Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Vengeful ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Naruto collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily as he leaned against a tree. Beside him, his companion did the same. This wasn't going according to plan. After they had left Sakura's house, it was almost dawn, and there were several villagers moving about already. They had tried to stick to the shadows and avoid being sighted, but that failed as Naruto lost his balance and fell neatly onto a fish cart. The cart promptly gave way, leaving him covered in fish and half surrounded by shocked villagers. Apparently the killing at Iruka's house had been discovered, as angry villagers appeared with torches, pitchforks, large knives, and other tools that could cause serious harm. They had pointed their weapons aggressively towards the dazed blond, fear dancing in their eyes behind their anger. Sakura had quickly grabbed her friend, pulling him up and dragging him away as fast as possible.

Thus how they came to be chased miles across farmlands on foot, not being able to stop. The last time they had looked back, they could see horses in the distance, and the glint of sunlight flashing off the horses told them that the horses were armoured. Not only was the pair being chased by an angry mob, but also it seemed that the militia had decided to join in as well. Sakura sighed; as if it wasn't going to be tough enough, they were now wanted criminals.

Still panting heavily, Naruto turned to her, giving her a reassuring half smile. She smiled back softly, and closed her eyes as she leaned against him tiredly. Although she didn't want to admit it, she had been terrified when the villagers had arrived, worried that the demon could have taken over Naruto again. Even if the villagers were wrong about him, she thought, they were rightly fearful, and they didn't all deserve to die. Beside her, Naruto was thinking exactly the same thing, and shivered slightly.

Although they had barely spoken since they had left Iruka's home, the demon automatically became a taboo subject, neither wanting to speak about it. Sakura had many concerns and questions, but decided that Naruto wouldn't want talk about it after what had to be a very traumatic experience for him. Naruto himself kept his thoughts away from it, and occupied himself daydreaming about a good meal, particularly ramen. He hummed to himself contentedly, earning a strange look from his companion.

When they had caught their breath, they took off their packs and searched for something to eat. Sakura brought out a small loaf of bread, and was about to bite into it when she caught Naruto staring at her.

“What?” She asked, moving the bread away from him cautiously.

“Oh nothing.” He mumbled, eyeing the bread hungrily. She caught the look, and frowned at him, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

“You didn't bring anything to eat?” She asked, her voice a low growl. He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. She glared at him, the look promising forthcoming pain.

Just as she prepared to strangle him, shouts were heard in the distance behind them. Food problem instantly forgotten, they exchanged a worried glance, and quickly jumped up and donned their packs. Sakura looked up at the sun in the sky, hoping to judge which direction they should go in. Realising she didn't remember how to judge direction by the position of the sun, she cursed, grabbed Naruto's hand, and ran in the opposite direction of the shouts. Naruto watched her do this and laughed to himself as he followed her.

As they ran, he gripped her hand tightly; glad for the comfort it gave him. He realised, as she held her hand out to him after climbing over a fence, that despite what had happened, he still had a good reason to be happy. This thought made him smile, and he watched her struggling to keep pace admiringly. Yes, despite what happened, Sakura had stayed by his side, helped him through and supported him, as she had always done.

Then he frowned as another thought came to him. What would have happened to him if she hadn't been at the house with him? He shook his head to clear the thoughts, as the cruel and hostile eyes of the villagers flashed in his memory, haunting him.

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The first thing that Sasuke noticed as he woke, was that he was lying on something hard, uneven, and very uncomfortable. He groaned, forcing open his heavy eyes to look around. He was not too surprised to see that the hard object he was lying on was in fact the mattress of a bed in the inn room. Probably stuffed with wood, he decided, scowling at it. He looked up sharply at a snicker from across the room.

Kakashi was sitting cross-legged on another bed, fully clothed, his face buried in a worn book, but Sasuke knew from experience that the silver haired guard was watching him. Still scowling, he surveyed the room, seeing his other guard snoring soundly on a bed facing him, a bed that he remembered being much further away from his. He stifled a yawn, and his eyes fell on a table that held a tray of what he assumed was some sort of food. Stale food that had been thrown across a room, stamped on, and then placed carelessly on a tray to be put on the table. He glared at the tray of `food', cursing his growling stomach for its weakness.

Ignoring the amused look in Kakashi's eyes from over the book, he dragged himself out of the bed and approached the table warily. As he came close, another snicker came from the man on the bed, and he turned to glare angrily at him, wondering what was funny.

“With Ino in the room, you probably shouldn't walk around dressed like that.” The man informed the dark haired boy gleefully, his eyes still focused on his book. Sasuke looked down at his colourfully decorated underwear, before going slightly red and leaping back to his own bed. He shot a wary look at Ino's bed, and sighed in relief as he saw she was still sleeping peacefully. He gave Kakashi a dangerous glare, which the man shrugged off without moving his eyes from the book. Sasuke briefly wondered if there was an eye watching him through the headband, or the man just had a sixth sense.

