Dentes

Author’s Notes: I promise that there will be more action next chapter. Please be patient with it…. Naruto will snap out of it soon. Also, I’ve finished the one-shot that won the poll back in November. It’s NC17, so I’ve put the link to it in my profile. Check it out!

-Kodak

November 29, 2005

“Good,” Shikamaru said, his sigh a rush of static in Sasuke’s ear. “What street are you on?”

“Still on the freeway,” Sasuke replied, looking about him.

“Then why are you calling me?” Shikamaru grumbled. “I told you to call when you’re in the city, not when you’re standing outside it gawking like a moron.”

“Well excuse me, then,” Sasuke hissed, quickening his steps. The wind had blown banks of snow into uneven dunes, and it made Sasuke nervous where he stepped. Once he reached the shelter of the buildings, his footing would be more even.

The silence grew longer and more absolute. Sasuke worried that Shikamaru had hung up on him until the quiet man said, “The police were here.”

“Were they,” Sasuke muttered. He wasn’t surprised in the least, but he could tell that there was more to it then that.

“They just left half an hour ago,” Shikamaru said. “They’re keeping tabs on the house’s phone lines from outside. They’ve set up a bug. And there are at least two surveillance cars parked a block or so down that I can see from the front window. Sasuke…” Shikamaru sighed, sounding sincerely regretful. “You can’t come back here.”

Sasuke winced. He knew that. Of course he did. Sakura’s home had been a on-the-spot decision and one he hadn’t intended on making again. Sasuke’s house was undoubtedly crawling with police, and without Naruto by his side, there was no way Sasuke could go back there, either.

“I know,” Sasuke said. Nowhere for him to go now but to Naruto, wherever the hell he was. “Tell Sakura it isn’t her fault.”

“That’s Lee’s job.” More silence, with only the sounds of feet crunching in the snow to keep him company. Forget Lee’s Ford. He should’ve brought a snow plow.

“I’m here,” Sasuke told his informant ten minutes later. Here was another cluster of broken down retailers, but beyond that were two twin, industrial monstrosities. Through those were what looked like a concrete jungle, all covered in a blanket of white. Eerily quiet, with a few faint footprints in the snow. It felt sacrilegious to tread here, but Sasuke went on anyway.

“Do you see a street name?” Sasuke strained his ears hard and heard nothing in the ear pierce but Shikamaru’s voice. Sakura and Lee must have been downstairs. Probably keeping an eye on the police cars outside. An uncalled for surge of appreciation swept through him, and he clung to it, the first warm emotion he’d felt in days.

“Yeah.” Sasuke just passed the intersection between Old Lincoln Hwy. and Street Rd., but when he was about to say it Shikamaru cut him off.

“Never mind. I can see where you are just fine. You just passed Street, right?”

“Yeah.” A little needlessly, Sasuke asked, “How’d you know that?”

“I’m tracking the phone’s signal,” Shikamaru said, as if Sasuke should have known this. “You’re not that far from it, maybe two miles at most.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sasuke muttered, remembering Sakura’s estimate of the street he’d taken to get here. “Should I stay on the line?”

“Yeah. I’ll guide you there. Keep going straight for another five blocks.”

Sasuke did as he was told. It felt awkward walking in the middle of the street, so he stuck to the sidewalks. As predicted, the snow was less steep here and he was able to maneuver more quickly. The windows were like black ice, reflecting every detail of himself back to him. Sasuke checked his watch; it was nearing four. Would Naruto be asleep? Would the kidnapper? He could get in, take Naruto, get out--

“Whatever your brain is telling you, shut it up,” scolded the voice on the other end of the line. “Getting closer to the blinking dot doesn’t get you any closer to Naruto. The chances are as high up in the air as they were three hours ago.”

“I know that.” But he didn’t believe it. Sasuke was digging his own grave, getting closer to it city block by city block, but he didn’t care. Sasuke was never the hopeful type. A pessimist to the end. But he found that, on the edge of despair, there was truly no place to look but up.

Sasuke went the designated five blocks. Before he could relay this, Shikamaru said, “There’s an alleyway five feet to your left,” like he was standing right next to Sasuke. “Take it. It’ll lead you out to Broad.”

