Broken Reflections

Author's Notes:  Hmm ... not much to say again ... so enjoy this chapter! ^_^


Warnings:  Slight bit of angst


Chapter Status:  COMPLETE


-----


The bus pulled up to the stop and Naruto jumped backwards. He was wondering why they had just stopped at the corner of the street, but he had no idea that they had been waiting for this large monstrous beast to pull up. He swallowed hard as he watched Sasuke board the bus and turn to face Naruto. “Naruto? What are you doing?” Sasuke said with a slightly annoyed tone edging his deep voice. “Stop gawking and get on! We’ll be late.”


“Y-you want me ... on that?” Naruto couldn’t do it, he didn’t know what it was. The thing was making a horrid noise that sounded like Jiraiya’s snores amplified several times over. In all of his life, he had never seen something that concerned him more.


“Don’t be ridiculous, Naruto -- get on now.” Sasuke chuckled nervously as he turned to smile at the bus driver, who made a show of his sighing. Obviously he was upset with Naruto as well. Sasuke lowered his voice to a near whisper, this was really silly of Naruto to take this amnesia thing this far. “If you don’t get on now, I’ll drag you on,” he threatened softly.


Naruto looked around, everyone onboard the bus was staring at him with impatience. With a deep breath for strength, he slowly took each step until he was on the bus. Sasuke dragged him to the back and pushed him down into a seat. The bus began to move with a slight jolt and Naruto grabbed ahold of Sasuke.


“Naruto ... ease up, everyone’s staring.” Sasuke felt warmth began to creep into his cheeks as he looked around the bus at all the soft brown eyes staring back at them. Naruto let go of Sasuke and sat back into his seat. They were moving quickly down the street, this was something that he couldn’t figure out. What was running this large contraption, he decided to pester Sasuke for answers.


“Say, Sasuke ... what is this thing?”


“Huh?” Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. Naruto didn’t know what a bus was? He had to be kidding. Surely, he knew that it was bus, a large motor vehicle.


“This thing that we’re sitting in. Does it run on chakara? Or something else?”


“‘Chakara?’ What do you mean? It runs on diesel, it’s like gasoline only refined differently.”


“‘Gasoline?’ What’s that?”


Sasuke’s head slumped over in aggravation. Naruto was being honest, he wasn’t playing in any way. Those bright blue eyes told him that Naruto had no clue what he was talking about. Sasuke lifted his head and forced a smile, even though it looked more like a grimace to Naruto. “Gasoline is what allows cars -- those things,” Sasuke pointed out the window at the smaller vehicles on the roadway, “and this bus to move. They also need batteries.”


“OH! I know what those are.” Naruto’s smile lit up his face and caused Sasuke to temporarily forget how to breathe. He glanced away from the face that was bringing him such misery and decided staring out the window was safer.


“That’s good. Well, that’s what this runs on.”


Naruto wondered why Sasuke had suddenly looked away from him, but put it aside because another question had come into his head. “So, what was that growling noise I heard when we were standing on the street corner?”


“‘Growling?’ You mean the engine noise?”


“There’s an engine in it?”


“Good, you know what an engine is. Yeah, there’s one under the hood of the bus. Cars have one too.” Naruto took in the information which Sasuke had given him and made a soft grunting noise as he stored it within his brain. Sasuke sighed when he heard the soft grunting and gently rubbed his temple with one hand. He wished that everything would fix itself magically and that the Naruto whom he had gone to bed with the previous night would come back, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen.


-----


The restaurant was in a lower floor of a shopping center. It was a French-Japanese restaurant and Sasuke could already feel his stomach tightening up on him. “Naruto, remember --”


“Yeah, yeah ... act normal.” Sasuke could see the hurt on Naruto’s face, but decided that if he apologized it would only lead to an argument. They were escorted to the table, and apparently were the first of the guests to arrive.


