Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shadowed Wolf: Sasuke's Tale ❯ Why Caution? ( Chapter 5 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Armina Skitty 
Sasuke and his new sensei head off to find a job and Sasuke meets someone he didn't think could possibly exist.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 05.01.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.7K | Visits: 438 | Status: Completed
Sasuke and his new sensei head off to find a job and Sasuke meets someone he didn't think could possibly exist.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 05.01.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.7K | Visits: 438 | Status: Completed
5
Disclaimer: Because the universe hates me, I don’t own Naruto. I do own Nibiiro and Akari however. Who’s Akari? #snicker# you’ll have to find out!
A.S.: ….. From here on, things get crazy…. Er. Oh, and I didn’t forget about Anko and her curse seal, nope, no way, not sayin’ you can’t make me-
Sasuke: You can see she likes to lie.
A.S.: Ah-heh…. Right… At least I made up for it here!!
Sasuke: With your typical pathetic ability, yes I suppose you did.
A.S.: rrrrrr, you do realize that the chapter hasn’t even started yet and I’m the one that controls the plot, right?
Sasuke: (sweatdrop) #ulp#
A.S.: heheheheheheehheh
“We’re going to a town called Houshoukin Kariudo Hekison.” He explained slowly, as if to a five year old. Sasuke scowled, but said nothing about the insulting tone. “It’s a good place to find a job that two fugitive shinobi can do without being hunted. We need to get a job so that we can get the necessary money to buy more supplies.” He grinned ruefully, “I seem to have neglected to bring any with me.”
“Neglected, right,” the younger teen drawled as he finished visually sweeping the small clearing for any evidence that it had held two people for the night. He was about to report to the older teen that it was all clear when a sudden sharp pain shocked him into falling to his knees, hissing. Sasuke didn’t even have to think about reaching up to grab at the Curse Seal in a futile effort to dull the pain, it was pure reflex by now.
“Sasuke?” Nibiiro called in concern, rushing over to the youth’s side, “Shit, is the Curse Seal acting up again?”
“Yeah…” the dark-eyed teen grated out, “Can’t you do something about it? After all, you made it didn’t you?” He was caught by surprise when his grey-eyed mentor suddenly gained a sheepish expression.
“Well… erm… actually….”
#I made it.# A powerful, silent voice that Sasuke was coming to know only too well said in the two teen’s heads. Had Sasuke been a fur-bearing mammal instead of a furless human, every hair would be standing on end.
“Wha-wha-what do you mean B-B-Byakko-sama?” Sasuke stammered. Ever since he had accidentally brushed against the Tiger’s cell inside Nibiiro, the young shinobi had been able to hear the Bijuu. And each time the Tiger spoke, Sasuke freaked, naturally. After all, when one has been alone inside one’s head, it’s completely understandable for that one to be mildly disturbed when one is hearing voices.
“What he means is that I actually didn’t make the original curse seal.” Nibiiro said, preventing the need for Byakko to speak again. “My predecessor made it.”
“Your predecessor?” Sasuke asked, then groaned in pain as he folded over. The Curse Seal was really starting to hurt. Nibiiro placed one hand over the Curse mark, the other hand forming a seal. The pain subsided enough for Sasuke to think beyond it. “What do you mean? Why did you lie?”
Nibiiro sighed, “I didn’t lie, not really, it’s just-“ The grey-eye Nin fell silent and glanced upward, clearly searching for the words to explain the situation. “The one who held Byakko before me created the original Curse Seal, and had a similar relationship with the Tiger as I have. Because of this, Byakko knows, intimately, everything my predecessor knew. Therefore, I know, intimately, everything my predecessor knew.”
The older shinobi sighed again at the younger one’s puzzled expression. “It- it’s hard to explain. When I dream, Byakko is there, and sometimes guides the dreams. It’s not terribly uncommon for him to send me on dream quests, showing me things that his previous hosts have been through.” He grinned falsely, “Sometimes I get confused over what it is that I did, and what the others did. That’s why I said that I made the Seal; I got confused. I did alter it though; the current version of the Heaven that’s on you is the one I engineered.”
That’s right, I heard that that freak-woman, Anko, had a curse seal, and had had it for a while. Nibiiro would have to have been… five-ish to have made her seal. I don’t care how smart he is, no Five year old could make such a complex seal.
“Well, whoever made it, you know a lot about it and-“ Terrible pain welled up again, cutting off anything that Sasuke would have said as his world was narrowed down to the agony shooting out from his neck and the need to draw in the next breath around it. Dimly he sensed movement from his mentor’s direction and a moment later, all the pain he had suffered before that point resembled a mild ache in comparison.
He was pretty sure he screamed, but he couldn’t be positive about that. His world was pain and pain was his world. #Hold on, just hold on.# The Tiger’s voice said, giving something for Sasuke to center on. #The cub is working as fast as he safely can, just hold on.#
#It hurts…# Sasuke managed to reply, making the understatement of the millennia, #It really, really hurts!#
#I know, just hold out a little longer.# And as suddenly as it began, the pain ended, permitting Sasuke to crumple to the clearing floor and curl into a fetal position, trying not to whimper as small waves of phantom pain chased down his limbs. Nibiiro sat hunched over him, panting. There was something… ugly… clenched in his right fist.
“Wha… what…?” the charcoal-grey eyed, young teen croaked, eyeing the ugly thing hesitantly. Nibiiro raised exhausted, blood-shot, blue eyes to meet his student’s.
“This,” he raised his fist a little to show the black mass of evil he clutched, “is one third of the warped thing that was in you.” Sasuke recoiled from it while the older shinobi rose uneasily to his feet and started to remake the fire, casting the evil into the cleansing flame. Sasuke shuddered as he watched the natural red-orange fire turn dark, unnatural colors.
But…evil isn’t necessarily black or dark, he mused, thoughts disjointed from sudden fatigue. He had had a strange dream again last night, about the Wolf that kept the nightmares away. She had spoken of symbolism and that fact that Black, Night and Creatures of the Night were not in themselves evil and that White, Day and Creatures of the Day were not necessarily good. She had said that humans craved symbols and that since humans were diurnal, daytime creatures, everything that had to do with night had been dubbed evil because it was misunderstood.
Sasuke didn’t really understand why his subconscious was stressing this point, since the Wolf was clearly a product of his over-stress subconscious mind. Perhaps it was because the Wolf herself was black and that wolves in general were considered night creatures. The dark eyed teen’s thoughts drifted further into formlessness as sleep overcame him; his last waking thought one of puzzlement. Why was Nibiiro draping his coat over him? It was still a morning chill in the air, didn’t his mentor want the coat? So strange…
#I know, but I also can’t afford to have my partner be prone to crippling bouts of pain.# Nibiiro countered, #We’re going to be hitting the main trade route later today and there will undoubtedly be trouble of one kind or another. I’m going to have enough trouble looking after myself; Sasuke has to be able to watch his own back, not rely on me to do so.#
#Rrrrrr, true,# The Tiger admitted reluctantly, #Are you certain you do not wish to stay a while in Kariudo? The people there know you, and no one can attack you in such a place.#
#You’re being generous,# Nibiiro observed, #I thought that that place hurt you, due to the nature of the soil.#
#It does, but not enough that you can not recoup there. I can bear discomfort in exchange for your full recovery.#
#You shame me, I’m already nearly fully recovered.# Two days had already passed since he had cast the Disruptor Jutsu and the Illusion Spells. Two days was more than enough time to recover in for a Jinchuuriki.
#You were fully recovered, barely, but with no reserves.# Byakko remarked dryly, #You are drained again, and your reserves are still bare. Do not be so proud in your skills that you take no note of your weaknesses.#
#Yes Shishou,# Nibiiro replied, half in jest. Most of the knowledge that the young adult had was because of Byakko. Nibiiro made his own conclusions based on his own thoughts, but the facts were nearly all given to him by his guest. This had the effect of making him seem very knowledgeable and wise beyond his years, something Sasuke often groused about. Nibiiro didn’t mind, so long as Sasuke thought about what he was told.
Although not thinking isn’t his problem, in fact I think he thinks too much. Often about things that are beyond his control. Nibiiro was becoming a little peeved with Sasuke’s obsession with revenge and his need to get stronger. As far as the young adult was concerned, revenge was perhaps the dumbest thing in the world. All it did was bring more pain.
Yes, killing Itachi had a purpose; the guy was a bastard who deserved to die for the sake of other Jinchuuriki. But, making that the be-all end-all of your life? Where was the fun in that? He was fourteen for Gods sake, he could afford to live a little.
