Inevitable :: Chapter Nine

[stacylilly]

Title: Inevitable
Anime: Naruto
Pairing: Sasuke/Naruto
Rating: T - language, violence, and implied sexual activities 
Disclaimer: No, trust me, I don't.
Summary: It was bound to happen. Their infamous meeting after all these years. But, with Naruto's new position in Konoha and Sasuke's status as an S class missing ninja, nothing ever comes easy to these two. Not that they'd expect it any other way.
Status: In Progess

Preview: “Naruto talks about you a lot.” It wasn’t really a conversation starter it was a statement. Sasuke resisted the urge to shudder at the blonde’s name. “Before he became the Hokage, he would get in these moods - Sakura called it melancholy - where he’d talk about you for hours.”

Inevitable
Chapter Eight

Kiba walked, slowly, into his sister’s office. Hana’s veterinary practice, which helped the Inuzuka clan out more than the rest of Konoha mostly, was in the front of the Inuzuka’s property. It was actually the first building you came to before reaching the large ranch they called home. He could hear various animals making their noises in the cages, which were in the back room. In the front room, his sister was seated at her desk, a large burly stray dog on the table behind her, as she typed into her computer. She glanced up at her brother briefly, motioned for him to wait, and continued typing.

Once done typing, she stood up and walked around the table with the dog, giving him a friendly head-rub as she passed, and grabbed a bottle of clear liquid off a shelf. Using a needle lying on the shelf next to the bottle, she drew out some of the liquid and walked back toward the dog.

“Don’t move,” Hana cooed, patting the dog’s fur as she moved toward his hind leg. “This is going to make you feel better.”

The dog never moved, didn’t even breathe too deeply, as the needle went in. Kiba was always amazed by the way Hana handled the animals, as if she had this natural way with them that kept every animal she met calm and collected. Even Shino’s bugs seemed calmer around her. When she called for her assistant, a cousin of theirs, to lead the stray to his cage in the back room, Kiba came over and sat on the table the dog had vacated.

“Hey sis!” Kiba said, smiling.

“You want a shot, too, Kiba?” Hana joked, waving the needle in front of him.

“Depends,” Kiba said, sticking his nose up. “What’s in it?”

Hana threw the needle in the specialized trashcan before answering her brother. “Just a low-grade antibiotic.”

“Nah,” Kiba said, waving his legs over the edge of the table, “I don’t feel sick today.”

Hana came back to stand in front of her brother, a smirk playing on her face. “Too bad, I was hoping to inject you with something.” Kiba frowned at her and could have sworn he heard Akamaru laugh. She propped herself on the table beside him and nudged him with her shoulder. “What’s wrong, Kiba? You look like you have a question.”

The brunette’s face turned red, making his facial markings look as if they’d spread across his nose. He glanced nervously at his sister with his peripheral vision and began tapping the metal table in an offbeat rhythm. “Um…”

“Kiba?” Hana nudged him again with a little less force than last time before giving Akamaru a questioning look. The dog just shrugged, which only nin-dogs seem to know how to do, and lay down.

“So, um…you know me and Hi-Hinata had a…um…date, right?” Hana nodded. “Well, um…it was kind of, ya know…bad.”

“The date was bad? What happened?”

Twenty minutes later, Kiba stopped rambling about his date, and Hana’s ears were ringing. She almost regretted asking in the first place. She took a deep breath, gave Kiba’s shoulder a squeeze, and smiled.

“If she kissed you, it means she likes you. Women don’t kiss men they don’t like.”

Kiba’s face brightened a little, but he still didn’t look her in the eye. “That’s what Shino said.”

“Well,” Hana smiled. “Shino’s a smart guy.”

Kiba smiled a little and jumped off the table. Akamaru stood and followed his master as they both walked toward the front door. A lady with a stray black cat was entering right as Kiba walked out.

“Thanks, sis!” Kiba yelled before running toward the forest. A few moments later he looked at Akamaru and smiled. “Let’s go for a walk, boy.”

