for: aamyra
From: gonrie
Title: LEGEND
Rating: PG-13
Summary: There is a legend that is not well known in Fire country.
Warnings: Violence, language.
A/N: First, I’d like to say thank you to X for giving me the idea of writing this fic. And Y for betaing this fic (believe me, it saved it!). Love you both hon!
Mod note: Reminder for the author/artist of this submission, please do not reply to comments signed in, if you want to reply anon commenting is enabled.
There is a legend that is not well known in Fire country. It hasn’t been openly told of in decades, and those who still give warnings of it to travelers are seen as cynical or deranged. There are many variations to the tale but the warning is always the same: Do not cross the Welfare forest during a full moon.
The folktale says there is an evil presence residing in those woods, lost and angry, searching for young souls to devour. On the night of the full moon, the spirit takes human form and wanders across the border of Welfare village in hope of finding new prey. And they say that his blood colored eyes shine in the night and his form is as lean and gaunt as an old man’s.
It would have been a fine and dandy folktale, Naruto thought, if children haven’t begun disappearing two months ago. Five victims, taken on two different full moons in one particular village in Iwa.
-----
“Sasuke.”
Silence.
“Sasuke”
An elbow struck his stomach. “Ow!! Don’t do that you asshole!”
Sasuke glared at him. “Then stop hovering.”
“Well, if you stopped ignoring me for a second and answered my damn question, I wouldn’t have to!” Naruto said, scowling back at him.
“And I already told you,” Sasuke said, “that I don’t know when it will show up, if it does at all.”
And Sasuke turned his back on him, looking out at the woods again. Naruto grimaced at him and flopped down on the earth, pulling at the blades of grass with his hands.
He had really begun to regret taking this mission.
At first, when Tsunade had informed them of the situation, he had been all fired up. Hell, not only had he been training for what seemed like forever, but Sasuke was to accompany him.
Sasuke. Going with him. On a mission.
Sasuke and him. On a mission together.
It is the first mission they’ve been given together since being a part of Team 7. Not that they weren’t Team 7 anymore...but things weren’t, well ...as they used to be.
Naruto wasn’t sure where they stood with each other now but he hated the cold tension that often settled between them.
Not to forget the fact that this mission only seemed to get more boring by the minute. “I’m bored.”
Sasuke’s mouth twitched but he did not move from his position beside Naruto. Having nothing else to do, Naruto inclined his head toward the other boy and looked at him. Sasuke’s muscles had developed over the years, and his hair had gotten longer. The white shirt seemed to glow in the dark and under the moonlight his skin seemed even paler than normal. Naruto found it stupidly pretty.
Sasuke was looking at him with narrowed eyes. “What?”
The question snapped Naruto out of his reverie. “Nothing...just wondering if that thing will really show up.”
Sasuke sighed. Naruto twisted around in the grass, fingers fidgeting against the ground. “So...”
Sasuke glanced down at him.
“How’s things been going?”
In the months since Sasuke came back home (or more like since Naruto dragged him home by force), Naruto barely had the time to say “hello”. He had been getting mission after mission, and Sasuke had been put under house arrest, only training with Kakashi from time to time.
They basically hadn’t seen each other.
Of course at first, Naruto had complained until Tsunade went berserk, but when he had finally been able to go and talk to Sasuke...things hadn’t gone to plan.
Naruto hadn’t expected a heart-wrenching meeting, hell he had figured the situation would turn to fists pretty quickly, but none of that had happened.
Sasuke had looked at him like he was nobody.
And that had hurt.
Things seemed a bit improved now, with Sasuke talking to him and everything. But something remained off. Empty.
“Fine.”
The short and clipped answer made Naruto grunt angrily. It was just like Sasuke to provoke him, see how much he could push Naruto before he exploded. And if it was a fight Sasuke was after, there was no way in hell Naruto was going to back down from it. “Yeah, well, it’s not like things could be much worse than you already made them, huh?”
