Trick or Treat

A/N: Sorry for the lateness of this fic! i was extremely busy the entire month of october, what with midterms, my birthday, parties, the election, and three concert performances.

but i wanted to get it done! and so i did. ... a week later. but i hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. please excuse any typos... it's five am here.

happy late halloween!


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Trick or Treat: 2008
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Naruto gazed skeptically at Sakura’s rented warehouse. It wasn’t anything special, and in the broad daylight it certainly didn’t look like something that could ‘scare the shit out of any trained ANBU,’ as Sakura had put it. It looked like a harmless warehouse.

“So, what do you think?” she asked him.

“To be honest, Sakura,” he said turning to her, “It looks like a shit haunted house.”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Well, yeah, now. I haven’t decorated it yet. Idiot.” Naruto winced, waiting for the blow to his head. When it didn’t come, he opened his eyes and looked at her. “I’m just worried that it’s going to scare someone too badly.”

Naruto made a rude noise and crossed his arms over his chest. “Please, Sakura. The hooky stuff you’re going to put up in there isn’t going to scare anyone. I don’t know why you even wanted to do this in the first place.”

Sakura scowled and stamped her foot. “Just you wait, Uzumaki. Come back tonight, and I’ll be sure to scare the ever lovin’ daylights out of you!”

“Sure, Sakura. And Tsunade will quit drinking.” He yelped and dodged her fist, running off from the warehouse and shouting that he’d be back later over his shoulder.

As he hit the city proper, he slowed down to a stroll, placing his hands in his pockets and looking about him. The sun was almost ready to set, but already he could see small kids running around in their costumes with their parents, knocking on people’s doors and getting their candy. The older kids would come out later since they didn’t have early bedtimes.

Naruto smiled at the kids as they ran around him, some in shinobi costumes and others in monster costumes. He even saw a young boy in a red fox suit, though it only had one tail. Of course, he’d never be allowed to be Kyuubi in Konoha; too much evil associated with that.

And that’s why Naruto didn’t like Halloween. Kyuubi.

He’d never had parents that would take him out trick or treating, and Iruka-sensei had never had all that much time to devote to an orphaned demon-child. But somehow he’d still wind up with candy every Halloween, and every Halloween found him vomiting his guts out on his apartment floor as poison coursed through his system, his insides ripping themselves apart just as quickly as Kyuubi healed them.

He’d never known what had been happening to him, since it was long before he found out about the demon fox, but it had been quick to turn him off of Halloween. He’d only suffered it for so many years because he’d never known what day it was, and it always caught him off guard.

But Naruto had eventually learned never to take anything from anyone. And Halloween was the first day he marked in his calendar every year when Iruka-sensei got him a new one.

Naruto chuckled mirthlessly. Thinking back on it, the only reason he was alive to enjoy his life now was due to the demon in his body that had made his life a living hell to begin with. Naruto was convinced that life moved in mysterious ways, and it wasn’t his place to question.

But he still kept well out of the way every Halloween. This year was an exception, however, since Sakura had conned him into helping her with the haunted house. As long as she kept the candy away from him.

~*~

“Well? What do you think now, Naruto?” Sakura grinned at him, her eyes sparkling in mirth. He took in the decorated warehouse, the floating spider webs, the hanging ghouls, the hiding mannequins…. He turned a bland stare towards Sakura.

“It still sucks.”

Instead of getting angry like he thought she would, she simply smiled. “For your information, Naruto, the decorations aren’t the main feature of this haunted house. A genjutsu has been placed on the inside, so that when people walk through, they’ll see what frightens them the most. It’s the perfect haunted house!”

“Sure, Sakura.” He refrained from rolling his eyes, though he really wanted to.

“Dammit, Naruto! You’re not helping. Why don’t you walk through it and at least tell me if the genjutsu is working.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Na-ru-to…”

Naruto sighed. It was either walk through the damn warehouse or get pummeled by Sakura. And despite popular opinion, Naruto was a smart man.

“All right, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you, Naruto,” Sakura called as he walked towards the doors, his hands stuffed in his pockets. She was so taking him for ramen later.

Once he reached he the bay doors, he bent down to lift one just enough that he could slip inside. He let it slam closed behind him, and he glanced around the area. He took in a few crates and some dirty blankets, thinking Sakura must have lost what little mind she’d had, when darkness crashed over him like a wave, engulfing everything before him. Panic momentarily slipped to the fore, but he quickly squashed it, realizing the genjutsu had taken effect.

