You Can Never Go Home Again
folder
Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
12
Views:
1,257
Reviews:
91
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
12
Views:
1,257
Reviews:
91
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Too Late
A/N: Just moved. No net. What better way to waste my days before I start my new job then to push out an overdue chapter? Also working on So Long and Good Night. Two fics open at the same time, just kind of writing for one of them when inspiration hits.
It has been three and a half years since I started writing this fic. Three long, long years, with spans of months without updates. Stupid Real Life. I’m not even sure if posting any more of this will hold anyone’s attention like it did in the past, as I know a lot of the fandom has died down (at least the original crowd I used to run/IRC with). So for those of you who are new to the fic, welcome, for any old-timers, welcome back, I’ve missed you too.
This is the big, monumental chapter. The last one I have plotted out completely with the big wtf ending. The next chapter is going to be an intermission (coughfluffsmutcough), and then hopefully I’ll have pulled my head out of my lazy ass and finished organizing the rest.
I also want to apologize if my fight scenes aren’t the greatest, I’m not very good at them, despite all the classes I took on fighting and choreography, it’s still just hard to put into good words. (Okay, it’s not much of a fight, haha, but yeah…)
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto or any characters therein associated with him. All are copyright Kishimoto-sensei. Thank you for your brief attention.
ENJOY!
You Can Never Go Home Again
Chapter Twelve: Too Late
The world shook and shattered, in the midst of untangling himself from the image of Not-Sasuke’s blood.
“Naruto!”
Blue eyes flew open and the world had reset itself. His team…he wasn’t in Konoha. He was…
He was still here.
So startled, he let out a noise when he was tackled to the floor by Sigume. The boy rose over him, glancing down at him then across the room, “You awake yet?” the normally quiet boy asked, “He’s got some sort of binding skill…illusionary techniques.”
Itachi flew to mind, but he pushed the thought aside. If it was Itachi, Sigume wouldn’t have had time to push him down. Naruto pushed himself up as Sigume rolled off of him and the sharp sound of kunai meeting kunai snapped through the room.
He felt separated from his body as he watched Toshio be thrown hard into the wall. He felt out of his own control as the strange ninja launched himself towards the blonde. He felt like he just had to lean his body slightly and dodged the man’s attack.
But then he fell back into himself as the dodge slipped and he hit the floor on his arm, hard, sliding a bit.
“You’re not much, are you, Foxy? Even with a whole group of you, this is going to be easy.” A foot met his gut and sent Naruto across the rest of the small space, meeting the wall with his back.
He felt, more than saw Konohamaru’s charge.
This man was good and agile, easily deflecting Konohamaru’s desperate attack, but he wasn’t prepared when Konohamaru, Toshio and Sigume descended upon him.
Something was still wrong. Naruto couldn’t get control of his body to help. He felt in a daze, the world a little blurry and warm around the edges.
Kit.
The world zoomed to focus so suddenly, he stumbled and hit the wall. He felt hot. On fire. Heat flooded his veins, and he felt himself change. His flow of chakra reversed, and he stumbled again, reaching for something to support himself.
Kyuubi…what are you doing to me?
But the fox demon did not answer. His answer was the sight of his fingers, his nails growing into sharp points.
No. Stop.
Calm. Kyuubi’s voice thundered into his mind, It will be alright.
What are you doing? How are you—
The bars on this cage are wide enough. Be strong, I am not the enemy now.
He cringed, but the fox forced his eyes to open, and the world was unnaturally in focus. And he thought he was watching everything in slow motion.
Sigume hit a pillar in the wall, cringing and slamming into the ground.
Naruto’s body moved.
The nin didn’t stand a chance when the clawed hand found it’s way around his neck.
!!!!!!!
The sun was barely breaking over the walls of Konoha when Naruto stepped out of Sakura’s apartment. He’d left her sleeping on the couch, where she’d seemed determined to keep residence, attempting guardianship from his nightmares.
