Black as Blood

XIV

Kakashi and Naruto met up with several pairs of jounin over the course of the rest of the afternoon, each pair trying to find Sasuke. It had been Neji’s idea to travel in pairs, that way, if Sasuke killed one of them, the other could have a chance to make it back to warn Konoha. Neji had received strange looks for that comment, but considering his partner was Rock Lee for this little not-mission, the other jounin took it in stride. After all, what are jounin if not overgrown children with killing abilities? So several pairs darted into the forest surrounding Konoha to look for signs of the Uchiha boy, while others spread out about the village, looking everywhere Kakashi had looked that morning, and still no clue. Now dusk was falling, and the groups who had gone into the forest were returning with no clues as to where Sasuke could have gone. Which meant Sasuke was still in the village, or he’d run very far, and very fast. Naruto bit his lip, standing on the roof of the school building, waiting for Kakashi to return with news. The silver haired jounin reappeared without preamble and shook his head. So the council knew.

“Sasuke’s dead,” Naruto whispered.

“Seems that way, if we can’t find him.” Kakashi replied, watching his former student slump in defeat. Kakashi reached out and put his hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “We’ll find him, Naruto. I promise you I won’t let any harm come to him.”

“It isn’t fair, Kakashi.” Naruto said. “He runs away now, of all times, and I… and I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“No one knows what to do,” Kakashi replied, eye turning up to look at the rising moon. “It’s part of growing up. One day, it’ll all just click and you’ll wonder where your youth went.”

“It’s all part of being a ninja, huh?”

“It’s all part of being an adult. We jounin may be immature,” Kakashi ignored Naruto’s face of ‘Oh, really?’ and settled for smacking the boy’s head, “but when we need to be, we’ll act our ages.”

Naruto just sighed, looking from his former mentor to the moon. The pale whiteness reflected what he felt at the moment and Naruto fought back the tears that threatened to fill his eyes. Sasuke was gone, gone and if he ever came back he was dead. He wasn’t in the village, Naruto knew. He must be miles away. All of his belongings, whatever he had had on him, even the hitai-ate that had the scar crossing the Konoha leaf were still strung about Naruto’s apartment. Naruto’s eyes widened. Sasuke’s old hitai-ate was still in the apartment. Sasuke had taken it off before they went to visit Iruka at the school, but he’d never leave that behind. There was too much sentimental value in that thing for him. So Sasuke had to still be in the village!

A wolf’s howl rose to the sky, crescendo reached when the moon reached her zenith.

“That’s odd,” Kakashi said, wondrously. “There are no wolves here.”

Naruto smiled just a bit, Kyuubi making him want to answer that call. “There’s one. I think I know where Sasuke is, Kaka-sensei.”

The silver haired jounin blinked and turned to the blonde, head tilting. “Where?”

“He went back to the beginning.” Naruto grinned and bolted off the roof, not waiting for Kakashi to catch up. He ran through the streets, ducking into shadows and running along roofs, racing for a part of Konoha that had been abandoned for years. The Uchiha mansion loomed before him, carrying the same stench of blood and death it had in the few years after Itachi had vanished from Konoha, leaving Sasuke as the only one to carry the Uchiha name and prestige. It was as if the house had sucked in the malevolence left behind by those dead and bored it away in the wood and plaster, a final testament to the family that used to live here. Naruto stopped at the front door, chest rising and falling softly, hand reaching out to touch that thick wooden portal. The door swung open too easily.

Naruto entered the home he’d feared for most of his young life, closing the door behind him. He wanted to have a few moments alone with Sasuke before he had to take him back to the Hokage’s tower for whatever punishment awaited him. He found Sasuke in the dojo, kneeling in the moonlight that filtered through the rice paper, the elder’s head bowed in a sure sign of defeat.

“You know Tsunade had nearly the whole village looking for you.” Naruto said to announce his presence. Sasuke didn’t move.

“Really now?” Sasuke replied, his voice hollow in a way Naruto had never heard before, not even from the veteran jounin who presided over the training of the very freshest recruits. “And you? Panicked that your precious mission would be ruined with my disappearance?”

“That’s why you ran away?” Naruto approached then, skittering back at a warning call from Kyuubi before Sasuke’s kunai could have found his throat. Sasuke was on his feet then, his single dark eye shining with hurt, the kunai held out as meager protection. Naruto recognized the weapon as one of his own and his hand dropped to the pouch on his thigh. Yep. Missing one.