After getting dressed and making a valiant attempt at eating some of the food, and failing, he stood at the window to look across the already bustling street, while Ino dressed herself and politely threw her portion of the meal into the bin. When they were finally set to go, Kakashi's book vanished as he made his way towards the door. Sasuke watched suspiciously, looking for some sign of the missing book, before following silently.

They trudged down the stairs wearily, not looking forward to facing the crowds of people outside. But as they neared the entrance hall, Kakashi suddenly froze, and held up his hand. The other two halted in confusion, and looked at him questioningly. He edged forward, nodding slightly towards the front desk. Around the desk stood a group of armoured men, speaking threateningly to the terrified woman. Sasuke felt slight sympathy, but quickly squashed it and looked worriedly over at Kakashi. The guard shook his head, and gestured back the way they had came.

He led them to the back of the inn, through the kitchen. There, they discovered that they would have probably been sick for weeks if they had eaten a good portion of their breakfast, but had no time to think on this as they hastily made their way towards the back door. Once they had exited, they found themselves in a small deserted alley, and they sighed in relief.

“Imperial Guard.” Sasuke stated, his voice slightly shaky. “How the hell did they find us?” Kakashi shook his head, also wondering this, and Sasuke groaned. Ino smiled at him slightly.

“Well a handsome guy like you isn't exactly common, maybe you stood out a bit, even under the hood.” Sasuke snorted slightly at the compliment in her words. Ino looked slightly hurt, but quickly hid it, and turned to Kakashi.

“Why do you two always look to me?” The man grumbled, shaking his head.

“Well you are an old man, you have more experience than us right?” Sasuke answered, smirking, and Ino giggled. Kakashi frowned under his mask, and looked indignantly at the two, before sighing and looking around to find his bearings.

“This way.” He said finally, nodding to their right. “This should lead to the edge of town. I know a way we can sneak past the gate guards.” They gave him a suspicious look, and he shrugged, eye curving up in a smile. “Old friends, you know?” Sasuke snorted again, and then nodded at him.

“Lead the way then, old man.”

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Three figures ran swiftly away from the large gates of the city, their pace not slowing as shouting erupted from the walls. One held a sword, and cleaned it with a cloth while running, mumbling between sharp intakes of breath. Another of the figures, face shadowed by a dark blue hood, scowled at him, cursing between his own heavy breathing.

“Kakashi I'm … going to kill … you … what ha … happened to old friends?” The silver haired man gave a sheepish chuckle, and shrugged helplessly at him. The other guard patted his shoulder while running, and gave the best smile she could while she was out of breath.

“Sasuke, it's not … his fault … not many will … go against the new … King.” He scowled at Ino, who quickly turned back to the horizon. It was true, he knew, that after what had happened loyalty was a very rare thing to come across. Although he wouldn't say it out loud, he was very grateful towards the two who accompanied him. They could have joined the ones who were attacking, and secured a good amount of money and land, not to mention a high position. However, they had known him since he was a child, and they refused to betray him, helping him to escape the castle as his bodyguards. They had risked their own lives to save him, and were prepared to follow him to wherever he wanted to go.

The amount of people who had stood in their way was impressive however; old friends, guards and even servants wanting the reward for stopping the prince. Once he had thought that being a prince meant being above everyone else, and better than them, deserving of loyalty. But as he had watched his only two supporters fight for his life, he realised that the only thing that swayed people was money, and power. After all that had happened, he was scared. He couldn't remember ever feeling as scared as he was in the present. Before he had always had something to support him. But now everything he knew, the foundations of his old life, his family - everything had fallen away like a curtain, leaving him alone in the centre of the stage … almost alone.

They arrived breathlessly at the bank of a river, and looked at it up and down, but seeing no bridge. Sasuke collapsed to his knees, too tired out to stand.

“We … stop … break …” He gave up on speaking, seeing that he got his message across to the other two, who also collapsed to the ground. Ino watched the flushed Sasuke as he began coughing sharply, and was even more concerned as the uncontrollable coughing continued for several minutes. She gave Kakashi a desperate look, but he shook his head. They both had known that although the prince had received combat and endurance training, he was nowhere near the level of herself and Kakashi. The chase had pushed them to the limit, and it was surprising that he'd made it this far without passing out.

After several minutes, they were breathing easier, but Sasuke was still panting, and coughing regularly. She could see the concerned look from Kakashi even with the mask covering his face, and she knew that Sasuke wouldn't be able to go any further. She silently prayed that they would be able to rest for at least a while.

