Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Closer ❯ Chapter 38

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Reiko was shivering. From the cold and from the look in Sasuke’s eyes. He felt so…awkward standing in front of him. So flustered. He thought that when they finally found him he would just blurt everything out, to get it out of the way. But now with the reality of the situation gazing hard at him with those unreadable red eyes, his courage was failing him. He should say something more, but his tongue felt thick and his heart was trying to escape his ribcage. He couldn’t do it! He couldn’t speak or think just now. He had so many things to say but his mouth just wouldn’t work! This was his Dad, but Sasuke was a stranger to him. And considering the kind of stuff he was into now, Reiko was a little afraid of him. He couldn’t help but think about Naruto being a jinchuriki and Sasuke was Akatsuki. The same Akatsuki that destroy Leaf and killed so many people. They were brought back to life later, but the fact remained that they still died. If Naruto hadn’t gotten through to Pein, they would have remained dead. And Sasuke had almost killed Itachi.

He could fell Sasuke’s cold chakra run through him and he shivered mentally, remembering the feel of it when he controlled Juugo that one time.

And Ino…he managed to tear his eyes from Sasuke’s gaze. Something bad was wrong with her. He never felt that kind of power before. Not even when she used her seal back in Leaf during the invasion. It felt so different, almost like the chakra in the Summon Realm. It had the same feel of Naruto’s strange Sage Mode chakra. He wasn’t able to feel where it came from because Ino’s whole presence saturated the field.

“Is she going to be okay?” He managed to ask with a watery voice. Sasuke cuddled her close to him, cradling her like she was a baby.

“Reiko, why did you call Ino your mom? What’s going on? How do you know her?” Sasuke demanded. Reiko forced himself to meet his eyes again. Why was this so hard for him?

“Ino…she is my mom.” He insisted softly. “I know it sounds weird, but it’s the truth!” He desperately wanted to just run away from this whole thing. He didn’t know what to do! Ino was the one who was going to tell him and now…

“Explain.” Sasuke commanded. “Look at me and tell me everything.”

His eyes widened at his tone and he took a step back. “I mean…she had to…and then---gah!” Reiko grabbed the side of his head, angry that he couldn’t put a whole sentence together. Where could he start? “C-can we go back to the inn? I can’t think out here!”

“Sasuke.” Reiko was surprised to see Yasuo here. His golden eyes lingered in Ino for a moment, a fleeting kind of concern flashing in his eyes. “The kid is overwhelmed and Ino is out cold. You should head back to Chi Waters.” He told him with logical calmness.

Sasuke studied Reiko for a second before glancing to the side to acknowledged Yasuo. “And you?”

Yasuo heaved a sigh. “As much as I would love to hear this story, I gotta do something about this mess.” He motioned to the three dead bodies in the snow. Blood had turned to ice slush and Reiko could still smell the sharp iron of it lingering in the air.

Sasuke looked back to him. He didn’t have to say anything, Reiko instinctively bolted forward to lead the way to Starry Nights Inn when he raised a single brow. It was late, but there were still some people awake and they didn’t pay much attention to them. The inn loomed just beyond a pachinko district. Cheery sounds and lights mingled with the loud bawdy laughter and chatter of the nightlife. Inside, he slowly hiked up the stairs to their room. He was contemplating what to say to Sasuke when the dreaded moment came. What if Ino was right? What if he didn’t believe them? What would happen? How could he prove it?

He fumbled with the room key, managing to insert it after a few awkward tries. The squeaking door sounded so daunting! He hurried and hit the lights, turning the dial to low. There was a small living room-like area when they first entered that had a small dining table. The bedroom was down a slender hallway. It was warm and clean, with a full size bed and a small reading couch. The mattress was heated and he folded down the blankets so Sasuke could lay Ino down.

She looked so pale and lifeless. If he didn’t feel her strum of chakra, he could have pegged her for dead. And that was so scary for him. He wouldn’t know what he would do if he lost her. Sasuke unsnapped her cloak and freed her from the blood spattered garment. Reiko pulled off her winter boots. When she was settled, he moved away to give himself some space between he and Sasuke. The following silence was soooo nerve raking he felt like Sasuke could hear the thundering of his heart in the tranquility of their bedroom.

