Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Innocent Illusions ❯ Forgiving Friendship ( Chapter 13 )

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

A/N: I planned to have more length, but I spent three days typing something else. I realized that it was harder to go the way I was going, but I was relunctant to delete three days worth of typing. But, finally, I deleted it and went a new way, and it was so much easier. And thanks to my laptop which is finally back in my arms, it was much faster, too. So cheers for that.




Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.

Innocent Illusions


"What the hell happened?" Naruto questioned as he rebandaged Suigetsu's arm. His eyes focused on the crude stitches stretching across his arm to his chest and among other places. The injuries were pretty gruesome. Imagine Naruto's surprise when had woken up exactly at the time they needed to change their bandages. Imagine his joy. Naruto pulled the cloth strip back tightly causing the man in front of him to wince. "Sorry." Suigetsu sent him an annoyed look which was wiped off when Naruto stretched the cloth tightly against his skin again.

"We faced Akatsuki. What do you expect?" Suigetsu answered, choosing not to anger the woman since she had the power to physically harm him.

"You never told how the battle went, anyways."

"Why the hell should I tell you?" Naruto slowly and deliberately yanked the bandage, making Suigetsu flinch in pain, and held it there for agonizingly slow seconds before circling the cloth around Suigetsu's arm. "Well, we didn't kill as much as we wanted, but two of them are out of our way. Sasuke's not too happy about it though. I wouldn't be surprised if he's out brooding."

"Why? Isn't killing two Akatsuki members a good thing?"

"Since the two Akatsuki members killed weren't Itachi, then no. It's not a good thing by Sasuke standards." Naruto nodded, agreeing with the statement.

"So can you go into details?"

"About what? The fight? Didn't expect a girl like you to be interested in the bloody specifics," Suigetsu sarcastically commented.

"Not that. I meant details as in the names of who you killed. Details like... a mission report," Naruto said, not really caring about the shinobi term. If they saw the what he did to Sasuke, then they probably knew he wasn't a normal 'girl'. Suigetsu snorted at the statement.

"I haven't done that in years. But I think it goes in the lines of this, you and Karin left. We took on the Akatsuki. Fierce battle. Killed team members Kisame and Zetsu. Other members have escaped. We end up here with the prince missing. How's that sound?"

"Good enough."

"You know what's the weird thing? Sasuke had this all planned out and gave the battle plan before we fought. We killed Kisame and Zetsu for specific reasons. So I don't know why the hell he's acting this way." Naruto frowned as he tried to imagine Sasuke physically showing sadness. Even now, Naruto didn't expect Sasuke to give out his emotions so easily, even in front of him.

"So... why'd you kill Kisame and Zetsu?" Naruto sliced the cloth and firmly pressed it onto Suigetsu's back, making sure it would stick.

"Zetsu's the fly. He's the spy for the Akatsuki. We needed to get rid of him after we found him spying on Sasuke during a fight. Kisame, because of this sword." Suigetsu stood up stiffly and went over to the wall which held a large sword-shaped item wrapped in white bands that has slipped Naruto's vision earlier. He reached over, preparing to prop up the sword, but Karin quickly stopped his action.

"Don't even think about it," She called with her back turned while finishing the final touches with Juugo's wounds. Suigetsu sent her a quick scowl before returning to Naruto.

"You killed him just for the sword?" Suigetsu shrugged his shoulders at the question, as if his reason was valid enough to kill someone.

"Sasuke needed something good enough to bring me back."

"Bring you back?" Suigetsu scoffed at the question.

"You didn't think I would stay with Sasuke for all these years, did you? As if I could stand him acting like he was the fucking leader or something. It gets on my damn nerves." Naruto frowned. How come he had never heard of this before? If he thought of it, it did make sense. Why would they stay with Sasuke all for this long amount of time? Naruto just never knew his suspicions were actually confirmed.

"So he gathered you up before the... Akatsuki thing?" Naruto didn't want to bring up what actually had happened at the battle scene.

"Yeah, it was harder for him to get me back unlike Karin who just went back like his lapdog." Suigetsu said, knowing said girl would hear him. Karin immediately scrunched up her face into a murderous scowl.

"It looks to me like you turn into a dog whenever some offers you a bone." Karin pointed to the sword which was her metaphorical bone.

