Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Embracing Dreams ❯ Chapter 17
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Arigatomina 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.12.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.5K | Visits: 297 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.12.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.5K | Visits: 297 | Status: Work In Progress
Author's Notes: Sorry the last chapter seemed a little rushed. I'm fast running out of time before Naruto and Sasuke are no longer the only kids in the house. There's quite a bit to do between now and then. Also, please keep an eye on the warnings. I put them there for a reason. On that note, I seem to have some SasuNaru fans reading this fic. When I put "NaruSasu" I mean Naruto liking Sasuke and, more importantly, Naruto topping Sasuke. There may be at least one SasuNaru lemon in this fic for variety, but the main pairing is NarutoxSasuke - not the other way around. I'm a SasUke fan. Sorry for the confusion.
Warnings: crack, minor violence, shounen ai, Kyuubi-Sasuke, NaruSasu
Part 17
Iruka sighed as he let himself be led over to his cot. He still didn't know where they'd gotten the supplies to turn the basement of a formerly abandoned diaper factory into a makeshift hospital. Bunchu ignored him when he asked. Tenka said he didn't need to know. That told him their means were less than legit and they were sheltering him. It was enough to make him want to knock their heads together. Ever since he'd gone to Japan to find out about his parents, Tenka had been treating him like 'the good one' as if they hadn't caused an equal amount of trouble together when they were teenagers. Bunchu was even worse, because he'd always seen right through Iruka's attempts to act like a typical rebellious kid. He'd thought the fact that they were surrounded by wounded children might make them start treating him as an adult, if not a cynical one. No such luck.
"I should be the one supporting you," Iruka sighed, frowning at Tenka.
The boy was, what, twenty now? Tenka still looked exactly the same as he had the last time Iruka had seen him over two years ago. Shaggy black hair cut a little short on top and tied off in a slight tail in the back, dark headband and grin to match his father, and enough bandages to make him look like he'd been in a car accident. Iruka supposed having a building fall on his head was close enough.
"Window dressing," scoffed Tenka. "I was back on my feet after two days. Would have been quicker if I hadn't busted my leg getting caught in the first place. I'm telling you, they don't make steel toed boots like they used to. No traction at all."
Iruka scooted over when Tenka made to sit beside him on the little cot. His attention shifted quickly over the boy's wrapped leg, and then back to his face.
"I thought I was supposed to sleep now," said Iruka. "Bunchu's orders."
"In a minute," Tenka nodded. He leaned close enough to squint right into Iruka's face. "We haven't had a chance to talk yet."
"There's nothing to say," Iruka frowned, looking off into the room. It was too dark to make out the nearest cots, but he knew they were there. "Unless you're waiting for me to ask if you got caught on purpose knowing Bunchu would eventually track you down and be forced to bust out everyone else along with you. I already know the answer to that question, so there's no point in my asking."
"Aren't you uppity," Tenka grinned. "Did the old man figure me out that quick?"
"Most likely," said Iruka. "We didn't have a chance to talk before he sent me out here."
"Yeah, sorry about that. Bunchu didn't know how long he'd be able to keep the kid awake, let alone awake enough to use that talent of his." Tenka grinned, "He'd never carried passengers before. The old man really knows how to pick em, shackin up with the only mutant around who can control other people's talents better than they can. The kid didn't even realize he was bleeding like a stuck pig till we got you back here. I swear, I like Bunchu and all, but his is still one of the coolest and most disturbing talents I've seen. Good thing he's on our side."
Iruka shook his head, "One of these days your dad's going to decide you're not worth it, or Bunchu's going to get tired of tracking you down when he'd rather be spending time with his lover, and you'll be stuck in whatever mess you've gotten yourself into."
"Oh," Tenka said playfully, "so you're lecturing me now? You wanna do it that way, all right. Tell me, Dolph, how's your home life? Ever figure out how you got that scar of yours? What about remembering how we met? Seems a little strange that you spent all that time studying psychology and you never got around to hypnosis. A person would think if you were gonna go to all that trouble to find out who your parents were, you might wonder how you ended up clear across the globe, on a bum rap in a jouvie hall, no less. And here I thought you moved to Japan to find yourself. Sounds more like you went so you'd have an excuse to keep yourself lost. I might get my kicks helping perfect strangers, but at least I know how I got that way. It all started when I ran across a scared little brat who looked half his age and didn't speak a word of English. I took him under my wing, taught him to glower with the best of them, not take crap from anyone, and most importantly, tear shit up instead of letting the feelings fester. Then one day I realized that not only was he older and smarter than me, but he'd started taking care of me instead of the other way around and I didn't much like it. I've been trying to save the world ever since, with the bonus that it keeps me from having to talk to my old man, who I still can't look in the face without remembering the time I walked in on my mom and aunt doing the nasty at age six. Oh, sure, I got a mess of problems, only I know about em, so I can deal. You, now, you're the same screwed up kid I met years ago. You just got yourself a nice adult front to hide it behind. So, Dolph, if you wanna talk psych at me, try it on yourself first. Then we'll talk."
Iruka pursed his lips and sent a playfully annoyed look at the boy beside him. "Are you finished?"
"Depends," Tenka smirked. "Are you gonna keep ragging on me for being inconsiderate to the old man?"
"Not right now," said Iruka. "I'm looking forward to the second undrugged sleep I've had in four years. I'll rag on you later."
Tenka grinned and rubbed a hand over Iruka's head, "Fair enough. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, anyway."
"Really."
"Yeah," Tenka said, with a sly look. "More like that guy the dog says you got staying with you now."
Iruka groaned and dropped sideways so he could bury his face against the cot. "Don't start," he mumbled tiredly. "Hiko's already encouraging him."
"That's my old man," Tenka nodded. "He always was a smart one. Sorry, Dolph, you're way too young and nubile to be an old maid."
"Nubile?" Iruka sputtered. "Never call me that again."
"Virile, then," said Tenka. "How are you gonna feel when that kid of yours starts having sex before you? He's, what, sixteen now? That's-"
"I know," Iruka said sharply, sitting up and frowning until Tenka leaned away. "And if he did find someone to have a lasting relationship with, I'd be happy for him. What you and Hiko are suggesting has nothing to do with relationships and everything to do with casual sex. Frankly, while I do appreciate your concern, it's none of your business. You aren't exactly an expert on the subject, considering you're so disturbed about your own sexuality you don't know which sex makes you more uncomfortable, male or female. And your father happens to be an old busybody who's had precisely two intimate relationships in his life, one of which ended with his son being permanently scarred, and the other only happened in the first place because Bunchu refused to take no for an answer."
"Point," mumbled Tenka.
"If I did want advice on the subject," Iruka continued, just a little huffy, "I'd ask Bunchu. He's the only one of you who knew what he wanted and managed to get it - and keep it - for years. So, Ten-chan, if you want to talk sex at me, go have some yourself first. Then we'll talk."
"Alright, already," Tenka winced, with an embarrassed grin. "You're still a little shark, aren't you. Get your drugfree sleep. We can chew on each other tomorrow."
"Deal."
.-.
Naruto exploded on Kakashi as soon as Pakkun finished filling them in. "This is all your fault!"
"I know," Kakashi sighed. For once he looked suitably depressed. "I just don't understand where I went wrong. How could he spend so much time in close contact with me and my porn and still be a prude? It doesn't add up."
"Tha-" Naruto bristled and waved an accusing finger at the man. "You - you are a Bad Man. A bad perverted old man. You stay away from Iruka-sensei, and you stay away from Sasuke, too! You shouldn't be allowed near anyone!"
Kakashi blinked. Pakkun was having a loud choking fit on the love seat. Kakashi sent the dog a 'can you believe this kid?' look. Then he shook his head at Naruto. "Stay away from Sasuke?" He was sure he hadn't heard that right.
"You heard me!"
Or maybe he had. Kakashi's eye ticked. "Now, see here, Brat, we might have had some fun shopping together, but Sasuke's my main source of entertainment. I've been working that kid for the last two years. I don't mind sharing if you slow down on the sex stuff and stick to driving him crazy, but you're not replacing me. You're a million years too early."
Naruto gaped and sputtered incoherently. Kakashi wondered if he got that from Iruka. Sure enough, the sputtering was followed immediately by rage and a very loud voice. Kakashi folded his arms and waited for it to pass. Like he'd thought, this brat wasn't nearly patient enough to get the best results out of Sasuke. He'd more likely get himself killed the first time he tried.
"You've got a lot of work to do," Kakashi sighed in disappointment.
Naruto closed his mouth with a frustrated growl. Half of him wanted to deck the pervert. It would make him feel better, and since Iruka wasn't home, he could probably get the perv down to a bloody pulp before he got tired. The other half was with Kyuubi. Find Sasuke before he got so far away they couldn't track him anymore. Beating the pervert could wait until they were safely outside and he had a few hours at his disposal. Iruka would kill him if he got blood on the floor.
'About time,' Kyuubi muttered. 'You're just wasting your breath, anyway. As fast as the kid is, he'll be halfway to the mountains by now.' He pointedly didn't mention that Iruka would be upset if he came home to find the pervert in the emergency room. Naruto hadn't noticed the way Iruka was taking a shine to the man. Kyuubi planned to keep it that way. As much as he hated to share his people, Iruka was off limits, anyway. And the pervert hadn't moved on Iruka when he was most vulnerable. Kyuubi had to respect that. Without Naruto around, he'd never have had that much restraint.
Naruto grabbed his coat and marched for the door.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going?" Wasn't the blonde kid going to threaten him some more? Just walking away in the middle of a somewhat entertaining rant, where was the fun in that?
"I'm gonna bring him back," said Naruto. "Obviously."
"Ah," Kakashi winced. "That's a very bad idea. When Sasuke gets angry enough to walk out, the best thing to do is-"
"I don't want your advice," Naruto blurted, exasperated. "You just stay here and read your porn, or whatever it is you old perverts do when you're alone." His face twisted in a grimace. Ew, visuals. "Just stay here. And when I bring him back, you leave him alone. Or else!" And unlike Iruka, he actually had an 'else' in mind when he made that warning. Ha.
Kakashi was still standing where he'd been left, his head cocked to one side, a bemused smile on his face. It wasn't until Pakkun snorted himself into a laughing fit that he moved. He raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head. "Kids."
"I think I like that one," Pakkun snorted. "Fox or not, he's got balls. Bet you he brings the kid back in one piece."
"Oh," Kakashi sighed, "I'm sure Sasuke will be in one piece. It's the brat I'm worried about."
Pakkun sniffed, "But not worried enough to stop him, eh?"
"Nah," said Kakashi. "It's best to let kids learn their lessons the hard way. As long as Sasuke doesn't kill him, it's no problem of mine." He patted a hand on Pakkun's head, earning himself a glower. "I think I'll take the brat's advice and get reacquainted with my literature. It's been too long."