Sasuke did as he was told. After the tunnel, this was nothing. Emerging from it a half minute later, he found himself on a road very much like the one the he’d taken after the toll booths. Eight different lanes split by three splintery concrete islands. The snow kept Sasuke from recognizing which way went which, and he felt like he was trapped inside of an Antarctic version of Alice’s Wonderland.

“Go left. Keep going.”

He did.

There was another ten minutes of silence. Sasuke didn’t realize it until his legs and lungs began to burn that he was running. It was an uncomfortable feat, but he knew that even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to stop.

Taking no note on the increased speed of the dot he was undoubtedly watching on the screen, Shikamaru told him to take a left. It was down a one-way street with only a single line of footprints headed in the opposite direction. Sasuke walked in the middle of it, letting his feet fall in those prints. It made him feel a bit less like the last person on the planet to know that someone had been here before.

When he emerged, he was instructed to make a right. Three sets of feet now, but so soft that Sasuke soon lost track of them. He was alone once again.

“You’re getting close,” Shikamaru encouraged. “Ten feet more. The road you’re on is lined with houses, right? Are there any on the left with lights on? It should be right in front of you. One that looks better kept than the others, perhaps has the snow swept off the porch.”

Sasuke wasn’t listening anymore, for he had shut the phone and pocketed it. He was sprinting again, snow shooting up like ocean spray behind his feet. Like a wolf that caught a scent of blood, he rushed towards the house.

The door was slightly ajar. His feet hit wood on small deck that made up the porch. The snow was swept away, the windows clear of grime. A diamond in the rough. He pushed the door open, and when he stepped inside, he felt his heart melt to the ground.

It was colder in here than it was out there.

Undeterred, he took a quick look about his surroundings. There was a living area to his right, and in the dim light of the moon he could just make out a kitchen beyond that. To his left was an odd sight. It was messily renovated, the wall separating it from the house next to it demolished. The other side of the house looked empty. On the right there was an old television, free of dust. Not a speck of dirt in the whole place. Sasuke’s phone vibrated and sang in his pocket, but he didn’t bother to silence it.

He knew that there was no one in this house. Somewhere, an old clock struck four.

That didn’t stop Sasuke from going up the stairs. It led him to a second floor with three doors, all open. The one closest was a bathroom, dark and well kept. He walked past it, ignoring the other door and heading for the other.

It was the most well furnished room in the house, and it took him a moment to realize why he felt so odd walking into it. It had the exact same layout as his and Naruto’s at home. The bed pressed to the far right, two bed side tables on either side. An alarm clock, a replica of the one at home, sat on what would have been Sasuke’s side. The same comforter and sheets, and if Sasuke had felt the desire to sit on it, he was sure the bed would feel nearly the same.

There was a fireplace on the other side of the room. It was the only dirty place in the house, high piles of ash at either end of it. Freshly split wood was stacked in a meticulously neat pile, just the way Sasuke kept his at home. The mantle place was empty save for one small speck of silver shining at the end. As if stuck in a nightmare, Sasuke went to it, already knowing what it was. Sasuke picked up his cell phone and held it in his hand. Cold, but it was now powered on. With a shaking hand he placed it back on the mantle, like he was afraid of being caught touching it.

Sasuke thought in a daze for a moment, his whole body feeling disconnected. The police would track the signal. They’d be here soon. The place was abandoned, but not for long.

This was a trap.

Sasuke left the room, refusing to look at the bed a moment longer. He breathed through his mouth, so horribly afraid of catching a whiff of Naruto’s scent. Not knowing just how badly it would tear at him if he did.

Sasuke shut the door quietly behind him as he left. He didn’t know how long the phone had been on, nor how long it would take the police to get here. But he had a feeling that when they got here, like on the windowsill at his house they’d find only Sasuke’s fingerprints. Sasuke’s and Naruto’s.

He picked up the phone in his pocket and called Shikamaru.

His informant answered before the first ring stopped. “You idiot,” Shikamaru sighed. “Don’t scare me like that.” Sasuke worked forwards on the road, deeper into the city, wanting to get to the heart of it. To hurt it. To burn it to the ground. “Sasuke?”

“He was there,” Sasuke said hoarsely. “But he’s gone now. The house had been abandoned. Whoever was there left the phone in the house.”

“Did you take it with you?”