"At least I was offered something. You came crawling back to Sasuke to fill his every whim. Doesn't that sound like a lapdog?" Suddenly, Naruto became the center of the heated battle as Suigetsu tried to prove their points to Naruto. Suigetsu quickly looked at Naruto for an answer to his question. "Doesn't it?"

"I just hadn't seen Sasuke for a long time. I thought it'd be nice to help him out. For memories," Karin pulled Naruto over which surprised him. Previously, she would ignore him whenever the subject of Sasuke would show up. Competition really does change you.

"Sure," Suigetsu inserted the rolling of eyes for good measure. "You probably jumped at his feet." Karin let go of Naruto and charged into the argument with Suigetsu. Naruto walked over to the quietest member who seemed neutral to the violent words.

"Are they always like this?" Juugo nodded. Naruto had learned earlier that Juugo wasn't as tight lipped as Sasuke but wasn't as talkative as Karin. He only spoke when spoken to. "You act like this is a normal thing that goes on." Juugo gave him a shrug before answering.

"You get used to it." Naruto turned back to the quarreling couple. Then, he turned back toward Juugo, remembering his earlier subject.

"So, Juugo. Why are you here? What did Sasuke offer you to bring you back?"

"I...," Naruto felt the mood of the conversation to light and casual to personal and private. "... owe him." Juugo's eye slowly moved over and focused on Naruto. "He's not as bad as you may think." Unconsciously, Naruto's body froze as he thought over what was just said.

"You can't be too sure," Naruto replied lowly. "You never know what goes on behind his eyes." Naruto thought about Sasuke's eyes, the ones that penetrated any attempt to guess their emotions. He thought he did get through the barrier but...

"Whatever's going on, it's not bad." Naruto remained silent at the statement.

"You know what? I'm leaving this place!" The loud shriek caused everyone's attention to go to the person who was standing in the center of the room.

"Where the hell are you going to go?" Karin scowled at Suigetsu's comeback before sputtering out the first thing that came to mind.

"Shopping! We're running out of supplies. I'll be doing something useful while you lie on your lazy ass."

"Go already," Suigetsu replied calmly, smirking at the girl. "We already have another person who can take your place." Suigetsu motioned to the other 'girl' in the room. Karin frowned before marching over to the door. Naruto, who was lying his back on the wall adjacent to the doorway, was tugged softly off his place.

"Come with me," She commanded softly. Naruto, ready to head out of the door instead of staying captive, stood and followed the girl. As soon as they headed outside, Naruto was dragged off to the market. So Karin wasn't kidding when she said she would go shopping. Whipping out a paper that Naruto hadn't seen before, Karin ripped it in half before handing it over to Naruto. He flipped it over and read the words. It was a shopping list. "We're running out of medical supplies and food. Here's some money," Karin placed some bills onto Naruto's hand. "That should cover it. As soon as your done, head back to the hotel." Naruto watched as Karin 'dismissed' him and walked away. A small revelation of Karin being the mother of the group surprised Naruto a bit before he walked away in search of the listed items.

Karin didn't mention that he was supposed to come back at any specific time, did she? Naruto smiled as he wasted some time exploring the town. It really was a nice place. His eyes frolicked around the scenery, bouncing from a display of flowers to a display fruits to the fields of water near the city's shipping port. The town square was bustling with business which proved hazardous to Naruto as he avoided getting run over from the sprinting kids to the racing adults. He frowned before finally turning serious about his task and looked at the list, noticing the supplies were in the direction opposite of where he was going. He sighed before turning back into the town market.

The sun was touching the edge of the horizon when Naruto had gone through his list. As soon as there was a bench in sight, Naruto sprinted over and sat down, resting his tired feet. He sighed as he sat the bags down and laid his head back, sullen thoughts were coming back to Naruto. Without the distraction of Hebi or the distracting of doing errands for them, Naruto's mind was completely free to finish his 'assessment' that was interrupted yesterday. Naruto's eyes clouded over as he thought of what had happened. Of course, he knew exactly what happened, but he never had time to actually let his thoughts seep into the actions. Sasuke had, in one simple word that contained so much meaning, betrayed Naruto.

Naruto's hand tightened. He didn't know what to think as a fleet of emotions passed through his body like a tidal wave. Naruto was simply shipwrecked as he realized Sasuke had lied to him the whole time. Naruto's clouded eyes deepened into a darker shade when he took notice that he was... is lying, too. It-

"Hey." Naruto's head whipped toward the source of the soft greeting that belonged to no one other than...

