Backwoods
Backwoods
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Title:
Pairing: Naruto & Sasuke
Rating: MA
Genre: Horror
Summary: When he
was ten, Naruto woke up in the hospital with amnesia due trauma of unknown
kind. After many years of trying to find out about what
happened to him, Naruto places all his hope for finding the answer into the photograph
of a gravestone, with a single word written on the back: Konoha.
Notes: AU, so no
spoilers. It will be disturbing at times, so please don’t read if you’re
sensitive.
I thought I should apologize for starting yet another story
without finishing those in progress already, but I won’t. In my opinion, it is
much greater sin to let a story go to waste before it ever got a chance, and I
will finish all of my stories anyway. In what order probably depends on you
just as much as it depends on me.
I hope you like it!
Backwoods
Prologue
pretty much ridicules to stop your motorcycle in the middle of a lonely road on
the very edge of the world, or even further, just so you could take one more
look at a photograph. Naruto already knew everything on it, every tree, every
shadow, every little stone at the base of a roughly craved gravestone and even
the exact shape of the cloud that found its way into the scene by pure
accident. He knew it so well; he could describe every detail with his eyes
closed.
the photo from the front pocket of his jacket. He glanced at the site, but what
really wanted his attention was the word written on the back side,
with the vertical slant and perfectly formed words. But as every other time
Naruto saw it, a wave of mild nausea washed over him. It was familiar, the word
felt almost, but not quite sweet on his tongue, like a chocolate cake from
behind the window of a shop. Naruto thought, for who knows what time, that if
he could just close his eyes and reach, he would remember it not as a small town
in the middle of the rich forest Google search came up with, but as something
more significant, something his. Very
aware he’s doing it, again, and on
some strange road instead of on the bed back in his dorm, Naruto closed his
eyes and tried to see it.
from the feeling of familiarity and even stronger nausea, just like every other
time, there was nothing. Naruto sighed and climbed back on the bike, tucking
the photo on the safe place again. There’s nothing for it, and he knew it, no
matter what he told Gaara to convince him he was not stupid enough to fall for
an obvious provocation. This was not a prank. This was not about yet another
moron who thought Naruto’s shady history is a laughing matter, or something to
be afraid of. He was going to that town. He had to; he kept seeing strange
blurry outlines of it in his dreams ever since he had opened the yellow
envelope and saw the picture, and he knew every time those restless dreams woke
him up that he had to go to Konoha. He had to see, he had to remember.
Naruto was never closer to his
memories. Never, for the ten years since he woke up in the hospital unable to
even lift his hand without a great effort and with his life and identity
completely wiped out from his brain, he had a feeling of familiarity about
anything. Well, there was once some stranger in a bathroom of a bar, but he
disappeared before Naruto could react and ask questions, and this - this was
solid, this photo… it was a clue. A real trace of hope.
All the answers Naruto ever wanted
were just behind that unmarked gravestone, in the name on the back, in the
person that left the photo in his mailbox. Naruto had to find out. He had to
know who he was, who his parents are – were.
He had to find out why was he left in the emergency room of the city hospital,
full of bruises and covered in dry blood, with only a dirty sheet of paper with
a name nurses decided to adopt as his own.
It was maybe insane, but Konoha
seemed like a key for all his mysteries. For night walks he couldn’t remember,
for the strange markings on his body that he was sometimes waking up with, odd
sores and maybe even for the nightmares full of grotesque shadows and
corpses. And even if Konoha wasn’t the
solution, Naruto was definitely feeling better when he was moving, trying to
solve it all – even if the price was to be expelled from the university.
Naruto added more power into the
engine and a satisfying roar accompanied the burst of speed down the road that
definitely saw better days. According to the map and the old man back at the
last gas station, Konoha was just behind that hill.
Konoha…
I’m almost there.
It has been a long time since the
last time Naruto was nervous about something, but right then, it felt as if
butterflies in his stomach grew teeth. Was he fooling himself? Or there were
really answers waiting for him beyond this road?
Naruto added to the speed, despite
of being unfamiliar with this freeway surrounded with the claustrophobically
thick woods from both sides. After all, the sooner he arrived, the sooner he
could start asking questions.