(Naruto) The curse
Dedication: This story is dedicated to my odd cleaning habits. I wake up at midnight to clean up my room. This explains my lack of sleep.
The Curse
Sometimes, no matter how much you run…
****
Sai suddenly looked up at the calendar hung on the wall. As he looked down the dusty calendar for today’s date, his eyes widened slightly and he turned slightly pale. Hiding his change in appearance with his fake smile, he turned around to find out where his three other housemates, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto, were.
They had finally rescued Sasuke about a year ago. How? After searching for him, they finally found him in the middle of a forest. They chased him down, fighting him, until it finally ended up with them forcibly dragging him home. On their way back to Konoha, he tried to escape, and in an effort to get home without any problems, Naruto threatened to break Sasuke’s arms permanently if he didn’t stay still. When that didn’t work, Sakura threatened to get rid of his Sharingan. That immediately made Sasuke stop struggling and they managed to get home in peace. Then, after he became a Konoha shinobi, they became a team again. And to become a better team, the four teammates started to live together.
Or…at least, the three boys did. Sakura used to, but after catching Naruto reading one of Kakashi’s books, Sakura screamed, beat the boy up, and then immediately moved out, only to move in to the apartment next door. However, it was like she never left, as she continuously came back and visited them.
After looking around the apartment, Sai stepped into the living room and found Sakura and Naruto talking (Sakura called it discussing, Naruto (secretly) whined that it is more like her yelling at him and him meekly agreeing before getting hit). Walking toward them, Sai tried to wait for the girl to finish speaking.
“Sakura, Naruto,” Sai said, interrupting Sakura’s rant about how Naruto should be more careful. There was a moment of silence, as the two turned around to face Sai, shocked expressions on their faces.
Time stopped…
3 …
2 …
1 …
“SAI-TEME IS BROKEN!!!!” Naruto yelled, jumping back and landing on the couch. A look of horror was on his face, as Sai didn’t use his nicknames for once.
Glaring at Naruto for dirtying the couch, she placed her hand on the black-haired boy’s forehead and checked his vitals. “He seems healthy…” her voice trialed off as she quickly pulled out a kunai. “He must be an enemy.”
Sighing internally, Sai quickly replied before they could attack him. “Hag, this is important,” Sai then looked around, ignoring his teammates’ sigh of relief, and thought, “Good, he’s not here.”
Then, he continued with what he was saying. “It is that time.”
“What ti…Oh…That time,” Sakura said, understanding what Sai was talking about. Her eyes widened, and then she shook slightly. “A-Are you sure?”
“What TIME, Sakura-chan?” Naruto blurted out, jumping in front of Sakura. He hated being ignored, and that Sai-teme was stealing her attention. Something no one should do but him, the amazing Naruto, Sakura’s future love!
“Yes, I know for sure,” Sai replied, ignoring the blonde boy’s outburst. Naruto started to bounce around the room, trying to get Sakura’s attention. How could they ignore him, have a conversation without him, the future Hokage?
“…I guess we should try to…OUCH!!!” Sakura yelped, before turning her head around. Seeing the blonde boy standing beside her with an apologetic smile and terror in his eyes, she gave him a death glare. Cracking her knuckles slowly, she quietly asked, “Naruto, what do you think you were doing?”
Naruto trembled for a second (for Sakura was being quiet, which meant that she was planning to murder someone, preferably him), before stuttering out, “I-I was trying to hit Sai-teme for ignoring me and he…he…MOVED!! He MOVED and let YOU get HIT!!”
Sakura put on her gloves, fisting her hands.
“Did I mention that you look beautiful today?” Naruto quickly said, hoping that she would feel happy after being complemented.
Sakura twitched.
Seeing how it didn’t work, Naruto tried again to cool down her agitation, “Not that you don’t look beautiful everyday!! Today you just look even more beautiful!”
Sakura twitched again.
“I’ll treat you to ramen! And I will pay back everything I owe you!”
Naruto wondered if it was possible for someone to twitch so much without breaking.
“…and fix everything I broke?” Silence, “PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!!! I’M TOO INNOCENT AND STRONG AND HANDSOME AND GOOD TO DIE YET!”
Sakura grinned maliciously (if Naruto was scared before, it was nothing compared to what he felt right now). “You’re going DOWN!!” she growled, before bonking him on the head with her fists. Then, before he could blink, she punched him on his cheek. CRASH! Naruto flew into the wall; hitting a shelf and making everything fall down around him. The doomed boy dimly wondered, “Does she play bowling? She’s good,” before he felt Sakura run across to him and wrap her hands around his neck. “If I survive this, I am going to ask her for tips,” was his last coherent thought before Sakura proceeded to choke him.
