Marked By Jutsu

Marked by Jutsu


Part XX


Gaara

Each kiss we shared became more infused with lust. I had opened something taboo inside of my drummer. I thunked against the wall next to the lounge door as he latched onto me, his mouth covering mine in a heated kiss. The soft sounds of moist lips and toungues twisting were the only noises in the lounge. My right hand sought for the lightswitch as the other held Gaara close. A soft click filled the room with dim lighting. Briefly we stopped so that we could maneuver to the couch. We sat catching our breath for a minute. His shy nature seemed to rapidly be returning. I sighed and thought about what I'd done. Perhaps it had been best that we stopped. There were too many things that he did not yet know, and I did not want to hurt him. I sighed again and flopped against the back of the sofa. Gaara was intently studying the Kyuubi plush he'd given me a few years back.


"Does he bother you?"


I gazed at Gaara for a moment then responded. "Who? Kyuu? Nah I think I quite enjoy his presence in my mind. He's conversation that I can understand. He tells me stories about my ancestors and offers some semblance of guidance." I smiled and idly rubbed at my tattoo, "Besides, I wouldn't be myself without him."


"Shuukaku, sometimes his presence is negative." Gaara leaned back and hugged my plush. "Despite his lack of real desire to kill anything, every now and then he thirsts for blood. He forces it into my nightmares since he can do nothing else."


"I thought when Tanuki was removed from the original host that the mind was at ease."


"Shuukaku and Tanuki are two different beings, but without Tanuki Shuukaku is powerless, or so it was written in Suna's history. Perhaps it is just my family that is a cursed bloodline."

"Well I wouldn't worry about that now. Even though I'm not powerful like my ancestors, if it ever haunts you I'll frighten it off. But now, just focus on music."


He smiled very slightly at me and then scooted over and leaned against my shoulder. I smiled too and threw my arm around him. Suddenly he became rident (1) and shook beneath my arm. I looked over questioningly and the sudden soft laughs escaping his lips.

"Uh...what's so funny?"


He turned my Kyuubi plush to look at me. "He looks constipated." I agreed with a laugh of my own. His giggles slowed but his smile was still there. "It's funny to think that Kyuubi sits here in my lap though he's a big powerful demon."

I nodded and felt Kyuub growl in disgust and shift around beneath his seal. Mentally I prodded at him to which he snapped at me then 'hurrumphed'. I grinned. It was nice to have such a lightheared atmosphere with Gaara. I sighed and leaned my head on top of his. The relaxed atmosphere was enticing me into sleep.


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When I awoke, Gaara was gone and a blanket was tossed across my body. The lounge was lightly scented with hot tea and melon. I sat up and noticed Neji siting quietly reading some rather old looking book. He seemed transfixed on the words as I watched his eyes move quickly back and forth.

Curiosity getting the better of me I approached him. "Whatcha reading there?" He looked up and offered me a small smirk. "Is is interesting?"


"Quite. It's a history of techniques used through sound. What kinds of affects they have on individuals and the like." He flipped the book around and showed me a page that had a piece of rather ancient looking sheet music. "It has examples of different types of music and what effects it has on the human psyche."

"You mean like why music makes girls want to strip?"


He chuckled heartily but nodded. "Something like that. I'm sure you already know that music and sex are very closely intertwined. Especially with your recent turn in your singing."


I blushed and looked at the floor. I could feel his eyes working his way over my body and I had to admit that I liked it. I looked up again and right into his opal depths. My sexuality was sparked again and I slithered close to him. He eyed me suspiciously but stayed relaxed.

"Nee Neji-sama....You know what I learned?" I stopped behind him and slid my hands down his shoulders.


I felt him relax his shoulders and lean back. "How to be more of the seductive little bitch you are?" He snuffed and turned to me with a smirk.


"Mou you're mean Neji-sama." I frowned.


He laughed softly then pulled my left hand to his lips. I shuddered at the soft contact still feeling quite wound up from last night's incompletion with Gaara. Kyuubi rumbled within me at Neji's touch. His eyes calmly surveyed my face. He stood up and pulled me into his arms while tilting my head back and kissing the side of my neck. A quite visible shiver worked up my body at the quick kiss. He stepped away and went to refill his tea glass.