Naruto tensed in anticipation, waiting for whatever effects the jutsu had to begin. When nothing happened after several minutes, Naruto relaxed.

“Damn it, now I have to go out there and tell Sakura it doesn’t work. She’s so not going to believe me.” He turned around to open the bay door, but only encountered endless darkness. “Oh yeah, the genjutsu.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before bringing up his fingers to release it.

A footfall echoed behind him.

“My, if it isn’t the little demon-boy. You sure have grown. I guess you can’t be easily tricked like you once were.”

Naruto tensed at the voice. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. He turned around quickly, but nothing was there.

“I guess I can’t have you steal the forbidden scrolls for me anymore. What a pity.”

Naruto’s eyes widened.

“Mizuki-sensei?”

A ghostly hand shot out from the darkness and clamped around Naruto’s throat.

“Hm, where’s Iruka to save you now, I wonder? Poor Iruka, always sympathetic towards the demon child and getting nothing but pain and heartache and ridicule in return. Maybe we should put him out of his misery. Or better yet, how about putting you out of his misery?”

Naruto felt a burning pain tear into his abdomen, Mizuki’s malicious laughter echoing in the darkness, before he chakra-laden hand slashed through the apparition, scattering the image into nothing.

He placed his hands over his abs, feeling the hot stickiness of his blood. The pain made his head spin, and for a minute, he frantically wondered why Kyuubi wasn’t healing him. It took him a second to remember that it was an illusion and he wasn’t really wounded.

Physically.

That Mizuki may have been an illusion, but it had touched on something that Naruto had always felt insecure about. Iruka.

“Is the little ANBU captain hurt?” another voice asked in the quiet dark.

Naruto’s head shot up and craned in every direction to find the owner of the voice. A slight noise behind him made him jump and swirl around. The vague silhouette of a person was leaning against the solid nothingness.

“Yo.”

“Kakashi? What are you doing here?”

“Babysitting, like I’ve been doing for the past five years.”

Naruto frowned in confusion. “What?”

“Honestly, I never should have passed Team 7 all those years ago. None of you were capable of being a competent ninja, especially you, Naruto.”

“Kakashi…”

“I’d had some hope for Sasuke, and I often wonder what would have happened if it weren’t for you.”

“Me?”

The noise he’d first heard sounded again, and facing the apparition, Naruto saw it to be a page turning in the jounin’s ever-present book.

“The only reason Sasuke got those deluded notions in his head that Orochimaru could help him was because of you. He left because of you.”

Naruto felt a sharp pain rip through his heart.

“He saw how powerful you were with the nine-tails when you fought Gaara. He saw it again on that hospital rooftop when you showed him your immature Rasengan. It was power he wanted and knew he wouldn’t get. So he left.”

“No.” Naruto shook his head in denial.

“And isn’t it funny? He’s gotten stronger, has his own team, and here you are – still looked down upon and scorned, graced with the position of ANBU captain, not because you deserve it, but because you are seen as a very valuable tool to the village.”

“No!” The sound of blood dripping on the floor filled the silence behind the exclamation.

“At any moment they could bust you down to genin… for no reason at all; just that you are the demon child.”

“Go away!”

“You wanna try to get the bells again?” The image jingled the copy-nin’s bells, and Naruto lashed out with his hand, watching as the Kakashi-copy fizzled away with a shrug and a bored glance towards his book.

He barely had time to think before someone’s hand was on his shoulder.

“Gaki, look at me.”

Naruto turned around and came face to boobs with the Hokage. “Baa-chan?”

A sad smile graced the woman’s face. “Naruto, I need my grandfather’s necklace back.”

“What?” Naruto was so ashamed; he felt close to tears! Why was this happening to him?

Get a grip, Naruto! This isn’t real. It’s all made up! They’re your friends. They wouldn’t do this to you!

But it’s certainly what you feel deep down that they could do to you; what you think they might eventually do to you.

“Hand over the necklace, brat.”

“But baa-chan…”

“Tsunade-sama has issued you an order.” Naruto watched as the elders materialized behind the Hokage. The old man glared at him as the old woman continued. “I don’t know what ever gave you the notion that you could become Hokage, but it ends here.”

“It should have ended a long time ago,” the old man added.

“I am to blame,” Tsunade sighed. “He saved my life and brought me home. For that, I thought he was worthy. I was wrong.”

“Tsunade…” Naruto was hurt by the words. He was steadily forgetting that it wasn’t real. Where was the love he thought he’d achieved from his friends? He couldn’t feel its warmth radiating through him in this dark place.