This time, the silence was heavy and neither turned their gaze away.
“Think very carefully about what you’re going to say, Naruto.”
“Still making threats, Sasuke?”
“...I’m done with this.”
“You do know that you’re a spineless coward, right? Every time, just every damn time I try to speak to you about this, you just-”
Naruto barely had time to react when Sasuke’s sword was pulled out of his scabbard and stabbed the ground beside Naruto’s head. Sasuke’s eyes were swirling red above him. “I said, shut the fuck up.”
Sasuke’s chest was heaving and his fingers were white around the blade. And just like that, Naruto’s anger melted into something else that he didn’t fully understand and his heart constricted because Sasuke was hurting and he refused Naruto’s help.
“I’m sorry about your brother.”
The words were out before Naruto could help it, and then there was a hand trying to reach Naruto’s throat. Naruto managed to grab it and kick Sasuke on the side, sending him flying onto the ground.
“Don’t talk about my brother!” Sasuke shouted, kicking Naruto in the ribs. Naruto coughed, and grabbed Sasuke’s leg, freezing him.
“Goddamnit Sasuke! I’m your friend and I’m just trying to-”
“Just how many time will I have to repeat myself!? You are not my friend, Naruto.”
“Geez, still hung up onto that?” Naruto said, clenching down hard on Sasuke’s shoulders. The endless frustration was back again and if Sasuke did not care, if he had no concern about Naruto, then why...”If you care so little about me, then why did you help me defeat Madara, huh!?”
In the middle of the final fight, Madara had cast a powerful genjutsu on Naruto. Naruto had been trapped and Sasuke had shown up and dragged him out of the illusion. Naruto still has nightmare about what the consequences could have been otherwise.
“Because,” Sasuke said, surprisingly candid now. “I didn’t want him controlling Kyuubi.”
Naruto didn’t have to look down at Sasuke to know it was the truth. There hadn’t been no hesitation in his voice and-
And Naruto had been so stupid.
The revelation hit so deep that Naruto felt frozen. Sasuke took advantage of this moment of inattention to push Naruto off of him and stand up.
Naruto’s stomach churned.
And then a civilian arrived and told them an old man had been seen walking near the forest.
------
They separated after that. Sasuke went to investigate the news and Naruto stayed behind, just in case.
He was still cursing Sasuke under his breath when he saw a black form watching him from the forest, before it vanished from sight. It hadn’t looked like an old man but-
“Hello? Is anybody here?”
Naruto heard foliage being rustled and this time, he did not hesitate to run toward it into the forest. He squinted hard, and saw the figure sitting hunched a hundred meters away. Then he froze.
The- this thing wasn’t human in any way. It looked like a void of blackness, and there were two shining red eyes visible in the darkness, looking straight at him. Naruto tried stepping back but his body refused to comply, and he could suddenly see white mist when he breathed out now.
The creature was slowly but surely approaching Naruto.
Then there was a cry from somewhere far on Naruto’s right side, and the cold air vanished. Naruto stumbled to the ground, his breathing laboured.
The monster, or whatever it had been, wasn’t anywhere in sight now.
Despite wanting to cry out and let the world know that “Oh my God, there was a scary-as-shit ghost and it had tried to eat him for dinner”, he picked himself up and went in the direction the cry had come from.
-----
The strong wind was rustling the leaves and the dark sky made it difficult to see ahead. Naruto was making his way blindly into the forest, his hearing sharp as he felt his way left and right.
Then he found it.
A dark skinned man, wearing long blue sleeves and black pants, walking in front of two little girls. They were singing and looked happy.
“Genjutsu.”
Naruto nearly fell from the tree. Then turned around to see Sasuke. “Sasuke!”
Blue eyes narrowed. “Where the hell have you been all this-”
Smash.
The ninja watched as the blond fell unconscious from the hit to the back of the head and crashed at the base of the tree. He dispelled the genjutsu and jumped down.
