Fox Magic 13: Identity (Part 1)
F o x M a g i c
by akaitsume
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Genre: AU(ish)/Drama/Action/Adventure/Romance/Mystery
Pairings: NaruSasuNaru
Rating: R (for the moment)
Warnings: Fantasy-esque, Zoomorphism, AU, a liberal dose of Japanese mythology, violence, strong language, references to abuse/torture in later chapters, and (eventually) limes and lemons.
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns with the characters, but I think I'm having more fun with them at this point than he is. No profit is made from tinkering with them.
Summary: A decision made in the heat of the moment leaves Sasuke questioning his past, his future, and his convictions, all while dealing with an ancient, all-powerful fox demon whose grudge transcends both time and space. NaruSasuNaru, canonish AU
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Previous Chapter (the beginning of the Leaving Konoha arc)
“Naruto. Get into the tent,” Sasuke ordered grouchily. The storm above was rumbling threateningly, obscuring the moon and shrouding the entire forest in darkness. Sasuke kneeled upon his black sleeping bag, fingers tightening on the tent flap in his hands as he glared at the demon loitering in the clearing. His heat-relaxed muscles were tingling from all of the exertion he’d forced them through, and all he wanted was to rest.
The demon, however, seemed to have other plans. Sniffing at the air, Naruto threw his hands up over his head and flopped backwards onto the grass beside the extinguished fire. He sighed loudly.
“Sasuke, do we really have to sleep inside the tent?” the fox demon whined. “I’d rather be outside. It smells great out here.”
“And it’s going to rain on us in about thirty seconds,” Sasuke snapped. “Get in here.”
“But…!” Naruto rolled back and forth over the grass. “It feels so good!”
“Naruto…” Brows furrowed in frustration, Sasuke hesitated. The demon had been stuck indoors for centuries, hidden away from the world that he loved. Even the crystal was sending spikes of echoed relief and pleasure into Sasuke as the demon rolled around, teasing him to the point where he almost agreed. If watching him felt this good to Sasuke, the blond man was probably in heaven. Sasuke rubbed a weary hand over his eyes. “Don’t you still need to have contact with me overnight? I’d leave you out there if I could, but we both need the rest.”
“I don’t.” Grinning, Naruto stopped rolling and propped himself up onto his elbows. “I’m not the wuss in this travelling party. And besides, after jumping into that hot spring, I’ve got energy to spare!”
To prove his point, the campfire spontaneously sprung to life again, roaring as the flames leapt meters into the air. At Sasuke’s warning growl, the flames banked, simmered, and disappeared. Naruto pouted.
“And why can’t we keep the fire going, anyway? It’s not like I’ll let us catch on fire or anything,” he grumbled.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. “I’m not explaining it again. Maybe you would like to be set upon by bandits and rogue ninjas, but I don’t. Now, for the last time, get inside this tent before the skies open up!”
As if in reply, the storm clouds groaned.
Naruto tipped his head back to sniff forlornly at the air. “It’s not supposed to rain…”
An instant later, thick sheets of water rushed down upon them. Cursing, Sasuke ducked his head further under cover and instinctively dropped the tent flap. The rain thundered against the thick, tough material above him, and the water threatened to seep through the unsealed side opening. Scowling, he quickly pulled the flap aside and prepared to shout angrily at the blond.
Instead, he found himself pausing at the sight before him. Naruto’s blond hair and clothing was plastered against himself, fabric already sagging in the torrential downpour. Water ran off his lowered chin in thick streams, splattering against his soaked chest.
And on his face rested the single most insulted, disappointed, petulant frown Sasuke had ever seen. Naruto looked like a child who’d been taken to a giant toy store, promised everything inside, and then presented nothing but empty shelves. And then some cute puppies were slaughtered just for fun.
Sasuke couldn’t help it; he snickered. “I told you it would rain. Will you come inside now?”
Silently, Naruto turned that miserable frown on Sasuke, then grudgingly rose to his bare feet. Sasuke backed away from the opening as the blond approached, sitting smugly on his sleeping bag with his arms and legs folded. Naruto lifted the flap, glared at him, and gingerly stepped inside the tent, crawling over onto the opposite sleeping bag. As Sasuke watched curiously, the blond began to steam vigorously, his hair and clothing fluffing up as they dried. With a huff, the blond sat down on his bag and glowered at the ground.
“Don’t. Say. Anything,” Naruto growled. Sasuke smirked, but he obligingly kept his comments to himself. With a satisfied air, the Uchiha leaned forward and zipped up the tent, effectively sealing out the elements. Naruto’s expression grew even more profoundly grumpy.
Lips pressed together to keep from smiling, Sasuke unzipped his sleeping bag and began to settle down. As a thought occurred to him, he glanced up at the glowering demon.
“Naruto. Will you magic a tarp over our packs?”
