Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ People Lie ❯ Memories Lie: one ( Chapter 10 )

New year, new story arc, new style. I decided to go back to the style of writing I was using in People Lie rather than continuing the one I was using in Clients Lie. The characterization remains the same, I'm talking purely the style I use to convey the story. That being said, this is the beginning of a new story arc, cutting Clients Lie off at an admittedly odd place. I have reasons for doing so.

 

 

 

Memories Lie.

 

 

Sasuke opened one eye blearily, turning his head slightly to the right to see the sun peeking above the Konoha rooftops and stream in the glass window of the hospital room. His other eye wouldn't open, and the one that did seemed to have something in it, something sticky that tinted his vision pink. He blinked several times, closing his eyes for several moments in between attempts.

 

Slowly, shaking from the effort, he lifted his right hand and rubbed gently at the eye that wouldn't open, feeling a hard crust flake away from his eyelashes. Then he rubbed at the other, getting more gunk off his lashes and feeling more scrape away from his cheek. His eyes burned with effort and soreness, and quickly watered to flush his eyeballs clean.

 

Finally, he could see out of both eyes, though there were blurry spots in his vision where something still stuck to his eyes. Tired from the effort, he let his hand drop to his throat, then down his chest to a comfortable spot.

 

He lay there for many long minutes, breathing slowly. The sun was climbing steadily into the sky, and in his mental fog, he could actually see it happen in real time. Birds flew from trees to rooftops, and they left odd trails in the sky that followed their flight path.

 

Turning slightly, he saw the inside wall of the room, as well as the IV stand and tubes running down to the needle in his hand. Distantly, he wished it was gone, but it was just too much effort to remove. He was hazy and comfortable and all ambition had been completely denied him, but there was something… some deeper emotion that would not go away, if only he could remember it. A table across the room was crowded with vases, a riot of lilies, orchids, and countless other flowers all competing for space and color. It was nearly violent with petals and different hues, so that no single flower stood out. He shied his gaze away.

 

Sasuke blinked lethargically as the door to the room opened and a middle aged medic nin walked in carrying a fresh IV bag and a set of capped syringes. Sasuke met her eyes as she walked, her cool blue meeting his crimson studded with black, and he moved his hand, although to what purpose even he couldn't say. He offered no resistance as she switched out the bag of saline draining into his hand, and stared dully as she pushed each syringe into the bag in turn and depressed the plunger.

 

Sasuke's eyes closed and he took a little nap.

 

 

o/~

 

 

Sasuke opened his eyes. There was something- no, someone, with yellow hair at the table with the flowers. The person started to turn around, and Sasuke closed his eyes again.

 

 

o/~

 

 

Sasuke woke up again, opening his eyes slowly.

 

Something PINK looked back at him.

 

“Gmh,” he grunted, recoiling in quiet horror.

 

“Sasuke! You're awake!” Miko exclaimed excitedly. “Oh, thank goodness, we were all very worried about you!”

 

Sasuke blinked rapidly, astonished both by his visitor and the ability to blink easily. He rubbed at his eyes, pushing himself up easily. Only a small crust of gunk had formed on his eyelashes, and his mind was clear and unfogged for the first time since… since-

 

-Bacchi released the ankle cuffs, allowing the bloody corpse to drop headfirst onto the profane altar-

 

He blinked again and it was Sakura there in front of him, her pink hair silky and neat, not matted with her blood.

 

One hand flashed out like lightning and grabbed the front of her dress. “How long have I been out?” he demanded.

 

“Eep!” she squeaked, startled at suddenly finding herself jerked close to his face, his strangely changed eyes boring into her with an intensity she found frightening. The black comma-like marks began to spin.

 

“How long?” he repeated, giving her a little shake.

 

“F-f-f-five d-days,” she gasped.

 

“Hinata? _Naruto_?” he asked.

 

“What?”

 

“Are they alive or dead?” His voice was low and dangerous.

 

Sakura trembled. “Alive!”

 

The strength that had surged through him fled, and he released his grip on her dress, collapsing back to the bed as she staggered backwards. A wave of weariness crashed over him, informing him that the health he'd felt when he first woke up was a thin shell indeed. For many long moments all he did was lay there and breathe.

 

Sakura was still by the bedside when he turned her direction again, although she was visibly nervous and fidgeting.

 

“Well?” he said tiredly.

 

“I, uh, I, I just thought you m-might want to know that… might want to know… …more,” she finished lamely.

 

Something grabbed his heart, and he closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

 

He opened them again. “Tell me.”

 

She trembled.

 

“Sakura, please tell me.”

 

“Naruto… he's, um, he's still unconscious. The doctors say they don't know when he's going to wake up. And Hinata…”

 

His fists clenched harder, his calloused knuckles showing white.

 

“I think she's blind,” Sakura finished with a squeak.

 

“No.”

 

“Her eyes are bandaged real thick and a nurse had to lead her when she got up-“

 

“Did you talk to her.”

 

“No,” she squeaked.

 

“Where are they?” he demanded.

 

“Uh, Naruto's room, next door-“

 

Sasuke flipped the covers off and swung his legs over the side of the bed, stripping the IV from his hand as he did so. His legs shook for a moments as he landed heavily on his feet, but he forced the weakness away with a burst of will. He took one step forward, then his eyes crossed and he froze.

 

A second later, he eased backwards very carefully, then cautiously fished under his hospital gown around his waist. His whole body tensed, then he had a thin, clear plastic hose in his hand, the end dribbling a few drops of yellow fluid, which he glared at with an expression of murder. Now free of the bed, he stepped forward again.