“Apparently, you’re not good at them.”
-----
There was something burning, Naruto thought, as his eyes slowly flickered open. His vision was filled with dark green grass and his head hurt like a kunai had nailed it. A small campfire was also in sight; his whole body felt fuzzy as he tried to sit up and he barely managed to move at all. He grunted and just as he tried to put more force into his arms, he saw the body a couple of feet away from him.
One of the little girls.
He gritted his teeth together and finally managed to crawl toward her.
His stomach instantly constricted as he took in the scene. Her stomach had been cut open, pieces of her insides spilling out, fingers gone. Her mouth was pooling with blood and she had no teeth left.
Naruto felt the anger boiling in him. It was a raw, dark feeling that made his entire body shake.
“So, you’re awake huh?”
The ninja- missing-nin Naruto thought as he noticed the hitai-ate- was looking confidently at him from up above in the tree, his arms crossed on his chest.
It took Naruto less than a second to reach him, appearing behind him and smashing him hard enough that he felt ribs crack.
-----
He is not sure about when he destroyed the camp or killed all the other crazy motherfuckers still alive, but he’s sure about this.
The second little girl is still alive, warm in his arms as he ran along the trees toward Welfare village. The kid is whimpering in his arms, bloody and fading. He’s comforting her but panic is still swirling in his body because he has a little girl who’s practically dying in his arms and he’s so goddamn far away and the village is still nowhere in sight.
-----
The beeping of the emergency room equipment and the smell of antiseptic will most likely drive Naruto nuts if he has to stay a second longer in this room. His left arm has been bandaged, the bones broken in several places though Naruto hadn’t even felt it the entire time. They had ordered him into bed and drugged him after the first couple of times he tried getting out of his room.
And he’s got no news of either Sasuke or the little girl.
The worry makes it impossible for Naruto to stay immobile and he’s breathing hard when the door opens.
Sasukes come into view, and he is not looking happy.
“You complete moron,” is the welcome Naruto gets as the other boy looks down at him, eyes hard. “Not only did you destroy half of the forest, but you ended up unconscious on the hospital steps.”
Naruto opens his mouth, then closes it and finally lets out all the frustration he had build since the whole thing began. “You. YOU!”
He doesn’t know where he gets the strength, but his finger is now poking against Sasuke’s chest. “I’ve been almost eaten by a ghost, I’ve stumbled upon crazy people doing ritual religious shit and you,” now he’s grabbing Sasuke’s shirt and pulling on it until they are practically face to face. “FOR ALL I KNOW YOU WERE PROBABLY OFF SIPPING SOME TEA WHILE I HAD TO TAKE CARE OF THE WHOLE THING.”
“...Calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down!? Have you-, they’ve-, have you seen the little girls?” He yelled in fury, shaking Sasuke back and forth. Sasuke gripped both of his wrists.
“Stop it,” Sasuke ordered, squeezing in warning.
“They mutilated them!! They were kids and they MUTILATED them! What kind of human beings would do that!?” Naruto screamed, pulling back to get his wrists free.
Then Naruto’s face is buried in Sasuke’s chest, his wrists still imprisoned in Sasuke’s hands. He felt Sasuke’s chest heave against his cheek. “You’ve done everything you could.”
Naruto’s throat constricted. His hands were now lying limp in Sasuke’s grip and Naruto shoved his face harder against his chest. The proximity gave him some comfort.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
Sasuke froze and Naruto tensed in response. The double meaning of those words did not escape either of them. Naruto hadn’t meant to say it out loud. He was already pushing out of Sasuke’s awkward embrace when strong arms released his wrists and wrapped themselves around Naruto. Sasuke’s head was buried in Naruto’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
Naruto’s heart skipped a beat. Then he laughed softly, and did not hesitate to bury his own head against Sasuke’s chest when he felt his eyes sting.
