A bond thicker than blood

Chapter 37

Naruto walked up the path leading to the Park, the path was dark as the street light seemed to be broken. But thanks to the full moon he could still see where he was going, Naruto noticed that he was getting closer to the entrance of the park. He stopped and looked in the direction of the entrance, reluctant to move.

“What a time to be a coward” Naruto said to himself in a low voice gripping his sword harder. He sighed and began moving slowly towards the Park, he could hear his every step as the sound from the sole of his shoe as it hit the ground. It was so quiet it sent chills down his back; it was like the silence of the dead. Which was not far from the truth, one of them would probably not walk out of here alive.

When Naruto reached the Park there was no sign of Orochimaru, it was just a waste land of broken swings and other toys. He really did not like it here; it seemed to have changed from last time he had been here which in his mind was not a good thing. The silence was broken as Naruto could hear a set of footsteps approaching him from behind, his movement froze.

“Good evening Naruto” the blond boy recognised the voice. Orochimaru walked up in front of him grinning like usual, the man looked down at his watch.

“Ah no I am wrong” Orochimaru shook his head “it is 12.10 so Good morning is in order, isn’t it Kumichou?” the man put more weight on the last word, smiling from ear to ear. Naruto could see the confident Orochimaru was portraying, it was probably not far from the truth because Naruto was still afraid of the man and Orochimaru knew it.

“Orochimaru” Naruto sneered, trying to regain some confident.

“Ah why so harsh against you beloved uncle” Orochimaru made a teasing pouting face at Naruto. The blond boy gave him a glare; he hated the man with every fibre of his body.

“Oh come one Naruto, we are family like it or not.” Orochimaru turned around and spread his arms “Just think we could rule the whole Yakuza together, just you and me.”

“Like hell” Naruto snapped, if he had the courage he would have stabbed Orochimaru in the back, but his father had taught him that one never stab anyone in the back not even you enemy, a man has his honour to keep.

“Language Naruto” Orochimaru said teasingly, pretending to act like a guardian. “I guess Momochi and Haku have brain washed you with this honour crap, haven’t they? But no worries Naruto, they won’t be around for long”

“Touch them and I swear I will kill you in the worst possible way imaginable.” Naruto readied his sword by pushing it slightly out of its holster with his thumb.

“Oh is that a threat” Orochimaru asked and turned around. Naruto did not answer he only looked at the man, he had regain some of his confident with that last statement. Suddenly without warning Orochimaru drew his sword and charged at him, Naruto barely manage to draw his own sword and block Orochimaru’s attack.

“Oh didn’t think you were this fast” the man grinned as their faces were only inches away. Naruto pushed the man away from him but the tip of his sword and his eyes never left the man. Naruto put his left hand on the handle of the sword and pulled it to the side and began his attack on Orchimaru. Naruto had never fought Orochimaru so he did not know how good he was, but he was a student under his father so he must be good. Would what he learned from his short time with his father and what he learned from Momochi and Haku be enough?

“What’s the matter Naruto?” Orochimaru asked and sent Naruto flying back, Naruto rolled on the ground feeling his sides as they had taken quite a beating. Orochimau had not used the tip of his sword more than once to defend of Naruto’s attacks, he did not even seem tired from all the movement while he was struggling to get enough air down his lungs.

“It is dangerous to space out in a battle” Orochimaru said and smiled, he watched how Naruto was struggling to get back up which was a sight he enjoyed.

“Why don’t we just stop this stupid fight? Come to me, stand by my side and I can give you everything you heart desires.” Orochimaru took the sword in his left hand and reached out to Naruto with his right, inviting him to take his hand to join him.

“Like hell I will” Naruto attacked again, some how that last sentence had given him a little more energy to keep going. If only he could get close enough to give him a blow that would get him off balance, Naruto watched how Orochimaru blocked all his attempts. There had to be an opening somewhere, suddenly Naruto noticed that Orochimaru’s power behind each blow had decreased. He was getting tired; he was just good to hide it.