 

“Show me.”

 

He grabbed Sakura by the back of the neck and guided her out of the room, his fingers just tight enough to brook no disobedience. Despite making her walk, he was sensitive enough to the tension in her muscles to know that she wanted to turn left, and he forced her to take him where she wanted to go.

 

Hinata was sitting in a chair when they entered the room. She did not get up, though she did turn her head in their direction as the door opened.

 

Naruto was laying in the hospital bed, the only movement the slow rise and fall of his chest. An IV hung to one side, dripping its chemical cocktail into his veins.

 

“Sasuke, you finally woke up,” Hinata noted wryly.

 

Sasuke turned his attention back to her. She was wearing a long white robe, and had a generic grey hospital blanket wrapped around her shoulders. One forearm appeared to be wrapped and possibly splinted, but the robe and the blanket must have concealed the rest of the wounds to her body he knew she had suffered. But, what was quite noticeable as Sakura had mentioned, her upper face, from her nose to the middle of her forehead, was wrapped in thick layers of white gauze bandages.

 

“Hinata? What happened to your eyes?” he whispered, wavering to the point he had to support himself on Sakura, who winced but made no protest as his fingers dug into her neck. “I know you were bleeding around them, but…”

 

Hinata smiled humorlessly. “The doctors said I was hemorrhaging blood and chakra, so they sealed my eyes. I can't see anything. Like you, I couldn't turn off my bloodline, but it nearly killed me. You picked your own way to almost kill yourself.”

 

Sasuke blinked, realizing that the sometimes odd look of the world was because he'd woken up with his sharingan activated.

 

“I…” he began, letting go of Sakura and stumbling over to Naruto's bedside, staring down at him.

 

“You ran all the way to Konoha at top speed, carrying both of us, naked. You burned up every drop of chakra you had to get us here in time,” Hinata explained softly. “You saved our lives, Sasuke.”

 

Sasuke turned his head, shooting a look at the bandaged kunoichi, and saw that Sakura was blushing furiously, but staring at him all the same.

 

“A-ano… Sasuke-kun… Your hospital gown… it's open in the back…” she stammered.

 

Sasuke frowned and cautiously felt the hem of the gown flapping at his hips. There was a certain drafty quality to it.

 

“Icanseeyourbutt,” she added, blushing furiously but with a certain tone in her words that spoke volumes of how this was the most important thing she'd ever seen.

 

“Oh, the irony,” Hinata commented quietly, rubbing at her bandages.

 

 

o/~

 

 

A chair had been brought in for Sasuke by Sakura, who was still blushing to the point her face was redder than her hair. Sasuke took it with considerable dignity, considering he'd just shown his ass.

 

“Are you…” Sasuke began hesitantly.

 

“Blind permanently?” Hinata finished for him. “No. Break the seal, I can see fine.”

 

“You said that your bloodline was permanently activated?” Sasuke asked.

 

“Apparently, just like yours, since your eyes didn't revert even when you nearly died of chakra exhaustion. You may be able to stop it, and you might want to try. But, just like me, when Naruto...” she hesitated, rubbing beneath the front of her robe, “gifted… you, it activated your bloodline. But unlike you, my byakugan puts a strain on the blood vessels and chakra coils that feed my eyes, so I never clotted. I nearly bled to death. Also unlike you, it uses more chakra than I make, and I also nearly died of chakra exhaustion. So they had to seal my eyes to stop the bleeding. Once I heal, I might be able to break the seal without bleeding again. But even if I can, I'll have to reapply the seal if I don't want to die of chakra exhaustion.”

 

Sasuke sat there in silence, attended to in silence by Sakura. He turned slightly, looking at her, taking in her perfect composure. “You…”

 

“Don't seem worried?” she asked, one corner of her mouth quirking upwards.

 

He just stared.

 

She smiled, or, at least, she bared her teeth. Despite her eyes being bandaged, and self admittedly sealed, she seemed to give him a look that pierced him to his soul.

 

“Don't give me that look, Sasuke.”

 

Sakura looked from the rather intimidating vicious snarl of her lips to Sasuke's somewhat gob smacked look of shock and felt the need to stand up for her longtime crush.

 

“Hinata-san, he's just being concerned-“

 

“Be quiet, Sakura,” Hinata ordered in a clear voice, not turning her head away from her stare down of the Uchiha.

 

Sakura hissed in breath in surprise. Hinata was never one of the popular girls at school, for all that she was the eldest daughter of the head of the Hyuga clan and thus heir to considerable wealth and power. She'd always seemed rather shy, and probably would have been picked on if she hadn't been sheltered by her family status.

 

“Now just a damned minute-“

 

“Sakura, be quiet,” Hinata repeated, and rather than just the calm voice of command, there was a darker undercurrent that promised pain, if not outright death.

 

Sakura shut up, repressing a shiver.

 

Sasuke, after a moment, inclined his head in respect. “I understand,” he said thoughtfully.

 

She didn't move, but there was something, a flick of chakra in the air, perhaps, that indicated he should go on.

 

“What do the doctors say about Naruto?” he asked.

 

This time Hinata inclined her head, acknowledging that he'd finally gotten to the important matter.

 

“Internal injuries to his abdomen, incomplete healing where he'd been hit, and other injuries that seemed like some sort of poisonous acid that his body was unable to completely overcome,” she listed calmly. “Probably the ichor, they brought in what I think was an ANBU doctor to deal with it, but I have no proof,” she admitted. “The big problem is his chakra isn't flowing right, which isn't entirely due to damage to his coils. You remember how he collapsed right after he killed that thing that came out of the cave, I think it did more than just physical damage.”