“’Bout time, you bastard.”
Title: LEGEND
Rating: PG-13
Summary: There is a legend that is not well known in Fire country.
Warnings: Violence, language.
A/N: First, I’d like to say thank you to X for giving me the idea of writing this fic. And Y for betaing this fic (believe me, it saved it!). Love you both hon!
Mod note: Reminder for the author/artist of this submission, please do not reply to comments signed in, if you want to reply anon commenting is enabled.
There is a legend that is not well known in Fire country. It hasn’t been openly told of in decades, and those who still give warnings of it to travelers are seen as cynical or deranged. There are many variations to the tale but the warning is always the same: Do not cross the Welfare forest during a full moon.
The folktale says there is an evil presence residing in those woods, lost and angry, searching for young souls to devour. On the night of the full moon, the spirit takes human form and wanders across the border of Welfare village in hope of finding new prey. And they say that his blood colored eyes shine in the night and his form is as lean and gaunt as an old man’s.
It would have been a fine and dandy folktale, Naruto thought, if children haven’t begun disappearing two months ago. Five victims, taken on two different full moons in one particular village in Iwa.
-----
“Sasuke.”
Silence.
“Sasuke”
An elbow struck his stomach. “Ow!! Don’t do that you asshole!”
Sasuke glared at him. “Then stop hovering.”
“Well, if you stopped ignoring me for a second and answered my damn question, I wouldn’t have to!” Naruto said, scowling back at him.
“And I already told you,” Sasuke said, “that I don’t know when it will show up, if it does at all.”
And Sasuke turned his back on him, looking out at the woods again. Naruto grimaced at him and flopped down on the earth, pulling at the blades of grass with his hands.
He had really begun to regret taking this mission.
At first, when Tsunade had informed them of the situation, he had been all fired up. Hell, not only had he been training for what seemed like forever, but Sasuke was to accompany him.
Sasuke. Going with him. On a mission.
Sasuke and him. On a mission together.
It is the first mission they’ve been given together since being a part of Team 7. Not that they weren’t Team 7 anymore...but things weren’t, well ...as they used to be.
Naruto wasn’t sure where they stood with each other now but he hated the cold tension that often settled between them.
Not to forget the fact that this mission only seemed to get more boring by the minute. “I’m bored.”
Sasuke’s mouth twitched but he did not move from his position beside Naruto. Having nothing else to do, Naruto inclined his head toward the other boy and looked at him. Sasuke’s muscles had developed over the years, and his hair had gotten longer. The white shirt seemed to glow in the dark and under the moonlight his skin seemed even paler than normal. Naruto found it stupidly pretty.
Sasuke was looking at him with narrowed eyes. “What?”
The question snapped Naruto out of his reverie. “Nothing...just wondering if that thing will really show up.”
Sasuke sighed. Naruto twisted around in the grass, fingers fidgeting against the ground. “So...”
Sasuke glanced down at him.
“How’s things been going?”
In the months since Sasuke came back home (or more like since Naruto dragged him home by force), Naruto barely had the time to say “hello”. He had been getting mission after mission, and Sasuke had been put under house arrest, only training with Kakashi from time to time.
They basically hadn’t seen each other.
Of course at first, Naruto had complained until Tsunade went berserk, but when he had finally been able to go and talk to Sasuke...things hadn’t gone to plan.
Naruto hadn’t expected a heart-wrenching meeting, hell he had figured the situation would turn to fists pretty quickly, but none of that had happened.
Sasuke had looked at him like he was nobody.
And that had hurt.
Things seemed a bit improved now, with Sasuke talking to him and everything. But something remained off. Empty.
“Fine.”
The short and clipped answer made Naruto grunt angrily. It was just like Sasuke to provoke him, see how much he could push Naruto before he exploded. And if it was a fight Sasuke was after, there was no way in hell Naruto was going to back down from it. “Yeah, well, it’s not like things could be much worse than you already made them, huh?”