Even a stubborn egotistical bastard like Uchiha Sasuke had to admit the apartment Naruto reserved for him was perfect. The view of the park, especially during the summer months, was breathtaking. The only thing wrong with his apartment was the dark haired man in an ANBU uniform standing in his kitchen and giving him one hell of a fake - and creepy - smile.

“You can leave now, Sai.” Sasuke hissed out, watching the other man rummage through his kitchen cabinets, which were obviously empty. He stopped for a moment, hand poised holding a cabinet door open, head positioned to look in, when his eyes darted over to Sasuke. A small smile crept on his face, slightly creepier than before, and shut the cabinet door. He turned his body, leaning back against the counter, and crossed his arms. It was as if Sai was trying to copy Naruto’s usual leisurely stance.

“Naruto talks about you a lot.” It wasn’t really a conversation starter it was a statement. Sasuke resisted the urge to shudder at the blonde’s name. “Before he became the Hokage, he would get in these moods - Sakura called it melancholy - where he’d talk about you for hours.”

Sasuke tried, and tried hard, to maintain his current icy stare and uncaring stance. It was wavering, however, but only slightly. Someone who didn’t know him well enough, someone like Sai, wouldn’t be able to see it. “That’s really interesting. You can leave now.”

“He said you were important to him. Best friends.” Sai was studying him, Sasuke noticed. Studying the way he reacted or lack thereof. “Sakura mentioned she always thought it was more than that.” Sasuke’s eyebrow arched of its own accord. “She was right, then?”

The Uchiha glared, intensely, at Sai, who remained unfazed. Their gaze remained locked for a few moments before finally breaking. Sai uncrossed his arms and pushed himself off the counter.

“Later tonight someone will bring you some food. Until Naruto-sama decides you can leave this house -“ Sasuke gave a start at that. “- you’ll have to rely on us ANBU getting your meals. Oh, and someone will bring you some clothes, I’m sure.”

“Why can’t I leave this house?” Sasuke said through gritted teeth, his hands fisted at his sides. He thought he’d be free. It’s what Naruto promised him, wasn’t it?

Sai shrugged. “My orders were clear.”

Sasuke went to ask another question, but Sai had already vanished. He stood still for a while, his brain not fully comprehending what his so-called replacement had told him. House arrest? Was this Naruto’s form of punishment? Sasuke ran a shaking hand through his hair as he sat on the couch in his living room. The apartment was nice enough, big enough, for him to live in for a while. But the truth remained that Naruto promised him freedom, and the idiot never went back on his word.

He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, as his hands fisted in his hair. “Naruto,” his voice breathed out, remembering the intense kiss and the heart-felt words echoed through that hospital room. It was so surreal, yet so much like a dream come true.

…whatever game you’re playing will not work!

But what game was he playing? It wasn’t a game, it was reality, destiny, and Sasuke was saving the only person he’d ever truly loved from being hurt again. It was a noble cause, even if he didn’t go about it quite right, but what else could he have done? Naruto wasn’t easily swayed, that was common knowledge. Sasuke had to make the blonde go away willingly. He hurt Naruto a little to save him from a bigger hurt later.

None of that fixed what Sasuke was feeling now, like his heart was being ripped from his chest. Like his soul was being carved out with a rusty spoon. Like…like Naruto’s bright light and warmth was being slowly drained from him. Sasuke felt like he was dying, and it was scaring him.

It was only because Naruto asked her that made Sakura take food and clothes to Sasuke. Nothing he wore, until he was released from his house arrest, would bear the Uchiha symbol, but Sakura decided he’d have to deal with it. She was doing him a favor, and he wasn’t in any position to get picky.

With the bag of clothes dangling off her arm and the containers and bags of food cradled in her hands, Sakura kicked the door. The kick woke up Sasuke who was lounging, quite un-Uchiha-like, on the couch. He sat up, startled, and glanced around the apartment. There was no longer bright sunshine cascading through the room via the large windows. Instead, there was a breathtaking view of a sunset and the room was blanketed in shadows and the hazy gray of late evening. Just how long had he been asleep?

