DREAMCATCHERS 2/7
SUMMARY What is real is not always true, what is true is not always real. In a world where there is no death, life comes at a price. Naruto is plagued with nightmares of a disremembered past, Sasuke must decide his fate, Obito has chosen to forget, and reality is just a matter of perception.
PAIRINGS [NARUTO] Sasuke/Naruto, general
RATING/WARNING PG-13 for profanity.
dreamcatchers
I woke up, I was stuck in a dream
You were there, you were tearing up everything
Set my body free, the silver tack is in the moonlight running
And the wind in the trees, singing "Do you believe?"
➳ Mikky Ekko, We Must Be Killers.
They return in the dawn hours, file their reports, and are sent home by noon. Winter is just ending and spring is overtaking the land, so the crisp chill to the endless blue sky makes for the perfect weather. It really felt like nothing could go wrong, if somewhere as peaceful as this place continued to exist.
"We won't be able to follow-up with this mission until next month." Sakura says, "But at least we know where it will be."
"In Konoha." Sasuke replies, stopping short on a tree branch. Naruto and Sakura stop a few ahead of him.
"I guess it really is our problem now." Naruto says, haunted by the memory of the serpentine man and his creepy M.O. "I have a hunch they're not just after money."
"I'm starting to think you might be right. They're dealing with something much more profitable than money." Sakura agrees. "We'll have to make the next market the last one."
They startle a rook of crows when they start moving again, sending hundreds of black birds chirping into the sunset.
The village is serene, as always. Naruto drops by with the team's report, handing it directly to his father.
"How did it go?" The Fourth smiles up at his son from where he's seated at the Hokage's desk.
"Easy as a breeze." Naruto chirps, rubbing the back of his head and grinning like a fool. His father doesn't go easy on him just because he's his son, so whenever Naruto returns with a good report, he can't help but be proud of himself. He knows his father will be pleased.
"Good to hear." says the Hokage. "Go say hello to your mother. She hasn't seen you in weeks, and you know how she gets."
"Sir." Naruto salutes, half in jest, and disappears from the office. Before that, though, he needs to pay his respects to the Kyuubi.
There are several shrines in Konoha alone to the deity; legend speaks that once the nine-tailed fox roamed the land freely, causing chaos and destruction in its path, until one brave and powerful monk told it the secret of life, which was, according to the legend, the truth in all things: love.
Cheesy as it was, Naruto has no reason to disrespect his ancestors or their beliefs. He jogs up the steps and stands before the stone statue of the Kyuubi, inarizushi and other offerings lying along the figure's base. Naruto rings the bell and claps his hands, saying a small prayer of thanks and throwing a few coins into the well beyond.
Is that really all you've got to give me?
"What?" Naruto stares down into the well. Nothing. He spins around. Still nothing.
Two coins? We share much more than that.
Naruto furrows his brows. "...Kyuubi?"
Kurama. corrects the nine-tails. Don't act so shocked.
"Er," Naruto's a bit freaked out. "I'm sorry I'm paying my respects so late. It's just--"
Shut up. Kurama cuts him off. And turn on your fucking brain. I don't have the energy to wake up. Too much of my chakra is being used to maintain this shitfest of a world.
Ouch. "Are you calling me an idiot? Cuz I'm not. And what's so wrong with peaceful times?"
Open your eyes, Naruto.
The presence dissipates then, and when Naruto questions the Kyuubi again, he gets no response.
"Talking to yourself?" That is a voice he recognizes.
"Sasuke." Naruto turns to see him several steps down the steep, forested hill leading up to the shrine, hands in pockets and looking expectantly up towards him. "What are you doing here?"
"It's the largest, most prominent shrine in Konoha." Sasuke replies. "Do I need a reason to take a stroll somewhere quiet and secluded?"
"Well, excuse me for disturbing you." Naruto responds dryly, plopping down onto one of the stone steps. "Say, have you ever..." he trails off, wondering if he should be voicing these thoughts out loud.
Sasuke hums noncommittally, waiting for him to continue.
"Have you ever felt like you were going crazy?" Naruto says, "I mean, I've been having these nightmares lately, but they feel so real, and in them, I'm controlling the Kyuubi--no, it's more like, I am the Kyuubi--"
"Are you trying to claim that you're a god, Naruto?" There's trenchant amusement in Sasuke's eyes. He tucks his hands into his long sleeves and joins Naruto on the step, sitting beside him and extracting his kiseru, packing tobacco into the bowl.