Sai watched in amusement for a moment, before going back to the matter at hand. “Hag, as much as you want to show your affection,” Sakura paled at this and immediately let go of Naruto (who had been turning purple, and now silently whispered, “Thank you, Kami. I promise never to annoy Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme, or Sai-teme ever again.”). Sai ignored this and continued, “shouldn’t we first figure out what to do about it?”
“WHAT IS ‘IT’?” Naruto yelled, having regained his breath. He looked expectantly from Sai to Sakura, waiting for an answer.
Sakura looked at Naruto, and then sighed. Walking over to Naruto (who trembled again, remembering what she just did to him), the girl leaned forward and whispered into Naruto’s ears. As he listened, his eyes widened from shock, before he whispered (or at least, attempted to whisper) out, “N…N…N-no…It can’t be. YOU LIE!!!!” BONK! A fist hit his head again. “Sakura-chan…How could you…” tears were in the blue-eyed boy’s eyes, as he clutched his head.
Ignoring Naruto’s pain, Sakura started to discuss strategy with Sai (the only person currently with intelligent answers).
“Maybe if we finish the job before…”
“We already tried that,” Sai interjected.
“Or if we help during…” Sakura ignored Sai and continued talking.
“He just did it again,” Sai said, again cutting off Sakura.
“Or…” Sakura tried again to say something.
“Won’t work,” Sai continued.
“THINK OF SOMETHING YOURSELF THEN!” Sakura roared, tired of being shot down.
CREAK! The front door opened, and then silently closed shut. A pair of soft footsteps and light breathing was heard, the footsteps growing louder as the person got closer to the room that held the three frozen teammates.
As they turned their heads slowly towards the noise, their eyes widened as they realized who arrived. As soon as they were struck by the realization, the spell that froze them immediately broke, and time speed up again.
“TEME!! DON’T DO IT! PLEASE F…MRMPH!” Naruto yelled as soon as his best friend/rival walked into the room, only to be cut off by Sakura’s hands covering Naruto’s mouth. She stepped slightly in front of him, and grinned sheepishly.
Raising a fine eyebrow at his greeting, the new arrival’s obsidian eyes looked questionably at Sakura, expecting answers.
“Ano…Sasuke-kun, Naruto was just…hoping you wouldn’t….you wouldn’t…wouldn’t,” Sakura tried to think of an excuse for Naruto’s actions.
“Kill yourself,” an emotionless voice said.
“Yes, he didn’t want you to…WHAT?” Sakura yelled, looking at Sai with wide eyes. “If all things, why was that the first thing to come to your mind?” Sakura hissed at Sai, before smiling charmingly back at Sasuke and fixing her mistake. “I mean, Naruto was feeling paranoid, what with you,”
“Being emo and death-hungry,” Sai continued.
“Having trouble with your emotions,” Sakura continued, acting like Sai didn’t say anything. She then turned around to face Naruto. Uncovering her hand from his mouth, she placed both gloved hands on Naruto’s shoulders and shook him slightly (to her slightly, to him it felt like an earthquake). “Right, Naruto?” she asked him, smiling a smile that promised unending pain if he disagreed or said something wrong.
Desperate to live another day, the blonde idiot quickly nodded his head. So fast that the other occupants of the room half-wondered why his head was still on.
“Hn,” Sasuke said, probably meaning, “That was the best you could come up with? Pathetic.”
“Right,” Sakura replied, wondering why she was replying to a unique, non-existent language that her teammates came up with. “As soon as I can, I am spending a day with intelligent, talkative people,” she thought to herself, before looking up at the clock. Noticing the time, she quickly continued, “It is dinnertime! Let’s eat!”
Naruto looked at her, and asked, “Did you cook again?”
Glaring at the boy again, she pushed Sasuke and dragged her other two teammates into the dining room. She then rushed off to the kitchen to grab the food that was prepared earlier. “Yes, I did cook,” she coldly said, placing the food on the table.
“Hag, you are not feeding me that poison.”
Sakura glared and was about to speak-
“Hn,” Sasuke added (meaning: I’m too proud to admit it, but I agree.)
She made a feral growl and turned around slowly, till she faced the wall. “You will eat it. And enjoy it,” she said as she touched the wall, making a crack. “Understand?” she asked in a sugary-sweet tone as she turned back around to face them. Naruto nodded his head quickly, and shoveled down the food. Sai and Sasuke, while they didn’t change expression, also started to eat. “She improved her cooking,” they thought, as the meal went without a single person changing color, kneeling over, or choking. Though, that might also have to do with the fact that they prayed to Kami, taken pain relievers, and had several sutras in the kitchen to ensure that only good karma entered the food.
