monster's movements.
The blonde's frightened eyes moved to the black thing before taking off in a run towards the furry creature. He dove between the bars as a cord like thing wrapped around his foot. He let out a scream of pain as it tightened around his ankle. However, it quickly dissipated as a fluffy tail was wrapped around him and he was engulfed in a warm red glow.
The inky creature banged on the cages of the seal in fury, "You can't do this. Let the boy go."
The fox only growled holding the boy protectively. "Go to hell."
A/N~ Neh, neh, what do you think? You like it? Well tell me what you like or dislike about it. Praise, complaints, questions, worries, request, all are welcome. I have the next few parts sketched on paper waiting for me to have free time to type it up. ^.^ Hope you enjoyed. Please review, I love feedback.