Violence and Smiles

The sun was only a dim reminder in the sky as it sank into the horizon, the last splashes of its inevitable struggle with time still smeared across the clouds. The foreign village was a black silhouette cut out in front of the crimson landscape, the tops of the boxy buildings fading into the deep purple of the oncoming night. Sasuke and Naruto slipped silently in a crouch through the tall, unkempt grass towards the distant mystery buildings… Well, they were almost silent.

“Will you stop swinging your arm? It’s jingling,” Sasuke bit out in a harsh whisper, one black eye peering irritably over to the side as they kept moving. He didn’t have to say what was jingling, both of them were all too aware of the handcuff extended between them.

“I’m not swinging my arm,” Naruto snapped back, not as quietly. “It’s because you run like a fucking ostrich.”

"I doubt you've ever even seen an ostrich, much less seen it run," Sasuke replied with a scoff, ducking his head slightly to stay more hidden in the grass.

"Well if I had it would be just like you," Naruto grumped. "Pissy and running weird."

"You're a complete idiot."

"Don't get me started on what you are," Naruto snapped back. "I would have to shave off the beard I'd grown by the time I got to the end of the list."

Sasuke rolled eyes heavy with contempt over at Naruto, the bastard not even breaking his stride. "Your vocabulary would be strained in the first minute," he replied smoothly, ever the artist of sarcasm.

"Whatever," the blonde snorted, unfazed. "Anyways, do you think that grungy old man is coming after us?"

"Why, are you concerned?" Sasuke smirked.

"Hell no! If he challenged me I could wipe the floor with him," Naruto declared, throwing punches in the air at an invisible opponent. This resulted in dragging Sasuke's arm along as well, and he was rewarded with an icy glare.

"Do you remember that discussion we had about excessive arm movements?" Sasuke snapped, jerking his arm back.

"Hmm, it's hard to remember. Maybe being strangled cut off blood circulation to my brain?" He swatted away some taller grass that was snagging on his murdered pants with his free hand, and threw a sarcastic look over at the dark haired ninja.

"There's never any blood circulation to your brain," Sasuke muttered.

"Shut up, asshole!"

Sasuke ignored him, his soft footsteps the only whisper of a response. Naruto would never admit it, especially after his ostrich comment, but the other man glided along like a panther. He was all liquid movements, velvet touches, and glinting predatory eyes. Nothing about him would encourage the image of an awkward bird.

Naruto smirked. Okay, maybe he wished Sasuke was more like a clumsy bird than a jungle cat. Maybe then he would have had a chance of getting some cool points from the village or maybe even attracting Sakura when they were little. His smile faltered a bit. Probably not.

But that’s why he was getting stronger, right? To save and surpass his friend, to become Hokage… It would be wrong, no, he would be disappointed if Sasuke was less of a challenge. Naruto softened his footsteps and crouched lower into the grass as they padded along towards the village. He definitely wasn't going to let Sasuke show him up.

It was then that the dark-haired ninja decided to stop in his tracks, and Naruto tripped and lurched forward in a very ungraceful way.

“Hey, teme! Watch where you’re—“

Sasuke slapped his hand over Naruto’s mouth, successfully shutting him up in an instant.

"Get down." It was a quiet order, almost without any inflection or urgency, but Naruto dropped into a crouch next to Sasuke instantly. The area around them was empty, filled only with pockets of darkness from the setting sun. The evening breeze made the tall grass sway with hushed noises, but there didn't seem to be a threat.

"What is it?" Naruto whispered, his voice so low it was barely audible over the wind.

"I hear something," Sasuke murmured.

Naruto glanced over at the other ninja and saw red eyes in the dimming light, the black pupils pin wheeling as they focused on something in the distance. Now that he mentioned it, Naruto could hear it too. It was like a dull growling sound, getting closer.

"What is it?"

"Shhh," Sasuke hissed, reaching over and pushing the blonde's head down more. "It's some sort of machine.”

“Like a weapon?” Naruto asked in a hushed voice from his crouched position next to Sasuke. Shuriken flicked into his fingers like cards to a magician's hand, and he balanced them between his knuckles so metal and flesh seemed woven together.