He barely managed to meet Sasuke’s eyes when the nin met him less than fifteen feet from the building. But he managed, and he held the gaze. Silence thundered.
Finally, an eon later, he broke the gaze and moved, brushing past Sasuke. The other followed, like Naruto knew he would.
“So you’ll stay with her?”
“Talk to him, Naruto.”
“It’s the safest place for me to be.”
“You’re safe with me.”
He halted, Sasuke stopping far too close behind him.
“You’re the most dangerous person here.”
Tense. Careful, careful, the world is on the edge of breaking down.
“I’m not a threat to you.” Sasuke’s words were soft, carefully chosen.
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, trying to recenter himself, “You always have been.”
He barely dodged when Sasuke’s arm shot out, fist trying to connect with Naruto’s head. He spun, eyes guarded, meeting Sasuke’s black gaze.
“I don’t want to be the threat that makes you act this way, Naruto. Tell me what you want. Tell me how to bring it back.”
He looked at him, jaw clenching, studied him. Stranger.
“Tell me what happened while I was gone.”
!!!!!!!
“Who sent you?”
The nin struggled against the firm grasp, made a gurgling noise as Naruto felt the nails puncture skin and the warm trickle of blood found his hand.
“Naru—“
“Who sent you?”
There was a hacking noise, another sound as his grip tightened and he felt the throat give a little. He unleashed a roar and threw the other across the room, seeing red as he followed the ninja’s flight with a graceful move and pinned the man with a knee.
“M…m…mercy.”
He was goddamn tired of that answer, and roared, red chakra ripping through his arm, the man under him managed a scream through the red-hot pain that must have ripped through him when that hand found his throat again.
“Who? Who the fuck is this ‘Mercy’?”
I wonder if he knows he’s going to die. A small smirk hit the corner of his mouth.
For a second, Naruto fought against the demonic thought. Everyone knew he wasn’t one for mindless murder.
Is it mindless if you’re only protecting yourself and your team?
A weak hand pulled at his arm, terror in the eyes of the man under him. He loosened his grip enough to hear a struggled, liquid breath. Eyes focused and unfocused, and the nin said a word he didn’t catch. He hissed, and the man arched a little under him, before dark eyes settled back to his blazing ones.
“K…Kannon.”
!!!!!!!
Sasuke shrugged.
Somehow, Naruto knew that would be the first response. The uncharacteristic lift and fall of sharp shoulders. He focused for a moment on the ANBU tattoo on the tiny patch of bare skin he could see between Sasuke’s shirt and arm wraps, before he dragged his eyes back up, meeting the ever impossible to read black orbs.
“It wasn’t all that exciting.”
“Judging from what I’ve seen,” Naruto’s eyes flashed dangerously, “I’d say there were a few big things going on.”
“Dobe. It’s not what it looks like.”
“How do you know what it looks like to me? Because it’s not just looks.” Naruto took a step closer to him, “It’s scent. You know.”
Sasuke was silent, but nodded, an ever quick, barely noticeable, jerk of the head.
“I can sense enough of the story to get the general gist. But I’m willing to hear your version.”
“He wasn’t…” Sasuke started, shifted, “I didn’t…” Naruto quirked an eyebrow, “It’s not like…”
And then, because Naruto figured karma wanted to keep him its bitch, they were distracted. An ANBU swept in, stopping Sasuke in mid-stumble with their simple landing. The nin swept off a mask, looking between the two of them, then focusing on Sasuke, “Uchiha-san! The gates!”
They both tensed, Sasuke’s hands instantly going to his weapons holsters.
But the ANBU didn’t look panicked, he looked…almost happy.
“They’re at the gates!”
!!!!!!!
Thwop.
Thhhwop.
He was going to kill him. Slowly.
Thwop.
Painfully.
Thwop.
And he was going to shove that fucking ball so far down Tsugi’s throat the fucker would shit rainbow colored marbles as he died.
Thwop.
