Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ End To Serenity ❯ Akuma ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

“ “- talking

` `- thinking

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--Chapter Three—

--Akuma--

He used the excuse he was coming down with a cold to skive off periods 5 and 6 so that at the end of the day, Naruto walked out alone in the clothes that he had borrowed from the sick bay.

He'd passed on wearing the stupid tie and had left his shirt out again and the nurse, being too nice to tell him otherwise, had let him. Although he could swear there had been an evil glint in her eye as she watched him…he had taken the time to make sure that the change room door was securely locked.

He purposefully left 10 minutes after the bell went for the end of the day to make sure no one else would ogle at him. He crept down the long, deserted hallway to the front door and began to feel thoroughly depressed in his solitude.

`It feels so lonely,' he thought sadly. This first day had really gone the opposite of everything he could've hoped. For god's sake, he was hiding from the rest of the school population.

He looked glumly around. `Why did we have to move here?' he thought. Even if Tsunade did have an offer from a better company here, it wasn't like they'd been at all desperate for money before.

He walked sullenly past the black gates and turned left in the direction of home. His house was only 15 minutes walk from the school (he'd managed 5 that morning), so it was fairly convenient. He had to go to the shops and buy some stuff before he went home though. Tsunade had told him that they were running out of bread and milk. Well…why wouldn't they at the rate that he ate?

There was a little shopping village 2 roads away from his house, so he figured he'd be able to get all his groceries from there.

`Ok…bread…milk,' he thought as he walked between the tall aisles.'And ramen never does bad!' he thought happily. He ended up with more ramen than bread and milk put together.

As he left the shop with his groceries in his sling bag he noticed something he most definitely didn't want to see, or for him to be seen by. People from school, standing at the other end of a long stretch of pavement.

`Crap!'

It was not in his best interests to be caught out by them after what had happened in the cafeteria.

They hadn't seen him yet so turning on his heel, he was about to run when he recognized the raven black hair of Uchiha Sasuke at the forefront of the group of six. `What is he doing here?' he pondered. He looked through the other people and realized that they were all other Year 11s whom the ice prince hung with. Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, and to some surprise, Chouji and Lee.

Looking directly at Sasuke, he was personally starting to think that the guy was too much of a cold prick for his own good. At that moment, he had on his trademark smirk and was grinning at something Naruto couldn't see.

Unbeknownst to even himself, Naruto was eyeing Sasuke's every movement with abnormally scrutinizing interest.

'He's pretty good looking,' he thought as Sasuke flicked his head to the side.

He kicked himself. Anyone walking past him just now would have seen an extremely involuntary spasm go through him.

`This place is filled with weirdoes!' his mind screamed.`I'm out of here before I become one!' Becoming a mental was not on his list of want-to-be professions. `Although I'd take that over becoming a gay,' he thought. This lead to a minor battle in his head. 'Am I discriminatory towards gays? I shouldn't discriminate anyone! Aww, my head...'

He was just preparing to leave for the sake of his sanity, when a muffled scream from behind froze him in his tracks.

`What the…?'

He turned around just in time to see the entire, large bevy of people disappear around the corner with several scuffling noises, and a grating which sounded like something heavy being dragged across the concrete ground.

Perplexed, he heard a scream come again, this time more pained. He cursed and hesitated, but when the scream came yet again he ran after them around that corner.

What he saw stunned him.

The other 5 were standing back and laughing as Sasuke kicked a guy across the floor. `I didn't see him with them before,' Naruto thought. `Never mind that for now.'

Even as he watched, Sasuke raised his leg again and with a casual, side swing his victim went crashing into the brick. Gripping onto the shoulder which had made contact, the person winced in pain as he slid to the ground.

They were in an area of the village which was currently closed and unfortunately for the person getting beaten up, this would mean he would have faced a couple of months in hospital, and most probably in intensive care; That is, if Naruto hadn't decided to interfere. His self-restraint vanished as Sasuke began advancing on the person helpless to his will.

“Get away from him!” Naruto shouted angrily. Throwing his bag and groceries to the side, he ran forwards towards the figure sprawled on the floor, placing himself between him and Sasuke in the process.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and took a step back as Naruto turned his back to him and knelt down. `What is he doing here?' he thought coldly.`And shouldn't he know better than to interfere?' Obviously not unless he wasn't afraid of pain.