“Where do I even start?” He finally murmured softly, undoing his own cloak. He fingered the soiled garment, not wanting to look at the person in the room who was watching his so very closely.

“The beginning.” Sasuke said, settling himself on a chair taking control of the moment. His eyes were dark again. The beginning…

“Ino was supposed to tell you everything and now…” He swallowed hard and summoned enough courage to meet Sasuke’s heavy gaze. “I guess it all started when she was cursed with Kabuto’s seal.”

Sasuke silently thought back to that incident. “The flower?”

The boy nodded. “It’s called a Lotus Guardian. It had to sacrifice its chakra to save her and when it did, she became indebted to the Earth Spirits.”

He remembered Orochimaru saying something like that. Something about a contract. “Continue.”

Reiko sank on the foot of Ino’s bed. “She had to give something up to fulfill her contract and they wanted me.” Sasuke was still with tension .What was he saying? “After y-you let her go back to Leaf, she found out…about me.” He sighed and cradled his head. “The Akatsuki came to Leaf and almost killed her Sensei Asuma and then she had to do that Body Soul Exchange jutsu and it weakened her and when she had fight them again she wasn’t fully recovered and she said she started bleeding and when they got back to the hospital—“ Sasuke could barely keep up with him, he was talking so fast. And he wasn’t making sense.  

Then, a moan interrupted Reiko’s confusing explanation. He looked immensely relived by it. Sasuke didn’t move from his place, but he watched them closely. It took a lot of self restraint not to go to her, but he had to see something. Reiko pushed his hair from his face and Sasuke could see her in his profile.

“Reiko…you’re…okay?” Ino whispered weakly, letting the boy help her sit up.

Reiko nodded. “I’m okay but…” He looked up and met Sasuke’s eyes. Ino turned and he watched in pleasure as her whole body stiffened in surprise. “I tried to explain but I think I made him more confused.”

Ino’s color was coming back and she snorted softly. “I understand.” She said, kissing him on the forehead before taking his face into her hands. Her thumb brushed off the flaking blood on his cheek. “Go take a shower. I got it from here.”

Reiko shot him one last look before nodding and scrambling off the bed. He grabbed his bag from the floor and fled into the other room, closing the door with a loud slam. Ino winced slightly and rubbed her neck. “This day just keeps surprising me.” She muttered, before throwing her blankets off. He waited, finding himself feeling awkward with her all of the sudden. It had been more than a year since they were last together. Part of him thought things would go back to the way they were before. But so much had happened with him and he could tell it was the same with her. There was this wedge between them now, like they were strangers almost. And this silence was not helping the matter. So much unsaid emotions hung between both of them but they didn’t know what to do with it.

“So…” She began, fiddling with her fingers.

He smirked and leaned in, bracing his forearms in his knees. “So…”

She let out a breath and finally looked up.  “I’ve been looking for you.”

He cocked a brow. “So I heard.” He knew this wasn’t helping matters either, but falling into this easy cockiness ways was just instinctual for him. He had to suppress it. “How did you know I was in Lightning?”

Her eyes darkened. “Some Cloud nin came to Leaf to talk with the Hokage. They said…” She leaned forward looking so adorably serious. “They said that you captured their Eight Tails. That you were part of Akatsuki now. Sasuke, what they hell is going on? Why would you do that?”

His amusement left him for a bit and his expression tightened. “A lot of things happened since we were last together. Apparently you went and got yourself a son?”

Ino shifted her eyes away uneasily. “So we’re going to talk about me first?” She was silent for a while. “Fine.” She locked eyes. “What do you want to know? About Reiko?”

He scowled. “Yes. How do you know him? Why is he calling you his mother? Why does he have a Sharingan? Who is he?”

A little smile touched her eyes. “You’re going to freak out after you learn everything.” She slid off the bed and stood in front of him. With her so close, his whole being seemed to become acutely aware of her. She kneeled in front of him, between his knees, resting her hands on his thighs. In the back of his mind, he could help but think that she was in a very appealing position.

