Kyuubi

“Sasuke.. please..”

The voice on the other end of the receiver was almost unrecognizable, almost..

“Naruto?”

If it hadn’t been for the caller id, Sasuke would have never believed that it really was Naruto on the other end. No, the person talking to Sasuke was too pitiful. Nothing like the sunshine blond. Naruto was sobbing, his voice broken, like he had cried non stop for a really long time, his breathing coming out too fast in desperate gasps.

Sasuke felt something akin to fear settle in the pit of his stomach, and when Naruto’s voice sounded through the crackling receiver again, he had to dig his nails into his hands to keep from yelling, screaming, for Naruto to tell him what was wrong.

“Sasuke.. please...please...”

“I’m here Naruto.. What’s wrong?”

“I’m so fucking scared Sasuke..” A loud bang echoed through from the other side, and Naruto’s breath hitched into a broken sob. “Gods.. Sasuke please.. just, please.. I need you.”

Sasuke didn’t even think to protest, even if it was in the middle of the night, and his parents would kill him if he was gone in the morning. Naruto’s voice didn’t leave any room for doubt. The blond needed him. Now. No time to waste.

“I’m on my way Naruto.. okay.”

“Thank you.. B-but. Please.. don’t hang up okay. I need.. I need to hear you, even if you don’t talk. I can’t be alone anymore. I-I...” Sasukes sleek, black mobile was filled with sobbing again. “I’m just so fucking scared Sasuke..”

Sasuke stepped into his shoes and pulled a hoodie over his head “Why? Naruto, what’s wrong?” He walked over to his window and unlocked the hatches, pulling it up, before he gingerly climbed over the ledge. Dropping to the ground with a soft thud, before he started running down the road. Towards Naruto’s house..

“I-I’m not alone.. there is something here with me. And I can’t see it. But I can hear it. And..and it’s.. it’s in my head Sasuke.. I know I sound crazy. .but, but..” the rest of the words were lost to the loud sobbing, the words barely making it out. Sasuke forced his feet to go faster in the soft layer of powder that dusted the grey ground. It was chillier than he had expected, and the icy air stung his lungs as he drew ragged breaths. But it didn’t matter..

His best friend was falling apart.And he needed to get to him, now.

The last time he had seen his friend, Naruto had been lying in a hospital bed.

It had been hell to get him out of that cave. To keep calm in the darkness as they worked with the rope, tying it around the limp body, and then haul it up. Kiba had climbed up to secure Naruto, and help pull, using a special kind of bolt, fastened to the cave floor.
While Sasuke climbed next to the unconsious body, keeping it from banging against the stone walls of the narrow passage. Concentrating on getting good grips since Naruto was tied to him. One slip and they would both plummel back down into the pit. And Sasuke hadn’t felt like trusting the bolts to be able to hold them back from hitting the ground. They had worked in silence, both of them casting quick glances into the surrounding black, panic in their eyes, while their muscles screamed in pain, but it didn’t matter, nothing mattered. They needed to get Naruto out of there.

As fast as possible.

So they ground their teeth together and upped their pace, feeling sweat drench through their shirts as they worked. They knew they were being watched. Knew that there was something hididng in there with them. Sasuke hadn’t imagined those hands..Oh no.

There were claw marks across Naruto’s cheeks. Three deep wounds running paralell to each other on either side.

Neither of the boys acknowledged what it was..almost like it would make it more real to say it outloud. To recognize that some, beast, monster was responsible for the bloodied state of the sunshine blond. Naruto had been bleeding profously from the gashes, and the boys had done their best to stop the bleeding, feeling helpless as tan skin took on an unhealthy grey sheen. But other then the gushes.. he seemed fine. Not a bruise on his body. Like something had softened the blow to the ground.
A fall that high, should have killed him. At least crushed some bones..

Sasuke was sure they both would have ran out screaming if they had stopped concentrating on Naruto and getting him out.

