(Naruto) Possession, chapter 2
"NO!!! I'LL NEVER LISTEN TO YOU AGAIN!!"
Naruto's head hurt. It was ringing with echoes of furious yells and snarls and howls, with the sharp crackle of electricity, resonating with the hum of intense chakra.
"I HATE YOU!!"
He turned on his side, slowly. The skin over his abdomen felt weird, too tight, too sensitive. He curled up to protect it. Why wouldn't his ears flatten back to dampen the furious yelling?
"--going to KILL YOU!!" Metallic clangs, clashing blades.
Stupid Sasuke. So melodramatic. Couldn't he keep it down? Naruto was busy trying to make sure his head didn't fall apart.
A startled gasp, the sound of a body hitting the wall. "LET ME GO!!!"
The floor was sticky. His skin was sticky, too. Why was the bastard traitor there? Naruto should get up and tear his throat out; that would keep him quiet.
"Listen, brat--" Low, dangerous, tired-and-annoyed voice.
Furious snarling in reply. "Don't you call me brat, you fucking--"
Sharp, clear warning tone. "Respect your elders!"
"You lost all right to that seven years ago, big brother!"
Silence.
Naruto refused to try interpreting it all. He didn't care. He only cared about the pulsating migraine and the uncomfortable feeling in his guts, about the incredible tiredness and the even more incredible need to rip someone to shreds to sate his hunger. Mm, maybe ramen would do. He'd have to make the bastard traitor get him some -- Sasuke owed him at least that.
"I said, LET GO!!" A crackle of electricity again, the buzzing and chirping of the Chidori.
... and after Sasuke gave him his bowl, Naruto would disembowel him. And devour his flesh, and gnaw on his bones -- like that he'd never leave again. Oh yes -- he'd always be with Naruto. Part of him, always and forever -- the fucking traitor.
Suddenly, he could hear the constant growls in the background a lot better. It was probably, he decided after a moment of thought, because he was the one growling.
"Fuck." The rough, crude word sounded out of place used with that low, dark-velvet voice. There were steps approaching him, resonating weirdly on the stone -- a few squelching noises, the smell of drying blood -- and then someone knelt at his side, an elegant hand landed on his shoulder. He struck blindly, half scared and half outraged. He recognized that scent, and hated and feared it with all of himself.
"Shhh, boy ... It's okay, calm down, you're safe..."
These words, he heard. But he didn't understand. Safe? The man hovering over him was like all things not safe in Naruto's life. He had just ... hurt him, hurt him so bad Naruto couldn't find enough words to describe it, and now he claimed he was safe? That... didn't compute. The blond tried to straighten up, tried to really look at him.
Weary. Very weary. His lower eyelid twitching uncontrollably. ... black eyes. Drying blood on his cheek. Mouth twisted in a grim, bitter expression -- just barely. Just enough to keep Naruto still as he tried to puzzle it out.
"I'll explain everything later, I promise. You just need to stay calm."
He looked around the room, frowning faintly -- worriedly -- and seeing anything but cold contempt and annoyance on this usually utterly inexpressive face was making Naruto doubt ... something. Maybe his own sanity.
"We can't stay here."
Naruto agreed with everything in that sentence but the "we".
+
Sasuke watched as his brother struggled with the fastening of his cloak one-handed. He watched as he wrapped it around Naruto's nude body -- Itachi looked so painfully thin, wearing only a mesh shirt and pants that looked like they were about to slip off his hips. It made Sasuke stare and wonder who was that frail-looking stranger, where was the monster that was his brother.
When he slipped an arm around Naruto's shoulders and another under his knees, though, Sasuke pulled out another kunai.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Itachi didn't answer, didn't even look at him. He just got on his feet, a half-conscious Naruto in his arms. Sasuke twitched, though he didn't even know what he wanted to do -- attack him, make him look at him? Wrench Naruto out of his arms? He hated not understanding what the hell was going on, and being dismissed as if he didn't have a right to know, as if he was of exactly zero importance.
"I'm talking to you!"
Itachi still didn't look at him. "Don't scream," was all he said, with a nod toward Naruto, wincing at the echoes in the room.
Sasuke didn't know why that was enough to break his self-control.
Or maybe he did.
As always, his brother was more interested in Naruto than in him.
He didn't scream, he just struck. Right now, he didn't care if Naruto was in the way ; the stupid dead-last could die for all he cared --
Itachi disappeared.
His legs were kicked out from under him, and he couldn't breathe -- he tried for the Chidori, but the chakra wouldn't come -- wouldn't -- he pulled harder -- the cursed seal tingled as if reminding him that it was there, and he was so close to taking what it offered, just so close...
"Stop. That. You're really aggravating, you know."
Itachi was looking down at him wearily, blood dripping from his shoulder where Sasuke's kunai had ripped through his flesh -- but still holding Naruto, and his foot firmly planted in the middle of Sasuke's chest.
"I'm taking him outside. It stinks down here. You can come, or you can stay. If you come, and don't cause trouble, I will explain -- but it's more urgent right now to get him out of here."