"What," Pakkun scoffed, "two days?"
"Three and a half."
"You poor thing."
.-.
Despite what Sasuke had said to Pakkun, he had no intention of 'looking around' the fields. His plan was to get lost in them and stay that way until his hunger or, more likely, his need to be clean, drove him back to the house. It was simple avoidance of a problem not serious enough to bother with. If he lashed out at Naruto, he'd have Iruka and Kakashi to deal with. If he lashed out at Kakashi, he'd merely amuse the pervert and he'd still have Kakashi to deal with. Then there was Pakkun. He'd never liked that dog. He couldn't use his talents on a dog. Pakkun was too good at popping away and hiding behind Kakashi for him to kill it with a weapon or his bare hands. And unlike Kakashi, Pakkun knew when he'd gone too far and kept going that far every opportunity he got because his teleportation made him essentially untouchable. The mutt was right up there with Itachi, except Pakkun didn't have insanity as an excuse.
Sasuke circled the town first, making a beeline for the mountains in the distance. Somewhere along the way, he dropped his eyes to his feet and turned left. He couldn't actually get lost. His sense of direction was too good for that. He could be half dead, spinning in circles, and he'd still be able to point to the house without thinking about it, just like he'd always known which direction Japan was no matter what country Kakashi had taken them to. At most, he was concentrating on not leaving footprints. That talent he'd done outside his window and again in the kitchen was difficult to maintain. The ground was too soft, and he couldn't relax enough to make himself light. Every few steps it slipped and he came down a little heavier. There was a time limit. Twenty seconds, when he'd first left the house, the same amount of time he'd managed to fight Kakashi's gravity attack. Fourty-two seconds when he took that left turn with his eyes on his feet. Sixty-one seconds when his eyes started throbbing and he found a spot dry and defensible enough to sleep.
There was nothing in the fields but a few low half-buried rocks, weeds, and an unending ocean of high grass. Sasuke put his back to one of those rocks, curled on his side, and immediately dropped into the first absolutely dead sleep he'd had since Kakashi had told him, a week ago, that they'd soon be parting ways.
Soon, he'd said. So why was he still annoying him every chance he got? Sasuke had greeted the news with relief and nervousness. Kakashi was too stubborn and willful, more like a spoiled child than a rational adult. Meeting Itachi in person hadn't been enough to put him off his ridiculous idea of adoption. It would have only been a formality, of course, a legal maneuver that would allow Sasuke to return to Japan while he was still underage without immediately being taken into custody. Kakashi had gotten the crazy idea when Sasuke had finally admitted why he hadn't resisted being carted onto an airplane by someone he'd only known for a few weeks. It was really very simple. Itachi hadn't wanted him out of the country. The closest Sasuke had ever come to getting out of Japan on his own was when he'd snuck away in the cargo hold of a ship at age ten. That attempt had ended prematurely with an attack he barely remembered, and a four day hospital stay before he was able to stand on his own feet again. There was something to be said for having an adult escort, no matter how eccentric. No one had looked twice at him when he'd followed Kakashi onto the plane.
Sasuke was relieved to know Kakashi had finally given up that ridiculous idea. Fighting Itachi by proxy? Using the courts? Maybe he should have mentioned how much raw wealth Itachi had at his disposal. He was an Uchiha, after all. The last one in Japan now that Sasuke was officially missing. Pointless. And once they were apart for good, he'd have no connection to Itachi at all. Kakashi kept forgetting that Itachi had met him, spoken to him. Looked at him. Sasuke had spent a lot of time wondering why Itachi hadn't targetted Kakashi. It was only a matter of time. No matter how much Kakashi annoyed him, Sasuke didn't want him to be the first innocent bystander to die because of him. Kakashi was better off far away from him. One less weight on his conscience.
The nervousness was the same he'd had the first time they'd met. What ifs. Why had Itachi left Kakashi alone? Because he'd deemed him useful in some way. If he considered Kakashi useful because he was escorting Sasuke, that usefulness would be over the moment they separated. That didn't matter because without him, Kakashi would be even harder to track, constantly on the move in search of his next great entertainment. The alternative didn't bode well. He still hadn't managed to beat Kakashi in a fight. And the idea of having Kakashi attack him seriously was...disturbing. Not to mention that Kakashi would know exactly where he was. He'd always been on the move, driven not by wanderlust, like Kakashi, but out of necessity. He really did appreciate the chance to settle down and grab some semblance of a normal life, for however long it lasted. But that meant being a stationary target. It was no wonder he hadn't slept well since Kakashi's telephone call to Iruka. He was making his own decisions for the first time in two years. He really had gotten far too used to having an adult lead him around by the ear. Whatever happened now, he'd have no one to blame but himself.
All of those thoughts and nagging worries slipped away in the stagnant air. There wasn't so much as a breeze, nothing but open air and the smell of grass, rain, and summer. He'd never slept in the open before. It was just as he'd thought when he first made the trek across these fields. This was the perfect place. No dead ends to corner him in.
.-.
Kyuubi took control from the start. He was always as close to the 'front' as he could get when Naruto explored the fields. Usually they spent time out here for his sake more than Naruto's, so that was only natural. This time he came all the way forward. As he'd warned Naruto, all that time rolling the boy off his bed had taught him how easy it was to go from passenger to conductor when Naruto was too distracted or unconscious to protest. Now that they had the same thing in mind, Naruto didn't even bother to protest. He simply relaxed and let Kyuubi have the reins. Naruto had played witness to enough of Kyuubi's stalking dreams to know the fox was a born hunter. Getting to track Sasuke down was probably so fun for Kyuubi that the fox thought it was worth having him run off in the first place.
Naruto had taken one step from the back door, intending to go through the trees and into the fields that way. Kyuubi came forward and turned him immediately, taking him down the drive and along the road past the school, instead. Naruto slunk back to watch. Kyuubi had him moving at a loping jog and didn't seem to be sniffing the air any more than usual.
'How do you do that?' asked Naruto. 'Don't you have to, like, smell the ground or something?' He imagined a miniature Kyuubi darting at the end of a leash, his nose to the dirt, tails spread wide in the air behind him. The real Kyuubi gave an insulted growl.
'Don't be stupid,' Kyuubi snapped. 'You've tasted him. I know his scent better than anyone's now. There's no wind to weaken that scent.'
Naruto shrugged his embarrassment off at the 'tasting' comment and hummed to himself. That was probably a good thing. The residents on their block were mostly old people, but a few were nightowls who would definitely enjoy watching him crawl down the road with his nose to the ground. This wasn't like running around in the fields. He'd gotten over his embarrassment fast out there, because even if he knew he looked ridiculous on his hands and feet, there was no one to see it. And Kyuubi loved it. There weren't many things Kyuubi wanted that Naruto could actually give. Letting him play fox in the fields was one of them, and Naruto had to admit even he felt strong and excited when they did it. It was one of the few times when he actually felt like they were really one person, instead of a host and a passenger.
'You could probably run around the fields by yourself now,' Naruto sighed. 'If it's that easy for you to take control.'
Kyuubi didn't bother to lie. 'I like this. It is easy, too easy. I don't know why I didn't try this sooner. But it's not the same as us running together. That's...'
'Bonding?' Naruto offered. He grinned when Kyuubi made a noncommittal grunt. 'That's sweet.'
'Idiot,' Kyuubi sniffed. 'Either of us is powerful by ourselves. Naturally we're stronger united. I use too much on my own, with too little control. You use too little on your own, with two much control. It isn't sweet to make a habit of working in unison. It's common sense.'
Naruto gave a humoring nod, 'Yeah, right. Whatever you say.' And then he choked on a snicker as he felt a blush rise to his cheeks - Kyuubi's cheeks at the moment. That almost made it worth it to have Kyuubi in control of his body. Usually when he managed to embarrass the fox, he got to see him hide under his tails, curled in an ornery little ball. For some reason the idea of Kyuubi blushing, even if it was technically his face wearing the blush, was adorable. 'I never thought I'd enjoy making myself blush,' he said cheekily.
'Brat.' Kyuubi gave another growl. 'I'm going to run now,' he said, in a 'serves you right' tone. 'You'll be sore tomorrow.'
'Eh?' Naruto started, worriedly, just as he broke into a run. Kyuubi had left the road and was following the fields along the edge of town. 'Why are you running? What's the hurry?'
'There's no wind.'
'Yeah,' Naruto sighed. 'You already said that. I thought that was supposed to be a good thing - not having to sniff the ground, right?'
Kyuubi smirked, 'Look up.'
Naruto scoffed in annoyance, 'How am I supposed to do that when you're in control of the body?'
'How do I see things when your eyes are closed?' Kyuubi asked in return, his devious smile widening. 'How did I know the kid was glaring at us when he was walking behind you? You're in my position now. Start thinking like a disembodied fox.'
'Wha-' Naruto gaped, 'How the hell am I supposed to know how a disembodied fox thinks! Stop being so damn cryptic, will you?'
Kyuubi just snorted, half aware of the fact that he'd done it aloud, using Naruto's vocal cords instead of his own. It reminded him of how he'd spoken in the kitchen that morning. He'd never really noticed how much thicker his voice was compared to Naruto's. Thoughts just didn't have the same visceral impact. He shook his head at the exasperated boy currently occupying the place right behind his eyes. 'Turn around,' he said. He smirked again when Naruto obeyed without thinking. 'You don't have a body at the moment. How did you turn? You don't have eyes to look out of at the moment. How are you seeing? If you don't want it dark in there, it won't be dark. If you want to see what's outside, you'll see that.'
'Wha...'
Naruto gaped, feeling completely disoriented. He'd gone into his 'mind' lots of times when he was half asleep, or when he had nothing better to do than to go back and chat with the fox where they could actually see each other. He'd never really thought about the setting. It was in his head, after all. Kyuubi imagined whatever he wanted and that was what Naruto saw when he went for a face to face visit. Sometimes it was a cozy little pillowy den, like a cave almost. Other times it was a wooded area. Once they'd even sat down for a bicker session in what looked like the doctor's office where they'd first met Iruka, except with Kyuubi being small enough to actually fit in one of the comfy chairs. Naruto had taken it for granted that if he could close his own eyes and pretend he was somewhere else, Kyuubi - who didn't actually have a body of his own - would be just as good at visualizing make believe surroundings. Now, without Kyuubi, the setting was dark and dank and...disturbing. When he'd first turned he'd found himself staring into a pitch black void, feeling oddly weightless for the first time since Kyuubi had taken over on the doorstep. Now, the surroundings were resolving themselves into something cold and metallic, like a long abandoned prison filled with sludge and dripping sewer water.
'Kyuubi,' Naruto whimpered. 'I don't like this...!'