Naruto saw his chance as Orchimaru attacked him, instead of dodging it with his sword he moved as fast as he could to the side in order to get behind the man, the one place he was defensless. But the plan did not work as well as he though it would, Orochimaru may have been tired but the speed of the sword had not decreased. Naruto felt a sharp pain in his arm; he knew right away Orochimaru’s sword had cut him.

“AAHHH” Naruto screamed of pain, automatically he backed off to asses his injuries. It was not a bid wound but that did not mean it did not hurt.

“Now look what you have done, you have cut yourself” Orochimaru looked at the blood stain on his sword and then at Naruto.

Naruto tried not to pay much attention to his wound, but the blood was running down his arm made it a bit difficult. Then a loud thunder could be heard from the sky and both of them looked up towards the sky, during their fight the sky had clouded over and a storm was clearly present. Then rain began to fall from the dark sky, it was like the sky had opened up and released all the water it had been gathering. It did not take long before both of them were soaking wet, suddenly the whole sky light up as a lightning flew across the sky.

Orochimaru attacked again and the fight continued, his patient for trying to convince the blond boy to stand by his side had worn of and his goal now was to get rid of the one thing that stood in his way for succeeding his plan of domination over the entire drug market in Japan.

Back in the hospital Sasuke woke up and found only Gaara sitting in the room.

“What happened?” he asked the boy sitting in the chair next to the window, watching the storm raging on the outside. Gaara did not answer, which sent chills down Sasuke’s back and made his chest hurt like he never though it could.

“Where is Naruto” Sasuke asked which panic in his voice, but again Gaara did not answer. He really wanted to but he knew he could not give the answer Sasuke was looking for.

“Answer me Gaara where is he” Sasuke almost shouted.

“He left” was all he said, before turning around. Sasuke could see the fear in his eyes; this was the first time the raven haired boy had seen any emotions being shown in the boy’s face.

“He didn’t” Sasuke did not know what to do “he said he wasn’t going” he was clinging to the hope that those words Naruto had spoken earlier to be true.

“Although we might be where he belongs, there is a part of him that needs to prove that. He is afraid, afraid of being who he is. Although we might tell him it is okay, he still needs to confirm he is nothing like his uncle. That he isn’t a murderer.” Haku stood in the door way

“How does killing Orochimaru prove that” Sasuke shouted, he was already out of bed getting dressed. Gaara wanted to tell him to stay in bed but knew if he did he would only earn a glare from the boy, besides he too wanted to go and see Naruto.

“He wont kill him” Momochi stepped out from the dark corner “Naruto doesn’t have the hear to kill, which will be his downfall” Momochi stared Sasuke straight in the eyes, Sasuke was trying to search for any clue in his eyes that that last statement was false. His worst nightmare was coming true and he had no means to stop it himself.

“Momochi …” Haku decided not to finish the sentence, he knew it was pointless. They could no longer hide the truth, he knew as well as Momochi and Gaara that Naruto was not coming back and it hurt so much.

“Like hell he is” Sasuke sneered and walked out the door.

“Sasuke-sama” Gaara shouted after him. The three of them stood in the doorway watching the boy walk down the corridor.

Sasuke stopped half way down the corridor when he sensed the three following him.
“I know he needs to do this and I know he needs to do it alone, but I need to stand there with him … I need to make sure that he is not alone … I need to know everything is okay.” Sasuke voice was almost breaking, he tried his best to keep any emotions to leak out but all of them could hear Sasuke was breaking.

“Well then there is no point standing here” Momochi put a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder and looked at the man with big eyes, he was surprised. Haku came up on his other side closely followed by Gaara, who nodded to him.

The fight had been going on for hours now, the visibility and footing on the ground was poor due to the heavy rain. Naruto had managed to get a couple of chances, managing to cut Orochimaru a little, but in return he had received some pretty nasty cuts as well along with several bruising. They stood on each side of the Park gasping for air; the rain mixed with blood was running down Naruto’s right eye where he had received a cut from the tip of the man’s sword when he barely managed to dodge it.