“Sasuke-kun! Naruto! How are you!?” Naruto paused as he looked at Sakura. She was dressed in a pale pink kimono which was embellished with tiny cherry blossoms that pooled into white at the bottom of the kimono. She looked beautiful. “Naruto? Na-ru-to?” Sakura waved her hand in front of her friend’s face trying to pull him out of his odd expression. “Sasuke-kun, what’s wrong with him?”


Sasuke’s stomach tightened even more. Naruto had promised that he wouldn’t do anything weird, and this was very odd. He was openly staring at Sakura, the girl whom he had cared for as a sister. The three of them had been together since elementary school, and even if Naruto hadn’t known at the time that he was gay, Sasuke did. So why was it that Naruto was nearly ogling her? “Naruto? Snap out of it ... you act as if you haven’t seen her in years.” Sasuke laughed nervously, and prayed that no one thought his laugh sounded forced.


It was Lee who pulled Naruto out of his daze. He walked over to Naruto and clapped him heartily on the back in greeting. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”


“Hmm? Oh yeah. It has.” Naruto wasn’t sure how long it’d been since the other him had last seen Lee, so he just went along with it. He could feel the relief easing over Sasuke and was happy that he hadn’t angered him again. “So, Sakura ... you look nice.” Naruto felt very awkward talking this openly with the girl whom he’d had a crush on for as long as he could remember. Despite the fact that she was also dating Lee in his world, it still felt odd to be this familiar with her.


“Thanks, you too. Both of you ... look at you. Very handsome couple I must say.” Sakura walked back to her seat and Sasuke and Naruto took theirs as well. The small group eased into a comfortable conversation in which Naruto tried his best to act like he knew what was going on. As the night went on, and more familiar faces appeared, Naruto found himself wishing desperately that he knew more about this life which he had been forced into. He glanced up and down the long table at faces he had known for years back in Konoha. Iruka-sensei was there, with his life-partner, Kakashi-sensei; this knowledge had thrown Naruto for a loop and he had nearly blown his cover with his half hidden reaction to the news. Kiba and Hinata were of course there, that match was not a surprise to Naruto. Kiba had been trying to get Hinata to go out with him for years, and had just recently succeeded in getting her to say yes. As it turned out, Naruto discovered that the story of this Kiba and Hinata was not so different. Then there was everyone else, Chouji, Shikamaru, Neiji, everyone was there. Naruto would have felt at home again if it weren’t for the fact that they all seemed a little different from the people he had known. The whole evening caused him to grow very homesick.


On the ride home, Sasuke finally brought himself to look at Naruto again. He was moping over something, and Sasuke’s first instinct was that he had caused it somehow. “You did good. Thanks.”


Naruto grunted softly in reply and turned his back to Sasuke so that he could look out the window. It was night and the lights from the buildings blurred as the bus drove past them. He wanted to go home so badly now. There was no real point in staying in this place since there was nothing for him there. He didn’t really know any of the people whom he had grown to love and care for in Konoha, and he didn’t even really understand the Sasuke which was sitting next to him.


Sasuke reached out and lightly placed his hand on Naruto’s tense shoulder. He gently began to massage the stress out of Naruto’s body. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how tonight would upset you ... since you can’t remember anything. It must’ve been hard trying to keep up with the conversations.”


Sasuke’s hands were somehow comforting and Naruto began to lean backwards against that lean body of his best friend. “Sasuke,” Naruto closed his eyes as he spoke, fearing that tears might escape if he didn’t. “Tell me ... do you think there’s any way for me to get back to where I came from?”


“Huh? You mean that little town west of Osaka? What was it again ...?” Sasuke tried to remember the name of the town in which Naruto had been born in and had spent the first three years of his life.


“Not that. Konoha. Do you think I can get back there? Or am I stuck here?”


A lump began to form in Sasuke’s throat as he listened to Naruto. He didn’t want him to go, he couldn’t let him go. Naruto was going to stay there with him, and he was going to remember everything. Sasuke would wait, he would be patient. “Naruto,” he didn’t want to say it, “I think there might be a way.” But he had said the words, he just wasn’t able to stop them from coming forth.


Naruto quickly sat up and smiled brightly at Sasuke. “You really think so!?”