“Do it yourself.” The blond lay down irritably, turning his back on his master.
Sasuke rolled his eyes again. “Naruto. I wish the packs were dry and covered with tarps.”
He was met with a growl, a zap, and the muffled sound of canvas rearranging itself near Naruto’s side of the tent. Sasuke smirked, lying down completely. Silence filled the tent for several long, blissful minutes.
Then, Naruto began shifting restlessly. “The modern world sucks,” he grouched.
Pressing his lips together, Sasuke refrained from replying.
“I mean it. It does. No magic, no life, no excitement…”
After a moment, Naruto sighed heavily and rolled towards Sasuke, staring at him pensively.
“You know…” Naruto trailed off, eyes roaming Sasuke’s face. “I still wish I could show you what this world used to look like. It was so much more before… Well, before I left.”
Frowning, Sasuke rolled onto his back and stared at the shuddering tent roof. “More what, exactly?”
Naruto sighed again. “More everything. Livelier, for one. There used to be spirits and demons roaming everywhere. Hell, you couldn’t even lie in the grass without something trying to talk to you.” His voice grew soft, and his blue eyes became distant. “Everything just felt more…magical.”
Sasuke hummed in reply, glancing at the blond man. “So when you were trapped, the world emptied itself out.”
The blue eyes closed. “…Yeah.”
In the silence that followed, the blue crystal on Sasuke’s chest gave a soft, mournful pulse of heat. The Uchiha heir shifted uncomfortably, wrestling with the awkward desire to comfort the blond man. In the end, he grunted and rolled onto his side, facing the tent wall.
“Well,” he replied gruffly, “maybe it’ll come back now that you’re back.”
An echo of surprise filtered through him, followed by a soft laugh. “Maybe you’re right.”
Neither man spoke for several minutes, the silence filled by the thundering rain. The cool temperature within the tent rose quickly, then hovered at a perfectly soothing level of warmth that forced Sasuke’s eyelids to droop. Aware that the change was deliberate, Sasuke scowled on principle.
“You don’t have to do that, Naruto,” he stated in a low tone. Naruto grunted in reply.
“I’m not doing it for you.” With a sigh, the demon shuffled around behind Sasuke, hesitated, and then reluctantly threw an arm over Sasuke’s side. When both men tensed, Naruto hurriedly continued, “I’d go into my fox form, but…”
“But?” Sasuke’s teeth ground audibly, despite the roar of the storm above.
“I…um. Can’t.”
Incredulous, Sasuke twisted his head to look into red eyes. “What do you mean, you can’t?”
“I… I wouldn’t be…small.” Naruto’s eyes shifted. “At all.”
Sasuke stared at him.
“I’ve just got a little extra energy from the hot spring, okay? And if I shifted back into my fox form right now, I probably wouldn’t…fit.” Visibly embarrassed, Naruto moved to press himself gingerly along Sasuke’s stiffened back. “So just put up with this, alright?”
“Naruto.”
The blond man winced. “I know.”
“You’re spooning with me.”
“I know.”
Silence. “One day, I’ll kill you for this.”
Exhaling wearily, Naruto settled in and relaxed.
“I know.”
* * *
The smell of sun-baked earth leisurely wafted into Sasuke’s nose, causing him to stretch luxuriously as he awoke. Soft blades of field grass whispered against his arms, bared from his bunched kimono sleeves as he moved. He sighed contently, relaxing against the gentle slope of the ground.
A quiet laugh sounded from his side, and a hand ran teasingly down his chest. “Have you finally awoken, then?”
Kyuubi’s voice. Sasuke felt his lips curl upwards into a smile, though he didn’t open his eyes. A voice he didn’t recognize floated from his lips.
“Hard to say, my lord. Can one truly be awake if one is living in a dream world?”
“And what dream world is this?” Kyuubi teased in reply. The hand upon his chest trailed over towards the side of his ribcage, and a pair of warm, dry lips brushed against his bare collarbone. Tendrils of demonic chakra spread from the point of contact, causing Sasuke to gasp. The lips smiled against his skin. “Is it one in which I am present?”
“Hmm.” As the lips continued to swipe across his skin, more wisps of chakra were released to swirl beneath his skin, teasing his nerves. Sasuke found himself shifting in the grass as arousal began to course through him, his heartbeat increasing in time with the swirling chakra. “An impossibly handsome demon, well-equipped with chakra and the knowledge of how best to use it to his advantage.” He paused. “I suppose you can be here, as well, my lord.”
“Minx!” Kyuubi laughed, rolling on top of his companion. Sasuke finally opened his eyes, gazing playfully up at the fox demon. His blond hair was long and wild with red streaks, tumbling freely over his ornate kimono. With a supplicating smile, Sasuke lifted an unfamiliar hand, marked with blue streaks on his wrists, and dragged an elongated nail down the muscular chest revealed by the sagging cloth. Kyuubi shivered, his pupils narrowing. “You shouldn’t tease me like this, Hirai-kun.”