'Turn back around,' Kyuubi sighed. 'Look, we're in the field.' He waved a clawed hand to his left as he ran, 'You dug up your second rock right over there. We've been here many times during the day. It's not that different at night. Focus on the fields. You know them. Now turn around again, full circle, slowly. We're still in the field. With you in there, you can see them better than I can through these eyes. There are some benefits to not being limited by a physical body.'
'Oh,' Naruto murmured, blinking dazedly. It was still disorienting because Kyuubi was running and he felt as if he were standing still while a movie played all around him. He supposed this was what he'd see if he were a tiny person standing on Kyuubi's head while the fox ran. He couldn't see what he was standing on, but he could look all around at the surrounding fields. Which was...really cool. 'Is it like this all the time when you're in here?'
'Of course. If I want it to be. I prefer an actual ground most of the time. And walls when I sleep.'
'Your den,' said Naruto. Kyuubi usually slept in the same cave, pillowed or grassy, or soft dirt depending on his mood. Naruto had always assumed that was a fox thing.
'Mm,' Kyuubi nodded. 'Don't wander around looking for it. It doesn't work that way. Once I'm finished with that cage, it should serve as a safety if you get lost. Or a place to seek shelter if anyone attempts to come in and take control.'
'This is like-" Naruto shook his head, another disorienting sensation because he imagined he felt his head move, even though he knew he didn't have a body at the moment. 'What the hell, Kyuubi,' he muttered. 'Why didn't you tell me it was this?'
'Why didn't you tell me your mouth gets so dry when you breathe through it?' Kyuubi sniffed. He'd closed his mouth a few minutes ago and was now breathing through his nose. 'You took it for granted. It's the same for me. You never asked and I didn't think about it.'
Fair enough, Naruto thought. There were probably a lot of things they still didn't know about each other, considering they were technically separated most of the time. It was only when they ran through the fields or ate or sparred or dreamed that they really came together. But they were so used to being in constant verbal contact that neither of them thought to ask about stuff like that. Still, his imagination was running wild with possibilities. If Kyuubi could make this...place...anything he imagined, and he could feel as if he had a real body even when he didn't in here, then they could probably use the area for all sorts of things. Experimenting with talents immediately came to mind. He was already imagining he had a body. Would it really be that much of a stretch to imagine he had two of them? And if he could do that in here, how hard would it be to do it for real? Not to mention-
'Don't get carried away,' Kyuubi growled, warningly. 'You're too new at this. At least wait till I finish the cage. And don't even think about experimenting with anything while I'm out here. You and your imagination. If it were that easy, I'd have done it a year ago.'
Naruto sulked, turning back around so they were staring at the same thing. Lots of dark grass. He'd never had a problem with the fields at night, but it seemed darker now. 'Is it darker than usual?' Naruto asked. 'Or does it just seem that way because I'm in here?'
'That's what I was trying to point out earlier,' Kyuubi sniffed. 'The reason I'm running. Look up.'
Naruto didn't bother to think about it this time. He tilted his head back. And then he groaned. The sky was thick with dark gray clouds that were just hovering there, as if waiting for the worst possible moment to dump their burden right on his head. No wonder everything seemed darker. He probably wouldn't have been able to see anything if it weren't for Kyuubi's good night vision. 'Damn it,' he grimaced. 'I'm sick of this rain - it's supposed to be summer vacation!'
'At least you can step back so you don't have to feel the cold,' Kyuubi glowered. He'd always thought Naruto was too thin skinned, one of the many reasons he demanded they wear layers of baggy clothing to make up for the kid's lack of fur. 'And you won't be able to mow the lawn for a while. That's something.'
'Yeah,' Naruto scoffed, 'but that just means the grass'll be even thicker by the time it dries up.' He sighed and looked forward again. 'Okay, I get why you're in a rush now. What happens if it rains before we find Sasuke?'
'I'll lose his scent.'
'And then what?' Naruto prodded.
'We'll get wet and I'll make you take over.'
'Asshole.'
.-.
They found Sasuke just as a wind started to pick up, darting around with the heavy scent of rainclouds. At first it was annoying. Kyuubi froze at the first gust; that cloying scent he'd been following was blown away just like that. Naruto, who'd been lounging quietly, came closer to share his annoyance. Then the second gust brought that scent back twice as strong and Kyuubi snapped back into motion. Two more minutes and they were standing on the crest of a low hill and staring down at their target. Kyuubi fell silent. Naruto shivered.
'You think he just doesn't feel cold?' Naruto grimaced. 'Like a talent he copied?' He'd come so close to the front that he couldn't help but feel the chill. Since it was night, it was colder than the day before and they weren't even wet, yet.
Naruto recognized the rock Sasuke was sleeping against immediately. It was twice as big as the ones he'd drug back to the house for his garden, taller, more rounded on top and set deeper into the ground. He'd tried to dig it up once and found that the round surface was very misleading. The rock had a hollow as it approached the ground but the rest of it, buried beneath, must have tapered out even wider than the surface. Sasuke was lying with his back pressed against the concave edge, his left arm curled over his waist, his right bent so the back of his wrist lay against his neck. His face was completely hidden by his hair and the low grass that had grown up around the rock since Naruto's aborted excavation attempt. He looked completely exposed and vulnerable, even worse than when Naruto had spotted him leaning in front of that creepy house.
'I wanna hug him again,' Naruto admitted, sheepishly. 'Think he does that on purpose?'
Kyuubi started down the hill, timing his steps with the wind so his approach was absolutely silent. Despite being currently disembodied, Naruto felt a skitter over the back of his neck. The fox was still in hunting mode.
'Um, Kyuubi,' Naruto said worriedly. 'What are you doing?'
Kyuubi licked his lips.
'Geh-' Naruto choked. 'No! Don't you dare! Down, boy! Down, I said. Sasuke is not a rabbit. You eat him and I'll be the cannibal!'
An evilly sharp toothed grin answered that. 'Just a nibble.'
'Kyuubi!'
Naruto lunged forward, aiming to resume his customary place as keeper of the psycho fox. Kyuubi's step faltered for a second. Then Naruto went reeling mentally from the sudden rush of predatory lust, and Kyuubi used the distraction to prod him back. Three more silkily silent steps.
"Stop right there."
Kyuubi growled deep in his throat, a very creepy sound for Naruto to hear coming out of his own mouth. The fox stopped in his tracks, and Naruto shoved to the front again. This time he had a clear image of grabbing three tails in his fists and swinging the fox behind him in a somewhat thoughtless act of desperation. It worked. He suddenly found himself blinking his own eyes while a resentful fox groused in the back of his head. Sasuke hadn't moved, but Naruto could see red eyes glinting at him from behind loose dark bangs.
"Um, hey," Naruto started, with a wincing grin. His face felt boiling hot. "I was, erm, just..."
"Don't take another step," Sasuke said, in a blank voice. "Look down."
"Eh?" Naruto blinked at his feet. Grass, dirt, the usual turf found anywhere in the fields. He started to raise his gaze back up when a silvery glint caught his eye. He squinted. "What's that...?"
"Thread," said Sasuke.
Sasuke let out a slow sigh and sat up, his right arm still held diagonally in front of his neck. Naruto blinked when he spotted another silvery glint leading from Sasuke's curled hand to the grass.
"Thread?" Naruto frowned. "Why? What would happen if I'd stepped on it?"
"It would have sliced your feet off at the ankle," Sasuke said, in that same calmly monotone voice.
"What!"
"It's very quick," said Sasuke. "You wouldn't have realized what happened until you hit the ground."
Naruto sputtered, gaping in horror. Kyuubi was growling and gnashing his teeth, tails snapping furiously back and forth.
'He must have set more of them all around the area,' Kyuubi muttered. 'Early warnings. He knew we were close the entire time and he intentionally waited till the last second to stop us.' He growled again, deeper this time. 'I'm not just gonna bite him, I'll fuck him into the ground.'
'Kyuubi,' Naruto grimaced. 'Lust and anger don't mix. Stop it. It's your own fault for trying to jump him while you thought he was asleep. We're here to find him and bring him home, not attack him so he never comes back. Besides, um, he did stop us, so...no harm done.' He tried to convince himself he really felt that way. Some part of him was right there with Kyuubi. Cutting his feet off without so much as a 'by the way, watch out for the thread'? That was just wrong. Yeah, Kyuubi had been aiming to jump him, but Naruto wouldn't have let him. He was on Sasuke's side. Allies weren't supposed to cut each other's feet off.
"Um, so," Naruto frowned, looking from that seemingly innocent thread to Sasuke. "Can you, er, disarm it?"
"I did the moment you tripped the first thread."
"What!" Naruto blurted.
Sasuke sighed again, an annoyed expression breaking out on his face. "You're a moron. I already told you, I don't use my talents on morons. I disarmed it before you even topped the hill."
"But, then, why did you tell me to stop?" asked Naruto. He'd deal with the moron thing as soon as he got over his frustrated confusion and relief. Sasuke hadn't meant to cut his feet off after all.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Why had he stopped Naruto? Because he hadn't liked the look on Naruto's face when he came slinking down that hill. Sasuke didn't bother explaining that. He dropped his eyes, his arm falling as he shook his wrist and loosened the threads. Naruto had snapped three of them before he'd come into sight. He could still reset the rest. The thread itself was normal thread, a tiny spool that didn't take up any room in his bag and cost next to nothing, but he'd been using the same spool for years. It was a comfort thing. The man he'd gotten the talent from had used wire. Sasuke had tried that, but his connection with electricity interfered too much. At best he could put enough energy into the closest threads to make them unbreakable. That little spool of thread had saved him quite a few times before he'd started traveling with Kakashi.
"Why are you here?" asked Sasuke, without looking up. He was still annoyed at having such a good sleep disturbed. But part of him was worried. He'd come miles from the house. How had Naruto found him so quickly? And why? Sasuke finished wrapping the thread and finally looked up. "Did something happen?"
"No," said Naruto. Then he shook his head. "I mean, yeah, obviously, the pervert ran you off. So I came to bring you back," he straightened proudly. "It's a good thing, too, because you won't want to be sleeping out here once those clouds burst."
Sasuke stared, "You came to bring me back."
"That's right," Naruto nodded. "I know you only left because the pervert was hitting on you. Looking around the fields for a week? Yeah, right. You didn't even bring anything with you for camping. Don't worry, I'll protect you from the pervert when we get home. I've got his number now."
Sasuke felt his eye twitch. "Kakashi isn't the only reason I left," Sasuke said, slowly.
"Yeah," Naruto glowered, "there's that dog, too. Climbing in your bed? It's no wonder you went off on him this morning. You really got all sorts of perverts after you." He thought of the creepy photos hidden in the bottom of his desk. "It's no wonder you're so twitchy, especially traveling around with a pervert who hits on you all the time."