That was one of the things Nibiiro had garnered from mulling over Byakko’s knowledge. Life was a short, frail thing; why dwell on bad things when you could try and have fun, or better yet, help people. Why get all dark and angsty from past bad events when you could try and make yourself into a person you wouldn’t mind meeting?
At least that was how he felt. Now, to try and get some of that attitude to rub off on the Angst-King of the Universe….
#Good luck in that endeavor!#
#Hey! I don’t recall asking for your opinion! And quit eavesdropping, you over-grown house cat!#
“What’s this ‘we’ thing?” He asked out of the blue. And after a long bout of prolonged silence no less. It wasn’t surprising, then, that Nibiiro hadn’t the foggiest clue what the hell his companion was talking about.
“Meh?”
“Earlier, you said we could get a job.” Sasuke elaborated, “What’s this ‘we’ thing? I don’t recall ever saying I’d team up with you. I just indicated I’d travel with you.” Yes ladies and gentlemen, the Angsty King of Anti-Social is back in action and better than ever. Yet Nibiiro just grinned. Evilly.
“Well, you did decide to travel with me, as you said.”
“Yeah…” Sasuke replied, suddenly wary.
“Further, you’ve been accepting, and even asking for my aid, yes?”
“Uh-huh….”
“And you have acknowledged me as the more skilled of the two of us, correct?”
“Ye-es…”
“And< /i> you’ve been heeding and accepting my teaching and instruction have you not?”
“Ummm….”
“So wouldn’t that technically make you my apprentice?”
“Ergk!”
Nibiiro’s evil grin widened considerably as Sasuke found himself backed into the proverbial corner. “And what does an apprentice do for his master?”
“Aside from work his butt off and do trivial chores?” the charcoal-eyed youth growled and slouched, determined to enter a major brooding, not pouting, brooding, session. Nibiiro interrupted, as is per usual, but with a twist this time.
He slowed until he was right next to the, uh, brooding, younger teen. “There are some rules that I must demand that you follow when we get to Kariudo. Listen closely; there are some damned good reasons for these rules.”
Sasuke blinked up at his new sensei, surprised at the sudden mood-change.
“First, don’t call me Nibiiro, that’s an alias and the other one I use here is Ryoushi.”
“’Hunter’? Isn’t that a little..?”
“Yeah, I know. But I employ myself as a bounty hunter and it doesn’t hurt to advertise that fact with my name. Second, do not ever make any reference, direct or oblique, to Byakko or to the fact that I’m Jinchuuriki. EVER!! Do you understand?”
“H-hai.” Sasuke confirmed, shocked now by the vehemence. “Why?”
“Jinchuuriki are nearly always created to be weapons of war.” The demon host replied bitterly, clearly remembering something harsh. “Because of that, they are hated even above Blood Limit Lines. That brings me to three; do not, under any circumstances, use Sharingan! That is an order!”
“What?!?!?” Sasuke was shocked beyond words. Not use the thing that made him strong and gave him a definite edge? Not use his pride and joy that made him special and sought after? Was this man insane?
“I am dead serious here.” Nibiiro replied, pausing and turning to look Sasuke dead in the eye. “There are only two full-blooded Uchiha left and they are both Missing-Nin. Use Sharingan and everyone will know who you are and will start hunting you. Konoha is an excellent client and the reward that is undoubtedly out for you will be substantial. And let’s not forget about Sound.” Sasuke flinched, “But even if they don’t recognize the Uchiha trait, you’ll be pegged as a Bloodline and that is hated.”
“But-“ Sasuke asked, currently not caring if he sounded childish, “why?” He couldn’t understand, the offspring of Bloodlines were respected and honored back in Konoha. If you were Bloodline, you were guaranteed reverence. This… what Nibiiro was saying… it didn’t make sense…
“Because of two things: one, Bloodlines are used as weapons just as readily as Jinchuuriki and thus are feared greatly. Two, if a Bloodline isn’t a deadly weapon; it’s a noble house, which is just as bad among commoners. The older and more powerful the house, the darker and uglier its secrets.” Sasuke glared skeptically at the last, “Oh yes, even Uchiha.”
“What about Uchiha?” An angry, adult female voice asked from behind the two males.
“Ah! Akari-chan!” Nibiiro said while he whirled to face her, oh so discreetly standing between the woman and Sasuke. She was a head shorter than the super-tall Nibiiro, with deep black long hair tied back in a no-nonsense braid. Her face was handsome with strong features and her eyes were a deep brown. Dressed with a mind to practicality, and with two short swords strapped to her waist with scabbards showing clear signs of wear, she was obviously a warrior. But that’s not what caught Sasuke’s undivided attention.
There was one, and only one, trait that all Advanced Blood Limit lines had in common; if you were in close proximity of close kin, you knew it. You knew the person was kin, and even who that person was in relation to you. The nearer the kin was in relation and physical proximity, the more accurate the reading. Every ounce of Sasuke’s being was screaming the fact that he was in close proximity to his aunt.
And that was impossible; all Uchiha had black or dark charcoal-grey eyes. And all Uchiha were dead, save himself and his evil, will-die-by-my-hand brother. But the adults were still talking.
“Don’t you ‘chan’ me! You are never nice to me unless you want something. What is it?” Akari snarled.
“Aw, c’mon, I’m always nice to you, aren’t I?” Nibiiro gushed, “And I haven’t seen you in years! Can’t we set aside the bickering and be friendly, just to set off the Apocalypse?”
“No.” She dead-panned, “I don’t do ‘nice’.” She narrowed her eyes, “And what was it you were just saying about the Uchiha clan?” She hissed the name like it was the worst epithet, making Sasuke twitch with suppressed auto-defense response. He trusted Nibiiro enough by now to guess that if the larger man was shielding the younger from view, there was a reason. He decided to stay quiet to try and find out what it was.
“Hmmm? Oh I was just explaining to my apprentice the realities of the world. No big deal.” He blew off the question.
“Oh, using that scum-ridden cesspit of a clan as an example? Good idea.” She shifted her position slightly, the grey-eyed shinobi shifting with her, and Sasuke seething with the need to kill to defend his clan name. “But since when did you take apprentices? I thought you were the true, blue loner type.”
“Seeing yourself in others again, are we? But, c’mon, you know that not everyone in that clan is bad, admit it!”
“Yeah, one of them had the decency to wipe out the rest of the shit-eaters.” The evil woman sniggered. Too much was too much; Sasuke lunged; only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder as Nibiiro kept him from killing.
The youth glared hatefully up at the middle aged woman, jaw set in snarl of rage. The woman glared right back.
“Hello nephew.” She drawled.
“Hi.” Sasuke growled back, slowly starting to regret his hasty action. He hadn’t spent over a year in close company with Sakura without learning that an irate female was the deadliest and most terrifying creature on Earth. And the woman was a strong and seasoned fighter, even more dangerous. “Why do you hate Uchiha?” He asked as Nibiiro let go of his shoulder and started shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“First you answer me this:” She responded. “Who was your grandfather?”
Sasuke blinked; why is this important? “Well, uh, on my father’s side my grandfather was Uchiha Sousuke, I was named for him,” (author taking creative license, pay no mind) he grimaced, bad enough that he’d been the neglected spare to his brother’s heir, but his parents hadn’t even bothered to give him a more individual name.
“I see.” The woman Akari replied mildly, drawing one of her swords. “DIE!!! Die you mother-fucking demon spawned- Get out of my way you damned cat!”
“No!” Nibiiro yelled, grappling her sword arm and pinning her free arm to her side, “It’s not his fault!!! You can’t kill him!!”
“He’s the descendant of the freak that dared sire me!! He has to die!! All spawn of that mother-fucking, pedophilic creep has to die!!” She shrieked, trying to slice down into Nibiiro’s arm with her sword.
Sasuke in the mean time was prudently hiding up a nearby tree, trying to figure out what the hell was going on and where precisely he had erred.
The shinobi were reclining in the shade of a large tree at the side of the road, Nibiiro passively sitting between the Amazon and the youth. The Jinchuuriki didn’t look up from his lunch, but grimaced in equal disgust. He knew a little of Akari’s background, but some of this information was new even to him. Akari scowled and continued her story.
“Yeah, he was, and not only that, Kaa-san was nineteen at the time.” She growled. Nibiiro set his onigiri rice ball down as well to stare in horror at his former partner. Sasuke blinked at her, as if he couldn’t process this little facet.
“And it gets better,” She chirped evilly, “When the old bastard found out that Kaa-san was pregnant, he had her kicked out of Konoha so that he could save face, and the rest of the clan that knew about it helped him!”