As he watched Naruto look over the injuries on his victim's body, he suddenly felt a small pang of guilt which he could never in the past have associated with any such incident. Troubled, he turned to the other side to steep in his own thoughts.

Behind him, Lee and Chouji were waving their hands and heads frantically at an oblivious Naruto to tell him to run for it. Neji was gazing at Naruto with a look of interest upon his face, while Kiba just appeared annoyed.

Leaning the man down at the base of the wall, Naruto at last recognized who it was - It was that person who'd dumped the water on him in the cafeteria. But he was barely recognizable now with purple bruising and blood everywhere. Naruto shuddered at the crimson liquid oozing horribly to trickle thickly to the ground. The guy opened his eyes a few millimeters and feebly clutched at Naruto's sleeve, causing Naruto to recoil impulsively. “Please…” the injured man croaked out.

Naruto turned to look up at Sasuke and glared with such rancor that Sasuke was astonished that the normally innocent face could express such emotions. He was also starting to feel somewhat mystified, which in turn irritated him. That person had dumped water on Naruto just hours before, so why was he defending him? To Sasuke, revenge was always sweet. 'Is he an idiot?' he thought coldly.

“Stay away from him,” Naruto growled. `The dickhead. What does he think he's doing? He could've killed this guy. That settles it, I hate him.'

This remark was what really pissed Sasuke off.

'How dare he order me around...'

He walked towards Naruto and knelt down next to him. He looked at him through his cold, black eyes and then drawled in a low, toneless voice,“And what are you going to do if I don't?”

Naruto looked uncertain for a moment, and Sasuke's lips twisted into a cold smirk of triumph. “You can't do anything can you?” he asked sardonically. He stood up slowly, his onyx eyes on Naruto's blue ones all the while. Suddenly, he kicked the thug in the stomach again and the already wounded man slumped down unconscious after a cry of pain.

Naruto snarled and leaping to his feet sent a punch at Sasuke's head which missed. Sasuke grabbed the fist which had gone flying past his right ear and held it in a vice-like grip. Enraged, Naruto shook his hand violently but the grip didn't loosen at all - On the contrary, Sasuke held on even tighter as a taunting smile spread across his pretty boy features.

“Let me go,” Naruto growled.

Sasuke smiled evilly. “Make me.” He brought his face to within a few centimeters of Naruto's. Naruto held his ground, glaring daggers at Sasuke. Amused, Sasuke retreated when Naruto didn't and then said in a whisper so that only he could hear, “No one can tell me how to live my life.”

`Huh?' Naruto thought, confused.

Still with Naruto's fist in his grip, Sasuke turned around to the others and in a casual voice called out, “Let's go to dinner then?”

The other five all agreed, and then Sasuke turned to Naruto again. “And you're coming.”

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The restaurant was an alright place, he supposed. But that didn't change the fact that he had been forced to come.

It was more of a little café to tell the truth. It had a sea, blue theme and even the lights were tinted a pale, blue crystal. Them seven sat at a large, square table, separated from the other tables in the place by traditional, Japanese, rice paper partitions.

Naruto leaned back on the black, cushiony seat and refused to take part in the conversation that was happening across the table from him. They were laughing -except Sasuke of course, who was sniggering- at some stupid joke that Kiba had just told.

In between jokes Sasuke was darting little glances in Naruto's direction. The guy intrigued him. He'd come to school looking like a dork, when he was in fact one of the most good looking people imaginable. He dared to stand up to him, even after seeing what he was capable of. Certainly someone worth spending a bit of time on to discover all his secrets.

"Why did you bring that guy?" Kiba whispered to Sasuke. "He looks like he wants to kill us." And truly, Naruto was sending the occasional death glare in their direction.

"He's interesting," Sasuke stated casually.

"He acts like some naive kid," Kiba laughed.

Lee and Chouji were sitting on either side of Naruto and Lee nudged him, trying to encourage him to join in. Naruto pointedly ignored the nudging and tried to concentrate his attention on the soya sauce bottle on the table. He didn't know if he could accept Lee and Chouji as friends anymore, not after seeing what they did.

`Who would beat up someone that badly just for doing something they didn't like?' he thought.

Naruto didn't doubt Sasuke was rich. After all, almost everyone in Konoha would be - it was one of those places where you needed money to do the talking. But just how rich, for him to be able to wield such power over others? `Kami…what a weird guy.'