 

Sasuke shuddered slightly and closed his eyes, remembering-

 

-the ground disappeared beneath him, dissolving into a thin slurry as a mottled black column of flesh surged up from below-

 

No, no, you don't remember, you don't remember that there's no such thing nothing has that many-

 

- eyes on stalks set in gaping holes filled with fanged cilia, club like hands closing around his arms sucker coated tendrils pricking at his skin-

 

NO! He would not remember!

 

He opened his eyes again, the red and black of his sharingan standing out in stark relief against his now ghostly pale face.

 

“I can easily believe that.”

 

Hinata's lips quirked again. “Anyone else would have died.”

 

Sasuke nodded tiredly and looked back to the bed, watching the steady rise and fall of the sheets over Naruto's chest.

 

“I can believe that, too,” he said respectfully.

 

Sakura gaped at him, her crush, Sasuke Uchiha, the strongest genin in Konoha, saying such things about Naruto, the guy with the worst grades out of everyone who'd graduated their year?

 

“How long until he wakes up?” Sasuke asked.

 

Hinata shook her head. “The doctors don't know, and I don't have a guess. But he will. I know it.”

 

“How long until we know more?”

 

Hinata shrugged slightly. “A day? Two? A week?”

 

He nodded. “Okay.”

 

He stood on shaky legs, his time sitting down and the conversation having exhausted his meager reserves of energy. A second later he sat down heavily, discovering to his immense displeasure that he no longer had even the strength to stand.

 

“Sakura,” Hinata said quietly, “please help Sasuke back to his room.”

 

“Y-yes!”

 

Sasuke opened his mouth to protest, but the truth was, he wouldn't be able to make it back on his own. He knew his own body well enough to know his limitations, you'd have to be a fool not to, and Sasuke was no fool. He would never have gotten out of bed, if he hadn't been possessed of the irrational urge to find his teammates, as if it made any difference.

 

If only he had more power! Power like that he'd felt when he fought Bacchi…

 

Hey, that was an idea. Perhaps, he could solve a lot of problems all at once. But first, he needed to rest.

 

Stoically, he allowed Sakura to get his arm over her shoulder and support his weight, though it still took more effort than he'd like to admit to move his legs enough that it at least appeared he was walking rather than being dragged along by the pink haired girl.

 

Hinata didn't move from her chair as she heard the two leave, having no difficulty whatsoever in pinpointing their location. She found her thoughts sharpened to a razor edge with the removal of her sight, cutting off the wealth of information that flooded her from the outside. Her hearing was that of a normal human's, but even human hearing was perfectly adequate to hear the subtle sounds of the world around her, all she had to do was think about what those sounds meant.

 

Naruto, amazing, powerful, intelligent Naruto, had taught her to think. To analyze, to predict, to gather the whole from the tiny nuances. Theoretically, shinobi were already supposed to do that. Practically, she had a dim view of the general lot of them.

 

From down the hall, right at the edge of hearing, she heard Sakura's quiet proclamation.

 

“I've gotten stronger, just like you told me to, Sasuke. You'll see, I'll keep getting stronger.”

 

Hinata smiled. Naruto's plans kept moving even while he slept, and it was her duty, besides watching over him, to watch over and encourage them.

 

 

o/~

 

 

“You saw his butt?!” Ino exclaimed in disbelief.

 

Sakura grinned, a near evil glint at having one upped her rival so thoroughly. Both of them completely ignored the occasional look they got from the civilians as they walked through the village, though admiring looks from cute males were duly noted and cataloged.

 

“Completely, utterly, and totally,” she confirmed. “He got out of bed to check on his teammates and the back wasn't tied closed, so it just kinda flopped around. You know they never let patients wear anything but those drafty gowns, so that was probably all they slipped on him when he showed up.”

 

It was to both kunoichi's chagrin that they'd been elsewhere when The Great Naked Uchiha event had happened, and Ino was NOT happy to have missed out on her second chance to see Sasuke's ass. Every girl in the village had unanimously given it a full ten. It averaged out to a grudging six among the males of the village, the honest and somewhat jealously admitted tens warring with the zeros and occasional negative three hundred and sixteens.

 

“You lucky bitch!” Ino cried, and punched her lightly in the shoulder.

 

“I am a lucky bitch,” Sakura replied with a smirk, suppressing a wince as she rubbed at what was probably going to be a bruise on her shoulder. Ino took her taijutsu seriously these days. “I even got to help him walk around the hospital.”

 

“Ugh!” Ino complained, suddenly turning around and walking the other way. “I am so not talking to you. Did you at least find out anything about their mission? How much ass Sasuke kicked, anything?”

 

Sakura had changed her direction and once again fell into step beside the blonde, and she finally winced slightly. “No, damnit. He and Hinata talked about it a little, but only really generally. I think they didn't want to discuss it around me.”

 

“You obviously just don't have the gift for gossip. Tomorrow, I'll show you how a pro does it, so you keep your forehead out of there, all right?”

 

“Don't go rooting around where you aren't wanted, Ino-pig,” Sakura snapped back lightly. “I don't think Hinata would take it well.”

 

Ino sniffed dismissively. “Hinata's no big deal. I beat her before, and now, what, she's blind? You just wait, Forehead, I'll know everything there is to know about what happened by the time I see you again tomorrow.”

 

 

o/~

 

 

Ino sweated profusely, her eyes rolling in her head so she could see the hand, and the scalpel, held uncomfortably close to her temple.