His eyes turned colder, and for a second Sasuke recognized him.
"Just remember. Do what I say, or stay behind. Your choice."
Naruto started to growl again and struggled weakly. His brother stepped back, freeing Sasuke, and tightened his hold on his armful of snarling blond. "Boy -- kid... god, I don't even know what name -- kid. It's okay. It's -- fuck!"
Naruto had reared back, and tried to plant his teeth in his injured shoulder. His brother tried to hold Naruto as far away from his body as possible, but the blond was squirming too much and fell on the ground with an offended snarl. Sasuke watched him struggle in the black and red coat for a few seconds, head spinning, still out of breath. And then he decided -- he didn't know what, but he decided.
"Naruto," he snapped as he tapped the blond's shoulder quickly. He didn't know if he was calling him or answering his -- brother, was it -- he didn't want to think about that now, it made his head hurt. "Naruto. Calm down, dead-last. Are you going to let a stupid furball control you? Pitiful."
He pretended not to see the dark glare his -- the man in the fishnet shirt was sending his way. He concentrated on Naruto's eyes, red turning to an ugly, bruised purple, then back to red-- "Come on, are you really so lame?" -- turning to slightly too-dark blue... and then Naruto slumped, and managed to push a hand out to rub his head, and winced.
"Gimme a break, bastard, I feel like shit..."
He didn't allow himself to feel relief at having the idiot back, at realizing that there was still enough of him left that Sasuke could call him back. "No kidding, idiot. What happened to your things?"
"Muh? Dunno..."
"Okay, so we're not going to bother searching for them." He was talking just to keep Naruto from slipping away, he knew, and he hated that his -- that the man was listening. It made him feel weirdly naked to be having a conversation -- to be caught babbling -- with his best friend/best enemy/rival/betrayed/whatever the hell Naruto was to him while that man watched. And he knew that he was watching, and closely; the hair on Sasuke's nape was standing up.
Making a decision and forcing himself not to think too much about his reasons, he knelt at Naruto's side and picked him up, a lot more carefully than he would ever had before. But then, he'd never seen Naruto lose his entrails before, not even when he'd been trying to kill the idiot; Naruto had healed so fast he had barely had the time to feel that it was real before the hole had disappeared.
The man frowned. "I can --"
"No, you can't." Sasuke didn't look at him as he snapped back, too busy trying to balance the weight of the idiot between close enough to be comfortable and out of immediate reach of his throat. "You're bleeding. Besides, you just spent who knows how long torturing him. He's not going to let you carry him."
He was amazed at himself; it almost sounded civil. It was better when he wasn't looking at him; he could pretend that he was talking to someone else.
The man raked his hand through his hair -- and Sasuke clenched his jaw when he caught from the corner of his eye the slight hesitation when it reached his messy ponytail. Sasuke stalked toward the door, not bothering to smooth his steps. Naruto growled weakly, but it sounded more like a sleepy boy than like an annoyed animal.
"I can walk..." he murmured, and attempted to push against Sasuke's chest. His hand slipped, and he frowned and tried again.
Sasuke knew that if he put him down, the idiot would attempt to walk -- hell, would crawl on his hands and knees, just to prove that he wasn't helpless; but he was. He was so weak and vulnerable; it wasn't right.
It was the only reason why he lowered his voice until he was sure his -- the other couldn't hear, and replied.
"I know you can, idiot, but we'll go faster like that. I'll put you down when we get outside."
Naruto gave him a suspicious look from behind heavy eyelids. "Swear?"
"As if I want to carry your fat ass around all day."
"Not 's fat 's your head." There was a faint chuckle, and then Naruto's eyes closed. Sasuke kept walking forward, following the route he had taken in, ignoring the man when he passed them to go disable a few wards Sasuke had forced his way through, or when he scouted around, disappearing in a few side corridors to do god knew what. The idiot was heavy, and several times Sasuke had to pull him up again, but he kept walking toward the outside, as if he was alone and had all the time in the world.
A few bushes were burning, and Sasuke frowned. The rest of the mountain was pretty safe, since it was surrounded by rocks and cliffs and bare ground, but the fire would reach the compound eventually, and the smoke would be a clear enough signal to the rest of the Akatsuki that something had gone wrong.
He looked around for a way up, ignoring the slight echoes of repulsion that the dying genjutsus were giving off. Naruto squirmed in his arms, and he rolled his eyes as he walked away from the place. He didn't want him to freak out again for something so minor.
Sasuke assured his hold on Naruto a last time, making sure that he was calm, and took one of the narrow paths that snaked their way up the canyon walls. The Chidori had left him enough chakra to stick to the steep slope, but just barely.
The man followed them, staying just under Sasuke, and Sasuke started going a little faster, annoyed and unnerved; he knew that it was in case he lost his footing or his hold on the blond. He wasn't going to fall, he wasn't that incompetent.
The slope softened a little toward the top, and that man passed them, scaling the rocks on the side of the path with hands and feet. Sasuke smothered his annoyance and his need to rebel against their forced alliance, and waited until he was done scouting the area and signaled for him to follow before reaching the top.