“It is only teasing if I do not follow through, Kyuubi-sama,” Sasuke replied throatily. The demon above him narrowed his eyes, one clawed hand reaching forward to card through Sasuke’s long, brown hair.
Kyuubi leaned forward, his lips only a breath away from Sasuke’s. “And do you intend to follow through?” he questioned, his voice deep with desire.
A thrill raced up Sasuke’s spine, and he deliberately wrapped his arms around Kyuubi’s shoulders. “As always,” he replied breathily.
In a heartbeat, Kyuubi’s lips descended upon his, flooding him with fire chakra so intense that his senses began screaming. Moaning desperately, Sasuke moved to pull Kyuubi’s kimono off his shoulders, hands scrabbling at the hard, hot flesh beneath. One of the fox demon’s hands slid inside Sasuke’s clothing as well, claws scraping his skin as yet more demonic chakra was sent violently through him. Sasuke ripped his lips away with a gasp, arching his back in pleasure.
Growling, Kyuubi roughly bit him under his jaw, then worked his way down the younger man’s throat. Sasuke choked out a groan, his body hardening all over. As Kyuubi shifted more weight upon him, Sasuke parted his legs and bent his knees, framing the other man’s hips and digging his toes into the soft earth beneath him. Both men groaned.
“Hirai…” Kyuubi whispered raggedly in his ear, tearing at the other demon’s clothing. With each brush of his hands upon Sasuke’s skin, the fire chakra shot through him. Sasuke jerked his hips upwards, eagerly assisting as much as his foreign-chakra-muddled mind would allow. Before he knew it, his bare back was laid against the soft grass, with his equally naked lover pressing against him. Sasuke threw his head back and moaned at the contact, his erection nearly crying out under the sensory assault.
“K-Kyuubi-sama!!” Nearly mindless with pleasure, Sasuke scrabbled at his lover’s back, claws digging into the fox demon’s skin. He received another possessive bite for his trouble, sharp teeth sinking into the tender skin between his neck and shoulder. Sasuke cried out.
Kyuubi murmured his name repeatedly, sliding one hand down the younger demon’s side, ghosting it over his thigh, and then reaching beneath his balls. One finger, abruptly declawed, circled his entrance. The fire chakra caused the puckered muscles to tremble and relax, ripping another cry from Sasuke’s lips, followed shortly by babbling pleas.
“Kyuubi-sama…Kyuubi-sama, please…oh, please, oh…PLEASE!”
With a muffled groan, Kyuubi lined himself up and pressed inside his lover, his demonic chakra easing the way. Sasuke let out a low whine that rose steadily in pitch, body arching as he clung to the man atop him. His body was so overwhelmed by sensation that he couldn’t even be sure that he was breathing anymore, and as the other demon began to move, he was certain that he wouldn’t live through the encounter, but oh it was worth it and-
Gasping heavily, Sasuke’s eyes abruptly shot open, staring unseeingly at the sunlit roof of the tent. His whole body was aching with desire, and for a minute he didn’t understand where he was or what he was doing. Eyes wild, he turned his head towards the demon next to him, whose red eyes had just snapped open as well. They stared at each other for a heartbeat.
In the next, Naruto was on top of Sasuke, lips pressing furiously against his as his claws made short work of the sleeping bag. Teflon and cotton went flying in the small space, soon to be followed by the front of Sasuke’s shredded shirt. The Uchiha heir moaned desperately around the lips against his, head swimming with the feeling of demonic chakra swirling through him. He pawed frantically at Naruto’s clothing, sliding a hand up the other man’s shirt and gripping the skin beneath. Both men were breathing heavily, hands sliding everywhere as they rubbed together. They were both so close…
At the same moment, both men froze. Sasuke stared into huge, disbelieving blue eyes, horror working its way into his brain. He was… he was…with Naruto??
Sasuke let out a horrified cry, shoving upwards with abruptly chakra-laden hands. The blast enveloped the man above him, rocketing him up through the tent roof and ripping the entire tent out of the ground. Sasuke fell heavily on the still-sealed tent flaps as the contraption flipped on its side, slowly collapsing. Struggling for breath, he stared out the new hole in the roof.
Naruto landed only inches from the hot spring with a sickening thud. The fox demon groaned loudly, though he didn’t sit up. As Sasuke jerkily freed himself from the deformed tent, they each pointed a finger at the other.
“I/YOU KISSED YOU/ME!!!” they screamed together in absolute horror.
Sasuke stormed forward, grabbing the silver chain of the pendant necklace and holding the crystal as far away from his chest as it would go.