"I'm not saying that, but I'll take it as a compliment." Naruto grins.
"I've had a few strange dreams myself." Sasuke admits, flicking a match. "Instead of foxes, there are snakes. Every time, one of them hands me a sword and says, 'Uchiha, this was the path you chose. You cannot turn back.'"
"What do you think it means?"
"That's the reason I came here, actually." Sasuke exhales a plume of smoke. "The head priestess of this shrine is a dreamseer. She might be able to help you out, too."
It so turns out Sasuke has connections to the shrine. Rin is the name of the head priestess, Obito Uchiha is the name of her husband. Which makes her an Uchiha by marriage, as well.
"Sasuke, it's so nice to see you," Rin guides them into the tearoom, "I've been expecting you. But not you, Naruto. It's an honor to finally meet you." She smiles sagely at them, shuffling with her heavy, traditional kimono to her seat across from the low table. A miko brings them tea.
"Me?" Naruto points to himself. "An honor? Finally, somebody who recognizes my potential!"
Rin laughs. She's a plain woman, in her early thirties, but there is an ethereal beauty about her. She keeps her hair over one shoulder, and her brown eyes are full of arcane wisdom. "Are you here about a dream as well, Naruto?"
"This guy dragged me along." Naruto replies, jabbing a thumb at a choleric Sasuke.
Sasuke shakes his head, opening his mouth to deny the statement.
"Hush." Rin shushes him, "I already know why you're here. I have dreamt many things, because I've already fallen into eternal slumber. You haven't. You have time, but not much. Decisions will have to be made that will be painful. Many others will find eternal sleep. This is inevitable."
"Uhm," Naruto scratches at his nose. "Decode that for me please?"
Rin shakes her head, a smile playing at her lips. "You must decide for yourself." She nods towards Sasuke, "Now, your dream."
Sasuke leaves out no details--and the bitter animosity, the bloodstained blade, the deprecatory snakes, the spiral of self-hatred and remorse remind Naruto of his own nightmares, so vivid and realistic they feel like a part of himself--like a forgotten memory.
Rin remains focused on him, but her eyes are seeing something else. Perhaps they see the dream itself. "Serpents are a sign of malevolence, and they are also a sign of wisdom. That one has given you a double-edged sword insinuates a crossroads: a path of vengence and betrayal, or a path of honor and closure. This dream is a warning, Sasuke, to consider your choices carefully."
Sasuke does not like the sound of that one bit, by the sour look on his face. Naruto's not particularly happy about it either.
Rin turns her umbrine gaze onto him. "You paid a visit to the Kyuubi, and he paid a visit to you, didn't he?"
"How'd you know?" Naruto feels like an idiot as soon as the words have left his lips. She's the head priestess of this shrine; for all he knows, she can read his mind.
She just smiles at him, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "I know your dream. I have seen it many times."
"What does it mean?"
Rin closes her eyes. "There's no cheating, Naruto. You must remember on your own."
"Remember what?"
"A nascent dream, long disremembered."
Sasuke recognizes the poetic flow. One of the Uchiha's Lost Scrolls. He picks up on the first stanza, quoting: "I have walked the earth a man, only to wake up the world."
Rin nods along, "And the world knew nothing of the man."
Sasuke crosses his fingers before his face, expression distant, analytical. "But dreamt of dreams it could not have."
"Well done, Sasuke. I didn't know you had an interest in literature."
"Hey, what about me?" Naruto frowns from his cushion, pointing to himself. "Don't I get any help?"
Rin leans over towards him and ruffles his hair. "You don't need my help, Naruto. But I do have some advice for both of you." she adds, getting up to escort them to the entrance. "Reality is a matter of perception. What is real is not always true, what is true is not always real. Remember that, boys."
Left with laden words, Naruto and Sasuke bump into Obito, who had just returned from a mission of his own, as they are exiting the shrine. He's a cheerful bastard, the type that everyone loves because he loves everyone. Naruto watches how his face lights up when he sees Rin, and how hers is cast in a veil of sadness that is so painfully familiar it makes his chest ache.
Sasuke doesn't wait up for him, so Naruto jumps the steps three at a time in order to catch up.
"It's not so bad." Naruto tries to assuage him. "They're just dreams."