Naruto was heavy and limp in his arms, and Sasuke just followed quietly, too busy making sure the idiot hadn't stopped breathing to protest the choice of direction. He didn't really care anyway, so long as it wasn't toward either Sound or Leaf.
They walked for hours, only pausing when Naruto looked like he was going to wake up or started to have a nightmare. Sasuke never got used to being watched, never got used to the burning resentment when that man turned his back on them while Sasuke calmed Naruto down, hating how he seemed to know that it bothered Sasuke to be watched, how he seemed to be so sure Sasuke wasn't dangerous enough that it mattered to give him such an opening. How anything -- choosing easy paths through the rocks and walking under him in steep slopes and being fucking considerate -- felt like utter contempt.
He didn't know what to feel, what to think. He hated it. He didn't know how to untangle the situation, how to make sense of it. He would have liked to untangle it with a fist through Itachi's heart, but the day didn't seem to be going that way. It was nerve-wracking. It was unbearable. He wanted it to stop.
But Naruto was heavy in his arms, and still so pale, and he didn't want the idiot to -- he wanted to understand what had happened before he killed his brother, preferably. So long as that was possible, he didn't especially want Naruto dead. He didn't kill indiscriminately, only when people got in his way. He wasn't his brother. He never would be. He was thinking too much, but there was nothing to do there but walk and walk and pull Naruto up against his chest -- he was so heavy and yet so frail, so still -- it was unnatural -- and walk more, and dream of killing his brother while simultaneously ignoring the presence at his side.
"We're stopping," he finally snapped. He didn't care what the other man thought, he didn't fucking care if they weren't far enough -- right now he would have killed for some distance between him and Itachi, if he couldn't kill Itachi himself -- he was stopping here and now and he didn't fucking give a damn if the other decided to kick his ass. He sent a dark glare his way, a part of him hoping to be given an excuse to fight.
The man paused, seemed to think it over, then nodded wordlessly and started to look around, presumably for a hiding spot. Sasuke felt like screaming in frustration. He put Naruto down instead; the idiot was getting heavy.
He took a few minutes to stretch his aching muscles and regulate his breathing and heart rate, and when that man came back, Sasuke was able to look utterly expressionless again. Picking Naruto up proved to be more of a challenge; he was growling, eyes half-open, and tried to bite Sasuke. In the end, Sasuke abandoned him his sleeve, and lifted him quickly while the blond was busy chewing viciously on the cloth. He frowned at his -- that man until he stopped staring with that weird expression on his face and led them to the hiding spot he'd found. Naruto was struggling weakly, but not enough to seriously compromise his balance over the rocks they climbed on the way. Sasuke 'accidentally' kicked gravel loose when that bastard once again stepped underneath him, and was treated with an exasperated sigh than made him tense up... and long minutes of utter silence as they reached the place and the man set up the fire. Couldn't he even get angry? Or even -- even just scold him like a child, like he'd done before? What was wrong with that son of a bitch?!
Because there was, there was something wrong and he didn't know -- stop. Stop thinking about it.
The hiding spot was in between two cliff walls that ran toward each other, meeting overhead, a rock slide sealing off the deep end of the narrow cave. It was dry enough, and the ground was packed earth. Sasuke kicked a few loose rocks away, smoothing a spot for Naruto, and then lay him down. The blond immediately curled up against the cliff, still ripping Sasuke's sleeve, now torn off from his shirt. Sasuke sighed in annoyance, and wished he'd been scout instead. He could have run around and found something to do that involved not being given enough time to think. Besides he hated taking care of people -- his bedside manners had been qualified as atrocious too many times to count, and his idea of calming down the blond was closer to insulting him so he would snap out of it than soothing him... But Naruto still snarled viciously every time the shifting wind brought him Itachi's scent.
Sasuke didn't bother to help while the adult built and lit -- with sticks, what the fuck, what was wrong with a Katon -- a small fire. He felt boxed in, trapped, but the bastard was still ignoring him utterly, so it was hard to feel honestly threatened. Besides, Sasuke was starting to grow really weary. The sky was darkening; the day had been long. He knew there was no way he could sleep tonight, though, but it didn't make his energy come back -- if any, it made him feel even more exhausted. He was just so tired of everything -- in body and in mind.
Sasuke leaned against the cliff a few feet away from the fire, staring at the longhaired man. He was absently combing his ponytail, lost in thought. Sasuke finally let himself come to the one conclusion he didn't want.
"...Who are you?"
The man blinked at him -- black eyes, so familiar and yet not -- sighed, and gave him a poor imitation of a reassuring smile that destroyed Sasuke's last doubts.
"Call me Arashi."
Arashi is fanon, I know -- there's no real proof that it's the real name (NO, there is not. These kanji are so badly written they could be almost anything.) But I'm so used to thinking of him that way that I couldn't find another name I liked. So if you know your fanon stuff well enough, you know who that is. If you don't, I'll explain next chapter. Don't ask, I won't answer. I'm evil like that. :p