“I want you to see everything.” She whispered holding out her hands. He had only been in her mind once, when they were experimenting with genjutsu. It had been an enlightening experience, being inside of what made Ino, Ino. With his Sharingan burning in his eyes, he leaned into her and twined their fingers together to latch onto her chakra. His tomoe whirled and her blue blue eyes spiraled away until he was in her consciousness. It was a white place, different than his red and black Sharingan world. She was standing a little away from him, arms behind her back with a serious expression on her heart shaped face.

“We should start a little after my return to Leaf.” She said, turning around and looking into the distance. The white environment shifted into outdoor scene. Colors and smells like she remembered hit his nose. She was healing a battered looking Naruto. Behind that main memory there was a few lingering memories of her battle with Akatsuki that played like a slide show against the sky. “I was really exhausted after. I used the Body Soul Exchange jutsu on Asuma-sensei so he wouldn’t die and it took a lot of chakra.” She murmured.  He remembered reading that jutsu. He was surprised that she used it. She had told him that she wouldn’t take the chance. He guessed when it came down to it her desperation outweighed her moral consciousness.

In her memories, looking at it through her perception he saw the way her world blackened and he could hear Choji screaming her name before Sakura came into view. Through her eyes he saw the shocked expression displayed on his old teammates face. She was yelling at Shikamaru to hurry and pick her up and take her back to Leaf.

“What was wrong?” He asked as the scene changed. Ino looked over her shoulder with a little smile.

“You’ll see.”

That made him very uneasy. Warning bells sounded off in every recess of head when the next memory came. It was darkness, but two hushed and furious voices came through.

“How could you miss this? Didn’t you do a check up and run tests when she got back?” It was a man who was talking.

“Of course we did! It was the first thing we did and they were all negative. All were negative!” He recognized the voice of the Hokage, Tsunade.

“This can’t be happening! She’s only fifteen!” In her memories, she recognized her own father voice, so he knew who it was as well. The elder Yamanaka sounded mournful and frightened. Sasuke could relate…it was the same feeling that was building up in him.

“Ino…” He was dreading what was coming next. The back of his neck prickled with something akin to trepidation.

“Shhh.” She soothed, not looking at him. That did not make him feel better!

“She didn’t lose it, thank Gods. I don’t know when she’ll wake up.” Tsunade told Ino’s worried father in a softer tone.

“How far along?” Inoichi whispered. Cold numbing shock spread through his chest. No…

“She’s well into her fourth month.” Ino turned to him, eyes softening. He felt like he was suffocating in here. He wanted to escape this whole memory!“She’ll be fine here Inoichi. We’ll monitor both her and the baby very closely.”

“You don’t have to look like your whole world just ended!” Ino’s amused jab told him that he looked just as lifeless as he felt at the moment. “I was freaked out too.”

He wet his lips, forcing some of his sanity to return. When he looked at her, really looked at her he could see Reiko stare back at him. He took a step back. “You were…” Ino nodded. “But we…” Were never careful. He didn’t even think about all of that at the time. He didn’t want to dwell on the consequences of what could happen. But he always had some kind of cautious little voice whisper to him that maybe he should be concerned. Maybe a part of him thought it would never happen. But it did. He had plans of reviving the Uchiha, but not this early!

“But he’s ten!” He exclaimed. What was her ludicrous explanation to that fact? She had to be lying to him.

Ino looked like she was enjoying his distress which thoroughly annoyed him. “There’s more.” The background changed. They were in the hospital again and she was sitting up in bed with her father sitting next to her. He forced himself to pay attention, forced himself to calm down.

“So…what are we going to do now? You should know…”

“I heard everything. Shikamaru is right…”

Shikamaru’s voice echoed over them. “We have to think about her safety. We have to keep this information from reaching Orochimaru, Kabuto, Sasuke, the Council and the village. Not to mention Itachi and all the rest who find out about it. My Dad told me about the Summons’s realm and how the creatures and spirits protect it. What safer place to stash the kid then one of these realms?”

Sasuke rage grew with ever word he heard. “You wanted to keep this from me?” He hissed, grabbing her wrist. He wanted to hurt her right now. And kill Shikamaru. He had all the rights in the world to know about this! She phased out and reappeared a little ways from him.