"They're not just dreams." Sasuke replies flatly. "Were you listening to anything Rin said?"
"I was listening." Naruto's tone grows more coarse. "A bad omen is a bad omen. It's not your fate, Sasuke."
"What do you know about fate?" Sasuke shoots back, feeling capricious. He's up for a fight. "Nothing has ever gone wrong for you."
Naruto's hands curl into fists, and he's not sure why that statement rings so false; he shouldn't be angry at the truth, so the words that leave his lips, and how convicted they sound, feel foreign to his tongue. "That is a lie. Take it back."
"Shove it up your ass, Naruto, and get lost. I'm not in the mood."
Of course, fighting words like that request the exact opposite from Naruto. "You fucking bastard!" he hisses, "You have no idea what I've been through to--"
"To what?" Sasuke eggs him on, one brow raised and a steady smirk on his face. "To feel equal? To be acknowledged?"
That's the final straw. Naruto lunges for Sasuke and they're tumbling down the last of the stone steps and into the dusty street before pushing away from each other and launching again, one fist thrown, dodged, returned, blocked, quick and practiced footwork--they're sparring, not fighting. That is, until Naruto lands a kick into Sasuke's gut that sends him flying across the street and into the grass ditch a few yards away.
Sasuke starts to laugh.
"What's so funny, asshole?"
"What the hell are we getting so worked up about?" Sasuke says, distracting Naruto, because next thing he knows, he's pinned against the fence with a kunai at his neck and two more tacking his sleeves into place. "I'm the only one who should be furious." Sasuke's sharingan spin ferally in his eyes.
Good question. Naruto would be wondering why himself had Sasuke not been so close. He can feel his breath on his face. The last time they had been this close was when a sword, not a kunai, was raised to his throat--
It's like remembering a fragment of an old dream. And it's gone just as quickly.
Naruto growls, determined not to be outdone so easily, swinging his legs up and forcing Sasuke back, ripping free from the kunai. "Because you're a fucking twat who doesn't know when he's gone too far."
That one seems to get to Sasuke. Hah, thinks Naruto. He's got some verbal ammo too.
They fight until well after sunset, down the line of the ditch on the street until it pans out into a large canal banking the left side of the village. They fight until they have exhausted their chakra, and are both lying spread-eagle in the dirt catching their breaths.
Rin's words still weigh on Sasuke's mind. Naruto doesn't need help, does he? Well then, Sasuke doesn't either. They have been equally matched for years.
Years and years whose memories feel so diluted and short, like time was twisting in and of itself and rewriting its own lines. Over and over.
A morbid sense of dread drenches Sasuke, colder than his own sweat, and his breath catches in his throat.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Naruto asks him.
"No." Sasuke replies easily.
"You don't even know what I'm thinking."
"That's the point, dumbass."
"Whatever." Naruto's too tired to argue. "I was thinking, my dad's about to excuse the older ANBU members. I'm pretty sure Itachi's one of them."
Sasuke frowns. "That has nothing to do with me."
"Sensitive spot?" Naruto rolls onto his side, grinning over at Sasuke with smarm. "It does. It means that Itachi is going to have a genin team soon. And it means we only have five more years before we'll be excused and stuck with kids too."
"By then, you'll be Hokage and I will refuse the excuse."
It's pretty much set in stone, and that should bother Sasuke, but for some reason it doesn't.
Naruto rolls back onto his back, propping his head with his arms and staring up at the watercolor sky. "I was hoping you'd say that. You're my right-hand man, dude."
Sasuke can't help himself. He smiles into his palm. "I'm left-handed, idiot."
They are given another ANBU rank mission after a two day break; two days, which for Naruto, had been full of recurring nightmares and visions of devastation and catastrophe. And in every one, the Kyuubi says, "Open your eyes, Naruto. Open your eyes."
Sasuke has been restless. He'd gotten little sleep since Rin's revelations, and the sleep he did manage had been light and dreamless.
He's in a dark mood when they congregate for the debriefing, and preoccupied, ignoring Sakura's voice of concern. He doesn't notice the tired bruises under Naruto's eyes, or the dulling glimmer to their pale blue.
Kakashi is as sharp as ever, though. "Can you three handle this?"
"Of course." Naruto says, slipping his foxen mask over his face. "I was born ready."
Sakura masks her face just before her grimace can be seen.
"Sasuke?" Kakashi looks at him, brows raised. "What's distracting you?"