Sasuke remained silent, his red eyes prying into the quickly dimming evening. "It's moving fast." Was his only cryptic response.

"Oh, great," Naruto grumbled. A bead of sweat slid down his temple, and his fingers tightened around the shuriken.

Then, in the distance, two bright lights erupted in the darkness as something rounded a curve and came into view. It was traveling so quickly that Naruto could hear the whine of wind soaring around it, but the lights in the front managed to blur whatever the actual structure of the thing was.

"What the..." Naruto whispered in wonder, his eyes reflecting the beams of light as they soared closer. It was following a path that cut through the grassy fields they'd been trekking about 100 meters in front of them. They probably would have stumbled onto it eventually, but the lights from the mysterious thing illuminated it now, clear as day.

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, who was just as fixated on it as him, yet his mouth was set in a grim line.

With a growl, the thing whizzed by them on the road up ahead. Without the lights blinding them, they were offered a flash of gleaming metal, glass, and blurred wheels before it had already passed them on its speedy voyage. Two red lights glared at them now as it tore away, blazing like demon's eyes.

They waited in their crouched, tense positions until the two ominous red lights disappeared into the distance. It was suddenly very quiet. The grass seemed to roar as the wind gently caressed it, and Naruto could hear his own breath shuddering in his ears.

Slowly, the two ninja straightened. Then Naruto stated quite simply: "Aliens."

Sasuke shook his head in silence, his face stone still.

"No, seriously. Aliens!" Naruto exclaimed, turning to look at Sasuke with a horrified expression. "We've been taken to another planet! They're going to take us apart and run us through machines, and the probe... oh shit. Anal probing! There's no way I can deal with that--"

"Naruto, shut the hell up. You're giving me a headache," Sasuke sighed, massaging his forehead.

"No, listen!" Naruto turned abruptly, grasping the other ninja by the shoulders. His voice was steadily rising as some sort of illogical panic set in. "There's two things that just don't mix with me. One of them is ghosts, and the other one is aliens!"

Sasuke swept Naruto's hands off his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "There's no such thing as aliens. Also, the guy from the dump was obviously human."

"Humans here could be enslaved to the aliens," Naruto said defensively.

"Just drop the alien idea. Honestly, you're giving me a headache. Listening to you being frantic is like conversing with an autistic blender," he responded darkly, once again rubbing his temples.

"That is completely untrue... but I applaud your creativity on that one."

"Come on, let's go see what we can find out," Sasuke said, then began walking again towards the path the strange machine had been on.

Naruto followed, his arm stretched out in front of him as Sasuke led. "So if not aliens, how would you explain what we just saw?" He asked the back of Sasuke's spiky head.

The soft shuffling sound of feet was his only response as Sasuke stayed silent, then he said, "I have theories."

"Like what?"

A slight shrug from the shoulders in front of him. "It could be genjutsu. Or our memories may have been tampered with."

"Tampered with how? I can remember everything clearly except for what happened right before we got to this place."

"Maybe we think we remember, but vital information may have been taken out. Like those machines, or people we should know but they've been removed from our memories so we can't get information or assistance."

"That... That's just confusing," Naruto said helplessly, scratching the back of his head. "Your logic is starting to look pretty weird compared to aliens."

Sasuke's only response was an exasperated sigh. "Just shut up."

Naruto fell into silence, his mind whirling with confusion. Sasuke's theory made no sense to him, mostly because he hadn't understood the explanation, but who would even do this to them? Who would package the two of them up and send them to this weird place? Aliens, strange machines, holes in his memories... It was all just a confusing clusterfuck.

A more alarming thought hit him, and he almost stopped walking. How were they supposed to get back if they were in some strange land? How would he get home to Konoha? What about Ichiraku ramen, his friends, his future?

A cold ball of fear began to grow in his chest, leeching out with icy tendrils to curl around his heart and slide up his throat. How fucked was he and Sasuke, really?

He came back from his disturbing thoughts as his foot hit solid ground, like rock. Glancing down in surprise he found himself on the road that machine had soared by on. It was gray and separated by segmented yellow lines that checkered on down the road as far as the eye could see.