“I like to think of it as making a tactical retreat,” Sasuke replied, looking away from the blonde, the kunai lowered to his side in a sign of defeat.

“Sasuke, listen. It started out as a mission, but, but I really do love you. It stopped being a mission when I saw you with your old hitai-ate. You were beautiful.”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Sasuke shouted. “You… I heard you! I heard you and Tsunade! Everything you’ve done, it was just part of a mission!”

“No!” Naruto ignored that kunai as he came forward, grabbing Sasuke close to him into a hug. “I really do love you, Sasuke. I meant it when I said it. I love you.”

Naruto felt Sasuke’s hands come around him in a hug, the brunette burying his face against Naruto’s chest. He was trembling and it only made Naruto feel worse. So the crash had been Sasuke running and not the aim of a very talented squirrel. Sasuke had returned to Konoha to find peace and a new life, and he’d found it in the form of Naruto, the blonde realized. Then his slowly rebuilding world had come crashing cruelly down on his head with a few words. Naruto nuzzled Sasuke’s neck as he held him tighter, drawing back only to press a kiss to Sasuke’s lips.

“I love you, Uchiha Sasuke. I’m sorry I let it go as long as I did.” Naruto whispered. “I’m sorry I never told you.”

Sasuke shook his head, clutching to Naruto as he struggled to regain his composure. “Even if you had told me, it wouldn’t have changed anything that’s already happened. I would’ve still come here, you would’ve still followed me, and whatever happens after this will still happen. You didn’t tell me that keeping me in your home was a mission for you and I haven’t been completely honest with you, either… Naruto, Orochimaru, he-”

“Yes, do tell us what Orochimaru-sama has planned, Sasuke. I’d so –love– to hear what you have to say.”

Naruto and Sasuke jerked apart, standing back to back to keep track of where the voice had come from. Neither of them expected to find their way out blocked by a line of bodies, each wearing a mask like that of an ANBU. Naruto snarled, recognizing the masked bodies.

“I’m glad you recognize us, Kyuubi-san,” one mask said as he moved forward, revealing himself to the two surrounded. “I’m glad one of you does.”

“What the hell do you want?” Naruto snarled, ready to lunge. Sasuke stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, the brunette stepping forward to face the masked one.

“It wasn’t enough that we took you out before, was it?” Sasuke said, his moment of apparent weakness over, his head tilting with a little smile. “It just grated on your pride that a kid half your age destroyed your whole base at the word of the man you respect the most, didn’t it?”

Naruto watched the mask hit the floor and shatter in two, electric blue widening to see the face behind it. Scars littered pale flesh, marring the face beyond recognition to those who hadn’t seen him before. Kabuto stood before them, his face mutilated, his anger burning and his men ready for the kill. Sasuke stood in front of Naruto like a sentinel and Naruto moved to his side, smiling that hateful Kyuubi smile.

“Oh, god, Kabuto, the years have not been kind. Is that your face or a horses’ ass?” Naruto asked a little too gleefully, for which Sasuke elbowed him lightly in the ribs. Kabuto clenched his fists, but soon relaxed, smiling.

“Joke all you want to now, Naruto. It a few minutes it won’t matter anymore. The two of you will be dead and I’ll rejoin Orochimaru-sama as I’m meant to.”

“Good luck finding him then,” Sasuke said. “I think I’ve misplaced him.”

Kabuto glared at Sasuke, his hand raised in that signal the two jounin caught in the trap knew very well. It wasn’t a very good sign. Sasuke shifted closer to Naruto as Naruto moved closer to Sasuke, closing their weak spots and compensating for one another. They knew it wasn’t enough and they both knew they were dead when that hand fell.

“Naruto,” Sasuke whispered, “do you trust me?”

“What sort of question is that?” Naruto whispered back, pressing against Sasuke’s back. The ANBU under Kabuto’s control were moving forward, slowly, weapons drawn out for the kill. Naruto pressed against Sasuke, feeling his arms move, his hands quickly signing. The ANBU paused, Naruto turning to see what Sasuke was doing, just for a split second. Ice was forming on the wood floor, swirling before Sasuke in tiny flurries. Kyuubi was shivering in anticipation, looking through Naruto’s eyes at the forming shape in the ice. Shiro Koori leapt out of the swirling snow, Sasuke smiling at the ANBU that closed in. They didn’t have a chance in hell. Kyuubi shivered happily upon seeing his mate in body for the first time in nearly twenty years and Naruto shivered upon seeing Sasuke in a state he’d never seen him in before. Ice crystals had formed on that pale skin, his hair, his eyelashes, giving him an ethereal beauty. Kabuto seemed taken aback by Shiro Koori’s sudden appearance, but it wasn’t enough to stay his men.