 

“I think you must have misunderstood me,” Hinata said cheerfully. “I said I did not wish to discuss the circumstances of our mission with you at this time. If you need to know at a future date, rest assured, I will let you know.”

 

A single droplet of something warmer than sweat ran down the side of her head from the tip of the scalpel.

 

Ino was too afraid to move to nod her head.

 

“I can tell by your heartbeat that you agree with me. That's good. Now, I have a meeting with the doctors in an hour, and I intend to spend it in Naruto's room. I don't wish to be bothered, and I'm sure Naruto doesn't need any commotion near him while he's healing. I suggest you go watch Sasuke sleep. I'm disappointed for you that the nurses saw fit to give him medicine to encourage his rest after his activity yesterday, but these things happen.”

 

Ino swallowed audibly.

 

Hinata smiled, or, perhaps, bared her teeth again. “Come, now, Ino-chan. Say it with me. `These things happen.'”

 

“T-these things happ-ppen.”

 

Hinata couldn't see it, but she had little trouble imaging how the whites of Ino's eyes must be showing right now.

 

“I'm glad you understand. Have fun watching him breathe.”

 

And the scalpel was removed.

 

 

o/~

 

 

“Bandaid, Ino-pig?” Sakura asked. “Cut yourself shaving that beard again?”

 

“Shut it, Forehead.”

 

 

o/~

 

 

The morning sun was climbing high in the sky, but far from seek shelter from its merciless rays, Sasuke sat near the edge of the roof facing it, leaning against a boxy metal vent thing. It was quit hot to the touch, and he leaned against it comfortably, letting its warmth seep into his back.

 

It was going to be a hot and humid one, just like the days they'd spent in Tomahigiro. Pink hair bobbed in the distance of the street below, caught right as his eyes drooped closed, reminding of him of when he'd first seen her…

 

 

o/~

 

 

The night we spent on the barn was uneventful, once we'd finally went to sleep. The murderous chakra bears didn't visit us in the night, Naruto left me alone, and Hinata didn't say a word until well into the next morning. Well, there was one thing, when I woke up near the end of Naruto's watch, I found that Hinata had apparently worked her way across his bedroll and snuggled into my side, missing his warmth, I assume.

 

Any other girl, I would have assumed it was a calculated ploy just to get near me, but with Hinata… She all but said she hated me that night, and the look on her face when I stirred and she woke up was one of the most poisonous things I'd ever seen. You'd think I was the one who'd snuggled up to her by her attitude.

 

Weird girl.

 

Thank god I had her as a teammate instead of one of my more rabid fangirls.

 

We woke up early, just before sunrise, ate a hurried meal of dried travel rations, then followed Kakashi-sensei and his dogs for two hours before we found where our clients had been heading.

 

It was another farm, or maybe the correct term is ranch. There were twenty eight people there, and all twenty eight of them were in the fields, or the garden, or the big, sturdy looking barn, from the youngest, a seven year old boy, to the oldest, a dottering grandmother picking her way slowly through the little herb garden to one side of the house.

 

The farm was bigger than the other, with more cleared land within view of the big house and outbuildings, but still, nearly thirty people was excessive. Of course, all of them didn't live there, and even with the extra people, they were rushing to the best of their ability to maintain the farm.

 

The problem was the cows. There were entirely too many of them, even for a farm this size. I supposed that they had consolidated the two herds for defense.

 

“I smell blood,” Naruto announced. “Looks like the chakra bears were here last night.”

 

“Pakkun, scout the area while we introduce ourselves to the clients,” Kakashi ordered.

 

With a wave of his paw, the little brown dog vanished.

 

Our client, officially, was the head of the Hiroashi family, the ones who owned the farm we spent the night at. It was his son who'd made the trip to Konoha and purchased our services.

 

Unofficially, however, we had been hired by a loose group of respected local families, all of whom had interests threatened by the marauders, though the Saburou family, who owned the farm we found ourselves at, had put up the second largest share after the Hiroashis.

 

Apparently, the reason for this was that the families were entering an alliance of marriage. The eldest Hiroashi daughter was engaged to the eldest son of the Saburous.

 

Interestingly, when we interviewed them, it was Hinjo Saburou, the eldest son, who'd been the only one to get a clear view of the bears, and that was what he claimed they were. Apparently, once cows had started dying just over a week ago, he'd gotten his bow and hid in the barn on the night of the full moon. He said there were six of them, brown, like we already knew, and they came running out of the trees around the swamp, tore through a couple of cows, and then left. He wasn't brave enough to take a shot at them with his bow, afraid he'd draw their attention.

 

No one else had seen them except Shinjo, one of the Hiroashi farm workers, and supposedly the eldest son, Katsuo, as well, though we didn't get a chance to ask him. Apparently, since the attacks had continued while they waited for a team from Konoha, they decided to send someone to ask us to hurry along.

 

While I would have preferred we got the opportunity to ask Katsuo about what he saw, Shinjo said that they were together when they saw three of them moving in and out of the trees at the edge of one of the fields right at dusk just a few nights ago, which also matched what Kakashi-sensei's dogs had told us. Shinjo was a burly, coarse spoken man, but he answered our questions willingly enough.

 

I couldn't say the same about the rest of the families. Most of the Saburou farm workers didn't know much of anything about what was going on, beyond the rumors, and that the herds couldn't be kept together much longer. Most of the herd was actually Hiroashi cattle, but only about a third had ever even been at their farm, the rest bought from outside sources as well as the Saburous, but would actually end up a part of the Saburou's heard as part of a convoluted deal between the families that also included a dowry arrangement. None of the family heads really wanted to discuss it, claiming it had no bearing on what they'd hired us to do, which was kill the bears eating their cattle.

