Path to Perdition (complete)

Chapter 10:

There was all this white fog…he knew there was something imperative he had to see. But the fog blocked his vision; he couldn’t even see his own hand in front of him. He wondered if this was another time the tiny voice was going to invade his senses, but it didn’t come. Naruto reached out, touching the fog that seemed too solid, feeling its texture he gripped it and began to tear. Pain screamed through his hands as it cut through him, but he managed it. Then he found himself standing in what used to be a lush green forest.

There was a white flash heading towards him. He titled his head, wondering what it could be and why his instincts were screaming for him to run. Then suddenly someone else jumped in, he was supposed to know this person…it was Jassin! He frowned not understanding what was happening…then Jassin turned to him with a smile.

He felt his gut wrench like something was going to go wrong. Jassin’s smile was so weird…like it was the last time they’d see each other. He tried to cry out, as he watched the boy start to disappear.

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“JASSIN…NO!”

Sasuke woke up as the cry ripped through the room. He saw that Naruto was awake at last, tears streaming down his face, blue eyes filled with pain. He reached for the blond who jerked away, staring at Sasuke with an expression Sasuke never wanted to see again.

“Naruto…calm down. It’ll be ok…” Sasuke ventured to try to get Naruto to cool down a bit.

Naruto took a few deep breaths and then looked at Sasuke. “He did die, didn’t he?”

Sasuke didn’t want to hurt Naruto further, but he couldn’t lie either. He wondered if he should try to hug Naruto again, but they way the blond was acting that wouldn’t be easy at all. So he just nodded.

Naruto looked away, for minute swallowing. “So, what am I doing here? It is the hospital isn’t it? In Konoha…?”

Sasuke just smirked. “Where else did you expect dobe? And what do you mean ‘why are you here’?”

Naruto inhaled slowly. “Well, I’m the bad guy…I was one of Orochimaru’s minions, so why would I be in Konoha?”

“Because most of the villagers saw you fight Orochimaru. And the council decided they’d rather have such awesome power fight for them instead of against them. You know how selfish they are…and well Tsunade refused to let you die.” Sasuke stated, being his usual stoic self again.

“Figures. At least now they won’t attack me. I wish you’d just let me die though.” Naruto lay back down and closed his eyes.

Sasuke clenched his fists trying to hold in the anger he was feeling at that statement. He kept his face impassive. “You’re alright now dobe, you’ve been in here for about three days. So you can leave if you want to.”

Naruto opened his mouth to say something when Sakura ran in. she hugged him. “Oh you’re awake. How do you feel? I’ve been so worried about you! Let me check you up first!”

Naruto was quiet. Sakura threw a despairing glance at Sasuke, who looked away, just as silent. “You guys! Did you start arguing all ready?” she went on with prodding and checking the blond with her chakra. Then she wiped her forehead. “You’re fine. You can go out. Tsunade wants to see you first. Sasuke will escort you there.”

Naruto nodded and followed Sasuke out. They didn’t talk…Sasuke walking ahead, making no move to begin a conversation. Naruto looked around feeling weird as he walked through corridors he had sworn to destroy. Once they reached the office, Sasuke gestured for him to go in, before going in himself and shutting the door behind him.

Tsunade was asleep on a heap of papers again. Naruto had to stop the urge to yell and wake her up. He could never go back to being that person again, could he? He just watched as Sasuke shook her awake and glared at her.

Tsunade shuffled her papers about a little, trying to make believe that she hadn’t fallen asleep. Then she looked up at Naruto. “Well, Naruto…how are you feeling?”

Naruto shrugged. “Fine I guess. Lets finish this talk please, I’m tired and I’d like to get some sleep.”

Tsunade blinked, then she stared at him looking a bit hurt and sad. “Since you defected from Konoha to follow Orochimaru, we have to impose some rules. We all did see you fight him, but we want to make sure that you do not defect again, to side with Orochimaru or be alone.”

“So, we will be watching you…you’ll have an ANBU with you at all times. The council wants to make sure of your loyalty, before they give you too much freedom. You can roam up to two kilometers around Konoha with your escort.” Tsunade was speaking in crisp low tones. “Your living arrangement; well since your apartment has been let out, you can’t live there anymore. Sasuke salvaged your things, so I think you can find them at his home. You will be living with him…so I presume you can guess that he will also be your ANBU escort. That is all…for now. I’ll contact you if there is anymore I need to tell you.”

She gestured for Sasuke to leave them alone for a moment. Then she stood up and hugged Naruto. The blond stood stiff as a post, not knowing how to react to this. Orochimaru had never hugged him in a simple way like this…it had always been lust filled. Then he realized that Tsunade was crying. He looked down at her with surprise.

“Kusogaki…don’t ever do that again, ok? I’m so sorry for not being able to help you and protect like I should have. I’m so sorry…and I’m sorry about your student too. He helped us a great deal in a way.” Tsunade gave him a small smile.

Naruto closed his eyes; Jassin’s death was still a very fresh wound. It hurt to talk of him. Then he put his arms around Tsunade too. “Thank you.” He didn’t know why he did it, but seeing someone willing to share his grief and actually meaning it made him thaw a little. Then he let her go and walked out.