"Nothing." Sasuke pulls his mask on as well, the face of a raven. "I'm not."
Kakashi shrugs. "That's everything then. You can thank Shikamaru for the intel."
If Sasuke could see behind the ANBU masks, he'd suspect Naruto's expression is just as suspicious as his.
"What the fuck is this?" Sasuke almost laughs, an incredulous, almost angered noise. Naruto's porcelain fox face stares blankly back at him, one arm guard cracked from a near miss with the creature.
"Did you hit your head?" Sakura shoots back, only mild concern laced in her tone. Her hands are locked in a seal, summoning strength before swinging into the battle.
They are not fighting people. Sasuke doesn't move, doesn't bother to attack. Naruto and Sakura dispose of them with little effort. The bells hanging from Sakura's boar-shaped mask tingle only when she lights the ground in front of Sasuke, tilting her head at him curiously.
"Seriously, you're weirding me out."
Naruto's silent, standing over the misting bodies of the deceased. They are rapidly decaying, Sasuke can smell their pungency from yards away. Naruto seems to soak it in--and that's when Sasuke notices. His sharingan swirl before he's even thinking. Naruto has two sources of chakra. Blue as the ocean, and red as hellfire. Seeing the two commingle, twisting together like old friends--Sasuke can't quite pinpoint how it makes him feel. Neurotic, almost. It makes his gut tighten. A bad premonition. But when he blinks, the ominous red chakra is gone, leaving only Naruto's untapped life-force coiling calmly about him.
"Naruto!" Sakura calls out to him. "What the hell is going on with you two?" she huffs.
Naruto always responds to Sakura, an easy poise overcoming him. "What's up?" he says, pulling his mask away from his face. Blue eyes below arched brows watch Sasuke expectantly, as if willing him to do the same.
Sasuke pushes his mask over his hair and steps past Naruto and Sakura, ignoring both of them, and stooping down to inspect whatever it was they had just killed.
Naruto comes to stand over where he's crouched. "They're called baku. Don't ask me why, I don't know."
"The hidden village of Dreams operate these things." Sakura kicks one of them over. "I don't even know if they're really alive to begin with. You didn't read your debrief, Sasuke? I'm shocked. This isn't the first time these things have shown up. And it's been happening more frequently lately."
"Yeah." Naruto's voice sounds foreboding. "Something's wrong."
The trek back to the village is spent in contemplative silence. Naruto's usually the one to keep up the banter, Sakura encouraging the conversation, while Sasuke remains silent and stoic because that's just how he is.
He doesn't need an excuse that something's wrong.
But something is wrong. He can feel it in his bones. He's felt it for a long time now, and he has a hunch that he's not the only one.
Naruto paces his cramped one-room apartment with a hand stroking his chin, deep in thought. On the floor before him, sitting amidst the green silk it had been wrapped in, is the small, ornate wish box Naruto had been swindled into purchasing. He hasn't even opened it yet.
He's not just going to jump into this one. If there were some kind of genjutsu inside, he'd be completely fucked. Death was no imminent threat, but an endless illusion almost sounded worse.
His window is wide open, inviting the fresh breeze. The moon hangs low in the sky, illuminating the trees and buildings surrounding his apartment.
Naruto had considered lighting candles, but that seemed too hocus pocus. So instead he finally comes to a stop in front of the box, collapses his legs into a pretzel, and stares down at it. Now or never.
Naruto opens the box, and inside, just like the woman had said, lies a tiny scroll. He fiddles in his knapsack for brush and ink and unravels the parchment, and he's back to square one.
A wish. His heart's innermost desire. Naruto frowns down at the box. Why a fox? Come to think of it, Naruto hadn't seen any other boxes with designs on them. This is all he had seen. His eyes had only been drawn to this ridiculous witchcraft.
That's it. He must have been tricked from the start.
"Fuck it!" Naruto exclaims, dipping his brush in ink and scribbling onto the scroll. He rolls it up without aplomb, lights it ablaze, and drops it into the lacquered box. Only once the parchment turns to ash does Naruto close the box, sealing its tiny lock.
Silence follows. Of course, Naruto thinks, there's no such thing as instant gratification. Of course, he doesn't see the seal on his stomach swirling into visibility, though his belly does feel a bit warm. Then his stomach grumbles. He's hungry.