“Naruto, what the fuck was that about?? It’s one thing for me to get trapped in one of your dreams about being tortured, but to stick me in the body of your fucktoy-”
“Hirai was NOT a fucktoy!!” At that, Naruto finally sat up, his face red. “He was important to me, thank you very much, and if you think I’m happy that I was apparently doing all of that stuff to you, you’re insane!!”
“I didn’t sign up to be a part of your gay fantasies!” Sasuke screamed. “I’ve had enough of this bullshit! I don’t want any of this!”
Disgusted and fighting off waves of panic, Sasuke tore at the necklace and forced it over his head. He gripped the crystal in his hand and pulled his fist back, prepared to throw it at the demon.
Naruto’s expression changed.
Sasuke hesitated.
Naruto stared at Sasuke’s fist, a frown of deep consternation on his face. His earlier anger seemed forgotten. “You’re going to throw it away?”
Sasuke’s hand quivered, and he unconsciously tightened his grip on the cool stone. “I…”
“…Are you?” Naruto insisted, his voice dropping to a ragged whisper. Sasuke dropped his gaze guiltily and stiffly shook his head, lowering his hand.
“No, I… No, I’m not. I just…” Frustrated, the Uchiha heir ran a hand through his mussed hair. “This whole nonsense is killing me, Naruto! I don’t know what your crazy powers are doing to me!”
When the demon sighed loudly, Sasuke lifted his eyes. Naruto had propped his elbows on his knees and was digging his palms into his eyes.
“I don’t understand it either, Sasuke,” he replied wearily. “I really don’t. This sort of thing hasn’t happened once in the thousand years I’ve been enslaved.”
Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fingers, pressing the sharp edges of the crystal into his palm. “Sometimes, that answer isn’t really good enough, Naruto.”
The blond man shook his head, face still buried in his hands. “I don’t have another one for you.”
Humiliation and residual arousal still seething within him, Sasuke stalked over to his pack and threw off the tarp. He dug within the contents his pack, angrily pulling out his weapon pouches. Behind him, the demon exhaled noisily.
“Sasuke, it’s not like I meant to include you in my…reminiscing. Try to imagine how I feel. There I was, back with someone I cherished right before I lost everything…” He made a loud, disgruntled noise, waving a hand at Sasuke just as the younger man glanced over his shoulder. “And then the next thing I know, I’m on top of you!”
Sasuke turned away, his cheeks stained red. “I guess it was thoroughly unpleasant for both of us, then.”
Naruto grunted, but he didn’t reply. Battling down his turbulent emotions, Sasuke scowled at his ruined shirt front and strapped several weapon sheaths to his chest and legs. The chain from the necklace clinked softly as he maneuvered, the pendant still clutched tightly in his fist. The crystal grew faintly warm, bringing with it a hint of Naruto’s internal pain. Unbidden, Sasuke felt a miniscule wave a guilt slither through him.
Naruto had been in a war. His lover, as disturbing as the thought was, had probably been lost. His anger fading away, Sasuke ran his free hand over his brow and straightened.
“We should probably get going,” he stated gruffly. When the demon lowered his hands and stared at him, Sasuke awkwardly shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll just forget this whole morning happened, and move on. Deal?”
Shaking his head and placing a clawed hand against the nearby hot springs rocks, Naruto rose to his feet and moved towards Sasuke. His eyes were averted. “Sure. Whatever.”
Sasuke rubbed his face. “Alright. Fine.” The Uchiha steadfastly ignored the fact that he could feel the heat pouring off the demon beside him, invisible chakra teasing at his side. He schooled his expression. “I wish the tent…and my shirt, and our sleeping bags were fixed and packed away.”
Naruto snorted. “Lazy.” With a zap, Sasuke’s shirt was repaired, the hole in the tent was gone, and the material folded itself over in the air, sleeping bags trapped inside, and strapped itself to Sasuke’s backpack. The demon paused, staring up the mountain with a strange look on his face. The crystal gave an odd twinge in Sasuke’s hand. “Say, before we go, do you mind if we check out that shrine? I didn’t really get a good look at it.”
The brunet eyed him suspiciously, but he shrugged anyway. If the blond was looking for a distraction, he could oblige. “Alright. It can’t hurt, I’m sure. But only for a second.” Sasuke hesitated, then awkwardly unfurled his hand and pulled the necklace back over his head. Shoulders tense, he hefted his pack. “Let’s go.”
“Mm.” Smirking faintly, Naruto picked up his own pack and turned towards the trail to the abandoned shrine he’d spotted the night before. For some reason, this morning he felt a draw to it that hadn’t been there when he’d gone hunting. It was like the ancient wood was resonating with him.
When Sasuke began glaring at him, Naruto shrugged and started walking up the trail. Their campsite lay forgotten behind them as they disappeared into the forest.
Neither noticed that the hot spring’s waters were still, cool as a glacial stream.
Part 2