“No.”

“Good. Was it on?”

“Yes.”

“Walk faster.”

Sasuke didn’t, and Shikamaru didn’t repeat himself. He had to find Naruto, would always need to, but selfishly he was tired. He’d dozed through a few hours a night, and now he’d poisoned himself with a lethal dose of hope only to watch it whither up in flames. He wanted to find an alley, sink down, and sleep.

Shikamaru, however, wasn‘t quite done with him. “This is going to sound ridiculous, but you’re going to have to listen to me on this. Go back to Broad, stick to the sidewalks. Make a right from where you are, any side street will lead to it. After thirty blocks or so, you’ll see a building. It’ll be the first one with lights you’ve seen in a while. In it is a refugee center for the homeless in that part of town. I want you to get rid of everything you have. Dump it in an alley, I don’t care which. Keep the phone, but get rid of the gun, the food, the water. Ditch the coat, boots, watch, scarf. Dig through the snow, find some dirt, rub it in your clothes. Tear them up. Blend in.

“When you get there, try to negotiate a bed for yourself. They’ll give you food, but if the beds are full they’ll send you back out. Stick around that building. Someone will come to get you in a few days.”

“A few days,” Sasuke repeated numbly. His mind didn’t fully register that he was now without a home, that he was banned from going anywhere out of this frozen wasteland’s limits. That he was now thrown into unknown faces, people who didn’t know him and didn’t care to. He’d never slept outside before, let alone in the snow. Never lived a moment without knowing that there was some place he could go.

“I can call in a few favors. Someone will take you in. I’ll keep tabs on the police, and I’ll work to try and clear your name. But with you missing too, it’s going to be hard.”

Sasuke understood, but didn’t say as much. He’d found a side street and way busy making his way up it.

“You knew this would happen.”

Sasuke pocketed the phone. It was a marvel, really, he thought as he began to walk again. He was homeless, and yet the only thought in his head was the fact that Naruto still, still wasn’t here.

November 26, 2005

A snowstorm had blown over the city that night, shaking them as easily as if they were in a snow globe. Sasukeh stood just inside the house, leaning against the wall and looking out the window. Naruto was just outside, looking up to the sky like he was drugged, walking back and forth across the street in even lines. The snow hit him to almost below his knee caps. There was a kettle of water kept warm on the stove for when Naruto came in, and a bath for the two of them after that. Naruto would be colder than he was once he came in.

There wasn’t much around to explore, but Naruto insisted upon it anyway. Sasukeh gave him a limit of the one city block they sat on, so he’d be well within eyesight, and let him at it. He could understand the human. Naruto didn’t like to think rationally, but whenever he had to, he preferred to do it alone.

So he wondered amongst the snowy world, every now and then scraping off clumps of the white stuff to form in his hands. Everything was white save for the stripes of black that indicated the alleys that ran gaps amongst the buildings. Sasukeh kept an especially close eye on those. There was the one he used himself for all the trash he collected, and for the things he’d cleared out of this old house, but the others were unexplored and probably inhabited by the hungry homeless. No need to let Naruto wonder too close to them.

Sasukeh fiddled with the hem of his glove before unzipping it. With a dead nail he scratched at his frozen skin, wincing. It itched him every now and then, and although it pained him to touch it, it would only feel worse if he waited too long. He slid the glove back on, zipping it back up, and walking back into the living room to tidy up slightly.

There wasn’t much to clean. Sasukeh and Naruto had spent a majority of their time in the master bedroom, keeping company and then keeping busy. Talking, the never ending talking, and fighting through one issue or the other. Every now and then Naruto would drift aimlessly down to the living room to watch TV on a low volume, and they shared a silence so resolute Sasukeh had worried Naruto had gone mute.

Worried, worried, forever worried. He fretted over every little thing Naruto did like it was a sign the human had changed his mind. Not that it mattered,

Sasuke’s fists clenched.

Because I have already won.


November 29, 2005

Half an hour later, Sasuke’s phone began to ring in his pocket again. Sasuke mechanically began reaching for it. The alleyway was far behind him now. The main street stretched endlessly before him as he headed further into the heart of the city, twisting and turning like a winding snake as images of fire burst through his mind every time he closed his eyes.