Slowly making his way to the door Sasuke barely had enough time to move when Sakura’s final kick, quite harder due to frustration, forced the door away from the lock. Sasuke was standing off to the side watching as shards from the doorframe littered his floor with his hands held up as if protecting himself. The look on his face, or, more appropriately, in his eyes showed shock beyond anything else. Sakura had the same expression on her face, except hers was mixed with an apologetic look. Two ANBU landed on either side of Sakura, the breaking door alerted them.

“Everything okay, Ms. Haruno?” One asked, surveying the damage. It wouldn’t take much to fix, but the fact remained it was a new apartment she’d damaged.

“Naruto was right,” The other said, who revealed himself as Sai when he lifted his mask. “You really do have super-human strength, bitch.”

Sakura rounded on Sai, the food containers swaying dangerously in her hands. “Shut up, Sai!’

Sai crossed his arms and smiled his creepy smile. “Well, you did break the door, Sakura.” He waved off the other guard before walking into the apartment, looking over the nearly broken door on his way through. He noticed that, towards the bottom, there was a dent that could have been fatal to the door. Sakura was holding back…a lot.

“I don’t need your assistance.” Sasuke hissed out, not wanting the man in his home ever again. “Just get someone to fix it and leave.”

Sakura walked in after Sai and set the things she was carrying on Sasuke’s countertop. After, she turned and leaned against the counter, watching the tension between the two men. Or, rather, the tension one of them held and the other simply shrugged off. It was quite entertaining, if one was into that sort of thing. Which Sakura totally was.

“Yes, someone should fix it. Quite an eyesore.” Sakura noted that Sai was just playing with Sasuke, and she was amused. “You should have answered the door quicker.”

Sasuke seethed but chose to ignore Sai. Instead, he went after the food, since he was starving. Simple onigri, just the way he liked it. The Uchiha was honestly surprised Sakura had remembered all these years later. Sakura was watching him, Sasuke noticed, as he pulled the food from the bag with his usual grace. He opened the Styrofoam containers slowly and pulled the chopsticks from their paper. Sai put two fingers against the base of his neck and began speaking into the microphone hooked to his ear. He was ordering someone to fix the door. When, after a few minutes, his visitors didn’t leave the apartment, Sasuke raised his eyes and, looking through his dark bangs, saw them both staring at him.

“You two can leave now.” Sakura rolled her eyes and turned away, grabbing Sai’s arm and pulling him with her. “Thank you.”

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks, forcing Sai to run into her. She turned, slowly, and looked at Sasuke, her eyebrow arched. “What?”

“Thank you,” he repeated, setting his chopsticks down and reaching for the bag of clothes.

Sakura fought the urge to place a hand over her chest as her breathing hitched. He’d said the same thing to her, in the same tone, before he left Konoha. Of all the things he’d have to say to her now, it had to be that? After taking a few deep breaths, she nodded her reply and kept walking. Sai, although giving her a strange look, followed. Sasuke saw nothing out of the ordinary, as he was too busy scrutinizing over the clothes she’d brought him. They were just simple clothes, similar to what he used to wear at thirteen. And nothing had his clan’s symbol tailored in.

Hearing the front door being fixed, Sasuke stood up, put the food away and carried the clothes to his bedroom. She neglected to bring him something to sleep in, which he noticed as he put the clothes away. Sasuke counted four outfits, more if he mixed and matched, but still only four shirts and four pants, and one pair of black sandals. Flopping down on the big bed in his bedroom, Sasuke left out a sigh and laid back. With one hand lazily placed on his chest, the other at his side, Sasuke slowly drifted off to sleep. The last thing he remembered was the sound of a frog from somewhere, he supposed it was near the creek…although it sounded awful close…

If there was one thing Gamakichi didn’t enjoy it was being used as a surveillance toad. But, when Naruto, whom his father deeply respected (due to saving both Gamakichi and Gamatatsu’s lives over the years multiple times), asked him for a favor, Gamakichi knew better than to say no. Which explains how the toad had transformed himself into a smaller body, hid out in the creek until the newly released Uchiha was alone, and then spied on him for the remainder of the evening. It wasn’t a respectable mission, but it was all behind him now.