Forty-five minutes after escaping the Hokage’s office, he’d been hoping to find a little peace and quiet. Alone. That whole concept seemed so incredibly far away now.
Thwop.
Instead, here he was, in some fucking side street with the reincarnation of the Wonder Blonde, who was throwing that god-forsaken ball against the fence.
Thhhwop.
“So…”
Thwop.
Where the hell had he even gotten the thing?
“I think we should leave as soon as possible.”
Thwop.
He tried, he really did try to ignore the other.
“Maybe tonight?”
Nighttime departure. Could be best to make some ground and loose any possible trails. On the other hand…it was a mission with him.
Thwop.
“How about in an hour? The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back, and all that.”
Something in him stung. Where the hell was Naruto? He was getting too late, it was taking too long. Sasuke feared his premonitions were right. Maybe something had gone horribly wrong…
Thwop.
That fucking ball had better not be making the trip with them.
!!!!!!!
He followed. He shouldn’t have, but he did. Trailing just behind Sasuke, letting the ANBU have Point. But Sasuke didn’t seem too worried, and there was no tension in the air at the gates.
They stopped at the outer edges of the crowd, Sasuke pulling people out of the way to fight through the crowd. A bad feeling sunk into Naruto.
Odd to have a crowd.
May be someone important.
The Kyuubi snorted, and Naruto felt inclined to agree.
He was too busy musing with the fox demon to notice when Sasuke stopped, and found himself crashing into his shoulder blade.
“What the he—” He trailed off as the air around him finally registered. He froze. That scent.
Kyuubi growled.
Sasuke tensed as someone approached in front of him.
And then, the noise of the crowd died.
That bad feeling roared into a deeper, darker sensation when Sasuke slipped a step farther from him. It only took one word for the year to rush into the space between the two.
“Tsugi.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ch. 12 Fin.
It’s short. But it’s done. And I hate the ending. But it’s 4am and I’m sooooo out of it.
Next Chapter: SasuNaru fluff. Yeah, I said SasuNaru, not NaruSasu. Maybe a bit of both. Haven’t decided. After that…well, the story is still kind of undecided. Feel free to share any thoughts on what you think should happen, may help, may not. If there’s even anyone for this story anymore.
It has been three and a half years since I started writing this fic. Three long, long years, with spans of months without updates. Stupid Real Life. I’m not even sure if posting any more of this will hold anyone’s attention like it did in the past, as I know a lot of the fandom has died down (at least the original crowd I used to run/IRC with). So for those of you who are new to the fic, welcome, for any old-timers, welcome back, I’ve missed you too.
This is the big, monumental chapter. The last one I have plotted out completely with the big wtf ending. The next chapter is going to be an intermission (coughfluffsmutcough), and then hopefully I’ll have pulled my head out of my lazy ass and finished organizing the rest.
I also want to apologize if my fight scenes aren’t the greatest, I’m not very good at them, despite all the classes I took on fighting and choreography, it’s still just hard to put into good words. (Okay, it’s not much of a fight, haha, but yeah…)
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto or any characters therein associated with him. All are copyright Kishimoto-sensei. Thank you for your brief attention.
ENJOY!
You Can Never Go Home Again
Chapter Twelve: Too Late
The world shook and shattered, in the midst of untangling himself from the image of Not-Sasuke’s blood.
“Naruto!”
Blue eyes flew open and the world had reset itself. His team…he wasn’t in Konoha. He was…
He was still here.
So startled, he let out a noise when he was tackled to the floor by Sigume. The boy rose over him, glancing down at him then across the room, “You awake yet?” the normally quiet boy asked, “He’s got some sort of binding skill…illusionary techniques.”
Itachi flew to mind, but he pushed the thought aside. If it was Itachi, Sigume wouldn’t have had time to push him down. Naruto pushed himself up as Sigume rolled off of him and the sharp sound of kunai meeting kunai snapped through the room.
He felt separated from his body as he watched Toshio be thrown hard into the wall. He felt out of his own control as the strange ninja launched himself towards the blonde. He felt like he just had to lean his body slightly and dodged the man’s attack.