Ah well. Naruto doesn't put a lot of stock into it anyway. He's always known what he's wanted. One wish might not sum it all up, or maybe it does perfectly.
That's what he's not so sure of.
previous | ♥
PAIRINGS [NARUTO] Sasuke/Naruto, general
RATING/WARNING PG-13 for profanity.
dreamcatchers
I woke up, I was stuck in a dream
You were there, you were tearing up everything
Set my body free, the silver tack is in the moonlight running
And the wind in the trees, singing "Do you believe?"
➳ Mikky Ekko, We Must Be Killers.
They return in the dawn hours, file their reports, and are sent home by noon. Winter is just ending and spring is overtaking the land, so the crisp chill to the endless blue sky makes for the perfect weather. It really felt like nothing could go wrong, if somewhere as peaceful as this place continued to exist.
"We won't be able to follow-up with this mission until next month." Sakura says, "But at least we know where it will be."
"In Konoha." Sasuke replies, stopping short on a tree branch. Naruto and Sakura stop a few ahead of him.
"I guess it really is our problem now." Naruto says, haunted by the memory of the serpentine man and his creepy M.O. "I have a hunch they're not just after money."
"I'm starting to think you might be right. They're dealing with something much more profitable than money." Sakura agrees. "We'll have to make the next market the last one."
They startle a rook of crows when they start moving again, sending hundreds of black birds chirping into the sunset.
The village is serene, as always. Naruto drops by with the team's report, handing it directly to his father.
"How did it go?" The Fourth smiles up at his son from where he's seated at the Hokage's desk.
"Easy as a breeze." Naruto chirps, rubbing the back of his head and grinning like a fool. His father doesn't go easy on him just because he's his son, so whenever Naruto returns with a good report, he can't help but be proud of himself. He knows his father will be pleased.
"Good to hear." says the Hokage. "Go say hello to your mother. She hasn't seen you in weeks, and you know how she gets."
"Sir." Naruto salutes, half in jest, and disappears from the office. Before that, though, he needs to pay his respects to the Kyuubi.
There are several shrines in Konoha alone to the deity; legend speaks that once the nine-tailed fox roamed the land freely, causing chaos and destruction in its path, until one brave and powerful monk told it the secret of life, which was, according to the legend, the truth in all things: love.
Cheesy as it was, Naruto has no reason to disrespect his ancestors or their beliefs. He jogs up the steps and stands before the stone statue of the Kyuubi, inarizushi and other offerings lying along the figure's base. Naruto rings the bell and claps his hands, saying a small prayer of thanks and throwing a few coins into the well beyond.
Is that really all you've got to give me?
"What?" Naruto stares down into the well. Nothing. He spins around. Still nothing.
Two coins? We share much more than that.
Naruto furrows his brows. "...Kyuubi?"
Kurama. corrects the nine-tails. Don't act so shocked.
"Er," Naruto's a bit freaked out. "I'm sorry I'm paying my respects so late. It's just--"
Shut up. Kurama cuts him off. And turn on your fucking brain. I don't have the energy to wake up. Too much of my chakra is being used to maintain this shitfest of a world.
Ouch. "Are you calling me an idiot? Cuz I'm not. And what's so wrong with peaceful times?"
Open your eyes, Naruto.
The presence dissipates then, and when Naruto questions the Kyuubi again, he gets no response.
"Talking to yourself?" That is a voice he recognizes.
"Sasuke." Naruto turns to see him several steps down the steep, forested hill leading up to the shrine, hands in pockets and looking expectantly up towards him. "What are you doing here?"
"It's the largest, most prominent shrine in Konoha." Sasuke replies. "Do I need a reason to take a stroll somewhere quiet and secluded?"
"Well, excuse me for disturbing you." Naruto responds dryly, plopping down onto one of the stone steps. "Say, have you ever..." he trails off, wondering if he should be voicing these thoughts out loud.
Sasuke hums noncommittally, waiting for him to continue.
"Have you ever felt like you were going crazy?" Naruto says, "I mean, I've been having these nightmares lately, but they feel so real, and in them, I'm controlling the Kyuubi--no, it's more like, I am the Kyuubi--"
"Are you trying to claim that you're a god, Naruto?" There's trenchant amusement in Sasuke's eyes. He tucks his hands into his long sleeves and joins Naruto on the step, sitting beside him and extracting his kiseru, packing tobacco into the bowl.