“It was the best thing at the time.” She said with a defiant glare. “I thought Orochimaru was going to take over your body and I would die a million times over before I let him near Reiko! Even if I did manage to get word to you, what would you have done? Come back to Leaf? Drag me around with you until you found Itachi?”

“I told you to trust me! I had planned on killing that Snake bastard from the very beginning!”

“You never told me what you were going to do!” She yelled back, eyes flashing dangerously. “At that time, he was still alive and I was never going to go back to them just to be by you. Think about what would have happened if they found out! I would never take that chance, so yes! I wasn’t going to tell you about it when I found out. It didn’t mean I would never tell you!”

Behind her, another image appeared. “Stupid men making me go through this on my own! I hate them!” Ino was screaming into the sky.

Whatever Sasuke was about to say got stuck on his throat when he saw a haunting image. Itachi was staring down into Ino’s surprised eyes, inches from her face. He could see every eyelash, every pore and line on his older brother’s face. Sasuke memorized it all.

“Hate is such a strong word Yamanaka. One I know very well.” Sasuke continued to gaze wordlessly into the memory, soaking in his older brother’s face. He felt a painful lump lodge in his windpipe and his eyes burned with soul crushing pain. He took a step forward, wanting to jump into that lifelike memory. He looked tired and pale. His dark eyes had that sparkle of life in them, completely different than the last time he saw him.

“You met with Itachi?” He asked hoarsely, refusing to turn from the image. He wanted to burn into in his mind.

“He found me when I went to stay with my mother at Tazo Compound.” She murmured.

“I hate that you guys are so stupid!” Memory Ino wailed making Itachi step back. Sasuke couldn’t help that soft feeling of humor that came when his brother stared incredulously down at the simmering blonde, holding her little slipper that she hurled at him. He remembered times when Itachi’s cold shell of indifferent arrogance broke time to time when they were younger. Those little rare smiles were like precious mementoes for him. And Ino managed to pull an expression from him by screaming like a psycho hellcat. Her memory wavered into a different shot. They were in some kind of crumbling building with a glowing fire at their feet. Itachi had offered her his Akatsuki robe when he saw her shiver from the cold.

“No thank you.” She turned snootily from it, only to have him toss it over her head with a flick of his wrist.

“I wasn’t asking.” Sasuke smirked at that and the way she had succumbed to putting the cloak on. Itachi sat across from her, studying her before speaking again.

“Aio filled me in on the latest development.” An image of a big black cat with green eyes juxtaposed next to Itachi before fading. Aio was the cat Reiko was traveling with when he first met him. Sasuke shook his head at the irony of it all. If only he knew about him then…things could have been different. He thought it was just fate being cruel when he met the boy. He reminded him so much of Ino, his heart throbbed every time he looked at him.

“Aio was Itachi’s spy.” Ino explained. “I met him when I saw that hidden place in Nakano Shrine in Itachi’s memories.”

Sasuke sucked in a breath. She went to that place? He searched her composed expression to read anything she was thinking about. Then she must know about the Mangekyo Sharingan. Why would Itachi show her something like that? “You still have those dreams?”   He had been pissed when he found out about them. Itachi had made her go into a coma just so he could show her the night of the massacre. What else had she seen? What had Itachi shared with her that he could share with him? He felt a little betrayed by that thought.

“I don’t anymore.” She didn’t meet his searching eyes. Instead she let her memory resume so that he couldn’t ask her anymore questions.

“A kink in your plans I take it?” She touched her belly, over the swell of the growing life nestled in her womb. At least I got to see her like this, he thought. It reinforced the bombshell that she had really been pregnant. That Reiko was…

“Yes.” Itachi answered firmly.

“Yes well it’s a kink in mine as well. One that I have to work around.”

“Plans don’t always work out the way we want them to. Things change. People change.” Itachi’s voice was chilling. She moved her memory forward, skipping ahead. She was still with Itachi, but he could tell this memory was coming to an end. “Your friend Shikamaru is right. This is for the best.”

Sasuke’s chest tightened. Itachi wanted to keep him from knowing to?

“I know it’s the best thing to do, but it doesn’t make it any easier.” Ino said sadly.