But then he fell back into himself as the dodge slipped and he hit the floor on his arm, hard, sliding a bit.
“You’re not much, are you, Foxy? Even with a whole group of you, this is going to be easy.” A foot met his gut and sent Naruto across the rest of the small space, meeting the wall with his back.
He felt, more than saw Konohamaru’s charge.
This man was good and agile, easily deflecting Konohamaru’s desperate attack, but he wasn’t prepared when Konohamaru, Toshio and Sigume descended upon him.
Something was still wrong. Naruto couldn’t get control of his body to help. He felt in a daze, the world a little blurry and warm around the edges.
Kit.
The world zoomed to focus so suddenly, he stumbled and hit the wall. He felt hot. On fire. Heat flooded his veins, and he felt himself change. His flow of chakra reversed, and he stumbled again, reaching for something to support himself.
Kyuubi…what are you doing to me?
But the fox demon did not answer. His answer was the sight of his fingers, his nails growing into sharp points.
No. Stop.
Calm. Kyuubi’s voice thundered into his mind, It will be alright.
What are you doing? How are you—
The bars on this cage are wide enough. Be strong, I am not the enemy now.
He cringed, but the fox forced his eyes to open, and the world was unnaturally in focus. And he thought he was watching everything in slow motion.
Sigume hit a pillar in the wall, cringing and slamming into the ground.
Naruto’s body moved.
The nin didn’t stand a chance when the clawed hand found it’s way around his neck.
!!!!!!!
The sun was barely breaking over the walls of Konoha when Naruto stepped out of Sakura’s apartment. He’d left her sleeping on the couch, where she’d seemed determined to keep residence, attempting guardianship from his nightmares.
He barely managed to meet Sasuke’s eyes when the nin met him less than fifteen feet from the building. But he managed, and he held the gaze. Silence thundered.
Finally, an eon later, he broke the gaze and moved, brushing past Sasuke. The other followed, like Naruto knew he would.
“So you’ll stay with her?”
“Talk to him, Naruto.”
“It’s the safest place for me to be.”
“You’re safe with me.”
He halted, Sasuke stopping far too close behind him.
“You’re the most dangerous person here.”
Tense. Careful, careful, the world is on the edge of breaking down.
“I’m not a threat to you.” Sasuke’s words were soft, carefully chosen.
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, trying to recenter himself, “You always have been.”
He barely dodged when Sasuke’s arm shot out, fist trying to connect with Naruto’s head. He spun, eyes guarded, meeting Sasuke’s black gaze.
“I don’t want to be the threat that makes you act this way, Naruto. Tell me what you want. Tell me how to bring it back.”
He looked at him, jaw clenching, studied him. Stranger.
“Tell me what happened while I was gone.”
!!!!!!!
“Who sent you?”
The nin struggled against the firm grasp, made a gurgling noise as Naruto felt the nails puncture skin and the warm trickle of blood found his hand.
“Naru—“
“Who sent you?”
There was a hacking noise, another sound as his grip tightened and he felt the throat give a little. He unleashed a roar and threw the other across the room, seeing red as he followed the ninja’s flight with a graceful move and pinned the man with a knee.
“M…m…mercy.”
He was goddamn tired of that answer, and roared, red chakra ripping through his arm, the man under him managed a scream through the red-hot pain that must have ripped through him when that hand found his throat again.
“Who? Who the fuck is this ‘Mercy’?”
I wonder if he knows he’s going to die. A small smirk hit the corner of his mouth.
For a second, Naruto fought against the demonic thought. Everyone knew he wasn’t one for mindless murder.
Is it mindless if you’re only protecting yourself and your team?
A weak hand pulled at his arm, terror in the eyes of the man under him. He loosened his grip enough to hear a struggled, liquid breath. Eyes focused and unfocused, and the nin said a word he didn’t catch. He hissed, and the man arched a little under him, before dark eyes settled back to his blazing ones.