When the meals they ordered finally came Sasuke decided that Naruto needed to talk more. And besides, he wanted to find out more about him. That wasn't going to happen unless someone said something. The others picked up their chopsticks and began eating, but Naruto and Sasuke remained motionless on a frontier of nuclear weapons. Needless to say, the five that were eating were feeling a lot of unneeded pressure during dinner.

Folding his arms on the table in front of him, Sasuke looked Naruto in the eyes and asked calmly “What made you do that back there?”

Naruto glared back and thought, `What an idiot.'

“What do you mean what made me do that?” he said stoutly. “I'm not a heartless jerk, and that's reason enough.” Taking his chopsticks out of their paper cover, he gripped one in between his teeth and grabbing the other with two fingers, swiftly snapped them apart. He stabbed with vigor at a piece of salmon sashimi and dipped it with unnecessary force into the soya sauce. `The sooner this is over, the better,' he thought venomously. Sasuke watched in amusement.

Trying to break the ice, Lee asked through a mouthful of udon, “So where did you move to Konoha from?”

It was a question he could tolerate. “Northside,” He stated. There wasn't any need to say more than was asked of him.

“Northside…” Neji said slowly. “Hey Sasuke, isn't that where you and Itachi went for your vacation?”

Sasuke nodded rather grumpily. “It was a dump. And i wouldn't call anything with that asshole a vacation.”

Kiba laughed. “Sure it wasn't a dump just because Itachi was there?”

Sasuke gave him a small but painful punch on the head.

“Oww!”

Deciding to develop on Lee's tact, Chouji asked, “How come you moved here?”

`Cause I wanted to get myself killed?'

“I wish I knew…” Naruto muttered.

Chin resting on interlaced fingers, Sasuke watched silently as Naruto kept on eating. Pretending not to notice, Naruto carefully avoided making eye contact with Sasuke. However, there is only so much that a person can take. Uncomfortable, Naruto finally cracked 5 minutes later. He stood up angrily and so suddenly that he almost overturned the table. He pointed his chopsticks dangerously close at Sasuke's face and shouted “You told me to come here and eat, and I'm doing that. Now can you let me do that in peace?!”

The ringing silence that followed his words seemed to bring Sasuke to the fact that all attention in the vicinity was focused completely on him. He cast a single death glare around the restaurant which ended with it's gaze on Naruto's face. “Don't tell me what to do Uzumaki.”

Naruto snorted. “Don't tell me what to do.”

For a moment, Sasuke didn't take any action, his mind calculating whether he'd much prefer to kill or torture. But then he let out a sigh of breath he had been holding in and stood up and walked calmly around the table to where Naruto was still standing. He stopped in front of the blonde. “You have seen what I can do," he said to him softly.

“And you've seen that frankly, I don't give a damm,” Naruto announced.

Sasuke's eyes glinted as they captured Naruto's in their gaze. “But will your mother care when you're removed from Konoha, half dead?”

Naruto froze.

Seeing the effect of his words, Sasuke edged closer to Naruto so that his sleeve brushed against Naruto's. “And furthermore…will you care when she lies unconscious in Konoha hospital?”

Quick as lightening, Naruto had grabbed Sasuke's collar and drawn back his left fist, preparing to land a blow that promised a world of pain.

The other five at the table were instantly on their feet with hands at their waists. Shikamaru pulled his dagger out slightly so that the light reflected on the metal shone in Naruto's eyes. Sasuke folded his arms, daring Naruto to land the blow.

“You bastard.”

Naruto growled, but released the Uchiha. He retrieved his backpack from the chair behind him and made a wide detour around them to the exit. As he reached it Sasuke's wretched voice called out to him.

“If you want the best for you and your family, after school tomorrow go to the cafeteria.”

`Damm you to hell Uchiha.'

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"How was your first day of school?" Tsunade asked him. Her voice became hard. "Are the people here nice?"

Naruto looked up from unpacking his school bag behind the kitchen table.

He walked over and stood behind where Tsunade was working on an important project for her new company on her laptop. Smiling, he patted her gently on the shoulder and then said "It was good. Everyone here is heaps nice."

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--Next day--

The connection with the ice prince proved to be a gain in some respects. A huge positive was that on the next morning of school people no longer seemed to be infatuated with Naruto's appearance. Naruto had no doubt that the news of his being involved rather negatively with Sasuke had been spread around the whole school already by the five people who had witnessed the events in the restaurant. People daren't get involved with him for fear of insulting Sasuke Uchiha.