Sasuke opened his mouth and stopped. What was he planning to say? That Kakashi never hit on him? That the pervert he'd traveled with didn't go out of his way to make him twitch? That the dog didn't get his jollies from invading his personal space when he was asleep? He glowered in annoyance. "Most of the people after me are psychopaths, not perverts. I don't need protection from Kakashi. And I have every intention of staying out here for the rest of the week." His eyes narrowed more. "Go home."
Naruto gaped. "But...it's gonna rain. Really hard, too, if those clouds are as thick as they look. What, you're planning to sleep in the mud?"
It wouldn't be the first time. Sasuke sniffed. There was a reason he'd left his notebook at the house. He didn't have anything with him that would be damaged by water. And if the water collected too deep, he'd rest on top of the rock or move on. It wasn't as if he hadn't noticed the gathering clouds when he'd decided to stop here for the night.
"Go home," Sasuke repeated.
"I can't just go back without you," Naruto protested.
"Then expect to get wet," said Sasuke. He turned his back and went over to sit comfortably on the rock, claiming it for his own. He firmly ignored the way Naruto was sputtering at him. He'd dealt with Kakashi for a long time. He was confident he could out-wait Naruto.
'Let me,' Kyuubi growled. 'I'll disable him and we can carry him back.'
'You're not helping,' Naruto whined. 'The point was to find him and tell him it's safe to come back.'
'No,' said Kyuubi. 'The point was to bring him back. It doesn't matter if he's willing or not.'
'Kyuubi.'
'He'll get sick,' Kyuubi said, switching tactics. 'Sick and weak, out here all alone, in the cold rain, with a stalker on the loose.' Naruto squirmed worriedly. Kyuubi kept his smug grin to himself as he felt him caving. 'He didn't bring anything but that tiny bag, too small for two days' worth of food, let alone a week. This is for his own good.'
Naruto sent a furtive look at Sasuke and found him staring back over his folded hands. Sasuke's expression was blankly bored, his eyes black and half lidded. He looked fully prepared to sit there for the rest of the night.
'You're just looking for an excuse to jump him,' Naruto accused. 'You don't care if he gets cold and hungry.'
'Of course I care,' Kyuubi said smoothly. 'I wouldn't enjoy fucking a frozen skeleton.'
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Naruto had just burst into choked coughs, a weird grimacing grin twisting over his face. "Are you having a fit?"
"Yeah," Naruto coughed, trying his hardest not to laugh out loud. Kyuubi was such an ass. "Hey, Sasuke, I got an idea. Let's fight it out. If you pin me, I have to do what you want and go home by myself. If I pin you, you have to do what I want."
"Pin," Sasuke repeated, with a droll expression. "I could kill you."
"Um, okay," Naruto said, giving him a weird look. "Maybe you could. And I could kill someone, too, if I didn't watch my strength. That's not the point. I'm talking about a sparring match. You know, winner takes all? We can set ground rules, if you want. Like, no weapons - cause I don't have anything like your thread and that's not really fair. And no breaking bones, so you don't have to worry about me using too much strength. You can still use that electrocuting thing - I recovered pretty fast, so it should even out. Or we can do it without talents. I should warn you, though, I'm pretty good at that. Hiko's been teaching me how to beat the shit out of morons without using any mutant advantages. Of course, you're faster than me, so that might even out, too. Either way's fine. What do you say?"
"I say you're a moron," Sasuke stated. "I don't fight morons."
"Tha-" Naruto growled, his hands curling into fists. "You're such an ass! That's it, first order - when I win you have to stop calling me names. Now we're definitely going to fight, whether you like it or not. I should kick your ass just for the insult, so you've got it coming, anyway. I'm trying to be friendly and reasonable here, but you're really pushing it!"
Sasuke simply stared, "Go home, usuratonkachi."
"Teme!"
Naruto lunged, his noble idea of a friendly sparring match replaced with a sudden need to wipe that bored look off the bastard's face. Sasuke waited till the last second and then flipped off the rock to send a well aimed kick to the small of his back. Naruto bit back a yipe as his knee barked against the rock. He twisted around, just in time to catch Sasuke's left fist in his palm. He caught the right one with the side of his face, his teeth slicing the inside of cheek. He swallowed a gulp of blood and Kyuubi was Not Happy. Naruto forced the fox back down by habit. Sasuke's eyes were still black, so talents were out. As angry as he was, he still wanted to beat him fairly, which meant no healing till the fight was finished. He jerked his leg around, kicking Sasuke's feet out from under him with his heel and pushing him over backwards.
Sasuke twisted as they went down, catching himself with his right hand and pushing off again so that Naruto was the one who hit the ground, landing hard face down. He pivoted with his left fist still locked in Naruto's grip and struck him on the back of the neck with his right elbow. The blow stunned him enough to break free. Sasuke darted back, far enough away to be out of reach, but close enough to kick him back down if Naruto attempted to get up and come after him. He never predicted that Naruto would roll sideways and knock his feet out from under him again. His mind skipped a beat for just a second of 'what the hell' at the bizarre move. Then he fell forward over Naruto, coming down to meet an eager fist to the gut. He coughed and shoved off, only to have his wrist caught as a hand closed over his shoulder. Naruto pushed him back and Sasuke was reminded of their last 'fight' as his head snapped back to connect with a ground that was much less forgiving than the soft mud had been. His eyes were just flashing red when a heavy arm came down to press on his neck.
"I win," said Naruto.
Sasuke blinked, the sharingan telling him how restrained Naruto's energy was, even weaker than the time he'd caught him napping on the couch.
"I pinned you," Naruto glared. Kyuubi was threatening to take over, spurred on by those red eyes, despite the confused look on Sasuke's face. "I pinned you, so I win. If you wanna go again with talents, fine, but I won this match fair and square."
Sasuke stared. Pinned. That was it? What kind of fight was that? They were both still conscious, neither of them seriously injured, and it had only taken a few seconds.
"You want to go again with talents?" asked Naruto.
"No," Sasuke snapped, glaring suddenly. "I didn't want to fight a moron to begin with."
"Yeah," Naruto glowered right back, "and I didn't want you calling me that. Admit I won this round and I'll let you up. First condition of my victory, no more names. Second, you go back with me."
"And the third?" Sasuke bit out, more angry than sarcastic.
"I'm sure I'll think of something." Naruto felt a dark grin creeping over his face. Kyuubi was no longer pushing to take over; he was right there with him. Sasuke looked good when he was angry and they were already so close...
Sasuke tensed as Naruto leaned closer, staring at him with eyes as red as his own. This was too familiar. And bizarre. "What the hell are you doing, usuratonkachi?"
"Something," Naruto murmured, his eyes falling closed. "And don't call me that," he said against Sasuke's lips, "I won."
Kissing him. Sasuke stared, remaining absolutely motionless. Naruto was kissing him. By choice this time. What the hell was wrong with him? They'd been fighting, furious and violent just a few seconds ago. Glaring at each other, hurting each other, and now Naruto was kissing him as softly as he had last night, firm but so tentative that it wasn't the least bit threatening. Naruto hummed and pressed into his mouth. Sasuke felt a sudden heat flare over his face as his free hand snapped up to lock on Naruto's shoulder, not pushing so much as holding tight. If he'd been tense before, he was a statue now.
This was tasting. Naruto eased into the kiss, taking the lack of an immediate violent reaction as permission. Kyuubi was purring in approval and instead of feeling amused at that, he felt himself giving an answering hum. He was only vaguely aware of a continuing pain in his shoulder. Sasuke wasn't responding and he wanted him to. This was his first kiss, after all. He pressed closer to the warm body under him, noting the tension as he shifted the kiss from tentative to teasing. Any response would do. If he wasn't doing it good enough, well, Sasuke was the one with experience, so...
Sasuke made a small choking sound, and Naruto's eyes snapped open. He pulled back slowly, licking his lips and staring dazedly into Sasuke's wide red eyes. Sasuke was blushing. And pushing on his shoulder so hard only Kyuubi's thoughtless strength was keeping him in place. Naruto leaned back quickly, wondering if he'd been completely wrong about that lack of reaction equaling permission. Then he noticed something else that put his worries to rest with a giddy sort of amusement. He'd gotten a reaction, after all. And a very positive one, from the feel of it.
"Hey," Naruto murmured, with an embarrassed grin. "Um..."
"Get off me," Sasuke blurted, his glare looking out of place on his pink face. "Now!"
"Ah! Sorry," Naruto winced. He retreated a few safe feet away and fidgeted. A peek at Sasuke found him sitting up with a mortified expression on his face. He quickly looked away before he could catch sight of anything else that might be visible through Sasuke's light clothing. That embarrassed, but pleased grin started over his face again. "Um, that was my first kiss, you know. That kiss last night doesn't count. Sorry if I was a little thoughtless. You've kissed before, so I was waiting for you to, well, react more." And he choked back a laugh. He'd gotten more of a reaction than he'd been expecting, just a different kind of reaction. "I thought you'd kiss back," he explained.
"I've never kissed anyone," Sasuke snapped. He was humiliated and uncomfortable and...he wasn't going to think about what else he was at the moment. He was just going to sit absolutely still until it went away. And if Naruto so much as looked at him funny, he'd kill him.
"What?" Naruto blurted, turning to stare at Sasuke in disbelief. "Never?" He sent an accusing yell at his fox, 'Kyuubi!'
'Trust me,' Kyuubi hummed back, all glowing and pleased with himself. Or pleased with having finally gotten a taste of the real thing.
"Never," Naruto repeated, glowering as Sasuke snapped him a glare. "If you've never kissed, why did you act like last night was nothing? If that was your first kiss, then-"
"I've been kissed," Sasuke muttered, looking away again. "I've never instigated or participated." Or reacted positively, but he didn't plan to admit that.
"Oh." Naruto gave him a long considering look. "Well, um, you could kiss me...or I could try again and-"
Sasuke shot to his feet. He stalked over to collect his bag. He then turned and started walking away.
Naruto jumped. "Sasuke? Where are you going?""Back to the house," Sasuke snapped. "That was your second condition."
"Oh! Great," Naruto beamed. He hurried over to walk with him. One look at Sasuke's murderous expression and his smile faltered. "Um, are you mad about the fight or...the kiss?"
"Both."
Naruto's face dropped. "Oh..."
"I'm going to challenge you tomorrow," said Sasuke, a hint of a sneer pulling at his face, "with talents. You won't like my conditions, either."
Naruto missed a step, worry widening his eyes. "Erm, I, uh, guess that's fair."
"Walk faster," Sasuke glared, with a grudging, "Naruto," in place of the insult he wanted to use.
"Sure thing," mumbled Naruto.