Sasuke knelt on one knee beside Naruto, and the other ninja leaned down to compensate for the handcuff. "What is it?" Naruto asked.

"The road smells strange," Sasuke commented. "Chemicals... almost a burnt smell. Those machines must be on here frequently."

Naruto knelt down as well, testing the air with trained sniffs. "Hmm, you're right. It's like burnt ramen."

Sasuke looked over incredulously. "Even ramen that had collapsed into cinders wouldn't smell like this."

"Heh, shows how much you know about ramen. This one time I left my ramen to cook for almost 20 minutes on accident and--"

"Fascinating," Sasuke said dryly, "but this isn't the time for your stories."

"Whatever. You wouldn't have been able to appreciate the genius of extinguishing a mattress fire with a faucet hose anyways," Naruto grumbled.

"No I wouldn't have. And I'm eternally grateful that I didn't have to hear about how your mattress caught fire."

"Pshh, you know you're curious," Naruto grinned. "Anyways, aliens or not, we should check out that village. Or are you not done inhaling fumes yet?"

"I'm done," Sasuke responded, unfazed. He stood and brushed off his knees. "But I thought you were afraid of the aliens... scaredy-cat."

Naruto shrugged it off, even though one of his eyebrows twitched. The bastard knew how far that cut back into their childhood, and he was a bit surprised he even acknowledged those times. "You worried for me, teme?" Naruto said with a smirk, and watched with amusement as horror flashed across the other man's face.

"That is so horrendously off the mark it's not even funny," Sasuke growled. "Let's go."

Sasuke leapt into the night, ripping Naruto along behind him with a sharp yank of the handcuff. Naruto cursed darkly and strongly considered punching the other ninja in the spine as he sprinted to catch up.


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Sakura bit her lip with anxiety, her eyes raw and scratchy from crying. She had been combing over the woods repeatedly, looking for anything, any kind of clue. So far there was nothing helpful, except the obvious. She tried to avoid looking at it, for something deep within her froze to chunks of ice at the sight of it.

"Stupid, stupid Naruto," she said angrily, forcing her nerves and fear into something far more useful. Like fury. Furious people didn't curl up into a ball and cry. Yet.

She leapt over several torn and splintered trees, a handful out of hundreds. All the while her green eyes spanned over the scenery, looking for anything. A thread of orange cloth, a headband, a finger... Sakura winced at the imagery and blocked away those thoughts.

Naruto couldn't die. Killing him is like trying to smash a beetle on carpet. He just takes the hits but miraculously appears unharmed. Even against Sasuke... right?

Other ninjas were scurrying over the rubble helping in the search for the blonde haired ninja, and Sakura avoided eye contact in fear of the pity she would see in the other ninjas' eyes. They had all been avoiding her, giving her space as she continued her search. No one had hope that they were alive. Not after seeing that in the middle of this entire mess.

Sakura gritted her teeth, glad for her gloves as she tossed the splintered remains of a tree trunk out of the way. Fuck if she was going to give up without looking in every possible place. Two entire people didn't just disappear. Plus they were her team mates, even if one of them was really fucked up.

"Hey, watch where you're throwing trees," called a friendly voice, and Sakura turned to see the familiar silver-haired jounin.

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei," she said mildly, dusting off her hands briskly before turning around. "Has anyone found anything?"

Kakashi was balanced in a crouch on a slightly charred and broken tree branch, his palms resting on his bent knees. "Kind of. It's more disturbing than informative, though."

"Disturbing?" Sakura asked, trying not to sound alarmed.

The jounin shrugged. The action was care free yet his eyes were solemn. "That's the only word I could really use to describe it. You'll have to come see it for yourself."

"Lead the way," she said.

Kakashi climbed to his feet and began leaping over the mangled bodies of trees, Sakura keeping pace beside him.

"I had a feeling if those two ever fought they would carve a new landmark," Kakashi said conversationally, "and they sure did."

"Yeah," Sakura said weakly. The two of them had managed to level an entire section of forest with a diameter of over a mile. The destruction spread from a center point that Sakura had been deftly avoiding, but now they were heading straight for it.