"Sasuke." Naruto looked at Sasuke before quickly turning his head away, realizing the object of his scorn wasn't worth looking at. His body visibly relaxed though when he realized he didn't want to go through the anger again. Sure, punching Sasuke did help to relieve some anger, but it would become repetitious eventually. It wouldn't be worth it to hit Sasuke every time he came in contact with Naruto. His eyes closed slowly, trying to close off any feelings until he reached a neutral bliss. "What do you want?" He asked tiredly.

Sasuke watched the visible mental actions going on in the girl before answering.

“Why are you out here?” Or asking. Naruto wordlessly pointed to the bags, but Sasuke’s silence told Naruto he demanded a more specific explanation.

“Karin wanted to get away from Suigetsu and dragged me along to go shopping. We split up, and I was resting when an annoying bastard came to bother me.” Naruto’s frowned even larger when his direct insult didn’t affect the Uchiha at all. “So I’m going to ask again, what do you want?”

“I came to see why you were out here. That much is obvious.” Naruto scrunched up his face at the subtle, and not so direct insult.

"You came and found out. Please leave." Naruto leaned his head back and closed his eyes, hoping Sasuke would leave him to think.

"It's not safe out here at night. We're going back together."

"I can go back by myself." Naruto propped his head back up before looking boredly at Sasuke. "And when did you ever care about my safety. Aren't I just another object to help you in your ambition?" Naruto asked, remembering the words Karin had so carelessly said before when he was 'unconscious'.

"Hn." The mist in Naruto's eyes cleared, and the anger he was trying so hard to suppress came to life.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He whispered harshly. "Why can't you..." Naruto paused as he struggled to voice the words in his mind. "Why can't you give me a straight answer? For once at least." Naruto looked straight into Sasuke's eyes and asked. "Was it all real or not? Did everything you do before was just a plan to give me to the Akatsuki?" One word could destroy Naruto while another could save him. Naruto watched as Sasuke closed his eyes in concentration before opening them to look at Naruto.

"I didn’t do it to hurt you." Naruto stopped all his emotions from exploding at the very instant. Sasuke's words were as close to an 'I'm sorry' than Naruto would ever get, and it was the straightest answer Sasuke had ever given him. A solid 'No' would've hurt Naruto even more.

"It happened anyways," He whispered before standing up. Sasuke bent over to pick up the bags, but Naruto picked them up faster. He walked in front of Sasuke, deciding he wouldn't be able to stand walking beside Sasuke. It was too much. As soon as he saw the hotel, he darted in and dumped the bags on the floor in front of the group before heading toward his room. It was a long day, and Naruto was awfully tired.

Sasuke came in behind the girl, watching her figure quickly disappear before turning toward the questioning stares of his group. He ignored them and walked to his own room. After the resounding click echoed in the silent main room, Suigetsu finally got up the nerve to break it the thick quiet that surrounded them all.

"What the hell happened?" Karin wondered in agreement, too curious to start a fight.

"I don't know."

"Sasuke clearly doesn't know how to handle the ladies." The sarcastic comment broke the spell on Karin, but Suigetsu was already leaving to his room. Karin sighed before standing up and calling it a night, also. Juugo stayed in the center of the room, debating against his next move. Finally, when his mind was all made up, he walked over to the girl's room and knocked softly, careful not to bother the other resident in the large suite. The door opened slightly, and Juugo took notice of her relief of seeing him.

"What do you want?" He asked softly.

"Can I talk to you?" She looked around unsure before sliding the door open to let him in. She walked over to her bed and sat on the futon before asking her next question. "What do you want to talk about?" Naruto wanted to go to sleep, but the fact that Juugo was the only one who hadn't bothered him the whole day lessened the annoyance of keeping his drooping eyes open.

"I want to tell you why I owe Sasuke. My life." Juugo watched as a small mask of surprise slipped onto her face. "I had this disorder. As much as I wanted to ignore it, I couldn't. I had these urges... to kill." Juugo waited to see if any other reactions would happen. When the girl nodded her head for him to continue, Juugo got on with his story. "I couldn't stop it no matter how hard I tried. All those people... I never meant to hurt them. I even went to Orochimaru for help, but there was never a cure. Only a person would be there to control me whenever the urges became too intense. I was locked up in a cell for most of my time there. Sasuke came, and I joined him in his group. When we split up, I planned on going back to the cell and never see daylight again. Sasuke came up to me and presented a cure he had worked on." Juugo watched as the emotions disappear when Sasuke's name was said and reappear when he told her that Sasuke was indeed the one who saved him. "If it wasn't for that, I would be in that cell for the rest of my life. Now, I can finally live. I am in debt to Sasuke."