 

No one particularly felt the need to correct them about the difference between `eating' and `pureeing'.

 

In general, I wasn't much impressed with the families. Civilians. Hinjo made several snide comments about the lateness of Konoha ninja, the workers were all scruffy looking men one step above common thugs, heavily muscled but without a drop of chakra in them, and naturally they expressed doubts to whether `children' could handle a real fight.

 

Only one of them voluntarily approached us.

 

Miko Hiroashi.

 

She of the long pink hair and the warm green eyes.

 

 

o/~

 

 

Sasuke blinked sleepily, surprising himself. He must have dozed off, something he'd been doing a lot lately. Running yourself out of chakra was a seriously bad thing, given that when your body ran out of energy, it also seemed to lose the ability to easily make more. Get tired, take a nap. Get exhausted, get a good night's sleep. Nearly kill yourself with effort, don't plan anything for a couple weeks.

 

Human limitations of chakra were such a pain in the ass.

 

But maybe, just maybe he'd found a way around that. Naruto… The Kyubi no Kitsune said they had a deal. Blood for power. Power for blood. Call and I come. Come when I call.

 

How powerful was that deal, sealed in blood over that profane altar?

 

With Naruto still unconscious and unable to grant him that power, could he not summon it himself? He rubbed gently at the bite on his shoulder, white scars of teeth marks in flesh where Naruto, or the Kyubi, had bitten him.

 

Another memory, of the day they had reached the farm, rose. Kakashi had summoned his dogs with an easy string of hand seals. Once you had the contract, the summoning was just a request, right?

 

He hadn't possessed the sharingan when Kakashi had performed those seals, but the masked ninja hadn't exactly tried to conceal them.

 

Frowning in concentration, Sasuke bit his thumb hard, his eye tooth sinking deep enough into the flesh to tear skin and draw blood. Careful hand seals smeared crimson over his hands as he closed his eyes and mentally whispered Naruto's name…

 

 

o/~

 

 

Naruto smelled blood.

 

No, more than smell. He could taste it, it tinted his world red, the pulse of it pounded in his ears, the sticky weight of it dripped across his tongue, filled his stomach, the power of it pounded in his coils, opened his eyes, saturated his very being.

 

Life, spirit, POWER, chakra at its most primitive, it surged and flowed, yet it was sluggish. Tendrils and arms covered in teeth, claws, sucking orifices and things that had no name from the world of humans had done terrible damage to him. Some wounds attacked the body and soul, some went so deep as to leave great rents in the unflesh of the nine tailed fox imprisoned within him.

 

The fox was hurting, lying quietly on the floor of its cell, waiting on the natural processes of the life it was now tied to to heal it when it heard the call, felt the blood offered to it. Weakened, injured, exhausted, it grabbed at the offered blood, yet, it wasn't enough.

 

To beseech a god is to accept the terms if it answers.

 

The Kyubi called for chakra as well as blood, and it could not be denied.

 

Energy thrummed through the fox, the power of Sasuke's willing sacrifice, then the hungry, healing beast sucked at the power of his unwilling sacrifice. Many, many long minutes passed, the wounds of the great demon slowly healing as the surprising depths of the human being were plundered for life.

 

None of those involved could have told the passing of time. It might have been an instant. It might have been an hour. But there was a definite beginning, middle, and ending.

 

The depths of Naruto's soul echoed with the laugher of the huge, ancient being, the most powerful of its kind.

 

A bargain had been struck indeed.

 

Blood for power.

 

Power for blood.

 

But none of them, not the scion of the accursed Uchiha, not the pale eyed bitch, not even the arrogant little prison who thought himself so clever in the ways of men thought to wonder who the bargain favored.

 

Roaring in delight, the Kyubi no Kitsune stopped drawing on the life force of the Uchiha before the spark of his being guttered out and died, choosing to answer as he saw fit. The tiniest fraction of his power was shoved down that mystical connection, and distantly, the pathetic human arched his back in shock at the rush of malevolent chakra that exploded within him, demonic energy freely spent replacing the incomparable richness of his life force.

 

Naruto opened his eyes.

 

The summon had been made.

 

It must be answered.

 

Dimly, he was aware of Hinata fluttering along beside him anxiously, her quiet pleads for information falling on deaf ears. None of his surroundings mattered, he simply had to move.

 

His body hurt, he was clumsy, and slow. Something clattered to the ground nearby, a bright flash of polished stainless steel, but it mattered not. Stairs crawled by as he spent energy he didn't have, following the irresistible urge to go to where Sasuke was.

 

It wasn't until he stumbled through the door leading onto the open roof that he was his own person again.

 

Now, he looked around, blinking owlishly against the bright noon sun.

 

Laundry, bleached white by harsh chemicals and even harsher sun, flapped gently in the quiet breeze. Konoha buzzed quietly in the background, the living hum of a thousand people busy with their lives on a perfect day for work. Distant machinery squeaked somewhere in the hospital, fans keeping the air moving to avoid stifling the people within. A low sheet metal box set on the rooftop nearby rang softly with the soft taps of a pigeon's wings beating for position as it cooed in avian delight.

 

Rapid footsteps sounded behind him, and he glanced back, watching as a pink haired girl recoiled in momentary shock at the feral gaze he turned on her. Hinata moved to her side, and Naruto dismissed her from his concerns.

 

Naruto's slow survey of the roof swung back to the pale grey bird, taking in the bobs of its tail and the coos of lust as it humped its glossy black mate below.