Summon toads were different from regular toads in many ways, some less obvious than others. The most obvious difference was they could talk. The less obvious, unless you actually knew a toad from its younger years to older years, was that they grew up. Gamakichi, in his full form, was nearly the size of Naruto’s couch in width and nearly seven feet tall when on all fours. His brother, Gamtatsu, was nearly the same size, if not a little chubbier.

Naruto was sitting at his desk, the picture of his parents clutched in his hand as he slept on a stack of paperwork. Gamakichi snickered to himself before sliding his long, sticky tongue over Naruto’s cheek, causing the young blonde to stand straight up, the picture left forgotten for the time being on the desk. His head whipped around his apartment, trying to find the cause of the sticky mess left on his face when he came face to face with a seven-foot tall toad.

“Ah! Gama-Gamakichi!” Naruto’s hands flailed around as he yelled before toppling backwards over the chair he was sitting in. When he finally got himself together, and was sitting on the floor, his legs sprawled out in front of him he huffed and crossed his arms. “Don’t do that!”

The red-orange toad was laughing quite loudly, his short arms over his belly as far as they’d go. “I’m…I’m sorry…just…couldn’t…resist…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto said, bracing his hand on his knee to get up. “What’d you find out?”

“Nothin’ much, blondie.” The toad was sitting back on all fours, his laughter ceasing for the moment. “He didn’t do much but glare at that Sai kid, eat, and sleep. I dunno what you wanted, kid, but nothing interesting happened.”

Naruto frowned a bit before padding into the kitchen and grabbing a container out of the fridge. He threw the small package at Gamakichi. “There, it’s a thank you, but don’t tell ol’ Boss Toad I gave it to ya.”

Gamakichi eyed it curiously before opening it up. Neatly aligned inside were rows and rows of dragonflies, all preserved under a thin plastic seal. The toad’s eyes lit up as he stared at his next great, if not illegal, meal.

“How’d you get ‘em, blondie? Dragonflies are rare here.”

“Shino owed me a favor.” Naruto said, shrugging. Dragonflies were rare in Konoha. The village maybe saw ten a summer. The Aburame clan had been desperately collecting the dead insects for several years now to use the DNA in an attempt to repopulate the species, and Naruto had now taken a good twenty for his own personal use. He felt slightly guilty, but his little mission for Gamakichi was more important than the life of insects…at least to himself.

“That’s one hell of a favor. Ain’t your friend an Aburame?”

“There’s another ten dragonflies if you will offer to help me out for another night.” Naruto tapped his fridge and smirked, knowing Gamakichi would never turn down a rare meal. He had a penchant for fine and illegal foods. Sighing, Gamakichi nodded before sneaking a dragonfly from the container. The food was too good to turn down a bad mission.

When the toad left for the night, Naruto sighed and slowly made his way to his bedroom. He found out absolutely nothing about Sasuke, or any of Sasuke’s emotions. It was rather disappointing to say the least. Neither boy was ever good at expressing what they were actually feeling. Neither was good at words or talking in general, they usually just used their fists to communicate. But this time was different. This time they couldn’t just destroy a training ground to get past whatever they were feeling.

Flopping down on his bed and letting himself lie sprawled out on the soft mattress, Naruto tried to think of the next step, the next phase of his plan. He knew he wasn’t Shikamaru, he couldn’t stop and think two hundred steps ahead, but he was Naruto, he was clever, and he’d come up with something. Even if it was spur-of-the-moment, which it more often was.

Kakashi weighed his options carefully for his new mission. There were several routes he could take to get the information, but only two or three that seemed actually feasible. He finally, after much deliberation with his clone, decided on option two: hide in the walls and listen. It seemed like a pretty decent idea, especially since they were having an unscheduled meeting that they even sent the ANBU guards home for.

As the jounin situated himself within the walls, with two clones at two other points in the room, he listened intently for any words concerning his ex-student and current Hokage.