"He wouldn't make you repay that debt, would he?" Naruto even knew that Sasuke wasn't on the level of bastardness.

"No, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like I owe him, does it?" An awkward pause filled the air before Naruto disrupted it.

"So is this what you wanted to tell me?" Juugo shook his head.

"No, I came here to ask you to give Sasuke a chance." Naruto's anger spiked up, not at Juugo but the thought of giving Sasuke a chance, before it fell down again. He breathed a deep sigh, remembering his anger management lessons and used them to calm him down. It turns out that anger is one of those things that increases your stress to a large degree. Without the anger, Naruto felt... somewhat better.

"What chance? He wouldn't want it," Naruto stated calmly.

"He doesn't know what he wants. He's confused," Juugo rebutted.

"I don't know. This is Sasuke Uchiha we're talking about. He wants to kill his brother, not flirt with some girl. I know he's not confused about that."

"Maybe, but at least give him the chance to be his friend." Juugo paused as he looked at Naruto for an answer to his request. Naruto closed his sleepy eyes before opening them to give Juugo a tired smile.

"I never took that chance away." True, Naruto would never cut off the bond that he shared with Sasuke over his feelings (even if they were aching with a tearing pain). No matter what, Sasuke would always have Naruto. Whether he wanted him or not. Juugo gave off a small smile before going back to his normal neutral frown.

"He never wanted to hurt you." Juugo raised a hand to stop Naruto from replying and continued. "He told us of his plans for protecting you even before the Akatsuki wouldn't refused to keep their side of the deal. Sasuke," Juugo paused and looked into Naruto's eyes, knowing that he would understand exactly what he was telling him. "... never killed anyone during his training with Orochimaru. When he came to retrieve me, he didn't kill the people at the facility. There was only the condition of someone standing in the way of him and Itachi would he then kill a person, but I've heard of a story that Sasuke didn't even kill the person that tried to stop him from leaving his home village, even when that person jeopardized his dream of killing Itachi." Naruto eyes glazed over when he was reminded of the old memory. "Though Sasuke would probably give up his life for his ambition, but I don't think he'd be that willing to give up the life of an innocent soul for his ambitions." Juugo leaned over and repeated his earlier words. "And you know that." And Naruto closed his eyes in thought, knowing Juugo was right. "He never planned on hurting you physically." Naruto nodded. Juugo stood up and opened the door to leave.

"Good night," Naruto whispered before gently closing the door. He turned off the light in his room, the moonlight drifting into his room for nature's night light, and slid into the bed. He closed his eyes knowing that while he had unconsciously had given his forgiveness for Sasuke for his plan, knowing that he never planned to physically harming him but emotionally... Naruto wasn't sure if the forgiveness was going to come that easily. Slowly, sleep drifted over him taking Naruto away from his thoughts for only a moment.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Naruto was sitting on the floor watching the others pack up. The group was heading off again. To where? The group refused to tell Naruto or even give him so much as a little clue, and that frustrated Naruto to no end. Karin packed up the medical equipment while Juugo communicated with birds, asking them what they've seen and making sure where the group was headed was the right way to go. After seeing that display, Naruto was amazed by Juugo's ability and asked if Juugo would translate Naruto's words to the bird, but his request was shot down when Sasuke told them that no foolishness was allowed. Naruto pulled out his Uzumaki pout but left to ignore the Uchiha bringing him to where he was now. Sitting in the hotel room, watching boredly at what the occupants were doing. Out of nowhere, Naruto was attacked from behind.

"Suigetsu!" He shouted as he was tackled to the floor. Suigetsu grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt and pulled him up. Naruto sent him an annoyed look. "Why'd you do that?" A smile came onto Suigetsu's face, and a small part of Naruto's mind told him that he should be worried.

"I wanted to give you a present." Naruto eyed the smile that was still on Suigetsu's face before sighing.

"What is it?" Suigetsu threw a bundle down onto Naruto's lap. He looked down to see it was clean, neatly folded clothing. "Uhh...," Naruto mumbled, not really knowing what to say.