He hadn’t spoken to Naruto since that day in the hospital. Naruto had a severe concussion. Stitches in his cheeks. 80 stiches total. And was asked to stay the night. While Sasuke’s mom and dad had came and picked him up shortly after arriving, fussing over some idiotic scrapes he had gotten on his knees. When all sasuke really wanted, was to stay with Naruto..

He hadn`t seen Naruto since then..


Narutos house was in total darkness, no lights in any of the windows. Even the porchlights were off. And if it hadn’t been for the fact that Naruto was crying on the phone, calling from inside this omnious house, Sasuke would have sworn it was empty.

He inched his way up to the dark house, taking large steps in the snow. It looked like the driveway hadn’t been used in a while, seeing as there was no path leading up to the door. Not even a trace of a footprint in the deep snow.. how fucking stupid. How could he have been so ignorant. Of course Naruto’s parents were out of town. They always were. And the silly blond had been stuck in the house all alone with a concussion for two weeks, surviving on ramen and god knows what. Too fucking proud to ask for help like always. Why the hell hadn’t Kiba checked up on him?

Kiba knew.. he fucking knew that Sasuke wasn’t the kind of person to go visit someone just out of the goodness of his heart. It just went against everything Sasuke was raised to do. It went against his programming so to speak. But then again.. so did going to someones house in the middle of the night. Like some knight in shining armor.. Sasuke huffed, growling at the snow that had attached itself to his jeans and shoes.

“I’m here.Can you let me in?”

“There is a key.....under the toad..”

‘Toad?` Sasuke looked around. And sure enough.There was a little stone toad smiling at him from just under the little swing where Naruto and Sasuke had spent endless days eating candy and playing when they were kids. The swing was one of those two seaters, the wooden romantic ones. Naruto’s biological mom had loved it when she was alive. And so, Minato, Naruto’s dad, had refused to take it down. It looked too worn now.. and no one dared to sit on it anymore. Sure that the hinges would give if they were put under strain.

“Why is it so dark?”

“It.. it won’t let me put on any lights..keep your shoes on.”

‘It?’ Sasuke decided to let it go and stepped inside. Flinching when the door slammed shut behind him. He tried to flip on the light switch for the hall, but nothing happened.

The inside of the house was cold, and all the plants in the first floor looked dead, dried out. ‘Weird.. Naruto always takes care of the plants..’ Sasuke felt his heart drop when he saw ‘Fishcake’, Naruto’s beloved gold fish, floating belly up, in the little bowl on the kitchen counter. Empty ramen cans and juice cartoons were thrown around on the counters, old plates and crusted cans littering the spaces that weren’t occupied by the colorful noodle cartons.

“Naruto?”

“Yeah I know.. I tried to protect him..but..”

Sasuke jumped when the voice was suddenly not in the reciever but behind him. Naruto looked worse than he sounded. His skin had taken on that horrible ashen look it had had in the cave. Only, the whisker like marks had healed by now..no blood. Unthinkingly, Sasuke brought a finger up to one of the scars and traced it gently. Feeling how it stood out from the feverish skin. “You’re burning up Naruto...How did these heal so fast?”

Naruto shrugged. And oh god.. he looked so tired. Those blue eyes empty, dead.. not blue anymore. No.. more of a grey really. The whites of his eyes blood shot and red.. Black sacks hanging under them. Just then Sasuke noticed how tears were running down those cheeks, how his finger came back with tears on them. How Naruto’s lips quivered gently. It was obvious that the blond was fighting.

“You look like hell..”

He only got a tired nod in reply. “I-I can’t sleep.. Haven’t slept for over a week..Sasuke..I’m so tired Sasuke. I don’t.. I don’t want to do this anymore. Please..can you just, please.. make it stop? I don’t wanna.. I can’t..”