For some reason Naruto was suddenly sure Sasuke was going to kick his ass tomorrow. He couldn't imagine how, when he had Kyuubi on his side and they'd be fighting with talents. It was just...something in Sasuke's tone that convinced him. He worried for a few minutes, hurrying along beside Sasuke as they attempted to get back before it rained. Then he thought about how nice his first kiss had been and the undeniable reaction he'd gotten and he decided he didn't care if he got his ass handed to him tomorrow.
.-.
TBC
Warnings: crack, minor violence, shounen ai, Kyuubi-Sasuke, NaruSasu
Part 17
Iruka sighed as he let himself be led over to his cot. He still didn't know where they'd gotten the supplies to turn the basement of a formerly abandoned diaper factory into a makeshift hospital. Bunchu ignored him when he asked. Tenka said he didn't need to know. That told him their means were less than legit and they were sheltering him. It was enough to make him want to knock their heads together. Ever since he'd gone to Japan to find out about his parents, Tenka had been treating him like 'the good one' as if they hadn't caused an equal amount of trouble together when they were teenagers. Bunchu was even worse, because he'd always seen right through Iruka's attempts to act like a typical rebellious kid. He'd thought the fact that they were surrounded by wounded children might make them start treating him as an adult, if not a cynical one. No such luck.
"I should be the one supporting you," Iruka sighed, frowning at Tenka.
The boy was, what, twenty now? Tenka still looked exactly the same as he had the last time Iruka had seen him over two years ago. Shaggy black hair cut a little short on top and tied off in a slight tail in the back, dark headband and grin to match his father, and enough bandages to make him look like he'd been in a car accident. Iruka supposed having a building fall on his head was close enough.
"Window dressing," scoffed Tenka. "I was back on my feet after two days. Would have been quicker if I hadn't busted my leg getting caught in the first place. I'm telling you, they don't make steel toed boots like they used to. No traction at all."
Iruka scooted over when Tenka made to sit beside him on the little cot. His attention shifted quickly over the boy's wrapped leg, and then back to his face.
"I thought I was supposed to sleep now," said Iruka. "Bunchu's orders."
"In a minute," Tenka nodded. He leaned close enough to squint right into Iruka's face. "We haven't had a chance to talk yet."
"There's nothing to say," Iruka frowned, looking off into the room. It was too dark to make out the nearest cots, but he knew they were there. "Unless you're waiting for me to ask if you got caught on purpose knowing Bunchu would eventually track you down and be forced to bust out everyone else along with you. I already know the answer to that question, so there's no point in my asking."
"Aren't you uppity," Tenka grinned. "Did the old man figure me out that quick?"
"Most likely," said Iruka. "We didn't have a chance to talk before he sent me out here."
"Yeah, sorry about that. Bunchu didn't know how long he'd be able to keep the kid awake, let alone awake enough to use that talent of his." Tenka grinned, "He'd never carried passengers before. The old man really knows how to pick em, shackin up with the only mutant around who can control other people's talents better than they can. The kid didn't even realize he was bleeding like a stuck pig till we got you back here. I swear, I like Bunchu and all, but his is still one of the coolest and most disturbing talents I've seen. Good thing he's on our side."
Iruka shook his head, "One of these days your dad's going to decide you're not worth it, or Bunchu's going to get tired of tracking you down when he'd rather be spending time with his lover, and you'll be stuck in whatever mess you've gotten yourself into."
"Oh," Tenka said playfully, "so you're lecturing me now? You wanna do it that way, all right. Tell me, Dolph, how's your home life? Ever figure out how you got that scar of yours? What about remembering how we met? Seems a little strange that you spent all that time studying psychology and you never got around to hypnosis. A person would think if you were gonna go to all that trouble to find out who your parents were, you might wonder how you ended up clear across the globe, on a bum rap in a jouvie hall, no less. And here I thought you moved to Japan to find yourself. Sounds more like you went so you'd have an excuse to keep yourself lost. I might get my kicks helping perfect strangers, but at least I know how I got that way. It all started when I ran across a scared little brat who looked half his age and didn't speak a word of English. I took him under my wing, taught him to glower with the best of them, not take crap from anyone, and most importantly, tear shit up instead of letting the feelings fester. Then one day I realized that not only was he older and smarter than me, but he'd started taking care of me instead of the other way around and I didn't much like it. I've been trying to save the world ever since, with the bonus that it keeps me from having to talk to my old man, who I still can't look in the face without remembering the time I walked in on my mom and aunt doing the nasty at age six. Oh, sure, I got a mess of problems, only I know about em, so I can deal. You, now, you're the same screwed up kid I met years ago. You just got yourself a nice adult front to hide it behind. So, Dolph, if you wanna talk psych at me, try it on yourself first. Then we'll talk."
Iruka pursed his lips and sent a playfully annoyed look at the boy beside him. "Are you finished?"
"Depends," Tenka smirked. "Are you gonna keep ragging on me for being inconsiderate to the old man?"
"Not right now," said Iruka. "I'm looking forward to the second undrugged sleep I've had in four years. I'll rag on you later."
Tenka grinned and rubbed a hand over Iruka's head, "Fair enough. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, anyway."
"Really."
"Yeah," Tenka said, with a sly look. "More like that guy the dog says you got staying with you now."
Iruka groaned and dropped sideways so he could bury his face against the cot. "Don't start," he mumbled tiredly. "Hiko's already encouraging him."
"That's my old man," Tenka nodded. "He always was a smart one. Sorry, Dolph, you're way too young and nubile to be an old maid."
"Nubile?" Iruka sputtered. "Never call me that again."
"Virile, then," said Tenka. "How are you gonna feel when that kid of yours starts having sex before you? He's, what, sixteen now? That's-"
"I know," Iruka said sharply, sitting up and frowning until Tenka leaned away. "And if he did find someone to have a lasting relationship with, I'd be happy for him. What you and Hiko are suggesting has nothing to do with relationships and everything to do with casual sex. Frankly, while I do appreciate your concern, it's none of your business. You aren't exactly an expert on the subject, considering you're so disturbed about your own sexuality you don't know which sex makes you more uncomfortable, male or female. And your father happens to be an old busybody who's had precisely two intimate relationships in his life, one of which ended with his son being permanently scarred, and the other only happened in the first place because Bunchu refused to take no for an answer."
"Point," mumbled Tenka.
"If I did want advice on the subject," Iruka continued, just a little huffy, "I'd ask Bunchu. He's the only one of you who knew what he wanted and managed to get it - and keep it - for years. So, Ten-chan, if you want to talk sex at me, go have some yourself first. Then we'll talk."
"Alright, already," Tenka winced, with an embarrassed grin. "You're still a little shark, aren't you. Get your drugfree sleep. We can chew on each other tomorrow."
"Deal."
.-.
Naruto exploded on Kakashi as soon as Pakkun finished filling them in. "This is all your fault!"
"I know," Kakashi sighed. For once he looked suitably depressed. "I just don't understand where I went wrong. How could he spend so much time in close contact with me and my porn and still be a prude? It doesn't add up."
"Tha-" Naruto bristled and waved an accusing finger at the man. "You - you are a Bad Man. A bad perverted old man. You stay away from Iruka-sensei, and you stay away from Sasuke, too! You shouldn't be allowed near anyone!"
Kakashi blinked. Pakkun was having a loud choking fit on the love seat. Kakashi sent the dog a 'can you believe this kid?' look. Then he shook his head at Naruto. "Stay away from Sasuke?" He was sure he hadn't heard that right.
"You heard me!"
Or maybe he had. Kakashi's eye ticked. "Now, see here, Brat, we might have had some fun shopping together, but Sasuke's my main source of entertainment. I've been working that kid for the last two years. I don't mind sharing if you slow down on the sex stuff and stick to driving him crazy, but you're not replacing me. You're a million years too early."
Naruto gaped and sputtered incoherently. Kakashi wondered if he got that from Iruka. Sure enough, the sputtering was followed immediately by rage and a very loud voice. Kakashi folded his arms and waited for it to pass. Like he'd thought, this brat wasn't nearly patient enough to get the best results out of Sasuke. He'd more likely get himself killed the first time he tried.
"You've got a lot of work to do," Kakashi sighed in disappointment.
Naruto closed his mouth with a frustrated growl. Half of him wanted to deck the pervert. It would make him feel better, and since Iruka wasn't home, he could probably get the perv down to a bloody pulp before he got tired. The other half was with Kyuubi. Find Sasuke before he got so far away they couldn't track him anymore. Beating the pervert could wait until they were safely outside and he had a few hours at his disposal. Iruka would kill him if he got blood on the floor.
'About time,' Kyuubi muttered. 'You're just wasting your breath, anyway. As fast as the kid is, he'll be halfway to the mountains by now.' He pointedly didn't mention that Iruka would be upset if he came home to find the pervert in the emergency room. Naruto hadn't noticed the way Iruka was taking a shine to the man. Kyuubi planned to keep it that way. As much as he hated to share his people, Iruka was off limits, anyway. And the pervert hadn't moved on Iruka when he was most vulnerable. Kyuubi had to respect that. Without Naruto around, he'd never have had that much restraint.
Naruto grabbed his coat and marched for the door.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going?" Wasn't the blonde kid going to threaten him some more? Just walking away in the middle of a somewhat entertaining rant, where was the fun in that?
"I'm gonna bring him back," said Naruto. "Obviously."
"Ah," Kakashi winced. "That's a very bad idea. When Sasuke gets angry enough to walk out, the best thing to do is-"
"I don't want your advice," Naruto blurted, exasperated. "You just stay here and read your porn, or whatever it is you old perverts do when you're alone." His face twisted in a grimace. Ew, visuals. "Just stay here. And when I bring him back, you leave him alone. Or else!" And unlike Iruka, he actually had an 'else' in mind when he made that warning. Ha.
Kakashi was still standing where he'd been left, his head cocked to one side, a bemused smile on his face. It wasn't until Pakkun snorted himself into a laughing fit that he moved. He raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head. "Kids."
"I think I like that one," Pakkun snorted. "Fox or not, he's got balls. Bet you he brings the kid back in one piece."
"Oh," Kakashi sighed, "I'm sure Sasuke will be in one piece. It's the brat I'm worried about."
Pakkun sniffed, "But not worried enough to stop him, eh?"
"Nah," said Kakashi. "It's best to let kids learn their lessons the hard way. As long as Sasuke doesn't kill him, it's no problem of mine." He patted a hand on Pakkun's head, earning himself a glower. "I think I'll take the brat's advice and get reacquainted with my literature. It's been too long."
"What," Pakkun scoffed, "two days?"
"Three and a half."
"You poor thing."
.-.