It couldn’t save him.

In his hesitation, Tsunade’s face twisted with an ugly sneer, and her hand shot out towards his throat. She clutched the crystal in her hand, and Naruto smelt the coppery scent of blood as she ripped it from around his neck. The chain bit into his skin, tearing it away as the necklace followed in Tsunade’s grip.

“Maybe now it can go to someone who deserves it,” she whispered harshly as she held it to her breast before turning and disappearing into the darkness. The elders stared at him contemptuously a moment more before following in her wake.

Naruto fell to his knees, tears running down his face as blood trickled from his neck and the wound in his stomach.

Why was all of this happening?

Naruto heard footfalls behind him, but he didn’t care. What more could they do to him? His eyes stared blankly forward as more tears leaked out.

“Dobe.”

Naruto’s heart stopped before it jumped up into his throat.

“Dobe, get off the floor.”

Hands gently grabbed his shoulders, and he flinched. They smoothed comfortingly down his arms and then back up, coaxing him into standing. Naruto did so, but he kept his eyes focused on the darkness below him. The body behind him moved in front of him, and warm, calloused hands moved over his cheeks, wiping away the tear tracks.

“Whatever this is, it’s really getting to you, dobe. And here I thought you were stronger than anything they could throw at you.”

Naruto shook his head. He wasn’t going to listen to this illusion. This wasn’t his bastard saying these things.

“No? You’re not stronger? Then you’ve been lying to me all this time.”

Naruto twitched at that. He never lied. It was part of his nindo. Without moving his head, he let his eyes glance up at the image. The deadly red of the Sharingan swirled back at him, and he flinched away.

“Look at me, Naruto. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“You have before,” he whispered.

“Never again,” and then soft and warm lips were sealing to his. In his shock, his eyes locked onto the man in front of him, taking in the longer than usual black hair and the pale skin, the defined cheek bones and the thick, luxuriant lashes that covered the red eyes.

“S-Sasuke?” he tried to get out around the figure’s mouth.

“Yes, Naruto.”

And Naruto didn’t care what the hell was happening anymore. After what he’d just been through, his wounds still fresh and throbbing on his person, he finally had some warmth and kind words, and that was all he needed to sob once before burying his head in the man’s shoulder.

Gentle fingers carded through his blonde hair, and he felt his heaving breathes calm. Then the lips returned with more passion and heat, and Naruto just let himself go; his worries melted away, and he felt he wouldn’t mind if he lost himself entirely.

As his teeth and tongue waged war in Sasuke’s mouth, his hands traveled downward and plunged inside the open shirtfront, trailing along the pale skin of the abs as they wandered upwards to the Uchiha’s nipples. His fingers pressed into Sasuke’s ribs as his thumbs rubbed the buds into rigid peaks, causing the man to hiss into his mouth. Naruto moved his hands up to gently cup Sasuke’s face as he kissed the man again.

“Time is of the essence, dobe,” Sasuke whispered when they pulled apart.

“Huh? But I don’t-”

“I know, Naruto.” Sasuke pushed him backwards, and Naruto found himself landing on the darkness below him, though there was no pain. The Uchiha followed him down gracefully and straddled his hips, immediately rocking forward to create friction.

“What-”

“I need you right now, dobe. Everything’s going to shit, and you’re the only thing that’s ever been a constant in my life.” Sasuke shifted back to pull at the tie of his pants, letting them fall from his hips and displaying his hard cock. His pale hand reached out for Naruto’s pants, and it was all Naruto could do to lift his hips to make sure they didn’t rip. Then those piercing red eyes bore into his, and Sasuke licked his lips. “It has to be fast, Naruto.”

Naruto nodded. He wanted to say that he’d do anything for the Uchiha – live with him, die for him, love him forever – but something kept his lips sealed.

If only this were real…

Swallowing the sob that raced up his throat, Naruto bucked up and tossed Sasuke to the ground. His own aching cock dripped onto the flushed Uchiha beneath him, and Naruto leaned down for another ardent kiss.

Sasuke tore his lips away at length, and panted into the quiet, “Make me scream.”

Naruto shuddered at the lust that nearly drowned him from Sasuke’s voice alone. How he wanted to plunge into the molten heat that Sasuke’s burning eyes promised, but he had nothing to ease the way.

Sasuke saw the uncertainty in his blue eyes and shook his head. “I don’t care.”