"I thought it'd be nice if you changed clothes. You've been wearing those," Suigetsu pointed at the ones Naruto had on. "... for a while now." Naruto picked up the bundle, closely eyeing it, before setting it down.

"It hasn't been that long. You don't have to do this for me." Naruto frowned. Even if the clothes were dirty, he fought much better in them. Naruto threw out his hygiene cares after becoming a ninja. On the battlefield, you have to face worse things than having to wear two day old clothes.

"I want to." The grin was still there on Suigetsu's face. Naruto narrowed his eyes, knowing he was up to something.

"I mean it. There's no-" Suigetsu had let go of the piece of Naruto's shirt he had grabbed to pull him up. The action made Naruto realize that he could feel a small breeze blowing at his back. His hand automatically reached behind him, feeling the rips in his shirt. He turned toward Suigetsu and narrowed his eyes to make a frightening glare.

"Oops." Suigetsu rubbed the back of his head in a sign to show embarrassment but his mischievous smile had grown larger. Naruto took the clothes that was given to him and headed toward his room to change. From behind him, he thought he could hear Suigetsu faintly yelling out, "I put some shoes for you in your room." He ignored the comment and continued walking.

Naruto closed his door and proceeded to take off his shirt. But before he could even pull it over his head, the cloth ripped in two, leaving Naruto to curse Suigetsu in his mind. He threw the ripped shirt in the corner and picked up the one Suigetsu supplied for him. Unfolding it, Naruto felt his annoyance spike when he realized that it was something that would be more revealing than his waitress outfit. Naruto unraveled the whole outfit and noticed that while he may be quite a piece of eye candy in the scanty material, there was no way fighting in the outfit would be easy. Naruto looked over at his shirt from earlier and realized that there wasn't much of a choice but to wear the clothes that Suigetsu had gotten him.

After a long period of forcing his body to get into the clothes, Naruto breathed a sigh when he was done. Who knew that clothing could be so complicated to put on?

A knock came from the door grabbed Naruto's attention. He walked over and slid the door opening, eyes slightly widening in surprise when he saw Karin there.

"Karin?" She ignored his call and studied his outfit. She shook her head in a form of disgust at the exposure and looked up to face Naruto directly.

"Why are you wearing this?"

"Well, Suigetsu-"

"That explains it." She gave him another bundle of clothes before leaning in closely. "Don't fall for Suigetsu's tricks," She whispered lowly. "He's an idiot." Naruto nodded at the 'friendly' advice and closed the door. He dumped the bundle on the floor and breathed in a deep breath at the thought of having to take off the clothes that had taken forever to have gotten on. As he stripped off the outfit Suigetsu had given him, Naruto knew that he wasn't that mad at the idea of changing. After putting on the more comfortable and useful outfit, Naruto came out of the room to face the disappointed face of Suigetsu, annoyed face of Karin, and bored face of Juugo.

"Where's Sasuke?"

"He's outside. We're all waiting for you," Suigetsu answered.

"Well, I had to change into a shirt that required help from another person all by myself. The pants you gave me the hardest pants to get into, and the boots took another chunk of time." Naruto sent an annoyed/murderous grin toward Suigetsu who felt some shivers running up his spine. "Then, after that, I had to change into another outfit." The smile changed into a grateful one that was sent toward Karin who looked away from the acknowledgement. Naruto looked toward the door before looking back toward the group. "So... are we leaving now?" Suigetsu nodded before the group stood up. Naruto stood by the door as Suigetsu and Karin passed him. Juugo paused and looked at Naruto, reminding him of last night's conversation through his eyes. Naruto gave a confirmative nod to the silent question and followed Juugo out the door, and then, they were off.

Naruto quickly caught up to Sasuke who stood at the head of the group.

"Hi," Naruto greeted. A flicker of surprise showed up in Sasuke’s eyes before it quickly faded back to normal.

"Hi," Sasuke boredly replied.

"So," Naruto quickly thought of a way to turn the conversation casual and light. "... are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Hn." Naruto sent a frown toward Sasuke before smiling again.

"Bastard," He called out. This reminded him of their old routine. Naruto quickened his pace until he stood as the head of the group, the one leading them. Naruto walked with renewed confidence, never knowing that Sasuke's eyes were following him the whole time.