This time, the silence was heavy and neither turned their gaze away.
“Think very carefully about what you’re going to say, Naruto.”
“Still making threats, Sasuke?”
“...I’m done with this.”
“You do know that you’re a spineless coward, right? Every time, just every damn time I try to speak to you about this, you just-”
Naruto barely had time to react when Sasuke’s sword was pulled out of his scabbard and stabbed the ground beside Naruto’s head. Sasuke’s eyes were swirling red above him. “I said, shut the fuck up.”
Sasuke’s chest was heaving and his fingers were white around the blade. And just like that, Naruto’s anger melted into something else that he didn’t fully understand and his heart constricted because Sasuke was hurting and he refused Naruto’s help.
“I’m sorry about your brother.”
The words were out before Naruto could help it, and then there was a hand trying to reach Naruto’s throat. Naruto managed to grab it and kick Sasuke on the side, sending him flying onto the ground.
“Don’t talk about my brother!” Sasuke shouted, kicking Naruto in the ribs. Naruto coughed, and grabbed Sasuke’s leg, freezing him.
“Goddamnit Sasuke! I’m your friend and I’m just trying to-”
“Just how many time will I have to repeat myself!? You are not my friend, Naruto.”
“Geez, still hung up onto that?” Naruto said, clenching down hard on Sasuke’s shoulders. The endless frustration was back again and if Sasuke did not care, if he had no concern about Naruto, then why...”If you care so little about me, then why did you help me defeat Madara, huh!?”
In the middle of the final fight, Madara had cast a powerful genjutsu on Naruto. Naruto had been trapped and Sasuke had shown up and dragged him out of the illusion. Naruto still has nightmare about what the consequences could have been otherwise.
“Because,” Sasuke said, surprisingly candid now. “I didn’t want him controlling Kyuubi.”
Naruto didn’t have to look down at Sasuke to know it was the truth. There hadn’t been no hesitation in his voice and-
And Naruto had been so stupid.
The revelation hit so deep that Naruto felt frozen. Sasuke took advantage of this moment of inattention to push Naruto off of him and stand up.
Naruto’s stomach churned.
And then a civilian arrived and told them an old man had been seen walking near the forest.
------
They separated after that. Sasuke went to investigate the news and Naruto stayed behind, just in case.
He was still cursing Sasuke under his breath when he saw a black form watching him from the forest, before it vanished from sight. It hadn’t looked like an old man but-
“Hello? Is anybody here?”
Naruto heard foliage being rustled and this time, he did not hesitate to run toward it into the forest. He squinted hard, and saw the figure sitting hunched a hundred meters away. Then he froze.
The- this thing wasn’t human in any way. It looked like a void of blackness, and there were two shining red eyes visible in the darkness, looking straight at him. Naruto tried stepping back but his body refused to comply, and he could suddenly see white mist when he breathed out now.
The creature was slowly but surely approaching Naruto.
Then there was a cry from somewhere far on Naruto’s right side, and the cold air vanished. Naruto stumbled to the ground, his breathing laboured.
The monster, or whatever it had been, wasn’t anywhere in sight now.
Despite wanting to cry out and let the world know that “Oh my God, there was a scary-as-shit ghost and it had tried to eat him for dinner”, he picked himself up and went in the direction the cry had come from.
-----
The strong wind was rustling the leaves and the dark sky made it difficult to see ahead. Naruto was making his way blindly into the forest, his hearing sharp as he felt his way left and right.
Then he found it.
A dark skinned man, wearing long blue sleeves and black pants, walking in front of two little girls. They were singing and looked happy.
“Genjutsu.”
Naruto nearly fell from the tree. Then turned around to see Sasuke. “Sasuke!”
Blue eyes narrowed. “Where the hell have you been all this-”
Smash.
The ninja watched as the blond fell unconscious from the hit to the back of the head and crashed at the base of the tree. He dispelled the genjutsu and jumped down.