“Uh, well ... I don’t know of any way, but I guess ... if it’s the truth that you aren’t my Naruto ... then I guess there must be a way for you to get back to your home.” The look on Sasuke’s face tore at Naruto’s heart. He wasn’t sure why, but the overwhelming urge to take Sasuke into his arms and hold him creeped into his system. Why was he thinking thoughts like that? Naruto just didn’t understand. The rest of the ride home was spent in silence.


It wasn’t until they were inside their apartment, that Naruto broke the quiet. “Good night Sasuke.” He curled up on the futon with a blanket which had been draped across its back. Sasuke stood staring at the other man, wondering what had gotten into him. Could it be that he was homesick? Or was there something more brewing in that spastic brain of his? It was impossible for him to come to any sort of conclusion just standing there staring at the blond head poking out from beneath the blanket. Sasuke turned off the light, and walked slowly into his empty bedroom.


-----


Naruto awoke in the dead of night, unable to fall asleep again. He rolled onto his back and stared up into the pitch blackness of the room. The soft noises emanating from the bedroom told Naruto that Sasuke was sound asleep. It wasn’t that he snored, just breathed very heavily. This thought made Naruto snicker because that was a bad quality for a ninja, but one couldn’t really help the way he slept.


With a deep sigh, Naruto swung his legs over the side of the futon and sat up. He rubbed the little bit of sleep from his eyes and waited until they adjusted to the darkness. He fumbled his way into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet. It wasn’t that he had to use the bathroom, he just didn’t want the light from the main room to awaken Sasuke. “I wonder what everyone’s doing back at home. I wonder what Sasuke’s doing ...” Naruto decided that his long time rival and best friend was probably taking this opportunity to advance his skills so that he could say he was stronger than Naruto in some jutsu.


Deciding that Sasuke was more than likely training, Naruto decided to mold some chakara just for practice, and to hopefully tire himself out. He placed his fingers together in the proper seal, and then concentrated ... nothing happened. “Huh?” He was at a loss as to why he couldn’t feel any chakara moving within him or around him. Naruto tried again, this time he concentrated a little harder. There was still no reaction. “What the hell?” Knowing that the seal on his belly showed up every time he used chakara in any form, he stood before the mirror with his shirt off. Naruto stared at his belly as he attempted a kage bunshin. There was no seal. In fact, he just realized that he couldn’t feel the kyuubi within him.


Naruto panicked. He had no idea what was going on, or why he was unable to use his chakara. The thing that scared him the most was that the kyuubi was missing. Completely forgetting that it was about two in the morning, he ran into Sasuke’s room and turned on the light. Sasuke groaned and sat up, unsure of what was going on. “Naruto? What’s wrong ... I was sleeping you know. Idiot.” The last bit he mumbled softly, not that it mattered for Naruto was pacing frantically before the bed, wringing his hands together. “Naruto? Did something happen?” Sasuke could see that the look of worry was genuine, and grew concerned for his friend.


“Um ... Sasuke ... I can’t use my chakara -- at all ... and -- and ... the kyuubi -- it’s gone.” Naruto turned wild eyes to face Sasuke, who had a look of complete confusion on his face.


“I -- Naruto, what in heaven’s name are you talking about!? You woke me up for that nonsense?” Sasuke pulled the covers over his head and grunted angrily. “Go back to bed.”


Naruto yanked the covers off of Sasuke and glared down at him. “Look, I know you think I’m crazy, but I’m not. I’m sick of you not listening to me. This is no different than before you went all stupid and decided that only Orochimaru could help you defeat Itachi! My world is different than this one. I was a ninja there, and used my chakara to form seals and perform jutsus. But I can’t do that now! And ... the kyuubi was a demon which the yondaime had sealed within me for my protection and the world’s!” Sasuke stared at Naruto who was panting from his emotional explosion.


“I still don’t understand what you’re talking about ... ‘jutsus?’ ‘kyuubi?’ What are you talking about?”