"So wait, is this a clue to where they might be?" Sakura asked, leaping over a cluster of charred and broken trees.

"Not really, but it does raise some questions," Kakashi said uneasily. "It's over there." He pointed up ahead where Sakura could see several ninja circled around something. The small group was standing right at the edge of the center of the destruction, where the evidence of the almost inhuman battle was most apparent.

Like the bull's eye on a target, an expansive circular area was the center point of the destroyed forest. But unlike the scattered trees populating the rest of the wrecked land, this contact point was simply charred and blackened earth, wiped clean of any life. Ash swirled in ghostly clouds as the wind picked up, and Sakura shivered.

This is what she had been avoiding. This black, scabbed earth was the result of a ridiculous explosion; an explosion no one could survive. An explosion with enough heat and power to blast away the surroundings... and also completely eliminate a human being if they were caught in the middle of it. Completely eliminate. As in gone without a trace.

"Are you alright?"

Sakura glanced up sharply from where she had been staring at the pitted and blasted earth. Kakashi-sensei was looking at her intently, that somber light in his eyes returning.

"I-I'm fine," she said shakily. "Anyways, where's the thing you wanted to show me?"

"Over there." He pointed to where the congregation of ninjas were huddled. "You'll see it."

After casting a questioning and comprehensive glance over her shoulder at the jounin, she began to jog over to where he had pointed. Black ash smeared her toes and coated her sandals as she went.

As she drew closer she could see the center of their attention was the twisted remains of a tree trunk identical to the others scattered about the area. Her brow furrowed in confusion, but she continued to go forward until she had to edge around some of the ninja surrounding the destroyed tree.

Then she could see it, and she froze. Dread turned her body to stone, and locked her eyes wide open. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest, pumping shards of ice into her lungs so it was hard to breath. No. No way. What... What did this mean? She was shaken to the core, a new level of terror and confusion building in her throat.

There, carved jaggedly into the trunk, was one word. It looked like it had been sliced into the wood by a kunai, the edges of the letters dragged out and hasty looking.

It read, "Goodbye."

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"WHAD'YA MEAN WE CAN'T STAY HERE?!" Naruto pounded a fist on the counter, causing the sign reading "Check In" to bounce.

The inn clerk behind the counter looked alarmed, his eyes darting from side to side uneasily. "Um, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to lower your voice."

"Sorry," Naruto grumbled, "you seriously wouldn't believe the day I've had."

The clerk, whose name was "Collin" according to his name tag, didn't seem to doubt this statement in the least. In front of his normal, ordered desk stood two tattered and bloody men handcuffed together, one of them was banging on his desk, and the other one seemed ready to gouge out someone's eyeballs. Collin cleared his throat. He really didn't like the looks of the eyeball-gouger, he looked murderous.

"Um, listen sir, we really can't admit you right now..." Collin continued, his voice wavering slightly. "You don't have money..."

"But we do have money!" Naruto exclaimed, gesturing wildly to the scattered bills and coins piled on the desk. He and Sasuke had both had a small amount on them after a bit of searching, and now Gama, his frog wallet, was disturbing empty.

The clerk looked lost for words, his eyes darting back and forth again. "I've never seen any money like this before," he said, picking up a bill between two fingers. "I'm not even sure it's real..."

Naruto clutched his head in frustration, raking his fingers through his hair. "But it is!"

Sasuke stood beside Naruto in silence, his eyes switching between the clerk and the blonde as if he couldn't decide who to glower at. "Naruto, let me handle this," he said quietly, a deadly tone in his voice.

Collin paled behind his desk, looking very much like he wanted to disappear into his polo shirt and never return. "Listen, I really don't want to call security..."

"Then don't!" Naruto cried, ignoring Sasuke. "Listen, we can't go back out there. It's too... terrifying. Those alien machines, and all those people, and the-- No, no, we have to stay here. You don't know what we had to go through to even get this far!"

"...Alien machines?" Collin looked dumbfounded. "What planet are you from?" He muttered it quietly, but Naruto still heard.

The blonde's eyes widened, and he leaned closer to Collin over the desk. "Are you saying that space travel is normal here?"