"How was your night out?" he turned and leaned on the counter. "If you aren't careful you're going to end up hurting Gaara's feelings."


"What do you mean?"


He picked the paper up off the countertop and tossed it to me. Questioningly I flipped through it and saw my kiss with Gaara plastered all over the page with scandalous statements. I gaped at it for a moment. I wondered how anyone had seen that. We had been in a secluded spot on the roof and still some one had managed such a close picture without either of us noticing. My mind went back to something Itachi had said. I scowled. I didn't want to sleep with Gaara, well I did, but not. I really didn't want to bring him into this huge mess.


"Well not much I can do now." I sighed while setting the paper down.

"Well what's done is done, now go shower up and get ready for practice." He shifted away from the counter and pushed me in the direction of the bathroom with a light tap of his foot.

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During practice I had found myself trying to repeat the same things I had during the last one. It wasn't even a concious decision. My body felt like it was burning from within as I was singing. Kind of like a fever that had taken completely over me. I felt everyone's eyes on me as I moved. I had to admit, it was an exhilarating feeling. I stopped though when a familiar since of dread came over me. My eyes widened as the head man himself walked into the studio. I had never seen him outside the office so this had to be something big.

"Naruto-kun...what is this about you working with Crimson Moon?" his voice was terse as he leveled his eyes at me.


"I'm not working with them. They just wanted to use me in a music video. Not such a terrible request is it?" The lie came easily, but then again it was half true.


"Oh?" he smirked as if he'd caught a rabbit in his trap, "Which song?"


I sighed in annoyance to hide my fear and then blurted out a song, "Closer, I believe."


Sasuke who up until this point had not been paying much attention to the conversation suddenly butted in. "You whore! Why are you working with him on that one? You're going to let him fuck you on film?"


"Surely you don't believe that just because a song is about sex that the video will be? Besides if it was, you of all people should know that faking things is quite possible." I smiled coyly and chortled mentally. Everything was going according to Itachi's plan.


Orochimaru smirked again and offered a false nicety "You know Sasuke-kun, it's bad form to insult your band. Next time I hear it I shall have to punish you."


I sighed and looked at him harshly. "It doesn't matter. I'm used to his insults, it's just his way of showing affection. Now if you could please leave us be or something....we have a lot of music to go over."


Orochimaru gave me a nasty look, but then turned and walked away. My anger and nerves eventually started to die down as he took each step further away from us. As the door to the studio slammed shut I let out a deep breath. My discomfort lessened the more I was around that guy, but my anger grew. Kyuubi had enlightened me on a few things of his past.

"Kabs, I don't see how you can work for that guy. He gives me the creeps."


"Orochimaru-sama employed me at a young age. He has great ambitions and I have nothing but respect for such things." He sighed quietly, "You should be a little more respectful to him seeing as he is your boss. Remember he has the power to cut your dreams off."


"I know, but it just made me so mad. That's the second time he's accused me of trying to pull his company under. I'm not interested in any of that, I just want to sing."


Kabuto smiled at me as I tossed the mic from hand to hand. Everything between me and him was business as usual. It was almost as if I could see him mentally smirking at how good at hiding my intentions were. I had to say I had a lot of respect for Kabuto. He was really running a risk by what he was doing for me, but then again I had a feeling he liked to flirt with danger a bit.

"Ok, let's get back to practicing. I want you guys to start over on this song. Naruto you need to stop messing around and project your voice. The emotion is good, but it's not powerful enough."

I could feel Sasuke's eyes burning into my back as we started the song back up. It was quite annoying, but I knew if Itachi's plan was going to go off without a hitch that I'd just have to deal with it. I smiled and turned toward Gaara telling him to count us off.


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Aside from the incident with Orochimaru our practice went great. I was feeling great afterwards too. When I came back to the lounge I found that Ino had already made us dinner and was curled up on the couch asleep. I smiled at her and took the quilt off the chair and draped it over her. She had become a really close friend to me during the time she had been our costume designer and I was thankful that she was there to help me through these ordeals.