Despite what Sasuke had said to Pakkun, he had no intention of 'looking around' the fields. His plan was to get lost in them and stay that way until his hunger or, more likely, his need to be clean, drove him back to the house. It was simple avoidance of a problem not serious enough to bother with. If he lashed out at Naruto, he'd have Iruka and Kakashi to deal with. If he lashed out at Kakashi, he'd merely amuse the pervert and he'd still have Kakashi to deal with. Then there was Pakkun. He'd never liked that dog. He couldn't use his talents on a dog. Pakkun was too good at popping away and hiding behind Kakashi for him to kill it with a weapon or his bare hands. And unlike Kakashi, Pakkun knew when he'd gone too far and kept going that far every opportunity he got because his teleportation made him essentially untouchable. The mutt was right up there with Itachi, except Pakkun didn't have insanity as an excuse.
Sasuke circled the town first, making a beeline for the mountains in the distance. Somewhere along the way, he dropped his eyes to his feet and turned left. He couldn't actually get lost. His sense of direction was too good for that. He could be half dead, spinning in circles, and he'd still be able to point to the house without thinking about it, just like he'd always known which direction Japan was no matter what country Kakashi had taken them to. At most, he was concentrating on not leaving footprints. That talent he'd done outside his window and again in the kitchen was difficult to maintain. The ground was too soft, and he couldn't relax enough to make himself light. Every few steps it slipped and he came down a little heavier. There was a time limit. Twenty seconds, when he'd first left the house, the same amount of time he'd managed to fight Kakashi's gravity attack. Fourty-two seconds when he took that left turn with his eyes on his feet. Sixty-one seconds when his eyes started throbbing and he found a spot dry and defensible enough to sleep.
There was nothing in the fields but a few low half-buried rocks, weeds, and an unending ocean of high grass. Sasuke put his back to one of those rocks, curled on his side, and immediately dropped into the first absolutely dead sleep he'd had since Kakashi had told him, a week ago, that they'd soon be parting ways.
Soon, he'd said. So why was he still annoying him every chance he got? Sasuke had greeted the news with relief and nervousness. Kakashi was too stubborn and willful, more like a spoiled child than a rational adult. Meeting Itachi in person hadn't been enough to put him off his ridiculous idea of adoption. It would have only been a formality, of course, a legal maneuver that would allow Sasuke to return to Japan while he was still underage without immediately being taken into custody. Kakashi had gotten the crazy idea when Sasuke had finally admitted why he hadn't resisted being carted onto an airplane by someone he'd only known for a few weeks. It was really very simple. Itachi hadn't wanted him out of the country. The closest Sasuke had ever come to getting out of Japan on his own was when he'd snuck away in the cargo hold of a ship at age ten. That attempt had ended prematurely with an attack he barely remembered, and a four day hospital stay before he was able to stand on his own feet again. There was something to be said for having an adult escort, no matter how eccentric. No one had looked twice at him when he'd followed Kakashi onto the plane.
Sasuke was relieved to know Kakashi had finally given up that ridiculous idea. Fighting Itachi by proxy? Using the courts? Maybe he should have mentioned how much raw wealth Itachi had at his disposal. He was an Uchiha, after all. The last one in Japan now that Sasuke was officially missing. Pointless. And once they were apart for good, he'd have no connection to Itachi at all. Kakashi kept forgetting that Itachi had met him, spoken to him. Looked at him. Sasuke had spent a lot of time wondering why Itachi hadn't targetted Kakashi. It was only a matter of time. No matter how much Kakashi annoyed him, Sasuke didn't want him to be the first innocent bystander to die because of him. Kakashi was better off far away from him. One less weight on his conscience.
The nervousness was the same he'd had the first time they'd met. What ifs. Why had Itachi left Kakashi alone? Because he'd deemed him useful in some way. If he considered Kakashi useful because he was escorting Sasuke, that usefulness would be over the moment they separated. That didn't matter because without him, Kakashi would be even harder to track, constantly on the move in search of his next great entertainment. The alternative didn't bode well. He still hadn't managed to beat Kakashi in a fight. And the idea of having Kakashi attack him seriously was...disturbing. Not to mention that Kakashi would know exactly where he was. He'd always been on the move, driven not by wanderlust, like Kakashi, but out of necessity. He really did appreciate the chance to settle down and grab some semblance of a normal life, for however long it lasted. But that meant being a stationary target. It was no wonder he hadn't slept well since Kakashi's telephone call to Iruka. He was making his own decisions for the first time in two years. He really had gotten far too used to having an adult lead him around by the ear. Whatever happened now, he'd have no one to blame but himself.
All of those thoughts and nagging worries slipped away in the stagnant air. There wasn't so much as a breeze, nothing but open air and the smell of grass, rain, and summer. He'd never slept in the open before. It was just as he'd thought when he first made the trek across these fields. This was the perfect place. No dead ends to corner him in.
.-.
Kyuubi took control from the start. He was always as close to the 'front' as he could get when Naruto explored the fields. Usually they spent time out here for his sake more than Naruto's, so that was only natural. This time he came all the way forward. As he'd warned Naruto, all that time rolling the boy off his bed had taught him how easy it was to go from passenger to conductor when Naruto was too distracted or unconscious to protest. Now that they had the same thing in mind, Naruto didn't even bother to protest. He simply relaxed and let Kyuubi have the reins. Naruto had played witness to enough of Kyuubi's stalking dreams to know the fox was a born hunter. Getting to track Sasuke down was probably so fun for Kyuubi that the fox thought it was worth having him run off in the first place.
Naruto had taken one step from the back door, intending to go through the trees and into the fields that way. Kyuubi came forward and turned him immediately, taking him down the drive and along the road past the school, instead. Naruto slunk back to watch. Kyuubi had him moving at a loping jog and didn't seem to be sniffing the air any more than usual.
'How do you do that?' asked Naruto. 'Don't you have to, like, smell the ground or something?' He imagined a miniature Kyuubi darting at the end of a leash, his nose to the dirt, tails spread wide in the air behind him. The real Kyuubi gave an insulted growl.
'Don't be stupid,' Kyuubi snapped. 'You've tasted him. I know his scent better than anyone's now. There's no wind to weaken that scent.'
Naruto shrugged his embarrassment off at the 'tasting' comment and hummed to himself. That was probably a good thing. The residents on their block were mostly old people, but a few were nightowls who would definitely enjoy watching him crawl down the road with his nose to the ground. This wasn't like running around in the fields. He'd gotten over his embarrassment fast out there, because even if he knew he looked ridiculous on his hands and feet, there was no one to see it. And Kyuubi loved it. There weren't many things Kyuubi wanted that Naruto could actually give. Letting him play fox in the fields was one of them, and Naruto had to admit even he felt strong and excited when they did it. It was one of the few times when he actually felt like they were really one person, instead of a host and a passenger.
'You could probably run around the fields by yourself now,' Naruto sighed. 'If it's that easy for you to take control.'
Kyuubi didn't bother to lie. 'I like this. It is easy, too easy. I don't know why I didn't try this sooner. But it's not the same as us running together. That's...'
'Bonding?' Naruto offered. He grinned when Kyuubi made a noncommittal grunt. 'That's sweet.'
'Idiot,' Kyuubi sniffed. 'Either of us is powerful by ourselves. Naturally we're stronger united. I use too much on my own, with too little control. You use too little on your own, with two much control. It isn't sweet to make a habit of working in unison. It's common sense.'
Naruto gave a humoring nod, 'Yeah, right. Whatever you say.' And then he choked on a snicker as he felt a blush rise to his cheeks - Kyuubi's cheeks at the moment. That almost made it worth it to have Kyuubi in control of his body. Usually when he managed to embarrass the fox, he got to see him hide under his tails, curled in an ornery little ball. For some reason the idea of Kyuubi blushing, even if it was technically his face wearing the blush, was adorable. 'I never thought I'd enjoy making myself blush,' he said cheekily.
'Brat.' Kyuubi gave another growl. 'I'm going to run now,' he said, in a 'serves you right' tone. 'You'll be sore tomorrow.'
'Eh?' Naruto started, worriedly, just as he broke into a run. Kyuubi had left the road and was following the fields along the edge of town. 'Why are you running? What's the hurry?'
'There's no wind.'
'Yeah,' Naruto sighed. 'You already said that. I thought that was supposed to be a good thing - not having to sniff the ground, right?'
Kyuubi smirked, 'Look up.'
Naruto scoffed in annoyance, 'How am I supposed to do that when you're in control of the body?'
'How do I see things when your eyes are closed?' Kyuubi asked in return, his devious smile widening. 'How did I know the kid was glaring at us when he was walking behind you? You're in my position now. Start thinking like a disembodied fox.'
'Wha-' Naruto gaped, 'How the hell am I supposed to know how a disembodied fox thinks! Stop being so damn cryptic, will you?'
Kyuubi just snorted, half aware of the fact that he'd done it aloud, using Naruto's vocal cords instead of his own. It reminded him of how he'd spoken in the kitchen that morning. He'd never really noticed how much thicker his voice was compared to Naruto's. Thoughts just didn't have the same visceral impact. He shook his head at the exasperated boy currently occupying the place right behind his eyes. 'Turn around,' he said. He smirked again when Naruto obeyed without thinking. 'You don't have a body at the moment. How did you turn? You don't have eyes to look out of at the moment. How are you seeing? If you don't want it dark in there, it won't be dark. If you want to see what's outside, you'll see that.'
'Wha...'
Naruto gaped, feeling completely disoriented. He'd gone into his 'mind' lots of times when he was half asleep, or when he had nothing better to do than to go back and chat with the fox where they could actually see each other. He'd never really thought about the setting. It was in his head, after all. Kyuubi imagined whatever he wanted and that was what Naruto saw when he went for a face to face visit. Sometimes it was a cozy little pillowy den, like a cave almost. Other times it was a wooded area. Once they'd even sat down for a bicker session in what looked like the doctor's office where they'd first met Iruka, except with Kyuubi being small enough to actually fit in one of the comfy chairs. Naruto had taken it for granted that if he could close his own eyes and pretend he was somewhere else, Kyuubi - who didn't actually have a body of his own - would be just as good at visualizing make believe surroundings. Now, without Kyuubi, the setting was dark and dank and...disturbing. When he'd first turned he'd found himself staring into a pitch black void, feeling oddly weightless for the first time since Kyuubi had taken over on the doorstep. Now, the surroundings were resolving themselves into something cold and metallic, like a long abandoned prison filled with sludge and dripping sewer water.
'Kyuubi,' Naruto whimpered. 'I don't like this...!'
'Turn back around,' Kyuubi sighed. 'Look, we're in the field.' He waved a clawed hand to his left as he ran, 'You dug up your second rock right over there. We've been here many times during the day. It's not that different at night. Focus on the fields. You know them. Now turn around again, full circle, slowly. We're still in the field. With you in there, you can see them better than I can through these eyes. There are some benefits to not being limited by a physical body.'