“But-!” Sasuke protested, then decided to rephrase he protest so that he was less likely to be sliced in half, “Forgive me, but if you weren’t born yet, how could you know this for certain? Given the genuinely terrible situation, your Okaa-sama was unlikely to be charitable.”
Akari growled hatefully.
“Akari-chan, admit it, he has a point.” Nibiiro said warningly, biting into his onigiri. The Amazon humphed, but let it slide, for now.
“I figured Kaa-san wouldn’t be nice to the Uchiha’s either, so I went to Konoha myself when I was ten, thinking I could claim some training from them.” She elaborated, glaring at some invisible point over Sasuke’s head with twisted expression of virulent hate. “Heh, some welcome I got. I nearly got killed for ‘putting on airs’ and ‘making specious claims on something I had no right to’. So, no, Kaa-san wasn’t exaggerating, she was telling the whole truth.”
Sasuke stared down at the rice in his hands as if he had never seen such a thing before in his life. It was hard, terribly hard, for him to set aside the soft-edged childish image of his clan, even in the face of what his head was telling him was the truth.
Nibiiro had warned him just before Akari had appeared the Blood Limit clans sometimes had dark secrets. It seemed only too convenient that Akari should appear to enforce that warning. Yet he couldn’t set it, and her, aside even though his emotional side was screaming that everything that had been said was a lie.
It wasn’t a lie, and his head knew it. She was his aunt; that was pure fact. Yet he had never heard of her before, and he had known his third and even fourth cousins very well. Which created another point in her favor; if she had been acknowledged Uchiha, he would have known of her at the very least.
“I believe you.” He admitted softly, “There is no reason now for you to lie about this, I believe that you are telling the truth as you know of it.”
“Humph.” She said, picking up her swords to belt back on, “I’m off.”
“Where to?” Nibiiro asked neutrally.
“Kariudo. Need a bounty.”
“Ah, same here.” Nibiiro grinned at her flinch, “Care to travel with us to the city at least?”
“Humph,” She said, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently while she waited for the two males. Nibiiro grinned and stuffed the rest of the rice ball in his mouth hastily. Sasuke made a face at this and forced himself to finish his just as hastily, but with more manners. He wanted to make something of good impression for his aunt.
It was a failed effort though; try as he might to make the least bond with her, she shot him down with harsh insults and a cold attitude. He let it slide however, this was his aunt after all, she was of his blood, of his clan. Even though he’d known her for a whole, oh, three hours, he’d do whatever it took to gain her acknowledgement. Whatever it took.
“What is this?” Sasuke said, pain lacing his tone. “Why does it hurt?” Nibiiro turned to look closely at his apprentice. There was an ache-crease between Sasuke’s brows and the cast of his features declared that he was hurting, not badly, but hurting none the less. He must have more power than I initially thought.
“Figure it out yourself, fool.” Akari barked, stomping on. Sasuke looked at her sadly, while Nibiiro glared at her. Her body language declared that she was uncomfortable, but not in any considerable pain. But then again, she’d built up a resistance to the effect, since she came to this place often.
“Take off your glove and touch the ground.” Nibiiro instructed. Sasuke complied, briefly brushing the ground with his fingers before jerking his hand back with a hiss. “It’s Cold Iron.”
“The Death Metal?” Sasuke was clearly surprised.
“No, the Life Metal.” Guess who that was. Nibiiro bared his teeth at her and she subsided reluctantly.
“They mine the ore in the mountains over there and the sand in the surrounding area is heavy with the metal. It makes it painful for shinobi like us to be here, since it reacts with our high chakra levels, but it also makes it one of the most neutral places in the world.” Nibiiro explained. The three continued towards the city proper.
“How’s that?” Sasuke asked, openly curious. Akari opened her mouth to snipe at the youth, then snapped it shut as she caught the Jinchuuriki’s angry glare.
“It’s because you can’t use chakra here, and the villagers are primarily miners, so they’re tough.” The older teen noticed Sasuke’s head-cock, “The villagers insist that peace be kept, and they enforce that strictly. Since a shinobi’s strength is based mainly in jutsus, which we can’t use here, a fight with them is usually lost.”
“I see.” Sasuke said. Nibiiro nodded and continued.
“That’s why the main bounty hunter office is there. Most bounty hunters don’t like each other, the whole rivalry thing is strong among our kind. So in a place like this, where fights are controlled by the locals, the offices see more traffic since hunters know that if their worst enemies walks by, they’d better smile and keep walking, or else.”
“Huh.”
“Which means, my dear young apprentice-“ Sasuke glared, “that if you encounter Itachi, you had better just keep walking and pay him no mind or else the villagers will mind for you. Do you understand?”
Sasuke grit his teeth angrily, but nodded, “Yes, I understand.” He growled under his breath, “Besides, the way things are right now, I’m weaker than I was before I went to Orochimaru, and I don’t doubt that he’s gotten stronger. I was no match for him before; he’d destroy me with even less effort now.”
Nibiiro looked at the youth proudly, he knew how much such a confession had cost him in terms of pride. Sasuke caught that look, and glanced down, flushing slightly in confusion. He felt his hair get ruffled affectionately and bristled a bit. Akari glared at the display, hunched her shoulders and grumbled about male bonding and how it shouldn’t happen in public.
“And here’s the city, home sweet home for the next week!” Nibiiro declared as they reached the crest of a small hill that slightly overlooked the city.
“Week? The next week?!” the dark-haired youth barked in dismay, “We’re staying here for a week?!”
“Or more, depending on how quickly we get a job.” Nibiiro commented idly, not noticing Akari’s evil grin at Sasuke’s discomfort. “A lot of the jobs available here are local, villagers taking advantage of the office here, kinda like in a Hidden Village. So we may stay here as long as a month or more.”
Sasuke whimpered. He clearly wasn’t relishing the idea of living in such a painful place, there was clearly more on his mind than just that.
“I know that you won’t be able to practice ninjutsu or genjutsu here, but you can definitely brush up on your taijutsu and maybe start practicing with one particular weapon.” Sasuke looked over at him, “Just because they mine Cold Iron here, doesn’t mean that everything’s made from it. They sell some very fine conventional steel weapons in the market. Plus, silk wrapped hilts negates the Cold Iron, if you want to try out a blade made from it.”
Sasuke’s expression went thoughtful at that.
“Well, if you two boys are going to stand there staring all day, I’m going to head in and get myself a room. Ja.” Akari said, heading off.
“Ja.” The grey-eyed Nin returned, then gestured for his apprentice to follow.
The thought of leaving to travel on his own crossed his mind again, as it had earlier when Nibiiro said how long he planned on stay. But he dismissed the idea, he needed guidance and tutoring at the moment, and his self-proclaimed sensei was freely offering both.
Refining his taijutsu was a good idea, as was the idea of obtaining a weapon he could specialize in. Training his body would increase his stamina, which would increase his chakra reserves. Not using chakra for an extended period, like say, a month, could refill those reserves; something he was in desperate need of.
The fever he had suffered from when Nibiiro had rescued him had depleted him down to nothing. The escape from Akastsuki had drained him of most of what he’d recovered, and the removal of the second third of the Seal earlier had nearly put him back where he had started.
In other words, an Academy reject could pummel me right now in terms of stamina and reserves; Sasuke grimaced. He watched as his sensei bargained with the Innkeeper for a room. Then listened in concern. Then frowned in mild dismay. This guy is supposed to be my sensei and he can’t even haggle properly! Just as Nibiiro was going to seal the bargain, with the Innkeeper gloating blatantly, Sasuke stepped in and skillfully dropped the price by another third, much to the Innkeeper’s dismay
“Why did you-?” The older teen stammered as his ‘student’ drug him off to the general vicinity of their room after grabbing the keys.
“You. Can’t. Bargain.” Sasuke stated clearly, “You were letting yourself get cheated with some of the most obvious of tricks! I can’t just stand by and let you waste the money I’m going to have to rely on until I can get some of my own!”
The Jinchuuriki chuckled sheepishly, “I suppose that’s true. But was I really that bad?” Sasuke looked him straight in the eye.
“No; you were worse.” He turned and unlooked the room that the two were going to be living in for the next week at least, month at most; while behind him Nibiiro sulked in his Cloud o’ Gloom ™.
There is one thing that’s important to keep in mind when you think about Sasuke; he enjoys acting like there is absolutely nothing wrong with him. He will act as if he is completely uninjured even if one of his limbs is only hanging on by a thread. Currently, he was acting as if everything that had been done to him at Sound hadn’t affected him at all. This was not true; he had escaped, but not unscathed. He was currently burdened with a load of phobias.