Naruto leaned in for yet another kiss as he guided his cock to Sasuke’s ass. Still hesitant, Naruto thrust shallowly into the puckered hole, only ramming home when Sasuke’s legs came around his waist and pulled him in.

Sasuke screamed. It echoed all about them, but Naruto couldn’t tell if it was completely due to the pain the man must have been feeling. The burning red eyes leaked tears, but the mouth was panting and moaning in need, the legs trying to force him in deeper.

Naruto began to thrust violently into the Uchiha, cringing when the man dug his nails into his hips, but otherwise uncaring as Sasuke’s muscles clamped down on him pleasantly.

“Oh, yes, Naruto… so good… m-more…”

Naruto’s pace stuttered as something reached his ears. It sounded like banging, but Sasuke’s hands on his hips kept the pace fast and violent, allowing nothing but the sounds of lost breath and slapping flesh to be heard.

“Gods! Fuck me harder, moron!”

Oh… it had to be real! Only Sasuke could insult him and make it so endearing, make his heart soar like it was.

Naruto let his hips slam brutally against Sasuke’s body, sending his cock deeper into the writhing Uchiha. The body beneath his tensed and then arched violently, Sasuke’s nails scoring deep across his hips as pearly cum splattered on his lover’s chest.

Sasuke’s muscles clenched hard onto him, sending Naruto over a precipice he’d no notion he stood on. The pleasure and emotions coursing through him were too strong, and he sobbed out loud, his face once again trekked with tears.

As they lay there panting, those gentle fingers returned to his hair before pushing at his shoulders. With a grunt, Naruto flopped over on his back, giving them both some space to cool off. Then Sasuke moved beside him, and Naruto felt a tugging at his pants that had never made it past his knees. He lifted his hips and let Sasuke refasten them, hissing when the fabric brushed the scratches on his hips.

A hand wiped the sweat from his brow and he sighed in contentment. But in the silence that banging sound came back, marring his peaceful visage.

“I have to go, Naruto.”

Naruto’s eyes snapped open, and he sat up quickly, ignoring the painful pulling on his wounds. “What?”

“I still have things to take care of.”

This couldn’t be happening! Sasuke was leaving again? Leaving him again?

“But, I thought…”

“What? That I was coming home?” Sasuke stared at him solemnly. “No, Naruto.”

Naruto felt his earth shatter around him.

It was all an illusion. Another thing dredged up to hurt him, only this time, it had given him some small hope; this time, it hadn’t hurt – it had broken him.

“I can’t come home, Naruto.”

The “not yet” at the end of the statement went unheeded as Naruto closed himself off slowly. But the warm lips that sealed the goodbye brought him back, and as he looked up and saw Sasuke walking away, he tried to go after him… like he couldn’t all those years ago.

His legs wouldn’t carry him, so he was on his knees, begging the Uchiha not to leave him again. It was like his voice couldn’t reach the man. Sasuke kept walking. But before the darkness swallowed him, Naruto heard his best friend whisper softly, “Kai.”

“No!” Naruto screamed as everything around him melted. The darkness fell back, and he heard the distant screech of the bay doors opening, but he continued to scream long after the image of Sasuke had disappeared.

And as someone’s hands grabbed his shoulders, Naruto vomited up his sorrow and pain and passed out.

~*~

Naruto came to in the hospital, and when Tsunade had looked him over, she discharged him. Sakura came to apologize profusely, asking what had happened to Naruto in the genjutsu, but he wouldn’t say. He couldn’t say. It was all too close to his heart.

The illusionary wounds he received were no longer there. Like he’d really expected them to be. But, he admitted to himself, there were moments when he’d forgotten it wasn’t real, so perhaps some part of him had expected something, like sore muscles after an intense healing by Kyuubi.

When he got home, he went straight to the shower, wanting to wash away the entire experience as best he could. He pulled his shirt over his head, and slipped his thumbs into the waistband of his pants, when something sticky smeared over his fingers. Looking down, he spotted blood, and he quickly shoved them past his hips, looking up into the mirror.

Five deep scratches lined each hip, blood still pooling sluggishly in them. Naruto’s heartbeat sped up to match his labored breathing. A dark chuckle echoed inside his head, letting him know that Kyuubi wanted him to keep the scars.

Scars that Sasuke had left him.

Naruto’s breath stalled in his throat as the illusion came back to him.

Not illusion.

Reality.

Scars.

“I can’t come home, Naruto.”

Sasuke.

“Not yet.”


~owari~


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thanks for reading!