He was careful not to tempt anyone though. He'd die before he wore gel again, but he'd tucked his shirt in and done his tie up to a sensible degree.

Slamming shut his locker, he began making his way to homeroom with his textbooks tucked under one arm. The first to get there, he sat at the same seat he'd sat at the day before and then turned his face to the window. He smiled childishly at the shapes the clouds made and all attention was focused outside. He therefore didn't notice when the bell rang and people began entering the classroom.

But he did recognize the voice which came from his right.

“Good morning Uzumaki.”

The smile slipped from his face. He knew what to expect as he forced his head to turn.

Sasuke grinned through his perfect teeth at Naruto and Naruto gritted his own. “Morning,” he said stiffly.

Whispering was happening again, but this time it was confused as people began debating whether Sasuke and Naruto really were on bad terms. After all…how often did Sasuke Uchiha greet someone? Never.

Sasuke rested an elbow on his table and propped his head up on his hand. He tilted his head to one side and looked at Naruto with a penetrating stare. When Naruto tried ignoring him by continuing his examination of the clouds outside, Sasuke pulled his chair closer so that Naruto had no choice but to turn to the face a mere 10 inches from his own.

“What do you want?” he hissed.

Sasuke smirked. “Is that any way to talk to me? I thought you got the message yesterday…”

“What do you want?” Naruto growled again.

Sasuke's eyes iced over and all previous manner of glee evaporated into seriousness. “You will go to the cafeteria today after school.”

Naruto shifted a little but retained his composure. “Do I really have any say in the matter?” he asked coldly.

“For your own good…no, you do not.” Sasuke nodded curtly at Naruto and then moved back to his desk as Kakashi finally bothered to grace the classroom with his presence and began calling out the roll.

`What does he want…and why the cafeteria?'

Sasuke was tracing absently with his finger on the grainy wood of his desk. Naruto watched, fascinated, at the tranquility in that figure and the absolute coolness with which everything was greeted by him.

“Uchiha, Sasuke!”

Sasuke raised a hand without looking up.

`He's definitely different to anyone else I've met.'

“Uzumaki, Naruto!”

“Here!”

--After school--

Sixth period had been an amazing escapade involving punctured frogs and flying limbs in a sickeningly stuffy biology classroom. Naruto was not to leave the classroom without being in an unpleasantly bad mood.

And so it was that he was to be found by Neji, stomping his way up the steps to the cafeteria with a shroud of murderous intent hanging about him.

“My, my Uzumaki-san. Are you always in such a bad mood?” he asked teasingly as he fell into step beside Naruto.

“No,” Naruto grumbled truthfully. “It's only when you lot are around.”

Neji's pupil-less eyes stared into the side of Naruto's head for a moment, calculating. And then he sighed and turned to face the front. “You have a lot to learn about Konoha High don't you?”

“Well it is only my second day,” Naruto said, annoyed.

“I know, I know,” Neji said. Suddenly, his face was before Naruto's and Naruto's chin was cupped in his hand. Freaked, Naruto could only stutter wordlessly as Neji smirked. “I hope you don't take it too badly,” the Hyuuga grinned.

He released Naruto and walked through the cafeteria doors first, leaving them flapping behind him.

'What was thatabout?' Naruto thought.

When he had recovered from the shock, he followed.

He didn't know what he had been expecting past those red doors, but it most certainly wasn't this.

`Oh my god...are these people all nerds? Or do they just not get enough of school as it is?'

Stunned, he looked at the noisy, hectic room which was the cafeteria. It was filled to bursting point with people, but not just Konoha students. There were casual clothes around too, and Naruto noticed that there were barely any of the younger students there. It was mostly guys, with the occasional female here and there.

Neji sidled sneakily next to Naruto and asked “What do you think?”

Still nervous of Neji from before, Naruto moved a little away from him. He was feeling very wary of his height in comparison to everyone here…

“A major study group?” Naruto joked.

Neji laughed and shook his head. He grabbed Naruto's wrist and ignoring the rather withering glares from all the people around them as well as the protests from Naruto's mouth, he dragged him over to the middle table where Sasuke and co. were.

Neji forced Naruto to sit down on the seat across from Sasuke and then moved away and engaged himself in a conversation between Shikamaru and Kiba.

Naruto looked at Sasuke to see him grinning evilly at him.

Naruto gazed coolly back. “Why did you want me here? I have no interest in being part of whatever group this is.”

