Orange Crush

I want to apologize for the delay in finishing chapter 3 of ‘Orange Crush’, I ended up dealing with a lot over the past couple of months which included work, the holidays, getting a throat virus and having my car ran into while it was parked outside my home. Also I would like to apologize ahead of time for my lack of editing skills… and hope you still like the chapter despite that. I would also like to thank everyone who has reviewed and I promise that I will answer your questions later after I post this, thanks.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto that honor is held by Masashi Kishimoto (lucky SOB)

Orange Crush-Chapter 3 by KitsuneFun

Red eyes watched a flame sprout and burn, flickering in and out as it danced within the boy’s palm, it was almost hypnotic, but dangerous. For the boy who could control it knew just how dangerous it could be.

“Kyuubi… put that out, right now!”

The blond haired boy with red and orange highlights looked up from the flame in order to glare antagonistically up at his nervous looking teacher before letting the fire out with a close of his fist, “Sure thing Kirasu-sensei…” the stoic boy replied giving a sarcastic smile before leaning back in his chair.

“God… what a jerk…” This came from a brown-haired girl with pigtails who sat on the other side of Kyuubi as she leaned close to her blond haired friend who only nodded in response, “I wonder why they even let him come to this school… can you believe he’s related to the Orange Flash?”

“Not likely…” this came from her friend who used a finger to do a swirl-like motion at the side of her head, “I heard he’s crazy and their have been rumors that they had to put a dampener on his powers so all he can manage to do is a little flame… what a loser.”

“Well its better than being a couple of bitches like you two,” Kyuubi stated while interrupting them with a cutting motion under his chin, “Cause you never know when I might turn crazy next, right?”

The two girls looked nervously at each other before turning back to face the front where Kirasu had started to write on the board.

Kyuubi gave a snort, “Figures… only cunts and ho's can’t back up what they say.” There was a sudden buzzing sound that came from the direction of his pocket; the boy sighed as he pulled out his iPhone to look at the message that was sent; it was from Itachi. “Hmph… I wonder what Mr. Spastic wants now?”

Looking at the message he frowned.

Where’s Naruto? Itachi.

‘Good Question…’ Kyuubi thought knowing better than to respond back to the message since it was Itachi’s way of telling him that he wanted the blond found ASAP. Taking a deep breath, Kyuubi leaned back in his seat and stared up at the ceiling, there really was only one thing to do in order to get himself out of class and with that plan in mind Kyuubi raised his hand, “Kirasu-sensei!”

The teacher paused in his writing, recognizing the voice as belonging to the trouble maker of his class, he sighed before answering, “What is it Kyuubi?”

The blond hated it when he was ignored and he glared at the back of the teacher’s pants wishing the polyester monstrosity on fire just once despite the dampener since it would be so satisfying to see the teacher flaying around and crying out in terror over his ass being on fire, but Kyuubi knew it would never happen since Gaara had made the dampener himself for the Asian Freedom Force and the redhead never made any mistakes with his gadgets.

In order to fulfill Itachi’s wishes he needed to sometimes do things he was never proud of like the occasional ass kissing, “Yes sensei… I am not feeling very well and I was hoping I could go to the restroom?” the sentence he managed to say in a subdued and as nice of a tone as he could produce without hurling.

The teacher turned to regard him a moment, wondering what the blonde’s angle was, he was surprised by the pure innocent look in the other boy’s eyes, ‘Did he always look so innocent and sweet looking…’ for some odd reason the fact that Kyuubi was acting so innocent should have set off warning signals to the teacher’s brain, but he had taken an oath to protect his students no matter what, “Fine… just make it quick…” Kirasu stated simply while shaking his head over being so suspicious of the boys motives since it wasn’t like he could destroy the school just by going to the bathroom… Kyuubi had a dampener after all.

The blonde’s mouth peeled back into a large tooth-filled smile, “Thanks sensei… you really are the best!” for some reason the comment made Kirasu flush as he watched the boy leave the classroom before proceeding to teach.