At the table, Sakura and Naruto sat near each other, so Naruto quietly whispered to her, “So…Sakura-chan, we HAVE to stop teme!”
“How?” she whispered back.
Thinking for a moment, his blue-eyes lit up. “I know!” Naruto yelled, an idea forming in his head.
Looking doubtfully at Naruto (he didn’t fail class for nothing), Sakura whispered back, “Sure, just don’t do anything….”
“TEME! Go AWAY for a FEW HOURS!”
“…stupid.”
“We WANT to have PEACE and …ITAI!!” Sakura had stomped on the babbling boy’s foot, effectively quieting him, and then smiled sweetly at the confused Sasuke, before whispering to Naruto, “BAKA! We are not trying to remind him.”
Looking at his teammates carefully, Sasuke slowly put down his chopsticks. “Hn. We should go to bed; we have a mission tomorrow. Since we need to discuss what we are doing, Sakura, you will sleep in your old room,” Sasuke ordered, getting up and putting away his plate. He left no room for argument from the angry and shocked cherry blossom as he then left the table and went to bed.
“NOOO! WHY DID HE TRAP ME HERE WITH YOU TWO?” Sakura howled, crying a river of tears. “..Maybe we’re safe, as we have a mission…” Sakura whispered hopefully.
******
Creak! Shooting up from her bed, the green-eyed girl looked around frantically, her eyes landing on her clock. “It is midnight…” she thought ominously. She then heard a thumping noise, and reached for the kunai under her pillow, before creeping out of her bed and to her door. Slowly opening her door, she peered around suspiciously only to find out that the doors to two other doors had opened as well. She stepped out into the hall, and then the thumping noise was heard again.
“It is a DEAD BODY being DRAGGED!!” Naruto whispered loudly, before noticing that Sasuke wasn’t in the hall. “It is the TEME’S body!” Hearing that, Sakura and Sai sighed and relaxed. They yawned and then slowly started to head down the stairs before they suddenly were stopped by a hand grabbing their arms. “Let’s LET the bad guy’s go away! It is only the TEME!” Naruto whispered, before he felt them shrug of his hands and continue to walk. “Fine,” he grumbled, before grudgingly following them.
As they headed down the stairs, they noticed that the lights were on, and this revealed several things. The first was that the furniture was in disarray. The second was that random clothes and boxes were strewn everywhere. And the noises grew larger and became not only thumps, but also groans, scraping noises, and the occasional sound of a ‘Swish’. Finally, they reached the noises and peered into the room to see what happened.
There, in the middle of the library, with all of the shelves moved to one side and all of the books on the floor, stood a spiky-haired boy. He methodically picked up books and put them back onto the shelves in a certain order, before turning around to the desk and taking out all of the papers. The trio watched, mouths open, as he then took out a cloth and started to wipe the desk clean. The boy, realizing he was no longer alone, turned around and gazed at them with onyx eyes. “Hn. Our house is dirty. I can’t sleep with in filth and dust,” Sasuke slowly explained, before going back to his job. Naruto’s eyes started to turn watery, while Sakura leaned against the wall and slid down. “We are NEVER going to get any sleep today,” they groaned together, before all three went and sat down on the couch.
It was common knowledge to all three of them that once a month, on the night of a full moon, (unlike werewolves transforming,) Sasuke would get the urge to clean the house. He would get up (at exactly midnight each time) and clean the ENTIRE house. No room was safe. No germ escaped. It is Sasuke’s war against bacteria. His epic, heroic war that he needed to fight. As nice as that was, for their apartment got cleaned, his housemates wished that he would do this battle during normal hours. Not at night, when people tried to sleep, but during the day, when people were awake. They tried to get him to stop once, by locking their rooms and letting him clean everything else. However, he used Chidori on Naruto’s door when Naruto refused to let his room get cleaned, and that ended their plan. They just gave up on sleeping during that night.
“I’m lucky I live next door. I can sleep. I’m safe,” Sakura whispered to her teammates, before getting up and leaving. She then waved goodbye and opened the front door. Walking straight across, she went to her place, and fished out the keys from her pocket. Slowly opening her door, she walked cheerfully into her room, confident that she would get some sleep.
“WHAT THE HECK?” Naruto and Sai heard Sakura’s screams as she discovered that her place was destroyed too. They then noticed that Sasuke poked his head out of the library. “I’m cleaning her place too. It shouldn’t be messy either,” he told them, before going back into the room.
It seemed that not even by moving out could Sakura escape the curse.
****
…you can never get away.