Her prayer wasn't answered as an arrow flew past her head, embedding itself into the tree she was leaning against. Instantly, the two guards were flat on the ground, so they were less obvious targets, and they both dragged the coughing prince down to the ground as well. Surrounding the group were a large force of Imperial Guards, several of them equipped with long bows that were pointed in their direction. Ino quickly assessed the situation, and grimaced. They had fired a single warning arrow to notify the group of the circumstances, a gesture that she knew meant that they were expected to surrender. She wasn't surprised; even elite bodyguards like themselves couldn't fight against such overwhelming odds.

A quick glance at Kakashi and she knew immediately what he was thinking. He was eying the river and considering the strength of the current. She nodded to herself, and looked at the raging water uncertainly, but knew it was their only option. Sasuke would never allow himself to be captured, and would sooner die. In fact, the logical outcome of being captured would be execution, considering he was the only blood heir besides the one on the throne. Yes, she thought, looking at Sasuke sadly, his brother would certainly kill him.

A signal from Kakashi caught her eye, and nodded quickly at him, before they both gripped Sasuke's arms. They slowly stood up, holding up the barely conscious prince, and they raised one hand in surrender. The archers aiming towards them slowly lowered the bows, and the soldiers began to approach. The bodyguards moved slowly towards the edge of the river, which was unnoticed by the confidently advancing soldiers.

Kakashi lowered his hand, and nodded at Ino who did the same. The advancing soldiers paused in confusion, not having time to react before the group of three jumped backwards into the river. The archers hastily readied their bows, aiming at what they could see of the three figures that were being swept swiftly downstream. Streams of arrows flew towards them, but in vain as the swirling current pulled the targets out of reach.

The captain held up his hand as the archers prepared to fire again, and they looked at him in confusion. He gestured simply towards the direction the targets had travelled, and realisation came over the assembled force - the three were headed towards a waterfall.

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“Sakura, wake up!” Naruto said, shaking the pink haired girl softly. She shifted, and her eyes slowly fluttered open to meet Naruto's. “We have to get moving.” She groaned, sitting up and taking in her surroundings, before fixing him with an irritated look.

“We slept in a barn?” The blond nodded, grinning at her.

“You were exhausted when we got here, so you may not remember. There is an inn not far from here, but with people chasing us, it would be safer to stay away from public places.” He turned to search his pack for a water flask. A gasp from Sakura made him spin around. Her hands had rose to clutch her head, and her eyes were wide with horror.

“What is it?” He asked urgently, leaning forward.

“My ... my hair!” She whispered, her hand running through the chaotic pink hair that was decorated with hay.

“Your … hair?” He repeated. His look of concern was placed with a frown as her words sunk in. He sighed, and began to turn around again. Sakura suddenly grabbed his arm in an astonishingly tight grip, yanking him to face her, menacing emerald eyes meeting his.

“Naruto.” She said darkly. “I need a mirror. You will find one, and soon.” He gulped, and nodded fearfully. Satisfied, she smiled sweetly and let him go. He stumbled backwards, mumbling to himself about girls being insane.

They put on their packs, and headed towards the inn in the distance. When they came close, Naruto surveyed the surroundings again. Happy there were no hordes of angry villagers waiting to jump the pair, he motioned Sakura to follow him into the small building. Inside, it looked even smaller, the front door opening immediately into a dark room littered with tables and chairs that had definitely seen better days.

The few patrons stuffed into the room stared at the pair curiously as they made their way towards the counter. At the counter a scruffy-looking man eyed them suspiciously, particularly the whisker-like marks on Naruto's cheeks. He straightened as the newcomers approached and put on a cordial expression, bowing slightly to them.

“Hello, I was wondering,” she cleared her throat nervously, “do you have a mirror for sale?” The man raised his eyebrows in surprise, staring as if wondering whether she was being serious. Naruto noticed his hesitation, and pulled several large silver coins from his money pouch. This instantly caught the man's attention, his eyes brightening. Naruto smirked as he held them out towards the innkeeper. Before he had fled his guardian's house, he had found where Iruka kept his money. He had been surprised to find that the man had in fact been very well off. Naruto had always thought that the decent sized house was just family inheritance, considering the lack of expensive furniture or other possessions suggesting wealth.

“I will find one for you immediately, young lady.” The man said politely, eyes not leaving the coins, before hurrying into a back room. Sakura smiled gratefully at her friend, and he shrugged back, returning the smile. The innkeeper returned holding a small disc that was worn and covered in dust. Sakura eyed the object doubtfully, but then nodded at the man, who quickly handed it over. Naruto handed the money to the man, and was rewarded with a delighted grin and a deep bow. After thanking him, they made their way back outside, ignoring the curious stares from the patrons.