"I'm not saying that, but I'll take it as a compliment." Naruto grins.
"I've had a few strange dreams myself." Sasuke admits, flicking a match. "Instead of foxes, there are snakes. Every time, one of them hands me a sword and says, 'Uchiha, this was the path you chose. You cannot turn back.'"
"What do you think it means?"
"That's the reason I came here, actually." Sasuke exhales a plume of smoke. "The head priestess of this shrine is a dreamseer. She might be able to help you out, too."
It so turns out Sasuke has connections to the shrine. Rin is the name of the head priestess, Obito Uchiha is the name of her husband. Which makes her an Uchiha by marriage, as well.
"Sasuke, it's so nice to see you," Rin guides them into the tearoom, "I've been expecting you. But not you, Naruto. It's an honor to finally meet you." She smiles sagely at them, shuffling with her heavy, traditional kimono to her seat across from the low table. A miko brings them tea.
"Me?" Naruto points to himself. "An honor? Finally, somebody who recognizes my potential!"
Rin laughs. She's a plain woman, in her early thirties, but there is an ethereal beauty about her. She keeps her hair over one shoulder, and her brown eyes are full of arcane wisdom. "Are you here about a dream as well, Naruto?"
"This guy dragged me along." Naruto replies, jabbing a thumb at a choleric Sasuke.
Sasuke shakes his head, opening his mouth to deny the statement.
"Hush." Rin shushes him, "I already know why you're here. I have dreamt many things, because I've already fallen into eternal slumber. You haven't. You have time, but not much. Decisions will have to be made that will be painful. Many others will find eternal sleep. This is inevitable."
"Uhm," Naruto scratches at his nose. "Decode that for me please?"
Rin shakes her head, a smile playing at her lips. "You must decide for yourself." She nods towards Sasuke, "Now, your dream."
Sasuke leaves out no details--and the bitter animosity, the bloodstained blade, the deprecatory snakes, the spiral of self-hatred and remorse remind Naruto of his own nightmares, so vivid and realistic they feel like a part of himself--like a forgotten memory.
Rin remains focused on him, but her eyes are seeing something else. Perhaps they see the dream itself. "Serpents are a sign of malevolence, and they are also a sign of wisdom. That one has given you a double-edged sword insinuates a crossroads: a path of vengence and betrayal, or a path of honor and closure. This dream is a warning, Sasuke, to consider your choices carefully."
Sasuke does not like the sound of that one bit, by the sour look on his face. Naruto's not particularly happy about it either.
Rin turns her umbrine gaze onto him. "You paid a visit to the Kyuubi, and he paid a visit to you, didn't he?"
"How'd you know?" Naruto feels like an idiot as soon as the words have left his lips. She's the head priestess of this shrine; for all he knows, she can read his mind.
She just smiles at him, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "I know your dream. I have seen it many times."
"What does it mean?"
Rin closes her eyes. "There's no cheating, Naruto. You must remember on your own."
"Remember what?"
"A nascent dream, long disremembered."
Sasuke recognizes the poetic flow. One of the Uchiha's Lost Scrolls. He picks up on the first stanza, quoting: "I have walked the earth a man, only to wake up the world."
Rin nods along, "And the world knew nothing of the man."
Sasuke crosses his fingers before his face, expression distant, analytical. "But dreamt of dreams it could not have."
"Well done, Sasuke. I didn't know you had an interest in literature."
"Hey, what about me?" Naruto frowns from his cushion, pointing to himself. "Don't I get any help?"
Rin leans over towards him and ruffles his hair. "You don't need my help, Naruto. But I do have some advice for both of you." she adds, getting up to escort them to the entrance. "Reality is a matter of perception. What is real is not always true, what is true is not always real. Remember that, boys."
Left with laden words, Naruto and Sasuke bump into Obito, who had just returned from a mission of his own, as they are exiting the shrine. He's a cheerful bastard, the type that everyone loves because he loves everyone. Naruto watches how his face lights up when he sees Rin, and how hers is cast in a veil of sadness that is so painfully familiar it makes his chest ache.
Sasuke doesn't wait up for him, so Naruto jumps the steps three at a time in order to catch up.
"It's not so bad." Naruto tries to assuage him. "They're just dreams."
"They're not just dreams." Sasuke replies flatly. "Were you listening to anything Rin said?"
"I was listening." Naruto's tone grows more coarse. "A bad omen is a bad omen. It's not your fate, Sasuke."