Small tight spaces made him twitchy, being in a crowd made him break out in a nervous sweat. If he stayed in either space for prolonged periods, his anxiety would work up into a screaming fit. It got worse; snakes, which he had previously only noted to see if it was dangerous or not, made him freeze in pure animal panic.
The current phobia that he was facing was the worst of all, and one that hadn’t made itself an issue before. He was about to enter a hotel room that had only one large bed, one small door and one tiny window with an adult male that was considerably stronger than him and he was expected to share that bed for the night with said stronger male.
As Nibiiro brushed past him to put their few things away, images from Sasuke’s time at Sound in Orochimaru’s company flooded the youth’s mind. Nibiiro was speaking, but Sasuke couldn’t hear him. All he heard was his own pulse and the echo of an evil voice. He wasn’t seeing his new sensei anymore, and he wasn’t in a safe, peaceful village miles from anyplace he’d been before; he was seeing his old master and he was in the heart of Sound, standing in the doorway of that special little room reserved just for him…
He walked past his apprentice, who was briefly going to be his master in one art at least, and entered the room. Seeing the interior, he sighed in mild vexation.
“Sorry Sasuke, looks like we’re going to have to share the bed.” It was standard practice in small-area inns for there to be only one large bed per room. They were lucky that they got the bed and the room to themselves; Nibiiro had at times shared a similar sized bed with five other complete strangers. Sharing the space with one other person with whom he was familiar was going to be a welcomed change.
“After we get settled in, we’ll head out. I have some items that I can bargain off, and you can show me how it’s done properly! Then we can go to the bounty office and- Sasuke?” Nibiiro glanced up, surprised that his companion hadn’t made his ‘I’m listening’ noises or at least prowled the room or expressed his disapproval at the sleeping arrangements. “Sasuke?” He asked again in growing alarm. The youth’s face was awfully pale, and his breathing was harsh and his smell- SHIT!
“Sasuke! Snap out it!” The kid was about to go into a full blown panic attack! Nibiiro would never confuse that particular smell with any other. The Jinchuuriki rushed over to the youth to try and ground him back into the real world, but Sasuke responded poorly to that, jerking back and trying to run. Nibiiro was faster.
Damn, this is just like when Ashante- shit! Nibiiro grabbed Sasuke and pinned the kid against him, back flush to the adult’s front. One arm was wrapped over Sasuke’s chest, pinning his arms down. The other hand was pressed over the youth’s mouth, preventing him from screaming.
This position would have been bad, had Sasuke been able to think and use his free hands to make seals. But right now, all his thoughts were consumed with fear. He didn’t have the ability to even think about using his jutsus, or going for his weapons. He didn’t even have the ability to think about ducking down and out of Nibiiro’s grip.
“It’s okay, you’re okay, I won’ t hurt you, you’re okay.” Nibiiro murmured over and over softly to the blindly struggling youth, child in his arms.
This was the only way that he knew to help someone already in a panic attack; limit their oxygen and wait it out. His large hand over Sasuke’s mouth kept the youth from gasping in needed air and also partly blocked his nose. The Uchiha’s blind thrashing was burning more air than he could take in; sooner or later he’d exhaust himself and the fatigue would help him come back to himself.
“It’s okay, you’re okay, it’s alright Sasuke, I’m here and I won’t hurt you, it’s okay, you’re safe…”
Slowly, painfully slowly, Sasuke stopped struggling so hard, then stopped struggling altogether. His hands had a death grip on the arm that was wrapped around him. Nibiiro could feel the youth’s rapid pulse, his fearful trembling. The child was gasping like a cornered animal, and in some senses, he was a cornered animal. Still Nibiiro didn’t let him go, simply kept murmuring reassuringly and rocking slightly from side to side, waiting.
“It’s okay, you’re okay, I have you and I won’t hurt you, you’re safe, Sasuke, you’re safe.” A hand reached up and tugged lightly at the one clasped over Sasuke’s mouth. Nibiiro looked down into the frightened, tear-filled eyes turned up at him. Frightened and shamed, with a great deal of sanity back in them. “Ah, you’re back.” He said gently.
Sasuke nodded, dropping his eyes again in humiliation. Nibiiro dropped his arms to wrap them loosely around the youth’s waist, still holding him gently. The former Konoha shinobi didn’t try and break away.
“Do you want to talk about it?” A firm head shake greeted that offer.
“It usually helps to talk you know.” Another head shake. The older teen sighed.
“Can I at least ask what it was that set you off, so that I can avoid this happening again?” A choked noise, akin to a stifled sob, answered that. Nibiiro looked down at the youth; he was entering the second stage of an attack. First there was the blind fear, then there was broken reaction. The grey-eyed shinobi gently steered Sasuke over to the wall and sat down, pulling the youth to sit down beside him.
At first, Sasuke didn’t want to be comforted. But under his sensei’s insistence, he allowed Nibiiro to hold him and rock him gently. For the very first time in his life, Sasuke cried himself out while being held and comforted by another. He hadn’t realized before how much that helped. Now to make him hate me, but the kid has to talk about it, and there might not be such an opportunity again.
“He hurt you, didn’t he?” Nibiiro murmured making the youth stiffen, “Orochimaru did more than put that Curse Seal on you, didn’t he?”
Sasuke tried to pull away, but his sensei held fast. “It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault.” Nibiiro said, “It’s not your fault what happened.”
“How can you say that!?” Sasuke screamed, “You weren’t there! How can you say that!?” The older teen caught his face and turned it up so they stared at each other.
“I know you, I know Orochimaru and I know about this kind of thing. I know that you wouldn’t ask to be raped, Sasuke. But I know that that pedophile wouldn’t care how much you fought against him, he’d get his way whatever it took. And that’s not your fault.”
Sasuke let out a chocked noise, then buried his face against Nibiiro’s shoulder. It was another first for him; he had never given into hysterical tears before. He had always been afraid of ridicule. But Nibiiro said nothing more, simply held onto his apprentice and comforted him, gently rubbing the boy’s back. This is going to be one long night.
Sasuke: So what’s your excuse this time?
A.S.: Uhhhh, the devil made me do it? #more nasty fruit, feces and sporks# Okay! Okay! Not true! It was work and family and, uh, studying! Yeah, I was studying!
Nibiiro: #holds up newly enlarged list of favorite fics# This doesn’t look like studying to me!
A.S.: Yes it is! It’s studying for me to be a better author, I swear! I was checking to see what works best and to get new inspiration! That’s were Akari came from!
Sasuke: Is that true Obaa-chan?
#SMACK!#
Akari: Don’t you use such a familiar tone with me! And no it’s not true! There’s not a single Uchiha aunt in any of those fics! I blame alcohol!
A.S.: But I don’t drink! I hate the stuff!
Nibiiro: Temporary insanity then.
A.S.: Well, er, ah…. Anyway, this is the fifth chapter, and the sixth should come out sooner, I hope. But don’t worry overly much if it doesn’t. I DO NOT abandon fics, it’s wrong to leave the readers hanging like that! If something comes up that forces me to abandon anything, I will find the time needed to put a DISCONTINUED down, so that you know. If that happens, I give you my blessing for any so inclined to pick up where I left off so that the story is finished in some manner at least. But I’m describing worst case, I’m-going-to-die-in-a-month type scenario. At the current moment, that’s not going to happen; I will keep writing. Anywho, ja for now and check out my other fics! They all need the love!
Sasuke: Look who’s self advertising.
A.S.: Silence you! I’m entitled!
Disclaimer: Because the universe hates me, I don’t own Naruto. I do own Nibiiro and Akari however. Who’s Akari? #snicker# you’ll have to find out!
A.S.: ….. From here on, things get crazy…. Er. Oh, and I didn’t forget about Anko and her curse seal, nope, no way, not sayin’ you can’t make me-
Sasuke: You can see she likes to lie.
A.S.: Ah-heh…. Right… At least I made up for it here!!
Sasuke: With your typical pathetic ability, yes I suppose you did.
A.S.: rrrrrr, you do realize that the chapter hasn’t even started yet and I’m the one that controls the plot, right?