“K…Kannon.”
!!!!!!!
Sasuke shrugged.
Somehow, Naruto knew that would be the first response. The uncharacteristic lift and fall of sharp shoulders. He focused for a moment on the ANBU tattoo on the tiny patch of bare skin he could see between Sasuke’s shirt and arm wraps, before he dragged his eyes back up, meeting the ever impossible to read black orbs.
“It wasn’t all that exciting.”
“Judging from what I’ve seen,” Naruto’s eyes flashed dangerously, “I’d say there were a few big things going on.”
“Dobe. It’s not what it looks like.”
“How do you know what it looks like to me? Because it’s not just looks.” Naruto took a step closer to him, “It’s scent. You know.”
Sasuke was silent, but nodded, an ever quick, barely noticeable, jerk of the head.
“I can sense enough of the story to get the general gist. But I’m willing to hear your version.”
“He wasn’t…” Sasuke started, shifted, “I didn’t…” Naruto quirked an eyebrow, “It’s not like…”
And then, because Naruto figured karma wanted to keep him its bitch, they were distracted. An ANBU swept in, stopping Sasuke in mid-stumble with their simple landing. The nin swept off a mask, looking between the two of them, then focusing on Sasuke, “Uchiha-san! The gates!”
They both tensed, Sasuke’s hands instantly going to his weapons holsters.
But the ANBU didn’t look panicked, he looked…almost happy.
“They’re at the gates!”
!!!!!!!
Thwop.
Thhhwop.
He was going to kill him. Slowly.
Thwop.
Painfully.
Thwop.
And he was going to shove that fucking ball so far down Tsugi’s throat the fucker would shit rainbow colored marbles as he died.
Thwop.
Forty-five minutes after escaping the Hokage’s office, he’d been hoping to find a little peace and quiet. Alone. That whole concept seemed so incredibly far away now.
Thwop.
Instead, here he was, in some fucking side street with the reincarnation of the Wonder Blonde, who was throwing that god-forsaken ball against the fence.
Thhhwop.
“So…”
Thwop.
Where the hell had he even gotten the thing?
“I think we should leave as soon as possible.”
Thwop.
He tried, he really did try to ignore the other.
“Maybe tonight?”
Nighttime departure. Could be best to make some ground and loose any possible trails. On the other hand…it was a mission with him.
Thwop.
“How about in an hour? The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back, and all that.”
Something in him stung. Where the hell was Naruto? He was getting too late, it was taking too long. Sasuke feared his premonitions were right. Maybe something had gone horribly wrong…
Thwop.
That fucking ball had better not be making the trip with them.
!!!!!!!
He followed. He shouldn’t have, but he did. Trailing just behind Sasuke, letting the ANBU have Point. But Sasuke didn’t seem too worried, and there was no tension in the air at the gates.
They stopped at the outer edges of the crowd, Sasuke pulling people out of the way to fight through the crowd. A bad feeling sunk into Naruto.
Odd to have a crowd.
May be someone important.
The Kyuubi snorted, and Naruto felt inclined to agree.
He was too busy musing with the fox demon to notice when Sasuke stopped, and found himself crashing into his shoulder blade.
“What the he—” He trailed off as the air around him finally registered. He froze. That scent.
Kyuubi growled.
Sasuke tensed as someone approached in front of him.
And then, the noise of the crowd died.
That bad feeling roared into a deeper, darker sensation when Sasuke slipped a step farther from him. It only took one word for the year to rush into the space between the two.
“Tsugi.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ch. 12 Fin.
It’s short. But it’s done. And I hate the ending. But it’s 4am and I’m sooooo out of it.
Next Chapter: SasuNaru fluff. Yeah, I said SasuNaru, not NaruSasu. Maybe a bit of both. Haven’t decided. After that…well, the story is still kind of undecided. Feel free to share any thoughts on what you think should happen, may help, may not. If there’s even anyone for this story anymore.