Naruto sighed and sat down on the bed next to Sasuke. “I told you ... I was a ninja in my world. And I had a demon sealed within me ...” He began to stare at his hands which gripped the blanket on the bed. Naruto wasn’t sure how this Sasuke would take that news. It wasn’t as if he knew about how the kyuubi had killed people and destroyed villages, he hadn’t had to live through anything like that. Though, there was still that chance that it might cause him to feel uneasy around Naruto, and he couldn’t take that. Not from Sasuke.


“Naruto ... this amnesia thing, it’s not fake is it?”


“I don’t have amnesia!” Naruto’s eyes flared and he strode angrily over to the windows and gazed out at the city. Why couldn’t Sasuke just accept that he wasn’t from this world? Was it really that hard to do?


Sasuke slid out of bed and walked over to Naruto. It was at that moment that he noticed something odd. Naruto was taller than he. This wasn’t right, Naruto had never been taller than Sasuke. He had always been just a little shorter, not much, but still shorter. Sasuke backed away slowly from the man standing before him. Maybe Naruto wasn’t suffering from amnesia, and maybe he wasn’t crazy. This was just wrong. There was no way that he could be taller than him. No one grew that fast. He would have had to have grown a good 7 centimeters[1] in order to be the height he was now, and he would have had to have done that in one day. “N-Naruto ... um, how did you get taller than me?”


“Huh? Since we turned seventeen.” Naruto looked at Sasuke quizzically, wondering what had made him ask that question.


“You’ve never been taller than me.” Sasuke’s eyes held a note of sadness as he looked at Naruto. This wasn’t his Naruto, this man before him was from another world ... it was the only explanation.


“See ... I’m not your Naruto -- I’m sorry, but I’m not. I can’t be Sasuke, I’m not in love with you like that. I’m sorry.” Naruto watched as Sasuke turned his back to him. He could tell that Sasuke was hiding his emotions, but knew better than to say anything to him.


“Naruto, I don’t know how you got here ... but I would like to know where my Naruto is. We need to find someone who can help us.” Sasuke took a deep breath to prevent himself from crying despite his body’s screaming for release. “I’ve got classes tomorrow ... and coincidentally, so do you.”


“Huh? Classes? You mean at school?!” Naruto’s voice cracked slightly as he realized that he would have to go and participate in a class he knew nothing about. “What if I just say I’m sick and stay here?”


Sasuke had to laugh at the hopeful tone in Naruto’s voice, he turned and smiled slightly. “That’s probably a smart move. If you go and get called on, you probably wouldn’t be able to answer. Just stay home for the rest of the week, and then we’ll go out this weekend and do some research.” Naruto heartily agreed to the plan and then turned to leave the room, but before he turned out the light he had one last thing to say to Sasuke.


“We’ll find him. I know we will ... you’ll have him back in your arms where he belongs -- I promise.” Naruto smiled brightly and clicked off the light.


-----


“Tsunade, you wanted to see me?” Jiraiya strode into the godaime’s office, a serious look adorning his usually smiling face. He had heard about Naruto and Sasuke’s disappearances and was concerned for both of the boys.


“Yes, Jiraiya ... have you heard anything -- anything at all about the boys?”


“I’m afraid not. I have heard some disturbing things about those woods they were in. Apparently many people who were unhappy have gotten lost within the thick foliage. They’ve never been found. In fact, no one could find anything of the people who have gone missing.”


Tsunade sat down behind her desk and rested her head within the nest of her arms. Why did this have to happen to those two boys? Naruto especially. He was like a kin to her, and it felt almost the same as when she had lost her younger brother all those years ago. Jiraiya walked over to the desk and laid a caring hand on her shoulder.


“We’ll find them. They’ll be the first survivors ... I swear to you. If I have to do it ... I’ll bring them back even if it costs me my life.”


-----


[1] this equals about 3 inches. Since Sasuke was always a bit taller than Naruto, I decided that about an inch and a half would be enough for one to notice a height difference, but small enough to where you wouldn't notice immediately.


Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, TV-Tokyo, & Shounen Jump