“Apparently, you’re not good at them.”
-----
There was something burning, Naruto thought, as his eyes slowly flickered open. His vision was filled with dark green grass and his head hurt like a kunai had nailed it. A small campfire was also in sight; his whole body felt fuzzy as he tried to sit up and he barely managed to move at all. He grunted and just as he tried to put more force into his arms, he saw the body a couple of feet away from him.
One of the little girls.
He gritted his teeth together and finally managed to crawl toward her.
His stomach instantly constricted as he took in the scene. Her stomach had been cut open, pieces of her insides spilling out, fingers gone. Her mouth was pooling with blood and she had no teeth left.
Naruto felt the anger boiling in him. It was a raw, dark feeling that made his entire body shake.
“So, you’re awake huh?”
The ninja- missing-nin Naruto thought as he noticed the hitai-ate- was looking confidently at him from up above in the tree, his arms crossed on his chest.
It took Naruto less than a second to reach him, appearing behind him and smashing him hard enough that he felt ribs crack.
-----
He is not sure about when he destroyed the camp or killed all the other crazy motherfuckers still alive, but he’s sure about this.
The second little girl is still alive, warm in his arms as he ran along the trees toward Welfare village. The kid is whimpering in his arms, bloody and fading. He’s comforting her but panic is still swirling in his body because he has a little girl who’s practically dying in his arms and he’s so goddamn far away and the village is still nowhere in sight.
-----
The beeping of the emergency room equipment and the smell of antiseptic will most likely drive Naruto nuts if he has to stay a second longer in this room. His left arm has been bandaged, the bones broken in several places though Naruto hadn’t even felt it the entire time. They had ordered him into bed and drugged him after the first couple of times he tried getting out of his room.
And he’s got no news of either Sasuke or the little girl.
The worry makes it impossible for Naruto to stay immobile and he’s breathing hard when the door opens.
Sasukes come into view, and he is not looking happy.
“You complete moron,” is the welcome Naruto gets as the other boy looks down at him, eyes hard. “Not only did you destroy half of the forest, but you ended up unconscious on the hospital steps.”
Naruto opens his mouth, then closes it and finally lets out all the frustration he had build since the whole thing began. “You. YOU!”
He doesn’t know where he gets the strength, but his finger is now poking against Sasuke’s chest. “I’ve been almost eaten by a ghost, I’ve stumbled upon crazy people doing ritual religious shit and you,” now he’s grabbing Sasuke’s shirt and pulling on it until they are practically face to face. “FOR ALL I KNOW YOU WERE PROBABLY OFF SIPPING SOME TEA WHILE I HAD TO TAKE CARE OF THE WHOLE THING.”
“...Calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down!? Have you-, they’ve-, have you seen the little girls?” He yelled in fury, shaking Sasuke back and forth. Sasuke gripped both of his wrists.
“Stop it,” Sasuke ordered, squeezing in warning.
“They mutilated them!! They were kids and they MUTILATED them! What kind of human beings would do that!?” Naruto screamed, pulling back to get his wrists free.
Then Naruto’s face is buried in Sasuke’s chest, his wrists still imprisoned in Sasuke’s hands. He felt Sasuke’s chest heave against his cheek. “You’ve done everything you could.”
Naruto’s throat constricted. His hands were now lying limp in Sasuke’s grip and Naruto shoved his face harder against his chest. The proximity gave him some comfort.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
Sasuke froze and Naruto tensed in response. The double meaning of those words did not escape either of them. Naruto hadn’t meant to say it out loud. He was already pushing out of Sasuke’s awkward embrace when strong arms released his wrists and wrapped themselves around Naruto. Sasuke’s head was buried in Naruto’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
Naruto’s heart skipped a beat. Then he laughed softly, and did not hesitate to bury his own head against Sasuke’s chest when he felt his eyes sting.
“’Bout time, you bastard.”