Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Delerium ❯ Delerium ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Delerium

Author: DarkSyndicate

Warnings: Yaoi, lemon (eventually), Light het (Is that a warning now?), Non-con,

BDSM (eventually), Violence, language, mind control, and a little bit of an AU, Nice Kyuubi. I think that's all for now.

Summary: Four years ago Naruto vanished from the hidden leaf village, Where did he go? and what happened to those he left behind?
Authors Notes: Oh.My.Holy.God. This story has a life of its own. It got into my head 3 days ago, and hasn't left me alone since. I couldn't stop writing it long enough to figgen post the sucker. I've been depressed trying to write this and, blahh… REVIEW It'll make me feel better.
I AM THE CRACK WHORE OF FEED BACK ^_^

~Delerium~

Pain, it was overwhelming. Completely inescapable, it invaded even the darkest corners of her mind, blocking out all thoughts save one. Keep going…don't stop…keep going…RUN. But even as she struggled to hold on to that thought, she knew it was a losing battle. As the darkness overwhelmed her, the pain receded and all she could feel was despair. She had been SO CLOSE…

Sakura sat bolt upright in bed. It was that damned dream again! It was the third time this week! At least this time she had managed not to wake her sleeping husband. Looking down at her shaking hands she sighed in frustration. She knew she wouldn't be sleeping again tonight.

Creeping quietly from the bedroom she made her way through the dark house to the kitchen where she flicked on the overhead light. Taking a glance at the clock above the fridge she almost groaned. It was barely one in the morning, damnit, and she had class tomorrow too. She sighed again and lit the stove for the kettle. Perhaps some tea would help clam her. She reached into the cupboard for a mug, which she promptly dropped when the phone rang.

"Shit! Goddamnit! Who the hell calls at 1 a.m.?!"

"Let's find out, shall we?"

Sakura whirled around and moved to a fighting stance on pure instinct, only to come face to face with her laughing husband.

"Damn, Lee, you scared the hell out of me."

He just laughed and shook his head, while reaching past her for the phone.

"Hello? What!? Ok, ok. No, don't call the police, we'll come get him. Yes that's fine, I understand. Thanks for calling us first, good bye." Sakura watched her husband sigh as he hung up the phone.

"I guess that means Sasuke's back, right?" Lee didn't say anything; he just gazed at his wife sadly before heading back toward the bedroom. Sakura followed him not saying anything till it became apparent that Lee was planning on being the one to take Sasuke home this time. As he started to dress, she put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"I'll get him. I won't be sleeping for awhile yet anyway, and a walk outside might help to clear my head." Lee looked like he was going to protest but Sakura beat him to it.

"Listen, we don't have time to argue. If I don't get there fast they really will call the cops, and we all remember how well that went over last time."

"But…"

"But nothing. Lee…you know as well as I do…he won't hurt me." Lee stopped and stood, brooding for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"Thanks love, I'll be back as soon as I can. Ok?"

"Sakura…be careful, ok? You know he hasn't really been…stable…since-" She put her hand to his mouth to stop the words she knew were coming. It was an unspoken law that no one mention -THAT name- in her presents, or Sasuke's for that matter.

"I'm sorry" it came out muffled from behind her hand, but it was shining clear as day through his eyes so it didn't really matter all that much. She smiled sadly in acceptance before turning to leave.

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She entered the crappy little bar and scanned quickly for a mop of blue black hair. She was a little surprised not to find him seated at the bar. She started to panic slightly at the thought that he had left before she got there. When Sasuke was in one of his moods only the gods knew what kind of trouble he could get into.

"He's in the back corner booth." Came the somewhat familiar voice of the barkeep. She smiled her thanks before heading off to fetch her, most probably sloshed, friend. She found Sasuke right where the barkeep said he'd be and she slid into the seat directly across from him.

"Hey" she said by way of greeting, only mildly surprised when she received no response. Sasuke wasn't the most talkative drunk. As she got her first good look at him in three months she couldn't help but sigh, he was way too thin, which meant he wasn't eating again, and he looked absolutely exhausted, which meant he most likely wasn't sleeping either. The dim lighting of the bar wasn't improving his appearance much, giving his skin a pasty yellow pallor. He was slouched in his seat; his shoulders hunched, hanging his greasy head (he apparently gave up bathing as well) and carving patterns in the wood with his throwing knife* .