Sasuke: (sweatdrop) #ulp#
A.S.: heheheheheheehheh
~*~*~
“So… Where are we going again?” Sasuke asked meekly. Nibiiro had told him- twice- already. But… that was before the younger teen had eaten anything. He couldn’t be held accountable for his faulty memory; he had lacked the necessary blood sugar to make anything stick. Or so he kept telling himself. Nibiiro glanced up at the dark-eyed youth from where he was disguising the last traces of the campfire.“We’re going to a town called Houshoukin Kariudo Hekison.” He explained slowly, as if to a five year old. Sasuke scowled, but said nothing about the insulting tone. “It’s a good place to find a job that two fugitive shinobi can do without being hunted. We need to get a job so that we can get the necessary money to buy more supplies.” He grinned ruefully, “I seem to have neglected to bring any with me.”
“Neglected, right,” the younger teen drawled as he finished visually sweeping the small clearing for any evidence that it had held two people for the night. He was about to report to the older teen that it was all clear when a sudden sharp pain shocked him into falling to his knees, hissing. Sasuke didn’t even have to think about reaching up to grab at the Curse Seal in a futile effort to dull the pain, it was pure reflex by now.
“Sasuke?” Nibiiro called in concern, rushing over to the youth’s side, “Shit, is the Curse Seal acting up again?”
“Yeah…” the dark-eyed teen grated out, “Can’t you do something about it? After all, you made it didn’t you?” He was caught by surprise when his grey-eyed mentor suddenly gained a sheepish expression.
“Well… erm… actually….”
#I made it.# A powerful, silent voice that Sasuke was coming to know only too well said in the two teen’s heads. Had Sasuke been a fur-bearing mammal instead of a furless human, every hair would be standing on end.
“Wha-wha-what do you mean B-B-Byakko-sama?” Sasuke stammered. Ever since he had accidentally brushed against the Tiger’s cell inside Nibiiro, the young shinobi had been able to hear the Bijuu. And each time the Tiger spoke, Sasuke freaked, naturally. After all, when one has been alone inside one’s head, it’s completely understandable for that one to be mildly disturbed when one is hearing voices.
“What he means is that I actually didn’t make the original curse seal.” Nibiiro said, preventing the need for Byakko to speak again. “My predecessor made it.”
“Your predecessor?” Sasuke asked, then groaned in pain as he folded over. The Curse Seal was really starting to hurt. Nibiiro placed one hand over the Curse mark, the other hand forming a seal. The pain subsided enough for Sasuke to think beyond it. “What do you mean? Why did you lie?”
Nibiiro sighed, “I didn’t lie, not really, it’s just-“ The grey-eye Nin fell silent and glanced upward, clearly searching for the words to explain the situation. “The one who held Byakko before me created the original Curse Seal, and had a similar relationship with the Tiger as I have. Because of this, Byakko knows, intimately, everything my predecessor knew. Therefore, I know, intimately, everything my predecessor knew.”
The older shinobi sighed again at the younger one’s puzzled expression. “It- it’s hard to explain. When I dream, Byakko is there, and sometimes guides the dreams. It’s not terribly uncommon for him to send me on dream quests, showing me things that his previous hosts have been through.” He grinned falsely, “Sometimes I get confused over what it is that I did, and what the others did. That’s why I said that I made the Seal; I got confused. I did alter it though; the current version of the Heaven that’s on you is the one I engineered.”
That’s right, I heard that that freak-woman, Anko, had a curse seal, and had had it for a while. Nibiiro would have to have been… five-ish to have made her seal. I don’t care how smart he is, no Five year old could make such a complex seal.
“Well, whoever made it, you know a lot about it and-“ Terrible pain welled up again, cutting off anything that Sasuke would have said as his world was narrowed down to the agony shooting out from his neck and the need to draw in the next breath around it. Dimly he sensed movement from his mentor’s direction and a moment later, all the pain he had suffered before that point resembled a mild ache in comparison.
He was pretty sure he screamed, but he couldn’t be positive about that. His world was pain and pain was his world. #Hold on, just hold on.# The Tiger’s voice said, giving something for Sasuke to center on. #The cub is working as fast as he safely can, just hold on.#
#It hurts…# Sasuke managed to reply, making the understatement of the millennia, #It really, really hurts!#
#I know, just hold out a little longer.# And as suddenly as it began, the pain ended, permitting Sasuke to crumple to the clearing floor and curl into a fetal position, trying not to whimper as small waves of phantom pain chased down his limbs. Nibiiro sat hunched over him, panting. There was something… ugly… clenched in his right fist.
“Wha… what…?” the charcoal-grey eyed, young teen croaked, eyeing the ugly thing hesitantly. Nibiiro raised exhausted, blood-shot, blue eyes to meet his student’s.
“This,” he raised his fist a little to show the black mass of evil he clutched, “is one third of the warped thing that was in you.” Sasuke recoiled from it while the older shinobi rose uneasily to his feet and started to remake the fire, casting the evil into the cleansing flame. Sasuke shuddered as he watched the natural red-orange fire turn dark, unnatural colors.
But…evil isn’t necessarily black or dark, he mused, thoughts disjointed from sudden fatigue. He had had a strange dream again last night, about the Wolf that kept the nightmares away. She had spoken of symbolism and that fact that Black, Night and Creatures of the Night were not in themselves evil and that White, Day and Creatures of the Day were not necessarily good. She had said that humans craved symbols and that since humans were diurnal, daytime creatures, everything that had to do with night had been dubbed evil because it was misunderstood.
Sasuke didn’t really understand why his subconscious was stressing this point, since the Wolf was clearly a product of his over-stress subconscious mind. Perhaps it was because the Wolf herself was black and that wolves in general were considered night creatures. The dark eyed teen’s thoughts drifted further into formlessness as sleep overcame him; his last waking thought one of puzzlement. Why was Nibiiro draping his coat over him? It was still a morning chill in the air, didn’t his mentor want the coat? So strange…
~*~*~
#You nearly over-did it, again.# Byakko scolded, his host ignoring him for a moment to watch the teen drift off into sleep. #You can not afford to use such high level Spells so close together!##I know, but I also can’t afford to have my partner be prone to crippling bouts of pain.# Nibiiro countered, #We’re going to be hitting the main trade route later today and there will undoubtedly be trouble of one kind or another. I’m going to have enough trouble looking after myself; Sasuke has to be able to watch his own back, not rely on me to do so.#
#Rrrrrr, true,# The Tiger admitted reluctantly, #Are you certain you do not wish to stay a while in Kariudo? The people there know you, and no one can attack you in such a place.#
#You’re being generous,# Nibiiro observed, #I thought that that place hurt you, due to the nature of the soil.#
#It does, but not enough that you can not recoup there. I can bear discomfort in exchange for your full recovery.#
#You shame me, I’m already nearly fully recovered.# Two days had already passed since he had cast the Disruptor Jutsu and the Illusion Spells. Two days was more than enough time to recover in for a Jinchuuriki.
#You were fully recovered, barely, but with no reserves.# Byakko remarked dryly, #You are drained again, and your reserves are still bare. Do not be so proud in your skills that you take no note of your weaknesses.#
#Yes Shishou,# Nibiiro replied, half in jest. Most of the knowledge that the young adult had was because of Byakko. Nibiiro made his own conclusions based on his own thoughts, but the facts were nearly all given to him by his guest. This had the effect of making him seem very knowledgeable and wise beyond his years, something Sasuke often groused about. Nibiiro didn’t mind, so long as Sasuke thought about what he was told.
Although not thinking isn’t his problem, in fact I think he thinks too much. Often about things that are beyond his control. Nibiiro was becoming a little peeved with Sasuke’s obsession with revenge and his need to get stronger. As far as the young adult was concerned, revenge was perhaps the dumbest thing in the world. All it did was bring more pain.
Yes, killing Itachi had a purpose; the guy was a bastard who deserved to die for the sake of other Jinchuuriki. But, making that the be-all end-all of your life? Where was the fun in that? He was fourteen for Gods sake, he could afford to live a little.
That was one of the things Nibiiro had garnered from mulling over Byakko’s knowledge. Life was a short, frail thing; why dwell on bad things when you could try and have fun, or better yet, help people. Why get all dark and angsty from past bad events when you could try and make yourself into a person you wouldn’t mind meeting?
At least that was how he felt. Now, to try and get some of that attitude to rub off on the Angst-King of the Universe….
#Good luck in that endeavor!#
#Hey! I don’t recall asking for your opinion! And quit eavesdropping, you over-grown house cat!#
~*~*~
A few hours later found the two shinobi traveling down a dirt road that clearly headed into a city. Sasuke was groggy, and Nibiiro was wary, but more than that, the younger of the two was getting peeved over something that he hadn’t thought to question earlier.“What’s this ‘we’ thing?” He asked out of the blue. And after a long bout of prolonged silence no less. It wasn’t surprising, then, that Nibiiro hadn’t the foggiest clue what the hell his companion was talking about.