As the door closed, Kyuubi turned and stuck his tongue out at the door, “Bastard…” he mumbled before heading towards the exit, “It was a good thing he looked a lot like his brother, Naruto otherwise the innocent looks wouldn’t work as well as they did to get him out of minor trouble. He wondered briefly if Naruto even realized what talent he had for drawing people to him like moths.

The best example was Itachi since despite him hating the majority of people he’s met over the years, he fell for Naruto on site… it was creepy and wrong in Kyuubi’s mind since he believed that no one was better suited for Itachi then himself. Naruto was too nice, a goody two-shoes; someone who had never done anything wrong and always appeared the perfect son, student and crime-fighter.

Personally, it all made Kyuubi want to find the nearest trash bin and upchuck, but he had orders to fulfill and it wasn’t like he was told by Itachi that he had to bring Naruto back to the raven's side, just to find out where he was. So with that thought in mind he raced over to the Teacher’s parking lot with the thought in mind of hotwiring Kirasu’s car… after all he still had to get the bastard teacher back for underestimating him.

Meanwhile, while Kyuubi was busy hotwiring Kirasu’s beat up grey Honda, Naruto and Sasuke were on their way headed towards the Asian Freedom Force building.

The cold wind pricked harshly against Sasuke’s sensitive skin as the youngest Uchiha clung tightly to the back of his rescuer and new friend, Naruto. Watching the scenery rush past him in a blur made the raven’s stomach clench suddenly in protest and Sasuke had to hide his face against Naruto’s neck in a bout of self-preservation.

It brought his cold nose in contact with the surprisingly soft and warm skin at the base of the blonde’s neck that smelled lightly of oranges and spice, which was a surprisingly heady smell that tingled at Sasuke’s senses making the raven want to move his face unconsciously closer to the owner of the scent, ‘this must be Naruto’s natural scent, Sasuke thought offhandedly while giving into the unconscious urge to sniff the area again lightly.

“You ok back there?” The blond yelled over his shoulder in confusion over the odd movements of his passenger, which made the raven freeze in shock over what he had just been doing and in response Sasuke’s face heated up in embarrassment.

It was a good thing Naruto was facing the other way otherwise he would have questioned the odd action coming from his new friend.

Leaning back a bit so he could respond, Sasuke coughed in order to cover up his lapse, “I’m fine… just a little cold…” his body seemed to agree with that notion as his teeth began to chatter in response to the wind hitting his face.

“I’m sorry Sasuke…” Naruto mumbled in disquiet, “I should have realized that your may not be able to handle the elements the same as me,” the blond managed to turn his head briefly in order to give Sasuke a reassuring look over his shoulder, “It should only take a couple of minutes to reach the AFF building… normally I would move faster, but I don’t want to incite your injuries further.”

The fact that Naruto was so worried over his welfare continually amazed the raven, Sasuke was so used to the complete opposite of a response from someone… especially his brother, it felt nice having someone care about him for once.

“Thank you…” Sasuke managed to murmur in a low voice, which only made the blonde smile in response to hear it.

“Think nothing of it Sasuke.”

As promised, at the speed that the blonde was traveling, they both managed to reach the area where Naruto had promised the location of the AFF building was located, in less than 3 minutes.

Except the area wasn’t what Sasuke had expected as he released his death-grip from around Naruto’s neck in order to place his feet again on steady concrete ground, “It’s a mall…”

The ‘Maple Leaf Mall’ in downtown Konoha to be exact, which left Sasuke confused, especially when Naruto moved silently towards one of the plastic mall signs near the rear entrance of the mall.

Because it was a weekday and during an hour when most people were either in school or at work, the surrounding parking lot and walkway in front of the back of the mall was almost disserted, except for a sparse amount of cars parked near the front that probably belonged to some of the mall employees.

Having stopped suddenly at the sign, Naruto turned to give Sasuke a pleasant grin, it almost made the raven smile in return, but it ended up looking more like a half-smirk to the blonde because of Sasuke’s nervousness, “Why are we at the mall did you need to pick up something for your Baa-chan?”