"Um, no," Collin said, his shifty eyes now accompanied with him squirming in his seat. "I really do need to ask you guys to leave now."

"Naruto," Sasuke said, "let me talk to him."

"Fine!" Naruto snapped. "Do it your way. This guy is like a fortress though, I don't know how we're going to convince--"

"Here's your room key," Collin said in a dazed voice out of nowhere, sliding a plastic rectangle over the desk. "Free of charge, enjoy your stay."

"--him." Naruto looked incredulously at the inn clerk, then back at Sasuke. In the small moment he looked at Sasuke he saw the blood red color of the sharingan slip back to black smoothly.

"Really," Naruto stated. "Fucking really. You could do that the entire time?"

"Hmm," he responded, reaching out to take the strange key from the desk.

"Why the hell did you wait so long?!"

"You were distracting him from making direct eye contact with me," he said calmly. He began walking in the direction of a door marked with a picture of stairs, and Naruto followed along.

"Whatever," Naruto grumbled. Then more quietly, he said, "I didn't know you could do that. I mean, control people with your eyes and stuff."

"Hmm."

"It's pretty cool," Naruto said, his voice a mixture of grudging admiration and envy. "I have some new tricks up my sleeve too, you know. Just for the record."

"I'm dying with curiosity," Sasuke replied sarcastically.

"I bet you are, secretly."

Sasuke ignored that comment and opened the door to the stairs. Cement steps painted green and chipping at the edges led up several flights, and Sasuke glanced at the card he held. "Says on here we have room 414, so I'm guessing that's the fourth floor."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get going then," Naruto said, starting up the steps. His sandals scuffed over the pavement as he went, and that sound along with the clanking of the handcuff echoed eerily through the cement stairwell.

Four flights of stairs later and they emerged into a hallway that was painfully symmetrical and repetitive. The carpet was patterned with flowers perfectly aligned into diamond shapes that stretched on down the hallway, and the light fixtures were set in a neat row on the low ceiling.

Naruto looked in wonder at the place, his blue eyes wide enough to reflect the rows of doors lining the halls. "Man, I wonder who decorated this place. They must have had hardcore OCD."

Sasuke ignored him and stalked down the hallway, reading the numbers on the doors. "411, 412, 413... 414. This is it."

They stopped outside the door. Naruto scratched his head. "So, uh, how are we supposed to open this thing?"

Sasuke eyed the door, then the card thoughtfully. "I think I put it in here..." He pushed the card into a black box on the wall, then pulled it out. A red light flashed, and the box made an irritated beeping noise.

"Hey it did something!" Naruto pushed in closer, then looked at Sasuke. "Try it again."

He did, and the box repeated the same noise.

"It sounds pissed off," Naruto remarked. "I don't think you're doing it right."

"Shut up, Naruto." Sasuke grouched. He swiped the card again, and the light flashed red. He swiped it again, and again, and again.

"Try doing something different," Naruto supplied helpfully, and Sasuke threw him an Evil Look.

"I'm about to chidori the fuck out of this door," he snapped, "if this doesn't work real fucking soon."

"Flip it around the other way."

He did, and after he slid the card through, a pleased beep followed along with a green light. Naruto pushed on the handle and the door swung open to the room, and they both walked in with a sigh of relief.

"Oh man, awesome. I never thought I'd be so happy to be in a room with a locked door," Naruto said. He felt along the wall and flicked on the light switch while behind him Sasuke locked and dead-bolted the door.

"I can't wait to take a shower and scrub all this grime off," Naruto continued. "The hot water will feel so..." he trailed off and his face wrinkled in confusion. "Wait, how will that work with, you know, this?" He pointed at the handcuff connecting him and Sasuke.

The other ninja just ignored him.

A/N: Yes! I feel accomplished at finally wrestling this second chapter into print. Whew, it's been a battle. I'm easily distracted. Anyways, thank you guys so much for your reviews and interest in this story! It means a lot to me as a writer that people, you know, are actually reading what I'm writing. It's pretty much an awesome-fest. Ahem, click that frisky link under this and leave a review, I might mail you a kitten as a reward (not guaranteed to survive shipping). Haha I'm horrible. Well, hope you liked this : )