“Meh?”
“Earlier, you said we could get a job.” Sasuke elaborated, “What’s this ‘we’ thing? I don’t recall ever saying I’d team up with you. I just indicated I’d travel with you.” Yes ladies and gentlemen, the Angsty King of Anti-Social is back in action and better than ever. Yet Nibiiro just grinned. Evilly.
“Well, you did decide to travel with me, as you said.”
“Yeah…” Sasuke replied, suddenly wary.
“Further, you’ve been accepting, and even asking for my aid, yes?”
“Uh-huh….”
“And you have acknowledged me as the more skilled of the two of us, correct?”
“Ye-es…”
“And< /i> you’ve been heeding and accepting my teaching and instruction have you not?”
“Ummm….”
“So wouldn’t that technically make you my apprentice?”
“Ergk!”
Nibiiro’s evil grin widened considerably as Sasuke found himself backed into the proverbial corner. “And what does an apprentice do for his master?”
“Aside from work his butt off and do trivial chores?” the charcoal-eyed youth growled and slouched, determined to enter a major brooding, not pouting, brooding, session. Nibiiro interrupted, as is per usual, but with a twist this time.
He slowed until he was right next to the, uh, brooding, younger teen. “There are some rules that I must demand that you follow when we get to Kariudo. Listen closely; there are some damned good reasons for these rules.”
Sasuke blinked up at his new sensei, surprised at the sudden mood-change.
“First, don’t call me Nibiiro, that’s an alias and the other one I use here is Ryoushi.”
“’Hunter’? Isn’t that a little..?”
“Yeah, I know. But I employ myself as a bounty hunter and it doesn’t hurt to advertise that fact with my name. Second, do not ever make any reference, direct or oblique, to Byakko or to the fact that I’m Jinchuuriki. EVER!! Do you understand?”
“H-hai.” Sasuke confirmed, shocked now by the vehemence. “Why?”
“Jinchuuriki are nearly always created to be weapons of war.” The demon host replied bitterly, clearly remembering something harsh. “Because of that, they are hated even above Blood Limit Lines. That brings me to three; do not, under any circumstances, use Sharingan! That is an order!”
“What?!?!?” Sasuke was shocked beyond words. Not use the thing that made him strong and gave him a definite edge? Not use his pride and joy that made him special and sought after? Was this man insane?
“I am dead serious here.” Nibiiro replied, pausing and turning to look Sasuke dead in the eye. “There are only two full-blooded Uchiha left and they are both Missing-Nin. Use Sharingan and everyone will know who you are and will start hunting you. Konoha is an excellent client and the reward that is undoubtedly out for you will be substantial. And let’s not forget about Sound.” Sasuke flinched, “But even if they don’t recognize the Uchiha trait, you’ll be pegged as a Bloodline and that is hated.”
“But-“ Sasuke asked, currently not caring if he sounded childish, “why?” He couldn’t understand, the offspring of Bloodlines were respected and honored back in Konoha. If you were Bloodline, you were guaranteed reverence. This… what Nibiiro was saying… it didn’t make sense…
“Because of two things: one, Bloodlines are used as weapons just as readily as Jinchuuriki and thus are feared greatly. Two, if a Bloodline isn’t a deadly weapon; it’s a noble house, which is just as bad among commoners. The older and more powerful the house, the darker and uglier its secrets.” Sasuke glared skeptically at the last, “Oh yes, even Uchiha.”
“What about Uchiha?” An angry, adult female voice asked from behind the two males.
“Ah! Akari-chan!” Nibiiro said while he whirled to face her, oh so discreetly standing between the woman and Sasuke. She was a head shorter than the super-tall Nibiiro, with deep black long hair tied back in a no-nonsense braid. Her face was handsome with strong features and her eyes were a deep brown. Dressed with a mind to practicality, and with two short swords strapped to her waist with scabbards showing clear signs of wear, she was obviously a warrior. But that’s not what caught Sasuke’s undivided attention.
There was one, and only one, trait that all Advanced Blood Limit lines had in common; if you were in close proximity of close kin, you knew it. You knew the person was kin, and even who that person was in relation to you. The nearer the kin was in relation and physical proximity, the more accurate the reading. Every ounce of Sasuke’s being was screaming the fact that he was in close proximity to his aunt.
And that was impossible; all Uchiha had black or dark charcoal-grey eyes. And all Uchiha were dead, save himself and his evil, will-die-by-my-hand brother. But the adults were still talking.
“Don’t you ‘chan’ me! You are never nice to me unless you want something. What is it?” Akari snarled.
“Aw, c’mon, I’m always nice to you, aren’t I?” Nibiiro gushed, “And I haven’t seen you in years! Can’t we set aside the bickering and be friendly, just to set off the Apocalypse?”
“No.” She dead-panned, “I don’t do ‘nice’.” She narrowed her eyes, “And what was it you were just saying about the Uchiha clan?” She hissed the name like it was the worst epithet, making Sasuke twitch with suppressed auto-defense response. He trusted Nibiiro enough by now to guess that if the larger man was shielding the younger from view, there was a reason. He decided to stay quiet to try and find out what it was.
“Hmmm? Oh I was just explaining to my apprentice the realities of the world. No big deal.” He blew off the question.
“Oh, using that scum-ridden cesspit of a clan as an example? Good idea.” She shifted her position slightly, the grey-eyed shinobi shifting with her, and Sasuke seething with the need to kill to defend his clan name. “But since when did you take apprentices? I thought you were the true, blue loner type.”
“Seeing yourself in others again, are we? But, c’mon, you know that not everyone in that clan is bad, admit it!”
“Yeah, one of them had the decency to wipe out the rest of the shit-eaters.” The evil woman sniggered. Too much was too much; Sasuke lunged; only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder as Nibiiro kept him from killing.
The youth glared hatefully up at the middle aged woman, jaw set in snarl of rage. The woman glared right back.
“Hello nephew.” She drawled.
“Hi.” Sasuke growled back, slowly starting to regret his hasty action. He hadn’t spent over a year in close company with Sakura without learning that an irate female was the deadliest and most terrifying creature on Earth. And the woman was a strong and seasoned fighter, even more dangerous. “Why do you hate Uchiha?” He asked as Nibiiro let go of his shoulder and started shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“First you answer me this:” She responded. “Who was your grandfather?”
Sasuke blinked; why is this important? “Well, uh, on my father’s side my grandfather was Uchiha Sousuke, I was named for him,” (author taking creative license, pay no mind) he grimaced, bad enough that he’d been the neglected spare to his brother’s heir, but his parents hadn’t even bothered to give him a more individual name.
“I see.” The woman Akari replied mildly, drawing one of her swords. “DIE!!! Die you mother-fucking demon spawned- Get out of my way you damned cat!”
“No!” Nibiiro yelled, grappling her sword arm and pinning her free arm to her side, “It’s not his fault!!! You can’t kill him!!”
“He’s the descendant of the freak that dared sire me!! He has to die!! All spawn of that mother-fucking, pedophilic creep has to die!!” She shrieked, trying to slice down into Nibiiro’s arm with her sword.
Sasuke in the mean time was prudently hiding up a nearby tree, trying to figure out what the hell was going on and where precisely he had erred.
~*~*~
“So, my evil grandfather sired you when he was in his sixties? Ew…” Sasuke remarked, lowering the onigiri he’d been about to bite into. The three had decided to stop for a snack while Akari explained herself to a mildly traumatized Sasuke.The shinobi were reclining in the shade of a large tree at the side of the road, Nibiiro passively sitting between the Amazon and the youth. The Jinchuuriki didn’t look up from his lunch, but grimaced in equal disgust. He knew a little of Akari’s background, but some of this information was new even to him. Akari scowled and continued her story.
“Yeah, he was, and not only that, Kaa-san was nineteen at the time.” She growled. Nibiiro set his onigiri rice ball down as well to stare in horror at his former partner. Sasuke blinked at her, as if he couldn’t process this little facet.
“And it gets better,” She chirped evilly, “When the old bastard found out that Kaa-san was pregnant, he had her kicked out of Konoha so that he could save face, and the rest of the clan that knew about it helped him!”
“But-!” Sasuke protested, then decided to rephrase he protest so that he was less likely to be sliced in half, “Forgive me, but if you weren’t born yet, how could you know this for certain? Given the genuinely terrible situation, your Okaa-sama was unlikely to be charitable.”
Akari growled hatefully.