I went into the small kitchen to inspect what she'd made and found onigiri and chicken cutlets. Not my favorite food, but she made just about anything delicious. I felt kinda guilty about her traveling with us all the time because I was sure she got lonely and I knew with this kind of cooking she'd make somebody very happy as their little wifey.


"Mmmm happy full belly." Kyuubi seemed to agree when I finished downing the rest of what was left over. "It's a good thing the others don't eat a whole lot." I rubbed my stomach and slouched in my chair. "You know kyuu, it's been a good day. I'm sure his plan will go off without any incident." I murmured to myself not knowing that someone was watching me.


"Whose plan?" A very annoyed Sasuke growled making me jump out of the chair. "And who were you talking to?"

"Don't sneak up on me bastard!" I gasped trying to slow my heart rate. "I was talking to my stuffed fox about the music video." I spat grateful that my Kyuubi plush just happened to be sitting on the chair to my left.


He bristled then calmed down. "I don't see why you'd want to work with that bastard. He's just going to exploit you for his own gain."


"Maybe so, but the project sounded interesting to me." I responded nonchalantly. "Besides, I like to think of it as gaining new experience. Chakra plus 3, wisdom plus 5." I grinned.


"I don't know about that. What kind of knowledge could you possibly gain from them that you can't gain from us?"


I smirked, "If I didn't know better I'd say you were jealous." I noticed him twitch slightly confirming my suspicions. "Well these guys are tough compared to you and Neji and Gaara. Besides their music is different than ours, I mean not genre-wise, but definitely style wise. Not to anger you or anything, but I can see why Itachi has that position. He's a total incubus on the mic and guitar. Oh so very seductive." I idly watched as his frown deepened. "In fact if I wasn't so enthralled with my own band I might have fallen prey to his sexuality."


That remark hit the nerve, and the next thing I knew Sasuke had clamped onto my wrist and pressed me into the countertop with his own body. His lips hovered just above my ear as he slowed his erratic breathing. The ledge of the counter was digging almost painfully into my gut as his body weighed on my back.


"Don't even joke about such things you slut." he hissed.


Kyuubi started growling in me for some reason and I started to feel light headed and nauseous. I prodded him as my conciousness started to black out wondering what prompted his protectiveness. His response was two words, curse seal, or at least that was all I heard before slipping out. I think I must have bashed my head on the counter when I fell out because when I awoke later, in Sasuke's room my head was hurting like a bitch. I was shocked, to say the least, that I was on Sasuke's bed of all places.


"Naruto I know you're hiding something. Why do you suddenly pass out like that?" Sasuke's voice startled me. "I mean it used to happen a lot, not so much anymore, but I'm curious as to what you're hiding from me."

I didn't want to tell him that my passing out was due to angry fox demon and that was my only defense to protect others from him when he got angry so I vied for what Kabuto had said. "I dunno. Kabs said it was a nervous disorder and it made sense since I passed out when I got really stressed and stuff so I never looked more into it." I shrugged and moved to stand up, but the room started to spin so I sat back down. "Not much more than that."


"If that's so, why do you never pass out before a show?" He frowned at me, but placed a hand on my shoulder to keep me seated.


"Oh that's easy. I never find shows and performances stressful. I find them as a release. I can let all that creative energy free and it doesn't matter if I screw up because I'm enjoying it and the audience knows that." I sighed, "It's so completely different when I perform. When I'm out there under the lights I'm not myself, yet I am. I'm some sort of entity of myself, one that's confident, cool, and seductive. I'm this fantasy person that doesn't have to deal with anything else. Even for that time, I'm their hero." I looked down at my hands and then continued, "Sasuke, you may have it bad, but you don't understand what it's like to have the world against you. You were the first person to show me any consideration, way back before anything. You know before we were teenagers. Do you remember?"


I sighed quietly when he said nothing and shakingly got to my feet. I had talked too much and had made myself uncomfortable. Before I could move anywhere though Sasuke had wrestled me back on the bed. His legs tangled with mine and I could feel his body pressing to every curve in my back. His arms were coiled tightly about my chest restricting me from moving away and his breath was hard and hot on the back of my neck.