Sasuke wasn’t apposed to the idea of making a detour in order to shop, he just was never given enough money from his parents in order to buy anything besides a school lunch, but since he rarely got to eat that because of the indifference of the lunch ladies to him, the raven ended up with a sizeable amount of money stashed away in his room.

The raven had hoped to use whatever money he acquired to someday leave his family behind and strike out on his own. After all any place had to be better than where he was living now.

Naruto shook his head in bemusement over Sasuke’s comment about the area, “Actually, this…” he tapped the front of the direction sign in front of the mall entrance with his fist which made a hollow sound come forth, “Is the entrance to AFF… this is where my Baa-chan as well as others of our team live.”

To anyone, including Sasuke, who stood looking at the mall map that held 2 random placards on either side of the sign; one showing Disney’s High School Musical 2 and the other Victoria Secret. The sign didn’t look like any special… only a means in which to either locate a certain shop or eatery in the area, or show where you were located within the surrounding area.

Sasuke’s brow rose in confusion as he continued to stare at the sign, this way and that, wondering how this could be the entrance to anything, “How? It doesn’t look like it could hold anything.”

The blonde’s smile grew as if the whole concept was a huge joke that he had failed to let Sasuke in on, “It only looks that way, actually, if you touch these four places…” the blonde then proceeded to touch some randomly placed names on the sign, ‘Erotic Messages, Cheesecake Factory, Sum Yun Gai and Lemon Drops’, before stepping back, “You get a surprise… watch.”

Suddenly a rippling water-like wall spread out from the map, quickly enveloping Sasuke, Naruto and the sign before either of them could make any further moves. The odd sensation sent a feeling of dread running down Sasuke’s spine and the raven wanted nothing more than to leave and Sasuke took some steps back away from the sign in order to so just that, but he was held in place by Naruto’s hand on his forearm keeping him still.

As if understanding the raven’s sudden fear, Naruto turned to give him a reassuring look, “Don’t worry Sasuke, the sign always has to do that, it creates a mirage so that people outside the area can’t see the entrance to the elevator that leads us downwards to the AFF headquarters.”

‘Which makes perfect sense, if the AFF doesn’t want to be found,’ Sasuke thought as the iridescent bubble surrounding them stopped its outward progression, leaving the impression that they were in a large swirling and semi iridescent air bubble that continuously moved around them and created an oddly rounded replication of themselves on its continuously moving surface.

After a minute their was a low whooshing sound coming from the direction of the sign and Sasuke turned to watch in curiosity as the sign descended into the ground, at their feet, reveling a plain looking elevator shaft to his eyes.

Despite the raven’s trepidations about actually entering the elevator, Sasuke was impressed by the sheer amount of technology that had been placed into just the entrance to the headquarters; it made one curious about what other wonders lay beneath the surface and within the hollows that held the AFF members.

“It’s nothing too impressive, but…” the blonde said while giving a shrug of his shoulders, “It’s an entrance…”

Sasuke could only shrug in response; he didn’t want to give Naruto an excuse to avoid hanging out with him over his trepidations about entering the AFF building now, “I guess… Is the elevator safe?”

“Of course,” Naruto continued to smile as he quickly grabbed Sasuke by the forearm and pulling him inside the elevator carriage. Unfortunately the move brought the raven’s body flush against the blonde’s making them both blush simultaneously over the close contact, “Ah sorry…” Naruto rubbed at the back of his head in his embarrassment before pulling quickly away from Sasuke, “I guess I don’t know my own strength…”

It was a good thing Naruto had turned away in order to face the elevator panel otherwise he would have seen the blush that had lit up the raven’s pale cheeks before he turned to eye the opposite side of the elevator in order to compose himself, “Just… make sure your careful in the future.”

A shiver of electrical heat had started moving throughout Sasuke’s body at the brief touch, if the blonde hadn’t pulled away when he did from the raven, Sasuke was sure it would have caused another one of those embarrassing flashes in his mind that were starting to become more of a hindrance than anything else.

Unfortunately the blonde mistook Sasuke’s quiet mood, as his friend being upset over what he had been put through so far today and the blonde vowed to make it better for Sasuke… starting with a visitation with Tsunade in her laboratory.