 

Naruto's eyes, red and slit pupiled with demon chakra, focused on the amorous bird, easy prey for a hungry fox.

 

Wait.

 

There aren't many black pigeons.

 

There especially aren't many black pigeons who have hair instead of feathers.

 

Blinking, followed closely by Hinata, her hands opening and closing as she resisted the urge to grab his gown, Naruto staggered around the side of the boxy vent.

 

“Coooo… CoooooOOooohh….”

 

Sasuke sat collapsed against the other side, only his hair visible over the top. The pigeon's feet scrambled for grip in his hair, its tail curling forward against the spikes in the back over and over, cooing its pleasure.

 

“Sasuke…” Naruto breathed, blinking at the bizarre sight. He moved closer, and another pigeon landed on the vent behind him, cocking its head to one side as it watched. Still another landed on his shoulder and pecked jealously at the one on top.

 

“You've got head pigeons,” he added as he and Hinata moved closer. Shocked at the indignity the boy was suffering, Sakura darted forward to shoo away the offending bird, only to freeze in horror.

 

Rapidly beating wings and tremulous coos signaled a peak in the pigeon's efforts, tipping Sasuke's head forward and twisting it to one side as the bird nearly fell off. Naruto saw why Sakura had suddenly stopped and covered her mouth against a gasp of horror.

 

Blood poured from Sasuke's eyes, dripping down his cheeks and onto the white shirt he wore in lieu of a gown, creating a rapidly spreading crimson stain.

 

“Sakura… Hinata…” Naruto began. “You might want to-“

 

“I… I'll go get a nurse,” Sakura agreed quickly, nearly stumbling in her haste. Hinata grabbed her arm as the girl passed and the two of them quickly disappeared into the stairwell.

 

Naruto took several steps forward, finally reaching his true goal of answering Sasuke's summon. Then, as sudden as it had came, the drive that sustained him drained away, creating a wave of weakness that crashed over him. His eyes widened and he collapsed to the gritty roof, having just enough presence of mind to fall to his right, letting his shoulder rest against the corner of the galvanized vent box.

 

Shuddering with effort, Naruto chuckled weakly as his chin dropped forward. “Well, Sasuke,” he whispered. “Isn't this a mess.”

 

One crimson eye set in the bloody, weeping socket rolled slowly, and he looked Naruto's way.

 

The amorous pigeon strutted its stuff back and forth across the dark haired boy's shoulders, flapping its wings and pecking at the intruders seeking to interrupt its special time with its new mate. Frustrated, one cooed angrily and flapped over to Naruto with an air of wounded dignity, as if it wanted to say that gentlepidgeons preferred blondes anyway.

 

“Aww… Hell… They're spreading…”

 

 

o/~

 

 

“Hinata.”

 

Hinata was instantly alert, chakra pouring off her body and wrapping around her in the secret way of the Hyuga, who were well aware that their eyes were a weakness as well as a strength.

 

“It's okay, Hinata. We're alone.”

 

“Naruto?” Hinata asked, sitting up on her bed. “Are you okay?”

 

Naruto smiled down at her bandaged face with a tenderness even Hinata had only saw once.

 

“I'm fine. Most of my strength has returned and I'm nearly completely healed. I've already sent a few bunshins out to take care of some business.”

 

“Business? What time is it?”

 

“It's about one in the afternoon. I finally woke up again at about nine this morning. I sent three for the usual misdirection, one to see if we can get some special training, and another to raid a stash so we're not so damned defenseless in here.” He wrapped her fingers around the handle of a slim kunai and watched as she absently but carefully tucked it in her robe. “The last is to write a request for a personal meeting with the Hokage and deliver it to the Tower. I need to ask him some questions.” He paused.

 

Hinata felt a hand ruffle her short black hair tenderly, freeing up a tiny lock from beneath one of the layers of white cotton. She sighed and leaned her face into his caress, bringing one of her hands up to feel his.

 

“Is there anything you need me to take care of?” Naruto asked.

 

“No. My father came by the day I woke up and found out my eyes had been sealed. The Hokage was there, he offered to work on a solution to my problem. He's coming back the day after tomorrow with a more permanent solution, you may want to meet with him then.”

 

“That works.” He paused.

 

“..yes, Naruto?” Hinata asked, still rubbing his hand against her cheek.

 

“What is all this?” he asked, giving the bandages around her head a tap near the temple. “The last thing I clearly remember-“

 

-his eyes were dull, but still aware when the old priest finally reached his neck, cutting an intricate collar of angular joined symbols into a collar, peeling the skin off with the cruelly hooked scraper. Blood ran from the wounds, down his body and neck, dripping into his ears, making his hair sodden. Hanging him upside down worked just like he'd warned Sasuke about. He was conscious every step of the way, the remaining blood pooling in his brain.

 

It hurt. He would have screamed if he thought it was the desired result, but the old guy didn't seem interested in his pain. He just kept carving those elaborate characters into his flesh, running his mottled black hand over the raw wound, the inhuman touch sizzling the flesh and preventing it from healing. The pain was there, but inconsequential. He had experienced worse. Instead, he threw himself against the shackles on his ankles and wrist repeatedly, heedless of how his efforts made absolutely no difference to the priest, who had a steady hand, or how it caused the deep punctures in his abdomen to open farther, one loop of intestine bulging into the air.

 

Hinata's screams were somewhat muted due to the blood in his ear, mixed in with Sasuke's inventively vile death threats and curses. If he got out of this, he would have to congratulate the Uchiha on a couple of those.