“Of course not. Sometimes the best things are the hardest to do Yamanaka.” Like lying to him and letting Sasuke hate him for the massacre. His still felt the swell of bitterness to all Tobi told him after he had killed Itachi. But he wasn’t a fool. He wasn’t going to take the Masked Man’s word on it and blindly go along with whatever plan he had for him.

“He left after.” Ino said, her memory wall going blank again. Sasuke stared for a long time at the blank screen just digesting everything he was seeing and hearing. His mind was slowly wrapping around this unplanned detour in his life.

“What’s next?” A shrill cry filled in the silence and he winced at the sound.

“Reiko is next.” She flushed a little. Another image emerged with a red faced infant matching the shrill cry. Ino was giggling between pants in her memory. She was leaning against Shikamaru in a bed. His long spider legs were on either side of her. For a second, white hot jealously laced through him when he observed the way her teammate leaned over her shoulder to look at the squealing baby being cleaned by a heavyset older woman. That should have been me. He thought darkly, glaring at the way Shikamaru was rubbing her shoulders.

“He looks so gross.” Ino breathed.

Shikamaru chucked. “And bald.” Sasuke’s jaw clenched when Nara stroked Reiko’s head and Ino glowed at him with a little smile before leaning back and resting her head against Nara’s chest.

“Next.” He said through gritted teeth, wanting to reach into that memory and punch her teammate for being the one who got to be with her when Reiko was born. He felt so cheated.

The following image was a silent display of her team and Team Kakashi traveling through a well worn highway. “We had to go to Earth Temple to make the exchange.” So Naruto and the others know about Reiko.

“You said you wanted to keep him safe but you keep on letting more and more people know about him.” He muttered in annoyance. Naruto was making idiotic faces over Reiko while Inoichi fed him.

Ino shrugged a shoulder, unaffected by the daggers his blood red eyes were skewing her with. “I trust Naruto and the others. You used to once.”

Once…but it felt like his life in Leaf was just a distant memory. Once, he and his team had been close. Once he felt acceptance with the rest of the Rookie Nine. Once he felt like staying in Leaf and getting stronger was a possibility. “Why were you going to Earth Temple?” He pushed back those feeling and reburied them at the bottom of his heart, in the back of his mind. No need to go into that useless past.

Ino sighed. “When I was cursed with Kabuto’s seal a Lotus Guardian appeared.”

Reiko had mentioned the same thing when he tried to explain to him. “The black flower.”

“Yes. When I was ten and was blessed with my Earth Brand, I had to sign a contract. If my life was ever in danger, the Earth Spirits would send a guardian to save it. But in return for their sacrifice, I had to sacrifice something of equal value.  A life for a life and they wanted Reiko.”

He quickly tore his eyes from the memory of her entering Earth Temple. “So you gave up our child?” He practically roared. She flinched from his rage.

“You think I wanted to do that?” She whispered, eyes filling with tears. “You don’t know what it felt like when I gave him to them! I wanted to die I was so disgusted with myself. What kind of mother would gladly give up their newborn child? But it was something I don’t regret doing. If I had to give him up to save him, to protect him then I would. I would gladly burn in hell for the rest of my life if it meant protecting him!”

“It’s for the best.” Itachi’s voice yanked his attention to her memory. He met with her again? Sasuke thought suspiciously. He must have followed her and the others to Earth Temple to watch the exchange. And he didn’t stop her from turning over Reiko, because he thought this was for the best he thought bitterly. You too brother? Sasuke felt insulted by that mistrust.  

“Right.” Ino rasped kneeling over an unconscious Choji.

“You can cry if you want. You should cry.”

“Sasuke always tells me not to.”

“I’m not Sasuke.” Itachi sounded angry.

“Ninja aren’t supposed to cry.”

“Don’t be a ninja right now. Be a mother.”

Then Ino’s sorrowful wail in her memory invaded his hearing and Sasuke felt his stomach drop. “I may not win mother of the year for leaving my child in the Summons Realm for four months, but I did what I had to do to keep him safe from our enemies. I won’t let you make me feel guilty over a decision I knew to be the right one!”