“Kill them both! Kill them all!”

Shiro growled and lunged at the nearest ANBU operative, teeth sinking into skin, blood spurting from torn arteries. Naruto grinned and both he and Sasuke lunged, painting the Uchiha house again with blood. Kyuubi was howling, Shiro was calling, and Naruto and Sasuke began a dance of death, moving in tandem with their blades singing. They were winning, Naruto was grinning their victory, and then Shiro screamed in pain, echoed by Sasuke. Shiro vanished and Sasuke fell to his knees, clutching the red stain across his abdomen. Naruto was by his side, hand on his shoulder, fingers tightening in Sasuke’s shirt. The remaining ANBU, there were only ten including Kabuto, surrounded the pair despite the malevolence that was coming from Naruto. The blonde’s eyes were turning that pretty rust in his anger, Kyuubi’s own hatred for Kabuto helping fuel Naruto’s.

“I hope you’ve enjoyed your final moments of life,” Kabuto snarled as he reached out for Sasuke’s head, fingers snagging in dark hair and jerking. Naruto lashed out, dislodging Kabuto’s hand from Sasuke’s hair. The silver-haired man hissed as he drew back, clutching his now-broken fingers. Naruto only glared, pulling Sasuke more firmly against him.

“I promise you we’ll survive.” Naruto said lowly, listening to Sasuke’s sluggish breathing as he looked for a way out of this predicament, of a way to escape. It was pointless; they were surrounded. Kabuto laughed, a cruel sound that made Naruto shiver.

“I’ll see you to Hell, Naruto.” Kabuto said, gesturing his men forward for the kill. “Leave nothing behind.”

Naruto closed his eyes, waiting for the knives to find a home in his flesh. It was ten minutes – it could have been an hour – before he finally opened his eyes again. Sasuke was still and silent against him, watching Kabuto with a cold black eye. Naruto stared at his lover, trying to see what Sasuke was seeing. Kabuto turned to his men, mouth opening to spew threats. One by one, nine bodies fell, foaming at the mouth. Some bodies writhed as blood and shiny venom pulsed from tiny holes in the jugular vein, as though fighting a last ditch effort to keep living. Soon those bodies stilled and Sasuke just smiled, pressing against Naruto, his head against his shoulder. It was the scariest thing Naruto could think of in this situation. At first he thought Sasuke was just giving up, but when he saw Kabuto still, he knew something else was wrong. Kabuto was silent, his mouth working like a hooked fish, his limbs trembling as long pale fingers slid around his neck, sharp nails pressing ever so lovingly into the throbbing pulse in his neck. A dark head rose slowly over his shoulder, narrowed yellow eyes peering out at him from the darkness, a smile not meant for a human face spreading out beneath those cold yellow eyes.

“Sleep.”

Those nails punctured that pulsing skin as easily as eggshells broke underfoot and Kabuto writhed in that vice-like hold. He tried to plead, but his voice wouldn’t work. Orochimaru only pressed his nails in deeper, blood and venom oozing from beneath that grip. White foam slid from Kabuto’s mouth as his body writhed, squirming in the last throes of life. Orochimaru let Kabuto drop just before the venom could travel as far as his heart and stepped around him, toward Sasuke and Naruto. The blonde pulled Sasuke back, eyes narrowed at the approaching man, but Sasuke’s body went limp as the brunette fell into unconsciousness. Naruto struggled with the sudden weight, trying to back pedal away from Orochimaru, trying to keep Sasuke safe.

Orochimaru just kept moving forward until Naruto’s back hit the wall, unable to go any farther. A kunai was a meager defense against the man and Naruto knew Orochimaru wouldn’t be deterred from taking Sasuke back. Orochimaru reached for Naruto’s face and he flinched, grudgingly letting Orochimaru close enough to touch Sasuke. Orochimaru only crouched in front of them, studying Naruto. He said nothing, did nothing, and finally Naruto lowered the kunai. It was the opening Orochimaru needed, for his hand shot out and tapped the blonde’s forehead, a gentle touch. It was still enough to make Naruto lose consciousness, though he did not relinquish his hold on Sasuke. Now that he had him back, he’d never let Orochimaru take him away again. Sasuke belonged to him.