“Akari-chan, admit it, he has a point.” Nibiiro said warningly, biting into his onigiri. The Amazon humphed, but let it slide, for now.
“I figured Kaa-san wouldn’t be nice to the Uchiha’s either, so I went to Konoha myself when I was ten, thinking I could claim some training from them.” She elaborated, glaring at some invisible point over Sasuke’s head with twisted expression of virulent hate. “Heh, some welcome I got. I nearly got killed for ‘putting on airs’ and ‘making specious claims on something I had no right to’. So, no, Kaa-san wasn’t exaggerating, she was telling the whole truth.”
Sasuke stared down at the rice in his hands as if he had never seen such a thing before in his life. It was hard, terribly hard, for him to set aside the soft-edged childish image of his clan, even in the face of what his head was telling him was the truth.
Nibiiro had warned him just before Akari had appeared the Blood Limit clans sometimes had dark secrets. It seemed only too convenient that Akari should appear to enforce that warning. Yet he couldn’t set it, and her, aside even though his emotional side was screaming that everything that had been said was a lie.
It wasn’t a lie, and his head knew it. She was his aunt; that was pure fact. Yet he had never heard of her before, and he had known his third and even fourth cousins very well. Which created another point in her favor; if she had been acknowledged Uchiha, he would have known of her at the very least.
“I believe you.” He admitted softly, “There is no reason now for you to lie about this, I believe that you are telling the truth as you know of it.”
“Humph.” She said, picking up her swords to belt back on, “I’m off.”
“Where to?” Nibiiro asked neutrally.
“Kariudo. Need a bounty.”
“Ah, same here.” Nibiiro grinned at her flinch, “Care to travel with us to the city at least?”
“Humph,” She said, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently while she waited for the two males. Nibiiro grinned and stuffed the rest of the rice ball in his mouth hastily. Sasuke made a face at this and forced himself to finish his just as hastily, but with more manners. He wanted to make something of good impression for his aunt.
It was a failed effort though; try as he might to make the least bond with her, she shot him down with harsh insults and a cold attitude. He let it slide however, this was his aunt after all, she was of his blood, of his clan. Even though he’d known her for a whole, oh, three hours, he’d do whatever it took to gain her acknowledgement. Whatever it took.
~*~*~
The nearer the small group got to Kariudo, the more the elements caused them pain. Ah, yes. Now I remember why I hated this place; Nibiiro thought as his legs started to throb slightly. He sighed and bore it, there was nothing he could do about the pain, and the trade-off was usually worth it. Besides, only he was going to be in any great pain; for Sasuke and Akari, it was probably just going to be a light ache.“What is this?” Sasuke said, pain lacing his tone. “Why does it hurt?” Nibiiro turned to look closely at his apprentice. There was an ache-crease between Sasuke’s brows and the cast of his features declared that he was hurting, not badly, but hurting none the less. He must have more power than I initially thought.
“Figure it out yourself, fool.” Akari barked, stomping on. Sasuke looked at her sadly, while Nibiiro glared at her. Her body language declared that she was uncomfortable, but not in any considerable pain. But then again, she’d built up a resistance to the effect, since she came to this place often.
“Take off your glove and touch the ground.” Nibiiro instructed. Sasuke complied, briefly brushing the ground with his fingers before jerking his hand back with a hiss. “It’s Cold Iron.”
“The Death Metal?” Sasuke was clearly surprised.
“No, the Life Metal.” Guess who that was. Nibiiro bared his teeth at her and she subsided reluctantly.
“They mine the ore in the mountains over there and the sand in the surrounding area is heavy with the metal. It makes it painful for shinobi like us to be here, since it reacts with our high chakra levels, but it also makes it one of the most neutral places in the world.” Nibiiro explained. The three continued towards the city proper.
“How’s that?” Sasuke asked, openly curious. Akari opened her mouth to snipe at the youth, then snapped it shut as she caught the Jinchuuriki’s angry glare.
“It’s because you can’t use chakra here, and the villagers are primarily miners, so they’re tough.” The older teen noticed Sasuke’s head-cock, “The villagers insist that peace be kept, and they enforce that strictly. Since a shinobi’s strength is based mainly in jutsus, which we can’t use here, a fight with them is usually lost.”
“I see.” Sasuke said. Nibiiro nodded and continued.
“That’s why the main bounty hunter office is there. Most bounty hunters don’t like each other, the whole rivalry thing is strong among our kind. So in a place like this, where fights are controlled by the locals, the offices see more traffic since hunters know that if their worst enemies walks by, they’d better smile and keep walking, or else.”
“Huh.”
“Which means, my dear young apprentice-“ Sasuke glared, “that if you encounter Itachi, you had better just keep walking and pay him no mind or else the villagers will mind for you. Do you understand?”
Sasuke grit his teeth angrily, but nodded, “Yes, I understand.” He growled under his breath, “Besides, the way things are right now, I’m weaker than I was before I went to Orochimaru, and I don’t doubt that he’s gotten stronger. I was no match for him before; he’d destroy me with even less effort now.”
Nibiiro looked at the youth proudly, he knew how much such a confession had cost him in terms of pride. Sasuke caught that look, and glanced down, flushing slightly in confusion. He felt his hair get ruffled affectionately and bristled a bit. Akari glared at the display, hunched her shoulders and grumbled about male bonding and how it shouldn’t happen in public.
“And here’s the city, home sweet home for the next week!” Nibiiro declared as they reached the crest of a small hill that slightly overlooked the city.
“Week? The next week?!” the dark-haired youth barked in dismay, “We’re staying here for a week?!”
“Or more, depending on how quickly we get a job.” Nibiiro commented idly, not noticing Akari’s evil grin at Sasuke’s discomfort. “A lot of the jobs available here are local, villagers taking advantage of the office here, kinda like in a Hidden Village. So we may stay here as long as a month or more.”
Sasuke whimpered. He clearly wasn’t relishing the idea of living in such a painful place, there was clearly more on his mind than just that.
“I know that you won’t be able to practice ninjutsu or genjutsu here, but you can definitely brush up on your taijutsu and maybe start practicing with one particular weapon.” Sasuke looked over at him, “Just because they mine Cold Iron here, doesn’t mean that everything’s made from it. They sell some very fine conventional steel weapons in the market. Plus, silk wrapped hilts negates the Cold Iron, if you want to try out a blade made from it.”
Sasuke’s expression went thoughtful at that.
“Well, if you two boys are going to stand there staring all day, I’m going to head in and get myself a room. Ja.” Akari said, heading off.
“Ja.” The grey-eyed Nin returned, then gestured for his apprentice to follow.
~*~*~
The only other times in his life that Sasuke had been in such continuous pain, low level as it was, was first when he’d had a bad fever when he was seven, right after his clan’s death, and when he’d had the Curse seal unbound just after the second Chuunin exam trial. Bad place to visit and I’ll be damned if I’d live here; he thought as he and Nibi- er Ryoushi, entered a semi-decent inn to bargain for room.The thought of leaving to travel on his own crossed his mind again, as it had earlier when Nibiiro said how long he planned on stay. But he dismissed the idea, he needed guidance and tutoring at the moment, and his self-proclaimed sensei was freely offering both.
Refining his taijutsu was a good idea, as was the idea of obtaining a weapon he could specialize in. Training his body would increase his stamina, which would increase his chakra reserves. Not using chakra for an extended period, like say, a month, could refill those reserves; something he was in desperate need of.
The fever he had suffered from when Nibiiro had rescued him had depleted him down to nothing. The escape from Akastsuki had drained him of most of what he’d recovered, and the removal of the second third of the Seal earlier had nearly put him back where he had started.
In other words, an Academy reject could pummel me right now in terms of stamina and reserves; Sasuke grimaced. He watched as his sensei bargained with the Innkeeper for a room. Then listened in concern. Then frowned in mild dismay. This guy is supposed to be my sensei and he can’t even haggle properly! Just as Nibiiro was going to seal the bargain, with the Innkeeper gloating blatantly, Sasuke stepped in and skillfully dropped the price by another third, much to the Innkeeper’s dismay
“Why did you-?” The older teen stammered as his ‘student’ drug him off to the general vicinity of their room after grabbing the keys.
“You. Can’t. Bargain.” Sasuke stated clearly, “You were letting yourself get cheated with some of the most obvious of tricks! I can’t just stand by and let you waste the money I’m going to have to rely on until I can get some of my own!”
The Jinchuuriki chuckled sheepishly, “I suppose that’s true. But was I really that bad?” Sasuke looked him straight in the eye.