"Sasuke," She put her hand on his to get his attention. He stilled his movements and brought his head up slowly. When his eyes met hers she gasped and recoiled, drawing back her hand as if bitten. His eyes…they looked dead. What was worse was that she knew exactly what would make her friend look like that.

"You found the body." It was more a statement than a question, and in all honesty she hadn't meant to just blurt it out like that. It was out there now, however, and it hung between them like something tangible. Getting heaver and heaver until Sasuke looked ready to crumble under the weight of it.

"Not…not quite…" He spoke finally, his voice coming out cracked and horse, as if he'd been screaming, or possibly crying.

"Then what?" She trailed off not entirely sure she wanted to know. Sasuke answered her by reaching into his pack and pulling out a dirty orange mass, and laying it gently on the table.

Sakura suddenly wished very much that she had at least let Lee come along for the ride. Because at that moment, she really needed someone to lean on, and Sasuke simply wasn't up to the task. She knew that Sasuke had hoped, beyond all reason, that we would find Naruto alive. What she hadn't known, until that moment anyway, was that she was harboring the same hope as well. She tried hard to hold back the tears, but she just couldn't seem to manage it. Lying there, on the table, battered and blood-soaked, was Naruto's orange and blue jacket. The one he was wearing when they last saw him four years ago.

The End! HAHAHAHAAH!!! Just kidding. Sorry I couldn't resist. I'm not really that evil. ^_^

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Sasuke did his best not to look at that jacket. Did his absolute best to ignore its existence entirely, because every time he looked at it, and understood what it meant, he couldn't breath. He remembered the last time he'd seen it whole. He remembered the last time he'd see its wearer, smiling and happy, waving goodbye as he headed home. Weather or not he actually made it there would most likely be a mystery never solved. They'd found his apartment door wide open the next day, nothing inside had been touched but Naruto was gone. Vanished, with out a single solitary trace. There was no sign of struggle, the front door had been open but it hadn't been forced.

There had been a city wide search for him, most people assuming that he was merely playing some kind of sick joke. A few less enlightened people insisted that he'd abandoned Kohana and become a missing-nin. Even the Hokage had to laugh at that one. All those assumptions proved false, however, when they found the head protector. It was lying at the base of a tree not far from the village, it was bloody and fairly well beaten, and while there was no proof that it was Naruto's head protector, there was very little doubt in people's minds.

After that people just seemed to write him off for dead. They still looked for him of course, but it was different because they were no longer looking for Naruto, they were looking for his body. Three weeks later the Hokage had to call off the search. They pronounced Naruto K.I.A. apparently the head protector had been enough proof. But Sasuke wasn't satisfied.

So he continued to search. For four year's he'd looked, searched every country, scoured every village, checked every nook and cranny, and left no stone unturned. With out a single solitary shred of evidence to show for it. Four long years of nursing a bottle every night in order to banish what might have been, and what might have happened from his tired mind. He had been on his way back to the Hidden Village of the Sand when he found it.

It was just sitting there, in the bargain bin at the local used clothing store. Nestled serenely between the used underwear and the mismatched socks. He had felt himself go numb from his eyebrows to his toenails, after all this time he had found...

something… and after four years of absolutely nothing, something, was fairly fucking amazing. He picked it up gently, and slowly lifted the little white tag at the collar. There printed in faded black block letters was one word: UZAMEKI. He damn near fainted right there in the middle of the store. He then lifted the jacket up, and buried his face in it.

It smelled… awful, like blood and urine and stale beer. But it didn't matter one bit. Not to Sasuke, because underneath all those other smells, even after four years, it smelled like Naruto. After awhile he noticed people were starring, and he managed to pull himself together long enough to pay for the damned thing and get back to his hotel room. He threw himself onto the mattress covered his head with the ratty old jacket and breathed. He fell asleep that way; it was the first time he would sleep though the night in four years. And it would be the last time he slept in any sort of peace for the next six months.