"What do you know about fate?" Sasuke shoots back, feeling capricious. He's up for a fight. "Nothing has ever gone wrong for you."
Naruto's hands curl into fists, and he's not sure why that statement rings so false; he shouldn't be angry at the truth, so the words that leave his lips, and how convicted they sound, feel foreign to his tongue. "That is a lie. Take it back."
"Shove it up your ass, Naruto, and get lost. I'm not in the mood."
Of course, fighting words like that request the exact opposite from Naruto. "You fucking bastard!" he hisses, "You have no idea what I've been through to--"
"To what?" Sasuke eggs him on, one brow raised and a steady smirk on his face. "To feel equal? To be acknowledged?"
That's the final straw. Naruto lunges for Sasuke and they're tumbling down the last of the stone steps and into the dusty street before pushing away from each other and launching again, one fist thrown, dodged, returned, blocked, quick and practiced footwork--they're sparring, not fighting. That is, until Naruto lands a kick into Sasuke's gut that sends him flying across the street and into the grass ditch a few yards away.
Sasuke starts to laugh.
"What's so funny, asshole?"
"What the hell are we getting so worked up about?" Sasuke says, distracting Naruto, because next thing he knows, he's pinned against the fence with a kunai at his neck and two more tacking his sleeves into place. "I'm the only one who should be furious." Sasuke's sharingan spin ferally in his eyes.
Good question. Naruto would be wondering why himself had Sasuke not been so close. He can feel his breath on his face. The last time they had been this close was when a sword, not a kunai, was raised to his throat--
It's like remembering a fragment of an old dream. And it's gone just as quickly.
Naruto growls, determined not to be outdone so easily, swinging his legs up and forcing Sasuke back, ripping free from the kunai. "Because you're a fucking twat who doesn't know when he's gone too far."
That one seems to get to Sasuke. Hah, thinks Naruto. He's got some verbal ammo too.
They fight until well after sunset, down the line of the ditch on the street until it pans out into a large canal banking the left side of the village. They fight until they have exhausted their chakra, and are both lying spread-eagle in the dirt catching their breaths.
Rin's words still weigh on Sasuke's mind. Naruto doesn't need help, does he? Well then, Sasuke doesn't either. They have been equally matched for years.
Years and years whose memories feel so diluted and short, like time was twisting in and of itself and rewriting its own lines. Over and over.
A morbid sense of dread drenches Sasuke, colder than his own sweat, and his breath catches in his throat.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Naruto asks him.
"No." Sasuke replies easily.
"You don't even know what I'm thinking."
"That's the point, dumbass."
"Whatever." Naruto's too tired to argue. "I was thinking, my dad's about to excuse the older ANBU members. I'm pretty sure Itachi's one of them."
Sasuke frowns. "That has nothing to do with me."
"Sensitive spot?" Naruto rolls onto his side, grinning over at Sasuke with smarm. "It does. It means that Itachi is going to have a genin team soon. And it means we only have five more years before we'll be excused and stuck with kids too."
"By then, you'll be Hokage and I will refuse the excuse."
It's pretty much set in stone, and that should bother Sasuke, but for some reason it doesn't.
Naruto rolls back onto his back, propping his head with his arms and staring up at the watercolor sky. "I was hoping you'd say that. You're my right-hand man, dude."
Sasuke can't help himself. He smiles into his palm. "I'm left-handed, idiot."
They are given another ANBU rank mission after a two day break; two days, which for Naruto, had been full of recurring nightmares and visions of devastation and catastrophe. And in every one, the Kyuubi says, "Open your eyes, Naruto. Open your eyes."
Sasuke has been restless. He'd gotten little sleep since Rin's revelations, and the sleep he did manage had been light and dreamless.
He's in a dark mood when they congregate for the debriefing, and preoccupied, ignoring Sakura's voice of concern. He doesn't notice the tired bruises under Naruto's eyes, or the dulling glimmer to their pale blue.
Kakashi is as sharp as ever, though. "Can you three handle this?"
"Of course." Naruto says, slipping his foxen mask over his face. "I was born ready."
Sakura masks her face just before her grimace can be seen.
"Sasuke?" Kakashi looks at him, brows raised. "What's distracting you?"
"Nothing." Sasuke pulls his mask on as well, the face of a raven. "I'm not."