 

So involved was he in his escape efforts that the knife slicing through his throat came as a complete surprise. He would have expected there to be more ceremony before his sacrifice, though it did explain why everyone's screams had suddenly gotten louder. His blood gushed down his face, pooling on the stone altar right below his head, and NOW things got all ceremonial as the guy started to chant in a prehuman tongue-

 

“…I clearly remember your scream,” Naruto said evenly. “And then I kinda remember a lot more of your screams. They made me very angry.”

 

“I was very upset,” she admitted quietly, her voice echoing the horror she'd seen. “I thought you were dead.”

 

He pushed the hem of her robe open, exposing her neck and revealing a faint tracery of puckered pink lines on her skin. Elaborate, looping characters with angular interconnecting lines, the same marks that had been carved into his skin. He knew that they would travel down her body, her breasts, her stomach, all the way to the soles of her feet, because that was where they started with him.

 

“…Naruto?! Naruto!?” Hinata's voice seemed like it was coming from very far away.

 

He blinked and let go of her robe, dimly aware that his hand had clenched so hard his fingers had curled through the cloth. Apparently it was possible to black out with nothing but pure rage.

 

“You were next,” he said flatly.

 

Hinata looked down. “…yes.”

 

Naruto's expression darkened. “Your screams... While I just lay there…”

 

Hinata's head snapped up and she seized both his hands in her own.

 

“They were for you, Naruto,” she whispered. “I've been hurt worse in training, for all that no one could see it. Juken leaves no marks. Sasuke and I were screaming for you. We feared you were dead, but somehow we knew that you were stronger than that.”

 

Naruto let some of the tension seep out of his hands as she quirked her mouth in a tiny smile.

 

“We were right. You rose from the floor naked and bloody like a god reborn. You killed the two bears guarding the chamber. You scared off the priests. You let us go, healed us, gave us a kiss of power. You fought that thing from the cave so we could get out.”

 

Naruto shook his head slightly, feeling the slight tremble in his shoulders. “I don't think that was me, Hinata. That was… him. I was just sort of watching.”

 

“You were in there, I could tell,” she replied, gently disagreeing. “I still remember how you looked, terrible and noble and angry and benevolent all at the same time. When you touched my eyes, I could see everything all at once, even things I'd never been able to see before. It was wondrous to finally see the real you. All of you.”

 

He reached out and stroked her temple with his thumb, feeling the softness of the cotton bandages beneath his fingertip. “I destroyed your sight.”

 

Hinata shook her head in. “It was my fault, I tried to do something I wasn't strong enough for. I was so weak that when you and Sasuke fell to the…” She paused, swallowing.

 

Naruto eased himself on the bed beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. She seemed so small, almost frail, lost in the big hospital bed. “When I was nearly gutted, yes,” he added for her.

 

“I couldn't even see it,” she hissed. “I knew something was there, but it was like my eyes just refused to look that way. After you had touched them on the altar, though, I could look at it.” Her voice rose, gaining a fever pitch. “Eyes and hands and tentacles and mouths and things I can't even begin to describe, but that was just the surface, you would not believe what was on the inside! I forced your chakra into my eyes, and I could see it! Organs and muscles and glands and cells and alien chakra all tied together in ways I could actually see and understand! But I was foolish. When I looked at you, I could see the incredible power sealed inside, but it too bright, so I didn't look directly at it. But when I looked at the shoggoth...”

 

“Your eyes exploded.”

 

She shook her head again, an emphatic no. “It wasn't my eyes, it was the choushijiro, the white veins that feed blood and chakra to my eyes. I tried to look too close, and I just kept forcing power into my eyes. But it's really not as bad as it seems. It didn't slow me down, I didn't even NOTICE until afterward.” She ran her fingers through her short, tousled hair ruefully. “Sasuke had to deal with something similar, you saw. The Uchiha bloodline limit puts a different type of strain on the body, and when he used his sharingan in battle, he burst the capillaries in his eyes, so it looks like he's crying blood.

 

“When you marked us, you permanently activated our bloodlines. Sasuke's eyes changed, and now they won't change back. It draws on his chakra, but not hard enough to endanger his life. The byakugan requires more chakra to keep active than I make during that time, and it's a strain on the choushijiro. So they sealed my eyes while I heal. After I heal, I can break the seal and I'll be able to see again, but I'll run out of chakra. The Hokage and some of the doctors promised my father that they could come up with a way to partially seal me, so I'd be able to see again without using too much chakra. That's why he's coming back.”

 

Naruto nodded and gave her a squeeze. “How did your father take it.”

 

Hinata let her head droop forward. “I can't say. Probably not well. He only saw me once, and then didn't say anything. I'm not sure the old deadline remains anymore. He'd given me until sixteen or marriage before I get moved to the Branch, but with this change…” She shrugged helplessly. “He might seal me as soon as I get home.”

 

“Not gonna happen,” Naruto assured her. “I've been thinking about how to better grant you power, and that's why I want to talk to the Hokage. If we have to, I'll give you another little love bite on the neck. I remember catching a glimpse of you and Sasuke fighting Bacchi and the old priest. Even the damned fox approved.” He grinned, showing teeth. “Still, we need to make our move soon. And maybe even Sasuke could prove some use there. After all, how much is the word of the heir of the Uchiha worth? Political power is still power.”

 

“I wasn't worried,” she replied, turning her sightless eyes in his direction. “I knew you'd have a plan.”

 

He laughed. “Well, I'm glad you kept your confidence. I haven't actually met your sister yet, but there is no way in hell she's more suited to rule your clan than you.” He patted her shoulder. “I'd best go check on our third. I'll be back to check on you later.”