Sasuke didn’t know what to do. Naruto, the brightest, happiest.. strongest person Sasuke knew.. was breaking down in front of him. He felt so utterly helpless. And then, before he knew it. He had his hands full of sobbing blondie. And all he could do, was hug the shivering boy closer. “Shh.. it’s okay. I’m here now. You can relax.. I won’t let you go Naru. Shh.. I’ve got you.” He felt so completely out of place.. running his hands through Naruto’s hair, feeling how it dragged through his fingers.

How many times had Sasuke dreamed of this. Or, not this..not like this..never like this. Not with Naruto crying against his shoulder. But of getting to hug Naruto like this.

Yeah.. Sasuke had had a crush on this boy for over a year now.

He figured that that was the reason they never really got along that well anymore. Always bickering and sending insults eachothers way.

The trip to Jiraiya’s had been a miserable attempt to make things better between the two of them. Kiba acting as a buffer, making things better in Narutos opinion, worse in Sasuke’s.... They hadn’t gotten the chance to air things out.

And now.. the blond was cuddling his head against Sasuke’s shoulder. Clinging to him like Sasuke’s arms was the last safe place to be. And it was for all the wrong reasons.

Sasuke was leading them up the stairs. Mumbling softly against Naruto’s soft hair. “Last step.. there. Do you want to go and sleep?”

“I-I can’t sleep..”

“Okay. We can, maybe just lie down okay? You don’t have to sleep. We can lie on the bed and-”

“NO!” Naruto stiffened. “No.. not the bed..it doesn’t like the bed.”

“It? What the hell are you talking about Dobe?”

“It....it doesn’t matter.. just.. not the bed.”

Sasuke sighed. Naruto was in no condition to argue with. Too fucking fragile. He’d probably break down into hundreds of shards if talked to too harshly. “Okay..not the bed.”

“Here..” There were a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor, where the blond went over and laid down. Pulling Sasuke with him. Sasuke obeyed, scooting close against the blond’s body, pressing himself against Naruto’s feverish frame, wrapping his arms around the burning up boy in his embrace and murmured softly against Naruto’s cheek.

Silent lies of how everything would be okay.

In one way, it horrified him. The way he acted so naturally soft against this boy. So not Uchiha. How easy it came to him..this burning need to comfort and protect. And how good it felt when Naruto’s sobs stopped wracking the tired frame pressed against him. Naruto went completely limp in his arms. And seconds later, even breaths could be heard over the soft ticking of the hallway clock.

Sasuke felt sick.

The whole house felt sick. Like there was something there. Something in the dark, watching him. Waiting. There were tiny pieces of glass on the floor.. he hadn’t noticed them earlier. Even as he was sure he had walked over them, crushed them under his shoes. The shoes Naruto had asked him to keep on. He hadn’t even felt them. It was lightbulbs.. broken ones..all over the floor. And blood..

`Naruto isn’t wearing any shoes...`

Fear, trilling fear rode up his spine with the realization. He needed to get out of here.. Needed to get Naruto out from here. Right now. But, he really didn’t want to wake Naruto up.

If it was one thing he was absolutely sure of, it was the fact that Naruto would lose it completely if he didn’t get some decent rest. Sasuke could survive for a couple of hours in this nightmare. For Naruto.. yes, for Naruto he could endure the sickening fright shaking his core.

He forced himself to breathe evenly.. sticking his nose into the cornflower colored hair. Taking deep breaths. How could someone smell this good? Naruto had probably not showered for over a week..and he still smelled good to Sasuke. Comforting. Almost able to shut out the soul eating fear.. Almost.

There were footsteps in the dark. Light shuffles, and Sasuke heard how the shards of glass chinked as something pushed passed them, something heavy, something big. A scream threatened to bubble up from Sasuke’s throat as he heard growling. A low, throaty sound.. the kind of sound lions or wild wolves made. He pressed himself closer to Naruto. Shutting his eyes. ‘Get a fucking grip Sasuke..there are no monsters here,no monsters.. probably just the Dobe snoring..’

He stiffened as something hot breathed down his neck, the growling so, so fucking close to his ear.