You see the jacket was a two edged sword. On one hand it brought comfort and closure. On the other it brought information and conformation. It was obvious that the jacket had been through one hell of a battle, and judging from the amount and placement of what could only be dagger holes, as well as the amount of blood staining the garment, the wearer of the jacket could not have survived the altercation. Naruto was dead. He had found the proof he had sought.

It had hurt in a way he'd not though possible, to have that hope ripped out from under him. There was so much left unsaid, so much shit that had lay between them that would never be put to rest. He would never get the chance to tell him how he felt. That was what hurt the worst. Naruto had died never knowing how much Sasuke loved him. He made his decision then and there. He would be joining his blond compatriot shortly. First he would take the jacket back to Konoha. The people who cared for him there deserved that much. Then he would go to Naruto.

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Sakura looked across the table at Sasuke and closed her eyes against the pain she saw in him. She had known of his feelings for Naruto long before even he acknowledged them. And she knew down in the marrow of her bones that before the sun was up she will have lost another friend.

"Come on." She held her hand out to him. He ignored the offer of help but slid out of the booth anyway, grabbing the jacket at the last possible moment.

"Where are we going?"

"My place, you can stay in the guest room for tonight."

He followed, too tired to argue as she lead him through the dark streets of Konoha. Lee opened the door before they even reached the front steps. He took a long look at Sasuke frowning at what he saw, the look darkening further when he glanced over his wife.

"I'd better go make up the guest room. Lee, honey, could you give me a hand with it? There's hot tea on the stove if you want it Sasuke, don't hesitate to make your self at home."

Lee followed Sakura down the hall, understanding that something was off but not getting what. As soon as the door to the guest room closed she practically threw herself into the arms of her husband taking solace in his strength.

"Sakura, what-"

"He found him Lee…" His eyes widened comically.

"What!? But…"

"Well, he didn't find him exactly, more like he found the proof he needed."

"Oh gods `Kura…should we…I mean, shouldn't we call someone? Someone to keep him from trying…from trying something stupid?"

"What good will it do? If he wants to, to do THAT, then there's nothing you or I or anyone for that matter could do to stop him. I think were ok for now anyway, his manners are too beat in to do something like that in someone else's home. And at least here he's among friends." Lee nodded and held her for awhile longer before they hesitantly broke apart and got to making up the guest room.

When everything was ready, Sakura went to the kitchen intent on escorting her charge to his bed for the evening, however when she got there she found the kitchen empty. All that remained was a full cup of tea and oddly enough his leaf forehead protector. It was a strange sort of symbolism but the message was clear. Where he was going, he didn't need it any more. For the second time that night, Sakura started to cry.

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Sasuke sat underneath a tree just outside the village. It was, in fact, the very same tree where they had found Naruto's head protector years before. There was a small monument there that Konohamaru had gotten permission to build in his honor. Sasuke thought it was a fitting location for the last moments of his life. He lovingly traced the letters embossed on the brass plaque then he reached into the carrier on his thigh and pulled out a dagger. This was it, his journey had been long and hard, but it ended tonight. Naruto, he thought, wait for me... I'm coming with you.

He raised the dagger to his wrist and pressed down, about to slice his own flesh, when he was startled by a dry rattling sound from the bushes behind him. Not wanting to be discovered he quickly ducked behind the massive tree and watched. Two seconds later a body fell out of the bushes and landed with a soft thud on the hard earth.

Sasuke watched a waited, until it became obvious that whoever it was would not be moving anytime soon. He was probably drunk and passed out. At least that's what he thought until he got a whiff of the blood on the wind. Concerned, he reached out and rolled his unconscious companion over to get a good look at the damage, and froze.

It wasn't possible. It just wasn't possible.

"Naruto…"

-TBC-

DUN DUN DAAAAAA!!!!! Oh god, I am SOOOOO evil. Sometimes I scare my self.

~the end of the world~

Sarah: *doing the conga* I'm an evil minion! I'm and evil minion! I'm an evil minion!

Cathulu: *Sigh* Why did we let her live again?

Blair: Because she gives good head, and she knows all the answers to the final Jeopardy.

Cathulu: and why was that important?

Blair: The fuck if I know.

Cathulu: So can we eat her?

Sarah: Not if you wanna find out how this ends! Besides I'd prolly just give ya

Indigestion.

Blair: She's right you know.

Cathulu: Damn