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They didn’t speak until they reached Sasuke’s home. Naruto realized that it hadn’t changed much. Then Sasuke led him up to his room. Naruto walked in and his eyes widened. The room was painted a very light orange. His favorite ‘babe’ calendar was hanging on one of the walls…it was the newest edition. His frog quilt was on his bed and so was his small stove which he used to heat water for a midnight ramen snack. His gama purse was on the table with a number of his books and scrolls.

Naruto sat on his bed. Sasuke seemed to have arranged all his belongings in this room. He couldn’t help feeling grateful that Sasuke had kept his childhood possessions intact. Going over to the drawer he found his diary. It was untouched, still closed the way he had before he had left. He ran his fingers lightly over it.

Then he heard the front door open and shut. He went downstairs to see whether Sasuke had stepped out and saw the brunette unpacking two steaming boxes of ramen from Ichiraku’s. Then Sasuke brought out some chopsticks and handed a box to Naruto. They both sat down on either sound of the couch and put the TV on.

The light from the TV illuminated their faces as they watched the news. Sasuke’s pale face looked ghostly in the flashing white light. Neither spoke, but both reveled in the sudden comfort of the then awkward silence. Naruto finished the ramen, just as Sasuke finished his. Naruto threw the empty cartons and Sasuke cleaned the counter. After which they both went to their rooms for the rest of the night.

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Naruto couldn’t sleep the fact that Jassin had died to protect him, plagued him. He remembered what had happened between him and Jassin before they came to Konoha and it made him sick to his stomach. He ran to the bathroom and emptied the ramen he had consumed. But he had no relief when he was done…grief for Jassin's death, hit him again, making him curl up painfully.

He stood up and slipped out the window. He got past the guards easily and made his way to the patch of ruined forest. When he reached he collapsed on the spot where Jassin had disappeared. He clenched and unclenched his fingers in the dirt, trying to ease the assault of grief. Jassin had been one of the most precious people in his life and he didn’t have that many anymore.

He remembered when he had first met Jassin…not as his teacher but when he was still 16. The boy was being trained by Orochimaru…and was the best in the ninja academy. It was one sunny afternoon, when Naruto had wanted to brood by himself…he hadn’t been to sociable for a while. Then he’d seen this small twelve year old boy, sitting under a tree, holding a small kitten. Unlike most Otogakure students who would have tried to dissect it, this boy was cuddling it. Naruto watched as the boy looked around warily, trying to protect the kitty from the others.

Then he’d heard the boy laugh…it was a beautiful tinkling sound that had filled the entire clearing. Naruto had left then, he didn’t want to see anyone else happy, while he was not. Surprisingly the boy had followed him. Then he had attempted conversation even though Naruto had tried to dissuade him. Finally as a last resort Jassin held out a small apple stuffed toy. He had explained that his mother had given it to him before he died and he wanted Naruto to have it as a token of friendship and to make him smile. So then Naruto had made his first actual friend in Otogakure, a friend that didn’t bring out the rage in him, but had coaxed out the nicer side of him.

Then Orochimaru had given him Jassin as a student. Naruto had been delighted with the fast leaner and they’d gone out a lot, just the two of them. Naruto had taught him everything he knew and had even opened up a little bit to him. Though he guarded bits of his past, he did tell Jassin most of it. Jassin had never offered sympathy…he’d just given an understanding smile and changed the subject…but it had helped Naruto a lot more than sympathy.

He had begun eradicating the sweetness in Jassin, but it hadn’t gone away too much. Even though Jassin played the part of a stoic young man in front of the rest of the residents of Otogakure, with Naruto he was his usual sweet self. Naruto let himself cry. He just let the tears flow, but the grief didn’t go away or lessen. He wished he could just curl up and die too.

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Sasuke woke up feeling uneasy. He softly padded towards Naruto’s room and peeked in. uttering a muffled curse at the room being empty, he concentrated and tried to find the idiot’s chakra. He sensed it, a pretty long way off and leaped out the window. He avoided the guards, almost merging with the night. Half way there he realized where he was heading. The spot where he and Naruto had fought…the spot where Jassin had died. Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. So the dobe was brooding again was he? Sitting there all alone, refusing to share anything! Slowly, walls of anger began to build up on the already strong foundations of frustration and hurt.

After everything he’d been through Naruto, still refused to accept him, still refused to rely on him! Sasuke’s fists clenched, Naruto would not be allowed to go on like this, and the dobe had to understand that Sasuke wasn’t going to give up. This time though, Sasuke would drill it into his head!

He spotted the blond head a little way off. As Naruto came into view he could make out the tears streaking down his face and his dead look. He reigned in the anger, and walked to place a hand on Naruto’s shoulder and crouched down to meet his eyes. They stared at each other for am minute.

“There’s nothing you can do about this dobe! You need to stop brooding!” Sasuke’s voice was level.

Naruto glared at him. “Leave me alone, Uchiha! If I want to brood I’ll do it…you’ve got no say in the matter. I would think that you of all people would understand…I’d think that you of all people would allow me to brood in peace…you were doing it all the time…most of your life in fact!”