'Oh,' Naruto murmured, blinking dazedly. It was still disorienting because Kyuubi was running and he felt as if he were standing still while a movie played all around him. He supposed this was what he'd see if he were a tiny person standing on Kyuubi's head while the fox ran. He couldn't see what he was standing on, but he could look all around at the surrounding fields. Which was...really cool. 'Is it like this all the time when you're in here?'
'Of course. If I want it to be. I prefer an actual ground most of the time. And walls when I sleep.'
'Your den,' said Naruto. Kyuubi usually slept in the same cave, pillowed or grassy, or soft dirt depending on his mood. Naruto had always assumed that was a fox thing.
'Mm,' Kyuubi nodded. 'Don't wander around looking for it. It doesn't work that way. Once I'm finished with that cage, it should serve as a safety if you get lost. Or a place to seek shelter if anyone attempts to come in and take control.'
'This is like-" Naruto shook his head, another disorienting sensation because he imagined he felt his head move, even though he knew he didn't have a body at the moment. 'What the hell, Kyuubi,' he muttered. 'Why didn't you tell me it was this?'
'Why didn't you tell me your mouth gets so dry when you breathe through it?' Kyuubi sniffed. He'd closed his mouth a few minutes ago and was now breathing through his nose. 'You took it for granted. It's the same for me. You never asked and I didn't think about it.'
Fair enough, Naruto thought. There were probably a lot of things they still didn't know about each other, considering they were technically separated most of the time. It was only when they ran through the fields or ate or sparred or dreamed that they really came together. But they were so used to being in constant verbal contact that neither of them thought to ask about stuff like that. Still, his imagination was running wild with possibilities. If Kyuubi could make this...place...anything he imagined, and he could feel as if he had a real body even when he didn't in here, then they could probably use the area for all sorts of things. Experimenting with talents immediately came to mind. He was already imagining he had a body. Would it really be that much of a stretch to imagine he had two of them? And if he could do that in here, how hard would it be to do it for real? Not to mention-
'Don't get carried away,' Kyuubi growled, warningly. 'You're too new at this. At least wait till I finish the cage. And don't even think about experimenting with anything while I'm out here. You and your imagination. If it were that easy, I'd have done it a year ago.'
Naruto sulked, turning back around so they were staring at the same thing. Lots of dark grass. He'd never had a problem with the fields at night, but it seemed darker now. 'Is it darker than usual?' Naruto asked. 'Or does it just seem that way because I'm in here?'
'That's what I was trying to point out earlier,' Kyuubi sniffed. 'The reason I'm running. Look up.'
Naruto didn't bother to think about it this time. He tilted his head back. And then he groaned. The sky was thick with dark gray clouds that were just hovering there, as if waiting for the worst possible moment to dump their burden right on his head. No wonder everything seemed darker. He probably wouldn't have been able to see anything if it weren't for Kyuubi's good night vision. 'Damn it,' he grimaced. 'I'm sick of this rain - it's supposed to be summer vacation!'
'At least you can step back so you don't have to feel the cold,' Kyuubi glowered. He'd always thought Naruto was too thin skinned, one of the many reasons he demanded they wear layers of baggy clothing to make up for the kid's lack of fur. 'And you won't be able to mow the lawn for a while. That's something.'
'Yeah,' Naruto scoffed, 'but that just means the grass'll be even thicker by the time it dries up.' He sighed and looked forward again. 'Okay, I get why you're in a rush now. What happens if it rains before we find Sasuke?'
'I'll lose his scent.'
'And then what?' Naruto prodded.
'We'll get wet and I'll make you take over.'
'Asshole.'
.-.
They found Sasuke just as a wind started to pick up, darting around with the heavy scent of rainclouds. At first it was annoying. Kyuubi froze at the first gust; that cloying scent he'd been following was blown away just like that. Naruto, who'd been lounging quietly, came closer to share his annoyance. Then the second gust brought that scent back twice as strong and Kyuubi snapped back into motion. Two more minutes and they were standing on the crest of a low hill and staring down at their target. Kyuubi fell silent. Naruto shivered.
'You think he just doesn't feel cold?' Naruto grimaced. 'Like a talent he copied?' He'd come so close to the front that he couldn't help but feel the chill. Since it was night, it was colder than the day before and they weren't even wet, yet.
Naruto recognized the rock Sasuke was sleeping against immediately. It was twice as big as the ones he'd drug back to the house for his garden, taller, more rounded on top and set deeper into the ground. He'd tried to dig it up once and found that the round surface was very misleading. The rock had a hollow as it approached the ground but the rest of it, buried beneath, must have tapered out even wider than the surface. Sasuke was lying with his back pressed against the concave edge, his left arm curled over his waist, his right bent so the back of his wrist lay against his neck. His face was completely hidden by his hair and the low grass that had grown up around the rock since Naruto's aborted excavation attempt. He looked completely exposed and vulnerable, even worse than when Naruto had spotted him leaning in front of that creepy house.
'I wanna hug him again,' Naruto admitted, sheepishly. 'Think he does that on purpose?'
Kyuubi started down the hill, timing his steps with the wind so his approach was absolutely silent. Despite being currently disembodied, Naruto felt a skitter over the back of his neck. The fox was still in hunting mode.
'Um, Kyuubi,' Naruto said worriedly. 'What are you doing?'
Kyuubi licked his lips.
'Geh-' Naruto choked. 'No! Don't you dare! Down, boy! Down, I said. Sasuke is not a rabbit. You eat him and I'll be the cannibal!'
An evilly sharp toothed grin answered that. 'Just a nibble.'
'Kyuubi!'
Naruto lunged forward, aiming to resume his customary place as keeper of the psycho fox. Kyuubi's step faltered for a second. Then Naruto went reeling mentally from the sudden rush of predatory lust, and Kyuubi used the distraction to prod him back. Three more silkily silent steps.
"Stop right there."
Kyuubi growled deep in his throat, a very creepy sound for Naruto to hear coming out of his own mouth. The fox stopped in his tracks, and Naruto shoved to the front again. This time he had a clear image of grabbing three tails in his fists and swinging the fox behind him in a somewhat thoughtless act of desperation. It worked. He suddenly found himself blinking his own eyes while a resentful fox groused in the back of his head. Sasuke hadn't moved, but Naruto could see red eyes glinting at him from behind loose dark bangs.
"Um, hey," Naruto started, with a wincing grin. His face felt boiling hot. "I was, erm, just..."
"Don't take another step," Sasuke said, in a blank voice. "Look down."
"Eh?" Naruto blinked at his feet. Grass, dirt, the usual turf found anywhere in the fields. He started to raise his gaze back up when a silvery glint caught his eye. He squinted. "What's that...?"
"Thread," said Sasuke.
Sasuke let out a slow sigh and sat up, his right arm still held diagonally in front of his neck. Naruto blinked when he spotted another silvery glint leading from Sasuke's curled hand to the grass.
"Thread?" Naruto frowned. "Why? What would happen if I'd stepped on it?"
"It would have sliced your feet off at the ankle," Sasuke said, in that same calmly monotone voice.
"What!"
"It's very quick," said Sasuke. "You wouldn't have realized what happened until you hit the ground."
Naruto sputtered, gaping in horror. Kyuubi was growling and gnashing his teeth, tails snapping furiously back and forth.
'He must have set more of them all around the area,' Kyuubi muttered. 'Early warnings. He knew we were close the entire time and he intentionally waited till the last second to stop us.' He growled again, deeper this time. 'I'm not just gonna bite him, I'll fuck him into the ground.'
'Kyuubi,' Naruto grimaced. 'Lust and anger don't mix. Stop it. It's your own fault for trying to jump him while you thought he was asleep. We're here to find him and bring him home, not attack him so he never comes back. Besides, um, he did stop us, so...no harm done.' He tried to convince himself he really felt that way. Some part of him was right there with Kyuubi. Cutting his feet off without so much as a 'by the way, watch out for the thread'? That was just wrong. Yeah, Kyuubi had been aiming to jump him, but Naruto wouldn't have let him. He was on Sasuke's side. Allies weren't supposed to cut each other's feet off.
"Um, so," Naruto frowned, looking from that seemingly innocent thread to Sasuke. "Can you, er, disarm it?"
"I did the moment you tripped the first thread."
"What!" Naruto blurted.
Sasuke sighed again, an annoyed expression breaking out on his face. "You're a moron. I already told you, I don't use my talents on morons. I disarmed it before you even topped the hill."
"But, then, why did you tell me to stop?" asked Naruto. He'd deal with the moron thing as soon as he got over his frustrated confusion and relief. Sasuke hadn't meant to cut his feet off after all.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Why had he stopped Naruto? Because he hadn't liked the look on Naruto's face when he came slinking down that hill. Sasuke didn't bother explaining that. He dropped his eyes, his arm falling as he shook his wrist and loosened the threads. Naruto had snapped three of them before he'd come into sight. He could still reset the rest. The thread itself was normal thread, a tiny spool that didn't take up any room in his bag and cost next to nothing, but he'd been using the same spool for years. It was a comfort thing. The man he'd gotten the talent from had used wire. Sasuke had tried that, but his connection with electricity interfered too much. At best he could put enough energy into the closest threads to make them unbreakable. That little spool of thread had saved him quite a few times before he'd started traveling with Kakashi.
"Why are you here?" asked Sasuke, without looking up. He was still annoyed at having such a good sleep disturbed. But part of him was worried. He'd come miles from the house. How had Naruto found him so quickly? And why? Sasuke finished wrapping the thread and finally looked up. "Did something happen?"
"No," said Naruto. Then he shook his head. "I mean, yeah, obviously, the pervert ran you off. So I came to bring you back," he straightened proudly. "It's a good thing, too, because you won't want to be sleeping out here once those clouds burst."
Sasuke stared, "You came to bring me back."
"That's right," Naruto nodded. "I know you only left because the pervert was hitting on you. Looking around the fields for a week? Yeah, right. You didn't even bring anything with you for camping. Don't worry, I'll protect you from the pervert when we get home. I've got his number now."
Sasuke felt his eye twitch. "Kakashi isn't the only reason I left," Sasuke said, slowly.
"Yeah," Naruto glowered, "there's that dog, too. Climbing in your bed? It's no wonder you went off on him this morning. You really got all sorts of perverts after you." He thought of the creepy photos hidden in the bottom of his desk. "It's no wonder you're so twitchy, especially traveling around with a pervert who hits on you all the time."
Sasuke opened his mouth and stopped. What was he planning to say? That Kakashi never hit on him? That the pervert he'd traveled with didn't go out of his way to make him twitch? That the dog didn't get his jollies from invading his personal space when he was asleep? He glowered in annoyance. "Most of the people after me are psychopaths, not perverts. I don't need protection from Kakashi. And I have every intention of staying out here for the rest of the week." His eyes narrowed more. "Go home."