"Naruto...I don't know what it is about you. I'm trying to hate you and yet I can't. Everything you do annoys the hell out of me, but at the same time......I feel empty almost without that stupidity..."


I lay there eyes wide trying to digest mentally what I had just taken in. Had he really in his insulting way just admitted that he didn't hate me? That he almost needed me? I sighed contentedly to myself. Even if he took the words back in the morning, I knew for real that there was some sort of care for me even if it wasn't what I desired. I was happy with that.

"It's not stupidity. I just enjoy giving everything my all." I retorted, but I wasn't angry and Sasuke could tell because I felt him lower his head slightly to rest against my shoulder. "Why are you so snuggly all of a sudden? I mean not that I'm complaining, but...yeah."


"Naruto, I have something I need to do. I keep pursuing someone else to try to keep you from distracting me from my goal and no matter what your presence still makes itself known in my mind, and quite flashy at that." I started to feel uncomfortable with the way this topic was going. He sighed deeply then continued. "I need some time to accomplish my goals. I need...I need to leave the band..." He choked as he said the last sentence.


"You what!?" I jolted violently and rolled over until I was seated on top of him. I growled dangerously near his throat feeling Kyuubi's power leak through. "Don't you fucking dare! The whole reason we're here is because of you. If it hadn't have been for you I'd probably be laying in the street as someone's fuck toy because no one believed I'd become something. I can pursue my dreams because you were there and now you want to be selfish and take away something from our band?! You don't understand the importance we have. Neji would still be serving a spoiled clan and gods only know where Gaara would be. Listen Sasuke, as much as I hate to admit it, we are here because of you, not our talent. Because he has interest in you we were able to succeed. Do you understand the consequences of what happens if you leave? Bastard! I bet you didn't even think of that!"


"The hell do you know?! You don't give a damn as long as you are successful! You have no idea how I feel!" He exploded while trying to dislodge his body from my own and the bed.


"I dream about it every night. I have nightmares because I know what awaits you. I worry about what revenge is going to make of you and hatred..." I got up to leave, Kyuubi's power strengthening me. " Oh and Sasuke...there are much worse demons than weakness...think about that while you're being selfish...revenge is going to take you on the same path as your ancestor..."


I felt bad as I slammed the door. Perhaps it was harsh, but the only way to tell him with out telling him what I knew was to yell. If I could tell him what Itachi told me then this problem would be solved, but it wasn't my business to meddle in the affairs of the afterlife of those seeking redemption.

I flopped down on the couch holding my head. Kyuubi's explosion of power had given me a pounding headache and most likely a fever as my face felt incredibly hot. I felt a presence near me, but didn't bother looking up as I could tell from Kyuubi's soft growling. The red head said nothing as he sat beside me. His cool hand felt good on my forehead and alleviated some of the pain. Soft lips soon brushed against the same spot the hand had been and I relaxed back and slouched allowing Gaara to see my face. His fingers brushed along the defined whisker marks slowly until they brushed against my slightly parted lips. He tilted my head and continued to trace along my face. My eyes opened halfway letting him see the color I already knew had bled into them. He made no movement or sound of surprise. In fact he slid into my lap his knees resting along the length of my thighs. My hands came up to rest against his behind as he sat there making an unknown sexual movement. Just a calm chaste touch, but it was driving me nuts. I took a deep breath and regained control of my mind forcing Kyuubi to go back to his cage.


" You know that was a dangerous move."


"...I know that you have better control than that..." He murmured while studying my face. "Your demon did that to protect you almost as its child. I could never say that of my own."

I slid down the couch and rearranged our bodies so that I was laying across the length of the couch and he was laying against me. I felt him sigh against my shoulder as he moved to let his hands rest on my chest.


"You don't know how much I appreciate you Gaara..."


A/N: That's it for now. I'll start the next chapter when I get back to school. This is shorted than most because of the events goin on here. too long and the chapter would get really muddled. Work is really killer. And I'm sorry if I confused anyone on AFN with the posting. A chapter was missing so I had to edit and repost. As always, thanks to my lovely beta amai. Thanks to those of you still reading. I appreciate your support.