 

She smiled at him. “Yes, Naruto.”

 

 

o/~

 

 

Naruto found Sasuke doing one fingered pushups in his hospital bed wearing only a loose pair of drawstring pants. The muscles in his lean back bunched and twisted under his skin as he smoothly rose and fell, and sweat rolled down his arms, leaving streaks where his IV rubbed across his forearm with every completed repetition. A pint of blood hung from the rack now, replacing that which flowed from his eyes and occasionally dripped onto a towel he'd placed beneath his face.

 

Naruto stood watching for several long minutes as Sasuke worked, feeling the near frenetic energy that thrummed through the dark haired boy, energy kept restrained only by his incredible self control.

 

“…Wow, Sasuke. I know I've said some bad things about your fangirls before, but I can't fault their taste,” Naruto said after a moment, frankly admiring.

 

“Hn.” He didn't stop his exercise.

 

“I brought something for you. Had a bunshin go get it from your place.” Naruto set a kunai on the bedside table. “Kunai.” He set a plastic bottle beside it. “Shampoo.”

 

Sasuke abruptly stopped, turning his head to glance at the bottle, then Naruto, searching for any trace of amusement.

 

Naruto stared back evenly, noting the three white flecks in Sasuke's eyes of crimson and black.

 

He changed to a seated position, picking up the small towel as he did so and wiping at the streaks of blood on his cheeks. “No snide comment? No witty quip?” he asked.

 

Naruto shook his head. “Don't be concerned for your dignity, Sasuke. My memories are still fuzzy in places, but I remember when you fought Bacchi and the old priest. If you dressed like a geisha and used pink kunai, I'd still see you as I saw you then.”

 

After a moment, Sasuke inclined his head slightly, accepting the acknowledgement for what it was.

 

“How do you feel?”

 

Sasuke's eyes blazed. “Good. Not like I did the first time, but I can still feel the power flowing through my coils.”

 

Naruto squatted on the floor, his arms stretched out away from him, elbows on knees. “Yeah, I think that was the fox's fault, since I was injured. I felt it, you know. It feels good to give as well as receive. I heard your call.” Abruptly he stood once more and bowed deeply to his seated teammate. “Thank you, Sasuke, and…” He hesitated and closed his eyes for a second, remembering what Sasuke had gone through. “I'm sorry for what happened.”

 

Sasuke gave him an incredulous look. “Sorry? Naruto, you saved me from dying by inches under the knife, and then you gave me the most incredible rush of power I've ever felt. Don't be sorry for that.”

 

Naruto closed his eyes again, clenching his fists, and nodded. If that was what Sasuke chose to focus on, so be it. He would respect and honor him for it. The Uchiha was stronger than he'd given him credit for. He tapped his chest with one fist.

 

Sasuke looked at him oddly for a moment, then, hesitantly, copied him, tapping his chest with his right fist just as Naruto had done.

 

“So, other than the bleeding eyes, any problems like Hinata is having?” Naruto asked, the awkward moment passed.

 

Sasuke shook his head. “No, I'm feeling pretty good, really.” He hesitated and looked away, embarrassed. “Except, ah, twice now, I've had this really weird dream where I was wearing these sort of sun god robes on a pyramid surrounded by a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at me.”

 

Whatever reaction he might have expected from the blond, it wasn't the one he got.

 

“YES!” Naruto cried, collapsing to his knees with his fists thrust into the air and his head thrown back in exultation. “Finally, someone else had that damned dream!”

 

Sasuke blinked at him as Naruto regained his composure and his feet.

 

Naruto looked rather unapologetic about his odd outburst, though he did have a thoughtful expression. “Though, under the circumstances, I suppose we should probably call that a side effect of the Kyubi's chakra.”

 

“…interesting,” Sasuke allowed. “Are there any other side effects I should be aware of?”

 

Naruto shrugged. “Well, if your penis suddenly grows three inches overnight, let me know.”

 

Sasuke raised one eyebrow. “Your dick grew three inches in a single night?”

 

“Well, no, but if yours does, I wanna hear about it,” Naruto admitted. “That's the kind of thing I could market.”

 

Sasuke shook his head, fighting a smile. To cover it, he hopped off the bed, jerked the IV out with a casual pull, and grabbed the kunai and the bottle of shampoo. “Well, if that's all, I'm going to find the showers.”

 

Naruto nodded. “Yeah, alright. I've got some clones running around Konoha, anything you want done? I started to get clothes from your apartment, but I figured I'd ask first.”

 

Sasuke nodded. “Yeah, that'd be nice.” He swished the bottle in his hand thoughtfully. It was about half empty.

 

“More shampoo?”

 

“More shampoo.”

 

 

Authors Lie: Not exactly where I wanted to end this chapter, I've got nearly a full extra chapter's worth of material already written, and I'm still not to the point where I'd like to end the chapter based on actual events. But, scenes got larger and larger, and more scenes kept getting shoved in, and, while I'm not actually opposed to making a double sized chapter, the simple fact is, I DO like seeing my hit counter go up and reading new reviews. And the easiest way to get attention is to post lots of smaller chapters, not one giant one. Back in the old days, where I updated on my personal web page and a mailing list, my chapters were regularly in the 20-30 thousand word range, and I had one that was nearly 50k. That's bigger than a lot of fics on fanfictiondotnet.

 

Hmm, maybe I should start migrating my non-lemon stuff over here.

 

Anyway, expect a new chapter of this within the week.

 

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to tell your friends!