Naruto gaped. "But...it's gonna rain. Really hard, too, if those clouds are as thick as they look. What, you're planning to sleep in the mud?"
It wouldn't be the first time. Sasuke sniffed. There was a reason he'd left his notebook at the house. He didn't have anything with him that would be damaged by water. And if the water collected too deep, he'd rest on top of the rock or move on. It wasn't as if he hadn't noticed the gathering clouds when he'd decided to stop here for the night.
"Go home," Sasuke repeated.
"I can't just go back without you," Naruto protested.
"Then expect to get wet," said Sasuke. He turned his back and went over to sit comfortably on the rock, claiming it for his own. He firmly ignored the way Naruto was sputtering at him. He'd dealt with Kakashi for a long time. He was confident he could out-wait Naruto.
'Let me,' Kyuubi growled. 'I'll disable him and we can carry him back.'
'You're not helping,' Naruto whined. 'The point was to find him and tell him it's safe to come back.'
'No,' said Kyuubi. 'The point was to bring him back. It doesn't matter if he's willing or not.'
'Kyuubi.'
'He'll get sick,' Kyuubi said, switching tactics. 'Sick and weak, out here all alone, in the cold rain, with a stalker on the loose.' Naruto squirmed worriedly. Kyuubi kept his smug grin to himself as he felt him caving. 'He didn't bring anything but that tiny bag, too small for two days' worth of food, let alone a week. This is for his own good.'
Naruto sent a furtive look at Sasuke and found him staring back over his folded hands. Sasuke's expression was blankly bored, his eyes black and half lidded. He looked fully prepared to sit there for the rest of the night.
'You're just looking for an excuse to jump him,' Naruto accused. 'You don't care if he gets cold and hungry.'
'Of course I care,' Kyuubi said smoothly. 'I wouldn't enjoy fucking a frozen skeleton.'
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Naruto had just burst into choked coughs, a weird grimacing grin twisting over his face. "Are you having a fit?"
"Yeah," Naruto coughed, trying his hardest not to laugh out loud. Kyuubi was such an ass. "Hey, Sasuke, I got an idea. Let's fight it out. If you pin me, I have to do what you want and go home by myself. If I pin you, you have to do what I want."
"Pin," Sasuke repeated, with a droll expression. "I could kill you."
"Um, okay," Naruto said, giving him a weird look. "Maybe you could. And I could kill someone, too, if I didn't watch my strength. That's not the point. I'm talking about a sparring match. You know, winner takes all? We can set ground rules, if you want. Like, no weapons - cause I don't have anything like your thread and that's not really fair. And no breaking bones, so you don't have to worry about me using too much strength. You can still use that electrocuting thing - I recovered pretty fast, so it should even out. Or we can do it without talents. I should warn you, though, I'm pretty good at that. Hiko's been teaching me how to beat the shit out of morons without using any mutant advantages. Of course, you're faster than me, so that might even out, too. Either way's fine. What do you say?"
"I say you're a moron," Sasuke stated. "I don't fight morons."
"Tha-" Naruto growled, his hands curling into fists. "You're such an ass! That's it, first order - when I win you have to stop calling me names. Now we're definitely going to fight, whether you like it or not. I should kick your ass just for the insult, so you've got it coming, anyway. I'm trying to be friendly and reasonable here, but you're really pushing it!"
Sasuke simply stared, "Go home, usuratonkachi."
"Teme!"
Naruto lunged, his noble idea of a friendly sparring match replaced with a sudden need to wipe that bored look off the bastard's face. Sasuke waited till the last second and then flipped off the rock to send a well aimed kick to the small of his back. Naruto bit back a yipe as his knee barked against the rock. He twisted around, just in time to catch Sasuke's left fist in his palm. He caught the right one with the side of his face, his teeth slicing the inside of cheek. He swallowed a gulp of blood and Kyuubi was Not Happy. Naruto forced the fox back down by habit. Sasuke's eyes were still black, so talents were out. As angry as he was, he still wanted to beat him fairly, which meant no healing till the fight was finished. He jerked his leg around, kicking Sasuke's feet out from under him with his heel and pushing him over backwards.
Sasuke twisted as they went down, catching himself with his right hand and pushing off again so that Naruto was the one who hit the ground, landing hard face down. He pivoted with his left fist still locked in Naruto's grip and struck him on the back of the neck with his right elbow. The blow stunned him enough to break free. Sasuke darted back, far enough away to be out of reach, but close enough to kick him back down if Naruto attempted to get up and come after him. He never predicted that Naruto would roll sideways and knock his feet out from under him again. His mind skipped a beat for just a second of 'what the hell' at the bizarre move. Then he fell forward over Naruto, coming down to meet an eager fist to the gut. He coughed and shoved off, only to have his wrist caught as a hand closed over his shoulder. Naruto pushed him back and Sasuke was reminded of their last 'fight' as his head snapped back to connect with a ground that was much less forgiving than the soft mud had been. His eyes were just flashing red when a heavy arm came down to press on his neck.
"I win," said Naruto.
Sasuke blinked, the sharingan telling him how restrained Naruto's energy was, even weaker than the time he'd caught him napping on the couch.
"I pinned you," Naruto glared. Kyuubi was threatening to take over, spurred on by those red eyes, despite the confused look on Sasuke's face. "I pinned you, so I win. If you wanna go again with talents, fine, but I won this match fair and square."
Sasuke stared. Pinned. That was it? What kind of fight was that? They were both still conscious, neither of them seriously injured, and it had only taken a few seconds.
"You want to go again with talents?" asked Naruto.
"No," Sasuke snapped, glaring suddenly. "I didn't want to fight a moron to begin with."
"Yeah," Naruto glowered right back, "and I didn't want you calling me that. Admit I won this round and I'll let you up. First condition of my victory, no more names. Second, you go back with me."
"And the third?" Sasuke bit out, more angry than sarcastic.
"I'm sure I'll think of something." Naruto felt a dark grin creeping over his face. Kyuubi was no longer pushing to take over; he was right there with him. Sasuke looked good when he was angry and they were already so close...
Sasuke tensed as Naruto leaned closer, staring at him with eyes as red as his own. This was too familiar. And bizarre. "What the hell are you doing, usuratonkachi?"
"Something," Naruto murmured, his eyes falling closed. "And don't call me that," he said against Sasuke's lips, "I won."
Kissing him. Sasuke stared, remaining absolutely motionless. Naruto was kissing him. By choice this time. What the hell was wrong with him? They'd been fighting, furious and violent just a few seconds ago. Glaring at each other, hurting each other, and now Naruto was kissing him as softly as he had last night, firm but so tentative that it wasn't the least bit threatening. Naruto hummed and pressed into his mouth. Sasuke felt a sudden heat flare over his face as his free hand snapped up to lock on Naruto's shoulder, not pushing so much as holding tight. If he'd been tense before, he was a statue now.
This was tasting. Naruto eased into the kiss, taking the lack of an immediate violent reaction as permission. Kyuubi was purring in approval and instead of feeling amused at that, he felt himself giving an answering hum. He was only vaguely aware of a continuing pain in his shoulder. Sasuke wasn't responding and he wanted him to. This was his first kiss, after all. He pressed closer to the warm body under him, noting the tension as he shifted the kiss from tentative to teasing. Any response would do. If he wasn't doing it good enough, well, Sasuke was the one with experience, so...
Sasuke made a small choking sound, and Naruto's eyes snapped open. He pulled back slowly, licking his lips and staring dazedly into Sasuke's wide red eyes. Sasuke was blushing. And pushing on his shoulder so hard only Kyuubi's thoughtless strength was keeping him in place. Naruto leaned back quickly, wondering if he'd been completely wrong about that lack of reaction equaling permission. Then he noticed something else that put his worries to rest with a giddy sort of amusement. He'd gotten a reaction, after all. And a very positive one, from the feel of it.
"Hey," Naruto murmured, with an embarrassed grin. "Um..."
"Get off me," Sasuke blurted, his glare looking out of place on his pink face. "Now!"
"Ah! Sorry," Naruto winced. He retreated a few safe feet away and fidgeted. A peek at Sasuke found him sitting up with a mortified expression on his face. He quickly looked away before he could catch sight of anything else that might be visible through Sasuke's light clothing. That embarrassed, but pleased grin started over his face again. "Um, that was my first kiss, you know. That kiss last night doesn't count. Sorry if I was a little thoughtless. You've kissed before, so I was waiting for you to, well, react more." And he choked back a laugh. He'd gotten more of a reaction than he'd been expecting, just a different kind of reaction. "I thought you'd kiss back," he explained.
"I've never kissed anyone," Sasuke snapped. He was humiliated and uncomfortable and...he wasn't going to think about what else he was at the moment. He was just going to sit absolutely still until it went away. And if Naruto so much as looked at him funny, he'd kill him.
"What?" Naruto blurted, turning to stare at Sasuke in disbelief. "Never?" He sent an accusing yell at his fox, 'Kyuubi!'
'Trust me,' Kyuubi hummed back, all glowing and pleased with himself. Or pleased with having finally gotten a taste of the real thing.
"Never," Naruto repeated, glowering as Sasuke snapped him a glare. "If you've never kissed, why did you act like last night was nothing? If that was your first kiss, then-"
"I've been kissed," Sasuke muttered, looking away again. "I've never instigated or participated." Or reacted positively, but he didn't plan to admit that.
"Oh." Naruto gave him a long considering look. "Well, um, you could kiss me...or I could try again and-"
Sasuke shot to his feet. He stalked over to collect his bag. He then turned and started walking away.
Naruto jumped. "Sasuke? Where are you going?""Back to the house," Sasuke snapped. "That was your second condition."
"Oh! Great," Naruto beamed. He hurried over to walk with him. One look at Sasuke's murderous expression and his smile faltered. "Um, are you mad about the fight or...the kiss?"
"Both."
Naruto's face dropped. "Oh..."
"I'm going to challenge you tomorrow," said Sasuke, a hint of a sneer pulling at his face, "with talents. You won't like my conditions, either."
Naruto missed a step, worry widening his eyes. "Erm, I, uh, guess that's fair."
"Walk faster," Sasuke glared, with a grudging, "Naruto," in place of the insult he wanted to use.
"Sure thing," mumbled Naruto.
For some reason Naruto was suddenly sure Sasuke was going to kick his ass tomorrow. He couldn't imagine how, when he had Kyuubi on his side and they'd be fighting with talents. It was just...something in Sasuke's tone that convinced him. He worried for a few minutes, hurrying along beside Sasuke as they attempted to get back before it rained. Then he thought about how nice his first kiss had been and the undeniable reaction he'd gotten and he decided he didn't care if he got his ass handed to him tomorrow.
.-.
TBC