The innkeeper watched them go, still smiling. As they left, a masked figure dressed in black stepped out of the darkness in the corner of the room, and gave the innkeeper a nod before following. The innkeeper's smile faltered slightly at sight, but this was promptly forgotten when he turned back to the small pile of coins, counting them again gleefully.

 

“That was creepy!” Naruto exclaimed as they strolled down the path away from the inn, “Did you see the way they all stared? I was half expecting them to attack us or something!” Sakura, having retrieved a comb from her pack, ignored his rambling, fixing her hair and humming to herself contentedly.

Soon they heard running water in the distance, and Sakura brightened even more at the thought of a river.

“I'll finally be able to bathe!” she squealed delightedly. Naruto raised his eyebrows at her, not being particularly fond of getting wet. Though thinking about it, he realised he definitely needed to wash after the fleeing and sleeping in barns. He sighed in defeat, looking at the joyful girl next to him. A mischievous smile crept onto his face at the thought of bathing with her. Unfortunately for him, she caught it.

“Don't even think about it!” she yelled, smacking the back of his head.

“Ow! I wasn't, I wasn't!” he cried indignantly, but shrunk under her glare. “Besides how-“ He stopped mid-sentence, looking at the river that had came into sight. “Hey, look at that.” He pointed to the bank, where he could see something that had been washed up. Sakura followed his finger, and her eyes widened.

“Those are people! We should go see if they're okay.” He nodded, and followed his friend quickly. As they got closer, he could see that there were two figures not far from each other, both lying motionless. There were a few belongings scattered about, soaked with water. They reached the first body, hurriedly kneeling on the sand. Sakura turned him over, and let out a gasp. Naruto leaned forward curiously to get a better view.

The boy was limp and pale, his skin tinged with a slight blue. Dark hair sprawled across his face untidily, contrasting with the pale skin. He wore a luxurious dark blue cloak over a black jacket and formal trousers. Naruto stifled his own gasp, looking the boy up and down. He was -

“Wow, he's beautiful.” Sakura breathed. Naruto snapped his head up to look at her, her statement having voiced his exact thoughts. She put two fingers on his neck to check the pulse, and Naruto did the same for his wrist. He drew his hand away quickly when he found the pulse. The hand had been deathly cold. Sakura shot Naruto a worried glance, which he returned. They both looked at the boy again. Naruto studied him ponderingly.

“I wonder if he's single.” Sakura murmured, not noticing the horrified look from the blond. The fact that she was apparently able to read his mind was frightening him. He coughed nervously; hoping his next thoughts about the boy weren't read. Sakura looked up at him thoughtfully, and he paled slightly. But then she turned to look at the other body. He sighed in relief.

Sakura stood and made her way to the other figure, a blonde girl who was just as pale, and her face was bruised slightly. Naruto watched as she checked the pulse.

“She seems okay, but her breath is uneven.” She called to him, and he nodded back at her.

“We'll have to get them out of the wet clothes and into something warmer.” He called back. “I'll take the boy, you take the girl.” Sakura pouted slightly, but then sighed and turned back to the girl, not noticing the blond's triumphant look.

He removed the cloak, which was heavy with water, and slipped the jacket off tentatively. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. Despite being slender, the boy was amazing well built, a stark contrast to Naruto himself. He would have felt more jealous - was he not holding the half naked boy in his arms. He ran a hand absently down the defined chest, before catching himself, and stole a cautious glance at Sakura. A heavy article of clothing smashed into his face, and he yelped, falling back.

“Keep your eyes away from her Naruto, you pervert!” He rubbed his nose, cursing under his breath. He should have seen that one coming. Inhaling steadily, he began to slip off the boy's trousers.

Then he began laughing. He knew he was getting an odd look from Sakura, but didn't care, still staring at the boy's underwear incredulously. They were bright pink, decorated with red and white fans, making a peculiar and rather comical result. They certainly didn't fit in with the dark and formal clothing.

He caught his breath, and silently decided that he wouldn't comment if and when the boy woke. His own underwear wasn't exactly `ordinary'.

After the two were wrapped up in dry towels and clothes, Naruto made a fire as Sakura left to bathe. He had protested, of course, but decided not to follow her as very convincing promises of death were sent his way. He sighed, taking in the warmth of the fire and yawning. His eyes rested on the possessions of the two who were sleeping.

“That's odd,” he murmured to himself, stifling another yawn, “three packs but only two people.” He shrugged it off in his weariness, and then he grinned at the packs. If they were travelling also, he figured, they would be carrying food. He bounced excitedly over to the packs, his stomach growling with anticipation. After all, he thought happily, acts of selflessness and charity don't fill an empty stomach.