Sasuke’s restraint crumbled a little. “This is exactly why I’m asking you not to! It’s a waste of time and it only makes you depressed in the end! I’m offering to help you, why won’t you accept it?”

Naruto smirked. “Why would I want your help? Like you could help… you’re pathetic Uchiha…you really should have left me to die. Then my troubles would be over and so would yours.”

The slap took him off guard and Naruto went sprawling on the ground. Sasuke’s eyes were filled with rage; he raised his hand again and hit the blond. “You asshole! You’ve been given another chance! Jassin took that hit to save you! To make sure you would live…not for you to pine away and die! That would be a waste of his life!”

Sasuke took a breath before continuing. “But no…you have to be a prick and sit and brood in the corner! Sometimes I don’t understand you! Don’t you feel the need to kick Orochimaru’s ass for all of this? Or do you still blame me and Konoha? If you blame me then kill me, dobe…I wouldn’t mind dying if that would give you the least bit of satisfaction! I’m sick of your pigheadedness! I’m sick of trying to get through to you…you’re the one who’s pathetic! You’re the one who’s so caught up in feeling sorry for yourself that you don’t want to see things as they are! I hate you for being like this!”

Naruto stared at him, before catching hold of his collar and pushing him down on the ground. “Why don’t you just let me go, Uchiha? It’s tearing me up inside! Do you know what I did to him before he died? Before he came to Konoha? I did to him, what the Konoha nins did to me! I wanted to stop…I truly did, but I couldn’t…it was like there was all this bitterness inside me…so I took it out on Jassin! He was the one person I cared for in Otogakure… he was my only fucking friend, I cared for him more then I did for Orochimaru-sama. I screwed that up as well! And…he still saved me. It should have been me who was dead, because I had finally turned into the monster they said I was!”

Sasuke tried not to let his shock show. So that’s why Jassin’s death was bothering Naruto so much… he heard Naruto’s voice break, as the blond rolled away from him, burying his head in his knees and rocking back and forth trying to stifle his sobs. Sasuke reached out and slipped his arms around the blond.

“It’s ok, dobe… it wasn’t your fault! Orochimaru did something to you… I know its like you were evil, but he did brain wash you. Jassin knew that… he wanted to save you because he loved you. He saw something in you worth saving, like most of us do. You need to give us a chance; we can’t prove anything to you, unless you give a chance to.” Sasuke rubbed soothing circles on his back.

Naruto stopped sobbing and freed himself from Sasuke’s arms. “What do you mean worth saving? The world really wouldn’t change much with me gone…”

Sasuke shook his head, an irritated expression appearing on his face. “You idiot! When you left, it killed me and so many of your friends! Sakura cried for weeks, Tsunade wouldn’t see anyone. Neji and Shikamaru walked around looking like death…Ino ate like mad; trying to get out of feeling depressed…Hinata was a wreck. Kiba and Akamaru tried sniffing your trail out every chance they got. We looked for ages! But you’d disappeared. It was only then we tried to move on, but nothing was the same.” He trailed off.

Naruto just looked at the ground, not saying anything. Sasuke was silent too. After a while they lay back, trying to break another awkward silence which had descended up on them. Then Naruto glanced at the dark haired man.

“Thank you, Sasuke.”

Then Sasuke frowned. “You know dobe… why did you leave me here? You don’t know how much that hurt… I’d tried so hard and so long to get you to understand. That was the last straw… I’d put in all my efforts to bring you to your senses, but you refused to listen! It hurt so fucking much, waking up to see Kakashi and Sakura… knowing that the next time I saw you would be in a battle. It hurt so fucking much that I had to kill another one of my loved ones… I still cared for Itachi, and I still loved you when I tried to fight you. Maybe I’m supposed to be grateful that you finally got it, but it’s come at a high price, don’t you think?” he couldn’t help the outburst it had been festering there for so long! He was angry about it…he was angry about everything actually.

Naruto’s face was impassive. Then he looked at the sky. “I don’t think saying I’m sorry is going to help? It would have been much easier if I’d stayed when I came to Konoha with you. Jassin would be alive… but I couldn’t. I believed very different things then and I learnt a tough lesson. So I have to say sorry…it’s all I’ve got. I’m sorry I hurt you and everybody else… I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused. But I don’t regret going to Orochimaru…”

Silence enveloped them once more. Then Sasuke turned to Naruto, curiosity written all over his face. “Hey Naruto…. what did Jassin mean, follow you dreams?”

Naruto smiled a little. “I was thinking about it too and then I remembered. He meant this…” the blond rolled onto the dark haired man and kissed him. “I love you Sasuke….”

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A/N: I’m stopping here. I got a lot more work to do on this, not going to say how much longer it’ll be….it could end next chapter or maybe after a few more. College has begun and I’m not sure how fast I’ll be able to write due to the time constraint. They want us to finish three novels and three plays in five and a half months along with phonetics and psych! So I’m sorry if I’m slower! Ja ne!

Taka