Naruto quickly punched the code that would take them to Tsunade’s level in the AFF building, and watched as the door closed, before letting out a loud siren signaling that their was something wrong with the device. This was followed by a suddenly leaking of a gas that flowed outward from the ventilation ducks of the elevator that brought in regular breathing air.

The gas glowed faintly green in the light making Naruto suddenly wary, he turned to look over at Sasuke who had ducked towards the ground and was huddled in the corner covering his ears.

‘Shit…’ Naruto thought, this was the worst time for Tsunade to run one of her drills; it was the only thing that could explain the odd situation. It may have also been a punishment from her over him entering the building early, considering school should still be in session, he could image her cackling from within her laboratory as she supervised Gaara over what he should do next in the exercise.

It was a good thing that Naruto could work well under pressure, he quickly ripped off a bit from his school jacket and wrapped the long piece of clothe around his mouth before moving towards the elevator panel so he cold get the machine moving again.

One of the benefits of being Gaara’s friend, who was their resident technical genius, he was taught how to override the system in case of a takeover.

So moving quickly he opened the metal door that reached the wires underneath the panel and quickly set to work maneuvering the wires, making sure to move as quickly as possible in order to avoid inhaling as much of the iridescent green smoke as possible.

Naruto briefly looked over his shoulder at Sasuke and sighed knowing that he didn’t have enough to explain the situation to his friend, but Naruto did make a mental note to give his grandmother a piece of his mind once this was all over.

Thankfully the elevator got moving again and soon headed in the destination that Naruto had intended from the beginning, however it stopped suddenly a floor above Tsunade’s and opened towards a darkly lit room.

‘Great…’ was Naruto’s only thought as he turned to help Sasuke up and out of the elevator so that he could turn on the light in the room and somehow contact Tsunade to stop the exercise, “Why does Baa-chan always have to do this...”

Naruto wasn’t expecting an answer to his comment, but it was answered none the less by a husky sounding voice that was mere inches away,

“Tsunade had nothing to do with it Naru-chan…” The comment was followed by a husky laugh.

That playful and familiar voice could only belong to one person in Naruto’s mind, “Fuck this isn’t the time to play Sai!” Apparently his teammate had decided on more ruthless tactics to get his attention and the blonde wasn’t amused.

Their was a voice near Naruto’s ear now, “Oh but it is my love…” the blonde felt lips caressing the outer cartilage of his ear and Naruto had to suppress the temptation to hit his fellow teammate in the face, since he had Sasuke to consider who probably had no idea what was really going on.

Naruto pulled away from those lips and turned to glare in the direction where the voice was coming from, “I’m not kidding Sai… turn on the lights right now and turn off the gas so that I can contact Tsunade.”

Sasuke was confused by this point and wondered who this Sai was and why Naruto would think sending weird smoke into their elevator was a joke. He opened his mouth to ask Naruto exactly that, but a hand soon covered his mouth while another wrapped around his waist, pulling him against a taller more muscular body and away from the oblivious blonde.

“Don’t worry Naru-chan, you don’t need to inhale a lot of smoke for it to take affect,” It was Sasuke’s turn to feel a mouth touching the outside of his ear and the raven had to suppress a shudder of fear over the touch, “I promise to make it the delay worth your while my love…” the last comment was followed by something wet touching his ear.

Sasuke tried to struggle against the arms holding him in place and apparently his captor thought his actions were amusing, “I had no idea the smoke could work this quickly on you… I’ll have to thank Tsunade later for making it… Neh,” this was followed by his captor nuzzling his neck followed by a husky laugh as Sasuke’s captor slowly started dragging him farther back into the room, leaving Naruto behind.

The feeling of terror that ran up Sasuke’s spine and made his stomach clench in fear, was nothing new to Sasuke considering what he had been through before with Itachi and his crew, but it didn’t make the situation any easier that his captor had somehow confused him with Naruto and that his new friend had no idea he had been taken away. Sasuke only hoped that Naruto would find him soon because an imaged scene had come to mind, at the first touch of the captor’s lips on his ear, that Sasuke prayed would never come true.