Gods he hated seeing her cry. Every time he saw tears streak down her face that hidden sentimental part of him wanted to hold her and make it all better. It always reminded him of the time she cried by the river bank after making her first kill. She cried for the men whose lives she took even though they had tried to kill her. She had been so vulnerable and she had needed someone to hold her and comfort her.

Once, when he was still a Leaf ninja, he had been on a mission with his team. He was on lookout while they slept, but then Sakura had come to relive him when it was her turn. When he got up to leave she had stopped him and softly asked why. Why did he choose Ino over her? He didn’t owe her an answer, but he gave her one anyways. He told her evenly, that she always wanted him, but Ino had needed him. That day by the river had been the changing point for him. He had always been wanted, but never truly needed.

His head began to swim, telling him that she was ending her jutsu and closing her mind to him. The room in Starry Nights Inn came back into focus and Ino stood up.

“Wait.” He stood as well and caught her wrist. She twisted free, but he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. His nose was buried in her sweet smelling hair and he breathed her in. “Wait.” She was stiff in his embrace until he rested his lips on that spot of bare skin just above her purple tunic. She shivered. “This…is a lot to take in.” He murmured against her warm flesh. He wanted to taste it, to taste her again.

“I know.” She whispered relaxing a little in his arms. “My whole life changed when I found out about Reiko and I did the best I could under our circumstances.” She sounded defensive, but she was also trembling and he tightened his hold on her, keeping her pressed against his solid frame. “I had to fulfill my contract or my whole clan could have been destroyed. Including Reiko. I can’t change what I did, but if I had to do it again, I would.”

He believed her. He wondered what he would have done in her situation. There was some lingering resentment against everyone who had decided it was best if he was left in the dark about Reiko. But damn it, he just couldn’t stay mad at Ino. He should hold her the most responsible for keeping this from him. If it had been some other person, he would have destroyed them slowly…with demented pleasure. But he had felt her desperation and fear when she thought of Orochimaru or Kabuto finding out about Reiko. And he really wondered, what would he have done?

If she got in contact with him, would he have been able to put his revenge on hold? Would he have had enough self discipline to kill Orochimaru with that secret weighing heavily in his thoughts? That battle had been about mind games and wills. Orochimaru had wormed into his consciousness like a maggot. Would he have uncovered his secret thoughts about Ino and Reiko buried deep in his heart? He knew for sure the Snake Sannin would have used them both as leverage against him. And if Sasuke had lost…they would both be under his power. Imagining Orochimaru raise his family using his body made him sick to his stomach. Imagining him touching Ino, and keeping her forever chained to him because of a child as he lived in his body made a sudden swell of possessiveness take hold. He never thought about that possibility until now. He had always been confident in his abilities and his carefully laid plans that he would overcome the body take over. He had triumphed in that battle and Itachi had removed the Snake Sannin completely from his person when they had their final showdown. Yet…if he had known, if Orochimaru found that weakness…

He didn’t know if he would have made the same decision, but he…understood it. He brushed his lips up to her ear and she moaned.

“Don’t do that. We still need to talk.” Ino fidgeted in his arms, but he was stronger than her and effortlessly kept her in place. He didn’t want to talk anymore. “Sasuke stop distracting me!” She protested when he licked her ear lobe. He smirked against her jaw bone. She still got worked up so easily. He body flickered in front of her and took advantage of her surprise by pressing his mouth to hers, catching that delicious little half gasp moan. He drank from her like a starved man, invaded her mouth with his tongue. When he broke the kiss she opened her eyes, glazed with desire.

“You still want to talk?” He murmured, rubbing his thumb over her wet bottom lip. Say no.

“Yes.” She breathed slowly coming back to her senses. No no no, he wouldn’t let her do that.

“Too bad.” He whispered, crushing his mouth back against hers. It took mere seconds before she began to kiss him back. A desperate, wild kiss that he matched eagerly. He wanted her to get lost in him like she used to do. Ino had been right, he was distracting her for a reason. He didn’t want to talk about himself just now. Not until after she was weak and spent, lying numb and breathless in his arms. They had been apart long enough, he thought possessively, deepening their kiss. Even if their reunion has been like this with her revealing so many secrets, he meant what he had said. He would never let her leave him again…