It was now or never Naruto though, they both began their final attack. Unknown to them there were several witnesses to the last bit of the fight, Sasuke, Gaara, Momochi and Haku being four of them. But there were also people whose sole purpose was to kill who ever won the fight. Suddenly Naruto saw his opportunity to pin down the man and went for it; Orochimaru went flying before hitting the ground. Before he managed to gather himself he felt something pressing against his throat.

“Move and you will die” Naruto hissed in between his heavy breathing. Orochimaru could see the hate in the blond’s eyes and he knew that if he moved it would probably be his last move he ever did on earth.

“Well done Naruto, I never though you would be able to beat me” Orochimaru did not smile and Naruto could hear the resentment in his voice.

“It doesn’t matter how much I hate you uncle, I can’t kill you.” Orochimaru was surprised what the boy had just said but most of all he was happy, because he could use it to his advantage.

“I feel honoured” Orochimaru said in a triumphant way.

“How ever that does not mean others will” He was referring to Momochi “I’ll give you one chance, get out of the group and I’ll make sure you stay alive. Disobey my order and I will not stop anyone.” Naruto pressed the sword a bit harder to his throat, to prove he was serious.

“Okay, what ever the Kumichou wants” the man let a little smile reveal itself, he could feel the pressure on his throat ease and the heavy body moved from his own. Now was his chance, Naruto was slowly walking away with his back turned against the man. He grabbed his sword and lifted it in order to strike the boy from behind, but then a loud sound could be heard and Orochimaru fell to the ground. Some one had shot him right between the eyes, Naruto turned around to see what had happened but a second loud noise and Naruto could feel his chest become very painful, he recognised the sound though before falling to the ground.

“NARUTO” Sasuke screamed and ran towards the boy; the two second it had taken for the two shots to be fired everything had been in slow motion. Sasuke watched Naruto take a bullet to the heart region of the chest and fall lifeless to the ground. Gaara moved around as quickly as he could alongside Haku killing everyone who was lurking in the bushes when they both heard the shots, cursing themselves for not being fast enough they both reached the gunman and sliced him in half hoping everything was okay with Naruto. Their hearts sank when they heard Sasuke scream Naruto’s name, right away they knew the bullet had hit the blond boy.

“Naruto” Sasuke lifted the boy to his chest as he fell to his knees next to Naruto. “Naruto please answer me” Sasuke was shaking all over; he could see the blood that covered the boy. He was begging that the amount of blood loss was not as much as it looked, but some part of him knew.

“Sasuke what are you doing here?” the blond smiled as he saw the raven haired boy’s face

“I came to see you silly, I needed to make sure you won” the blond boy gave him a smile and all Sasuke could do was smile back.

“Well I did win” Naruto coughed up blood, which scared Sasuke. He needed to make sure the boy in his arms stayed away until they could get an ambulance or get him to a hospital. He could hear Gaara speaking on the phone but what he was saying was all a blur, his only focus was the bleeding boy in his arms.

“No Naruto, don’t you dear close you eyes” Sasuke half shouted to the boy as he saw Narutos eyelids slowly closed themselves.

“Sorry Sasuke, I am just so tired.” Again he smiled, he knew he was dying. His body had become cold and he could hardly feel the pain in his chest anymore. Haku came running towards them with Momochi follow him behind him. When hey reached the boy Haku froze, he could not believe Naruto was the one lying there covered in blood. He could not breathe, and his body began to shake. It was his fault, had he just taken the other way, been a bit faster this would not have happened. Momochi put his arms around him and blocked his view of the two boys on the ground, he whispered that it was not his fault but he could not believe his words.

“Hey Sasuke” Naruto coughed a little again “Thank you”

“For what dobe” Sasuke was close to crying

“For not leaving me alone … I love you” Naruto closed his eyes and the hand that had been caressing Sasuke’s cheek fell on to his chest.

“Damn it Naruto, don’t you dear leave me. Open your eyes looks at me … LOOK AT ME” Sasuke screamed before letting his forehead rest upon the blond’s “Please … don’t leave … please…” Sasuke whispered, he could no longer hold back his tears

“I love you”