There were five council members in the room, their usual number. He could hear the various voices talking, two of which he could recognize. They seemed to be the two most adamant of the group. Sasushi and Teushi were arguing, but it seemed the other three council members thought nothing of it.

“We cannot condemn him just because of what might happen!” Sasushi said, her voice taking a shrieking tone.

“But, Sasushi, do you think we should just let him free?” Another female asked.

“No, not at all. I think that he should be watched and that the Hokage take an active role in making sure he’s not going to harm anyone. With that said, however, I still do not think we should treat him like a common criminal.” The other voices began to question her, but she silenced them all before continuing her point. “He never killed anyone from Konoha.”

“Did you forgot about how he tried to kill the Hokage twice?” Teushi voiced, anger present in his voice.

“He wasn’t the Hokage then.” Sasushi said, frustration in her voice. “And if Naruto-sama doesn’t want to hold it against him, then neither should we. Who better to be the Uchiha’s judge of character than his teammate and friend?”

“How about someone who doesn’t have a biased opinion?”

“Teushi, you are an ignorant fool!” Sasushi hissed out making the other members gasp. “You aren’t even a ninja and yet you think you can determine right from wrong?” Kakashi heard her take a deep breath before continuing, her voice much calmer. “We should pull the Hokage in, ask him in person what he saw during his jutsu, and then decide from there. But I strongly disagree with executing the Uchiha.”

Kakashi froze in his place. Execute? The council wanted Sasuke dead? But why now? Why not five years ago when he first came back?

“I say we listen to Lady Sasushi.” A male voice said, sounding like he did not want to be in this conversation at all. “Let’s hear our Hokage out. He might have solid proof of the Uchiha’s innocence.”

Teushi snorted at that, but kept quiet otherwise. There was a murmur of agreement before Kakashi heard the rustling of the council leaving the room. He was ready to dispel the clones and leave himself when he heard the rustling of papers.

“Teushi,” Sasushi said softly. “You’ll be making a mistake, you know. Naruto won’t stand for it, no matter what.”

“I tried to talk you ignorant fools into this five years ago, but you wouldn’t listen. Maybe if you see he’s dangerous, maybe by losing an innocent villager or three, you’ll see that the Uchiha can’t be trusted. None of them could be.”

The slamming of a door signaled that Teushi left the room. Kakashi weighed his options again, but decided confronting a council member wasn’t such a great idea, at least, not this early in the game. When he heard the door open and close a second time, he dispelled the clones and teleported himself outside to, what he considered, a safe distance away. The instant he landed in the park, he could sense someone was watching him. Kakashi waited patiently for the person to show up, and he didn’t wait long.

Sasushi was stealthy in her own right, being an ex-ANBU, and was one of the very few people who were able to startle Kakashi. When she placed her arm on his bicep, he jumped ever so slightly, making a small smirk appear on the elderly woman’s face. She still had it. She pulled the jounin behind a large tree and began looking around nervously.

“Kakashi, listen closely.” Sasushi said. Her voice was rushed and quiet, but she didn’t have a lot of time on her side. “Do not tell Naruto of the meeting tonight.” Kakashi raised his eyebrow, but nodded. “Teushi is a dangerous man, in the same league as Danzou. He’ll get what he wants if he keeps after it long enough. He will convince the right person and Naruto will be helpless to stop him.”

With his eyebrow still arched, he asked the very obvious question, “Why not tell him then?”

Another nervous glance and then Sasushi looked into Kakashi’s face again. “Can Naruto actually control the Kyuubi or does he just think he can? Everyone knows, now, that Madara Uchiha unleashed that demon on this village, can this Uchiha do the same?”

With that, the woman disappeared. Kakashi stood, stunned, and without a hope of knowing what to do. He just got himself thrust into a controversy bigger than himself, bigger than Naruto, bigger than the village itself. It wasn’t just picking an option and following it through to the end. This wasn’t just a normal A-ranked mission. This was bigger.

Kakashi ran a hand through his unruly silver hair and sighed. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

or Full Story: on FF.net