Kakashi shrugs. "That's everything then. You can thank Shikamaru for the intel."
If Sasuke could see behind the ANBU masks, he'd suspect Naruto's expression is just as suspicious as his.
"What the fuck is this?" Sasuke almost laughs, an incredulous, almost angered noise. Naruto's porcelain fox face stares blankly back at him, one arm guard cracked from a near miss with the creature.
"Did you hit your head?" Sakura shoots back, only mild concern laced in her tone. Her hands are locked in a seal, summoning strength before swinging into the battle.
They are not fighting people. Sasuke doesn't move, doesn't bother to attack. Naruto and Sakura dispose of them with little effort. The bells hanging from Sakura's boar-shaped mask tingle only when she lights the ground in front of Sasuke, tilting her head at him curiously.
"Seriously, you're weirding me out."
Naruto's silent, standing over the misting bodies of the deceased. They are rapidly decaying, Sasuke can smell their pungency from yards away. Naruto seems to soak it in--and that's when Sasuke notices. His sharingan swirl before he's even thinking. Naruto has two sources of chakra. Blue as the ocean, and red as hellfire. Seeing the two commingle, twisting together like old friends--Sasuke can't quite pinpoint how it makes him feel. Neurotic, almost. It makes his gut tighten. A bad premonition. But when he blinks, the ominous red chakra is gone, leaving only Naruto's untapped life-force coiling calmly about him.
"Naruto!" Sakura calls out to him. "What the hell is going on with you two?" she huffs.
Naruto always responds to Sakura, an easy poise overcoming him. "What's up?" he says, pulling his mask away from his face. Blue eyes below arched brows watch Sasuke expectantly, as if willing him to do the same.
Sasuke pushes his mask over his hair and steps past Naruto and Sakura, ignoring both of them, and stooping down to inspect whatever it was they had just killed.
Naruto comes to stand over where he's crouched. "They're called baku. Don't ask me why, I don't know."
"The hidden village of Dreams operate these things." Sakura kicks one of them over. "I don't even know if they're really alive to begin with. You didn't read your debrief, Sasuke? I'm shocked. This isn't the first time these things have shown up. And it's been happening more frequently lately."
"Yeah." Naruto's voice sounds foreboding. "Something's wrong."
The trek back to the village is spent in contemplative silence. Naruto's usually the one to keep up the banter, Sakura encouraging the conversation, while Sasuke remains silent and stoic because that's just how he is.
He doesn't need an excuse that something's wrong.
But something is wrong. He can feel it in his bones. He's felt it for a long time now, and he has a hunch that he's not the only one.
Naruto paces his cramped one-room apartment with a hand stroking his chin, deep in thought. On the floor before him, sitting amidst the green silk it had been wrapped in, is the small, ornate wish box Naruto had been swindled into purchasing. He hasn't even opened it yet.
He's not just going to jump into this one. If there were some kind of genjutsu inside, he'd be completely fucked. Death was no imminent threat, but an endless illusion almost sounded worse.
His window is wide open, inviting the fresh breeze. The moon hangs low in the sky, illuminating the trees and buildings surrounding his apartment.
Naruto had considered lighting candles, but that seemed too hocus pocus. So instead he finally comes to a stop in front of the box, collapses his legs into a pretzel, and stares down at it. Now or never.
Naruto opens the box, and inside, just like the woman had said, lies a tiny scroll. He fiddles in his knapsack for brush and ink and unravels the parchment, and he's back to square one.
A wish. His heart's innermost desire. Naruto frowns down at the box. Why a fox? Come to think of it, Naruto hadn't seen any other boxes with designs on them. This is all he had seen. His eyes had only been drawn to this ridiculous witchcraft.
That's it. He must have been tricked from the start.
"Fuck it!" Naruto exclaims, dipping his brush in ink and scribbling onto the scroll. He rolls it up without aplomb, lights it ablaze, and drops it into the lacquered box. Only once the parchment turns to ash does Naruto close the box, sealing its tiny lock.
Silence follows. Of course, Naruto thinks, there's no such thing as instant gratification. Of course, he doesn't see the seal on his stomach swirling into visibility, though his belly does feel a bit warm. Then his stomach grumbles. He's hungry.
Ah well. Naruto doesn't put a lot of stock into it anyway. He's always known what he's wanted. One wish might not sum it all up, or maybe it does perfectly.
That's what he's not so sure of.
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