Sasuke put the phone to his ear. It was warm, and brought tingles to the skin when it touched.

“Sasuke, there’s someone calling the house for you.”

Sasuke didn’t stop walking. He didn’t feel surprise in the least, only curious as to who the police had cajoled into calling. He had no family. “Who?”

Shikamaru sighed, and Sasuke heard a distinct mutter of, “I can’t believe I’m saying this…”

“What?” snapped Sasuke, irritated. Was it his brother? It couldn’t have been. He was still in St. Mary’s, he didn’t have access to phones…

“Let me say first that by no means possible am I encouraging whatever delusions you’ve been having.” He paused as if Sasuke were supposed to get it suddenly. “Do not panic.”

“I can’t when I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” Sasuke felt too disappointed to be angry right now. He let the irritation hit and slide down from him like rain to an umbrella, feeling only the slight stirrings of emotions before they melted back down.

“He wouldn’t give a name,” continued Shikamaru, “but… Sasuke, he sounded exactly like you.”

Sasuke stopped walking. His face drifted to the sky. It was starting to snow again. Flakes of snow clung to his lashes.

“He said that… Don’t get excited, Sasuke… he had Naruto.”

But Sasuke already knew that. It was like his body had been waiting for this moment the second he heard Naruto was missing. From the minute that old woman said to him, It looked just like you.

“I asked him for confirmation, but he wouldn’t put Naruto on the phone. I asked him for proof and he…” Another paused. Sasuke never thought the day would come when Shikamaru would stumble for works. “He told me there was a birthmark on his right knee. Kinda looks like a fire hydrant.”

Now Sasuke knew why Shikamaru was so nervous to tell him. It was winter, no one went around wearing shorts. The only way the kidnapper could have seen-- An image of the bed in the abandoned house flashed through his mind.

“Did you trace the call?” Sasuke asked, more to distract his thoughts than from a search for a real answer.

“I didn’t believe him at first. By the time I did, I had to close out of the program I was using to track yours and boot up a new one. I was using a high frequency setting for yours since it was off, and this must have been a regular house phone. He hung up before I could even get started. I’m sorry.”

“No number?”

“No. He demanded to speak directly with you. I gave him the number for the phone you’re on.”

“Can you track it through that?”

“No. I’d need the phone here.”

Of course, Sasuke thought mildly. “When is he calling?”

“He said ten minutes. So,” a pause as Shikamaru presumably checked the time. Sasuke wouldn’t have put it past him if Shikamaru had set up a timer. “Four and a half minutes.”

Sasuke slowly spun in a circle, eyeing everything around him. Every dark corner, every potential hiding place. He felt no eyes on him, but still…

“It seems pointless to say this, but realize that whatever this man says can be a lie,” Shikamaru told him. “Don’t believe him. Hear every word. Don’t over-analyze, but memorize what it is he’s saying. The way he’s saying it. The tone he uses, how fast. Listen for background noises. Don’t let a second of the conversation go without attention, because this might be the only call he makes. It might be to gloat. It might be revenge. It could be anything. Rule nothing out.”

In a way, Sasuke was listening. But he was too busy fighting the urge to snap the phone shut. Did such an old phone even have call waiting? He swung the bag off his shoulder and began digging through it.

Shikamaru must have heard. “Are you getting the gun?”

“No,” Sasuke lied smoothly as he pulled out the glock.

“Do you know how to use it?”

“Yes.”

“Keep the safety on until you’re absolutely certain that you need it.”

Sasuke flipped the safety off before sliding it into the hem of his jeans. “Right.”

“Murder is a crime.”

And what’s this? “I understand. I’m not stupid.” Deranged would be a better word right now.

“Just be careful.” Shikamaru hung up then, leaving Sasuke with nothing but his thoughts. And a wait.

Sasuke checked his watch like it would help him, and he wondered if he wanted the last two minutes to go by fast or last forever. And he wondered, obsessed, over what someone would ever want with his voice. And the impossibility that someone could walk around with his face. Had his mother had another son? One he’d never found out about? Using Naruto to get to him, or to replace him in this world together? To take his name, his friends--but Sasuke didn’t care about those. He could have everything, everything but the only damn thing he’d ever found himself caring about…

Like an alarm his eyes were drawn downwards towards the phone, a split second before the screen lit up. I N C O M I N G C A L L

It began to ring and buzz in his hand. Sasuke stared at it for a second, and was frightened by a hidden urge to throw it against the wall.

