Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Kiite Kudasai ❯ Unrested ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: And again thanks to Yami no Elessara for correcting me in my Japanese. I don't know any of the forms and got the title from my roommate. She'd taken a Japanese course so I'd assumed she was right. Guess I should run double checks with others before I do that. -_-;;

And another sweatdrop: I spelled Konoha wrong…totally…went back and fixed it.

Naruto and everyone belong to Kishimoto Masahi.

~*~ Kiite Kudasai : Unrested ~*~

I am a cry

for help, shattering

the silence of the night.

The fear you placed

inside was hollow, self-absorbed.

Aftermath is the

becoming of the new era.

That trapped place;

I remain.

I am a cry

angry, quickly silenced

and there is no solitude

unrested like mine.

There was nothing for three days. No one noticed the absence of the hyperactive blonde. Except team 7. Failing to show for two missions set off a warning light in Kakashi-sensei's mind. He noted, interested, the way the team members pretended not to care that the blonde was gone. The way they bitched about his absence making their work harder. He also noticed the way Sakura chewed at her finger nails and the way Sasuke's eyes tended to drift in the direction of the blonde's abode.

The third day dawned bright, the world filled with the chirping of birds and the sounds of a peaceful village. But all was not sitting well on Kakashi's shoulders. Three days and not a trace, not even at the ramen stands. The boy had to eat sometime, didn't he? Beneath his mask, Kakashi bit his lip for a moment, although the rest of his face seemed bored and unconcerned as normal. And then with his quick speed, he was off, vanishing from rooftop to rooftop.

~~@~~

"Dobe?" Sasuke's heavy voice called out, into the darkness of the first room of Naruto's home. There was no response, no sound at all. He glanced at his left, freezing, eyes going a little wider. The clock perched on a shelf there was stopped, frozen at 1:38 by a shuriken, glittering wildly in the little bit of sunlight floating through tightly closed blinds. He called out once more, "Dobe?" And came farther in.

He stepped on something, looking down discovered glass. A picture frame, shattered. No picture anywhere. He knelt and touched the frame, rose, and looked around, suddenly having the overwhelming urge to find the blonde and smack some sense into him, "Naruto?" He hurried forward. And then there was a shadow blocking his path.

"Stay there, Sasuke."

"Kakashi-sensei…"

The gray-haired ninja stared at him for a long moment, then turned, "Stay there. Don't move an inch."

"Did you find Naruto?"

"Shh."

Sasuke's eyes went a little wider. Why wouldn't Kakashi answer him? His heartbeat picked up, sounded suddenly like drums in his ears as something dark and heavy settled in his gut. "Kakashi…"

"I said shut up."

"But…"

Kakashi seemed to sigh, "Go check the kitchen, I'll check the bedroom."

"Hai." Sasuke didn't need further prompting. His footsteps echoed hollowly as the black-haired boy made his way to the designated room. Where was the blonde? Why did he have this terrible feeling in his stomach?

His footsteps faltered as he entered the room, eyes drawn immediately to the blue cloth and metal plate with the Konoha symbol etched into it. It rested, almost surreally, in the center of the room, glittering almost mischievously. He moved forward, letting out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding. He didn't hear any noise from Kakashi and he wasn't sure if he should take that as a good or bad thing.

Something white caught his eye. Paper on the table, partially hidden in the blue cloth. A note? He reached out, paused.

His hand shook.

Suddenly, he felt dread sink into him. A note meant one of two things. And both of those options lead to one thing: Naruto was gone.

His hand withdrew a little. His stable life, one where he could live as normal as possible for a ninja-in-training, was going to be shattered the moment he lifted that plate and saw that not in its entirety. He'd never admit it out loud, but that dobe had become a serious pillar in Sasuke's life. Somehow, the loud boy had wormed his way into Sasuke's heart and left a mark. He'd deny it if anyone ever confronted him about it, but secretly, very secretly, he'd begun looking forward to seeing him every morning. Those bright eyes that held so much pain, so much pain that Sasuke could almost understand. Could almost grasp, because he reflected a similar pain, had experienced a similar kind of loneliness.

Sometimes, late at night, he had wondered if maybe he and Naruto were two halves of a whole. And now he wondered if he had been the only one to think that.

The hand hovered again. He took a deep breath and let his hand crash down, closing around cool metal and lifting.

Time slowed, or seemed to.

Of all the things…he should have seen it coming. Should have known. He clutched the headgear to his chest as he stared at the name on the note. Vaguely, he thought that maybe a part of him died at that instant. Thought he heard it shatter as he stared at the name.

It most certainly wasn't his.

In Naruto's sloppy handwriting, Sakura's name glared up at him.

~~@~~

The bedroom, upon a brief, initial sweep, appeared almost spotless, which surprised Kakashi; it was something he had not expected at all. The wood floors shone in the sunlight filtering through the open window. The bed was made, slightly wrinkled, but made. But therein the illusion of normality ended. Kakashi came to the window, crouched and pressed a finger to a dark pool of liquid beneath the window, hiding in the shadows.

It was cold. Aid it was what he had thought it was. Blood. He rose, turning slowly, not surprised to find several shuriken embedded in the wall.

Upon closer inspection, now that he knew what to look for, the room wasn't as clean as he had first assumed. Blood spatter on the wall, a trail from the closet to the pool behind him. But what disturbed him the most, what he was shaken to the core by, was the bedspread. He had assumed it was a deep green.

He shifted over to it. No, it had been a much lighter green originally; the edge hanging over the far side of the bed confirmed that. Someone had lost an insane amount of blood there. And yet…he couldn't smell it or sense any sign of chakra.

His one visible eyebrow fell as he frowned. There was something on the bedspread, under the blood. He reached out, peeled it off the mess.

Uchiha. The kana looked angry and blocky, since the ink had bled quite a bit from the blood.

He looked around, tucking the note into a pocket on his vest.

"What in the world happened here, Naruto?"

~*~*~*~

Ch. 2 Fin.

Well, Sasuke and Kakashi decided to bug the hell out of me and whip up another chapter. Originally, the whole plan was to be only two chapters, but damn them for making it more complicated then that…arg. Oh well…any thoughts? Corrections? Please let me know! (I don't have a beta reader so comments are DEFINITELY welcome)