“No; you were worse.” He turned and unlooked the room that the two were going to be living in for the next week at least, month at most; while behind him Nibiiro sulked in his Cloud o’ Gloom ™.
There is one thing that’s important to keep in mind when you think about Sasuke; he enjoys acting like there is absolutely nothing wrong with him. He will act as if he is completely uninjured even if one of his limbs is only hanging on by a thread. Currently, he was acting as if everything that had been done to him at Sound hadn’t affected him at all. This was not true; he had escaped, but not unscathed. He was currently burdened with a load of phobias.
Small tight spaces made him twitchy, being in a crowd made him break out in a nervous sweat. If he stayed in either space for prolonged periods, his anxiety would work up into a screaming fit. It got worse; snakes, which he had previously only noted to see if it was dangerous or not, made him freeze in pure animal panic.
The current phobia that he was facing was the worst of all, and one that hadn’t made itself an issue before. He was about to enter a hotel room that had only one large bed, one small door and one tiny window with an adult male that was considerably stronger than him and he was expected to share that bed for the night with said stronger male.
As Nibiiro brushed past him to put their few things away, images from Sasuke’s time at Sound in Orochimaru’s company flooded the youth’s mind. Nibiiro was speaking, but Sasuke couldn’t hear him. All he heard was his own pulse and the echo of an evil voice. He wasn’t seeing his new sensei anymore, and he wasn’t in a safe, peaceful village miles from anyplace he’d been before; he was seeing his old master and he was in the heart of Sound, standing in the doorway of that special little room reserved just for him…
~*~*~
Okay, so I can’t haggle; Nibiiro sulked childishly; is it my fault I never had anyone to teach me? The young adult shook off his mock-gloom with a smile; well, I can just ask Sasuke to show me how it’s done in repayment for the lessons I’m going to give him later on. That’s the way Nibiiro preferred things, an exchange of information rather than one holding his superiority over the other.He walked past his apprentice, who was briefly going to be his master in one art at least, and entered the room. Seeing the interior, he sighed in mild vexation.
“Sorry Sasuke, looks like we’re going to have to share the bed.” It was standard practice in small-area inns for there to be only one large bed per room. They were lucky that they got the bed and the room to themselves; Nibiiro had at times shared a similar sized bed with five other complete strangers. Sharing the space with one other person with whom he was familiar was going to be a welcomed change.
“After we get settled in, we’ll head out. I have some items that I can bargain off, and you can show me how it’s done properly! Then we can go to the bounty office and- Sasuke?” Nibiiro glanced up, surprised that his companion hadn’t made his ‘I’m listening’ noises or at least prowled the room or expressed his disapproval at the sleeping arrangements. “Sasuke?” He asked again in growing alarm. The youth’s face was awfully pale, and his breathing was harsh and his smell- SHIT!
“Sasuke! Snap out it!” The kid was about to go into a full blown panic attack! Nibiiro would never confuse that particular smell with any other. The Jinchuuriki rushed over to the youth to try and ground him back into the real world, but Sasuke responded poorly to that, jerking back and trying to run. Nibiiro was faster.
Damn, this is just like when Ashante- shit! Nibiiro grabbed Sasuke and pinned the kid against him, back flush to the adult’s front. One arm was wrapped over Sasuke’s chest, pinning his arms down. The other hand was pressed over the youth’s mouth, preventing him from screaming.
This position would have been bad, had Sasuke been able to think and use his free hands to make seals. But right now, all his thoughts were consumed with fear. He didn’t have the ability to even think about using his jutsus, or going for his weapons. He didn’t even have the ability to think about ducking down and out of Nibiiro’s grip.
“It’s okay, you’re okay, I won’ t hurt you, you’re okay.” Nibiiro murmured over and over softly to the blindly struggling youth, child in his arms.
This was the only way that he knew to help someone already in a panic attack; limit their oxygen and wait it out. His large hand over Sasuke’s mouth kept the youth from gasping in needed air and also partly blocked his nose. The Uchiha’s blind thrashing was burning more air than he could take in; sooner or later he’d exhaust himself and the fatigue would help him come back to himself.
“It’s okay, you’re okay, it’s alright Sasuke, I’m here and I won’t hurt you, it’s okay, you’re safe…”
Slowly, painfully slowly, Sasuke stopped struggling so hard, then stopped struggling altogether. His hands had a death grip on the arm that was wrapped around him. Nibiiro could feel the youth’s rapid pulse, his fearful trembling. The child was gasping like a cornered animal, and in some senses, he was a cornered animal. Still Nibiiro didn’t let him go, simply kept murmuring reassuringly and rocking slightly from side to side, waiting.
“It’s okay, you’re okay, I have you and I won’t hurt you, you’re safe, Sasuke, you’re safe.” A hand reached up and tugged lightly at the one clasped over Sasuke’s mouth. Nibiiro looked down into the frightened, tear-filled eyes turned up at him. Frightened and shamed, with a great deal of sanity back in them. “Ah, you’re back.” He said gently.
Sasuke nodded, dropping his eyes again in humiliation. Nibiiro dropped his arms to wrap them loosely around the youth’s waist, still holding him gently. The former Konoha shinobi didn’t try and break away.
“Do you want to talk about it?” A firm head shake greeted that offer.
“It usually helps to talk you know.” Another head shake. The older teen sighed.
“Can I at least ask what it was that set you off, so that I can avoid this happening again?” A choked noise, akin to a stifled sob, answered that. Nibiiro looked down at the youth; he was entering the second stage of an attack. First there was the blind fear, then there was broken reaction. The grey-eyed shinobi gently steered Sasuke over to the wall and sat down, pulling the youth to sit down beside him.
At first, Sasuke didn’t want to be comforted. But under his sensei’s insistence, he allowed Nibiiro to hold him and rock him gently. For the very first time in his life, Sasuke cried himself out while being held and comforted by another. He hadn’t realized before how much that helped. Now to make him hate me, but the kid has to talk about it, and there might not be such an opportunity again.
“He hurt you, didn’t he?” Nibiiro murmured making the youth stiffen, “Orochimaru did more than put that Curse Seal on you, didn’t he?”
Sasuke tried to pull away, but his sensei held fast. “It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault.” Nibiiro said, “It’s not your fault what happened.”
“How can you say that!?” Sasuke screamed, “You weren’t there! How can you say that!?” The older teen caught his face and turned it up so they stared at each other.
“I know you, I know Orochimaru and I know about this kind of thing. I know that you wouldn’t ask to be raped, Sasuke. But I know that that pedophile wouldn’t care how much you fought against him, he’d get his way whatever it took. And that’s not your fault.”
Sasuke let out a chocked noise, then buried his face against Nibiiro’s shoulder. It was another first for him; he had never given into hysterical tears before. He had always been afraid of ridicule. But Nibiiro said nothing more, simply held onto his apprentice and comforted him, gently rubbing the boy’s back. This is going to be one long night.
~*~*~
A.S.: #peeks over sandbag barricade# Umm… hi again. #ducks sudden barrage of rotten fruit, feces and sporks# Wait!!! Stop!!! I surrender! I surrender! It’s not my fault!!Sasuke: So what’s your excuse this time?
A.S.: Uhhhh, the devil made me do it? #more nasty fruit, feces and sporks# Okay! Okay! Not true! It was work and family and, uh, studying! Yeah, I was studying!
Nibiiro: #holds up newly enlarged list of favorite fics# This doesn’t look like studying to me!
A.S.: Yes it is! It’s studying for me to be a better author, I swear! I was checking to see what works best and to get new inspiration! That’s were Akari came from!
Sasuke: Is that true Obaa-chan?
#SMACK!#
Akari: Don’t you use such a familiar tone with me! And no it’s not true! There’s not a single Uchiha aunt in any of those fics! I blame alcohol!
A.S.: But I don’t drink! I hate the stuff!
Nibiiro: Temporary insanity then.
A.S.: Well, er, ah…. Anyway, this is the fifth chapter, and the sixth should come out sooner, I hope. But don’t worry overly much if it doesn’t. I DO NOT abandon fics, it’s wrong to leave the readers hanging like that! If something comes up that forces me to abandon anything, I will find the time needed to put a DISCONTINUED down, so that you know. If that happens, I give you my blessing for any so inclined to pick up where I left off so that the story is finished in some manner at least. But I’m describing worst case, I’m-going-to-die-in-a-month type scenario. At the current moment, that’s not going to happen; I will keep writing. Anywho, ja for now and check out my other fics! They all need the love!
Sasuke: Look who’s self advertising.
A.S.: Silence you! I’m entitled!