He flipped it open and held it to his ears. Blinking his eyelids, he felt the snowflakes on his ashes, on his cheeks red from the cold.

“Hello.”

November 27, 2005

Naruto had demanded access to the outdoors the moment he woke up that night. Slightly irked, Sasukeh had agreed, but insisted upon accompanying him anyway. Naruto didn’t seem bothered, and after a quick breakfast for the both of them, they were outside once more.

Naruto did his strange pacing again, always looking up, not saying anything. Sasukeh kept a careful eye on him. Naruto had the understandable habit of tripping quite often when in the cold right after having his blood drained. Sasukeh would have told him ‘no’, but he felt he’d said that quite enough over the past few days.

Naruto said his name every night. “Sasukeh, Sasukeh,” and it was like a pure shot of the strongest drug every time Sasukeh heard it. But it wasn’t the same. In the day, during the depths of his unconsciousness, Naruto would murmur “Sasuke”, again and again, and it kept Sasukeh up at night. Wondering when, or if, he’d ever be good enough.

In his darkest hours, Sasukeh hatched a plan. One with which he could go down two roads, one longer and more satisfying than the other, but both leading to the same destination. Sasukeh would go with the former first. Save himself needless planning and steps.

And if that didn’t work…

Sasukeh’s eyes strayed to the alley, and to what he knew was hidden there.

“Naruto.” The man looked over at him, clouded eyes narrowing in confusion. “I think it’s time to go inside.”

It’s time.

November 29, 2005

“Where’s Naruto?”

“I don’t believe you’ve met me before,” the voice on the other line said. “But I’ve met you. Once.”

“Do you have him?”

“It didn’t end well.”

Sasuke was quiet, breathing heavily. There was something set stinging at his eyes, and he swiped angrily at it. He hadn’t cried so far, and he’d be damned if he’d start now. Whoever this was, in his opinion, sounded nothing like him. It felt to Sasuke like he was on a hotline to another world. The voice was dark and gravelly. The phone connection was bad, a constant stream of static in his ears. But he pressed the cell phone painfully close nonetheless.

Pathetically, he found himself saying, “I need him.”

There was silence, and Sasuke was a hair’s width from begging him not to hang up--”Yes. I know.”

Naruto had never liked Sasuke’s attitude. Respected it, yes, but never regarded it in a fond manner. He said that Sasuke assumed easily and clung to those assumptions like a lifeline, just to save himself from the knowledge that he really knew nothing at all. He thought Sasuke stood up for Naruto too often and not often enough for himself. That he blew himself up so high but chained himself so low. Naruto had worked tirelessly to fix that. When Sasuke got out of the hospital, Naruto was the first person who spoke to him. Not with words, but a fist to his gut and a shout of, “There’s a life after him! Fucking ‘tard, you have a life!”

So live it.

Sasuke suddenly felt as small and feeble as he did in the hospital room, cared for in all the ways except the ones that mattered. Hooked to feeding tubes, pumped with drugs, until he thought he’d never find himself again.

Naruto had helped bring it back. And now... Now…

It’s like it was all for nothing.

“Where are you?” Sasuke hissed into the phone, finding his voice in his anger. Naruto had never given up. It must have hurt him, the things I said to him, the things I denied him, the things I forced him on him. How I‘d take him for myself and ruin his other bonds so he‘d stay stronger with me. It must have hurt him. But he bore it. Every wound, every burden, he‘s carried me so far I forgot how to walk on my own. There was no immediate answer, so he said again, more loudly because his brain was pounding to the rhythm of his racing pulse, “Where are you?” Still nothing, and Sasuke could practically feel himself bleeding, on the inside and the outside and the whole world was bleeding and even if it wasn’t it was going to be if he didn’t--Naruto had always been so damned strong.

“I can never be like you Naruto,” Sasuke had wanted to say, had always wanted to stay. “So that why I need you here, right here. Be my crutch. Be mine.”

N a r u t o

”WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?”

Silence. The sky snowed, the world spun, and how could the universe possibly be functioning at this moment, at this point in time--

“How about looking right behind you?”