“Oh? So you've figured out it's a group of some sort?” Sasuke said cynically. “Well... you're close.” As he said this, a crash came from the table next to them and they both turned to see a man get thrown violently to the floor. Cursing, the man got back on his feet then wrestled his attacker from the top of the table to the floor where they proceeded with a violent exchange of limbs and shouts.

Sasuke disregarded this, but actually laughed when he saw the look of disbelief on Naruto's face. Naruto gave Sasuke a distant expression. “What kind of a study group is this?” he asked numbly.

The fighting pair next to them were now smearing copious amounts of crimson blood across the ground. Around them, a ring of cheering people had gathered. Naruto twitched as their fight brought them closer to the table he was at before crashing back to their own.

Simpering, Sasuke leaned over the table edge towards Naruto, who regarded him with a distant face. Smiling maliciously, he said to him softly, “This is an underworld...and everyone here is in a gang.”

A flash of red. A chilling scream.

Naruto's eyes widened and he stood up. He glanced around at the many tables and saw every now and again, scars or bruises on peoples bodies- evidence of past fights and incidents. Beneath shirts on belts and in bags, weapons were waiting. He looked in newfound fear at Sasuke.

Sasuke waved an arm around him. “This is the monthly gathering. Everyone needed somewhere to meet, and so we decided that the school cafeteria would be the perfect place.”

“You're mad,” Naruto whispered. `I've got to get out of here. This isn't right at all.'

Sasuke grinned. “Am I?” He waved a brown haired boy over and placed an elbow on his shoulder.

“Tell him,” he whispered in the boy's ear, “just how sane am I?”

Terrified, the boy couldn't manage speech. Instead, he just nodded furiously at Naruto, who was still in shock. Sasuke pushed the boy to the side and returned his concentration to Naruto, who at last regained the ability to speak.

“You're in a fucking gang,” Naruto whispered. “You attack people - kill them, for all I know!” He gestured around them. “Not only you, all of this is insane!” he shouted. Several guys from neighboring tables stopped what they were doing and began muttering as they glared at Naruto.

Sasuke silenced him with a look. “You are in Konoha,” he spat, “and whether you like it or not, you are now a part of this madness.” His eyes flickered momentarily to the people at the other tables who were looking murderously at Naruto. 'This idiot's gonna get killed if he doesn't learn when to shut up.'

“Well, you can take me down to hell first!” Naruto yelled at him.

Sasuke laughed hollowly. “Idiot. You know nothing about Akuma but you criticize us? I guarantee Akuma doesn't do any killing.” He snorted at this point. “Our gang has only one purpose, and you'll learn that later.”

He got up and stood on the top of the table. Instantly, all attention turned to Sasuke as he addressed the large room. “From today onwards,” he said, “Naruto Uzumaki is now a member of Akuma.” He glared at everyone, a rather difficult feat which he managed perfectly, and spoke in a dangerous whisper. “Anyone who dares to mess with him, is messing with us…got that?”

He sat back down and Naruto barely controlled the urge to leap on him right there and then. “The fuck?!” he snarled.

“You should be grateful,” Sasuke said icily. “None of the other gangs here will dare to mess with you from now on. You are now in one of the strongest groups in Konoha.”

“Yeah,” Kiba added as he waltzed past. “Don't pretend you haven't realized all the attention that's been on you since yesterday. For a fact, those people over there were planning on ambushing you this arvo.” He thumped Naruto on the back. "Welcome to Akuma."

Shikamaru nodded and yawned shamelessly from next to Kiba. “I'm sure being a member of Akuma is a small price to pay for your virginity.”

“Trust me,” Sasuke smirked. “Akuma is not that bad.”

Naruto turned a light shade of red and hissed, “You messing with me is more than enough!” He got out from under Kiba's hand and without a backwards glance, he was out of there.

Sasuke smiled at Naruto's retreating back. Neji sat down next to him and turned to look at him inquiringly.

“I'm curious,” Neji said. “What made you let him be a part of Akuma?”

Sasuke gave Neji an unreadable expression and shook his head. He smiled a malicious smile. “Naruto Uzumaki…I wonder. What demons do you hide?”

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Next chapter- Is there another side to the ice prince?

I need help figuring out how to make bigger spaces between the paragraphs…a single space looks too little, and double space looks too big. How does everyone else get that spacing? I use Microsoft word processor.

Review!!