Yoru No Koishii

More of Sasuke’s part.

******

“That would be a useful technique. But no, I’ve never heard of it.”

I sigh; another dead-end. I thank the man politely and turn to leave.

“Yo!” I hear a yell down the street, and try to hold my pace to a calm walk, despite my worry. I really don’t want to have to deal with another set of hunter-nin right now.

“Uchiha!” The voice is familiar, and I glance over my shoulder. Great.

In a flash of smoke I’m gone, but I don’t even begin to believe that will keep my hunter occupied long. Sure enough, I haven’t even reached the village gates when I’m stopped suddenly. I pause for a quick glance around, noting that the street is conspicuously empty. At least I don’t have to worry about anyone getting in my way.

“Sasuke. A little obvious to be wandering around asking about new techniques, isn’t it?” He gives me one of those big smiles he’s so fond of.

“How’s Naruto?” I ask, ignoring the question.

“He was fine the last time I saw him.” This is getting boring. We do this every time, meet, chat like old friends, fight, then either I knock him out or manage to lose him, and we part until next time. But I really don’t feel like going through the routine this time.

“I’m not in the mood, Kakashi. Maybe later.” And I disappear again.

******

Does he ever give up? The man’s worse then Naruto when he decides he’s going to go after something. At least Naruto’s finally figured out that I need to do this. I don’t know why I haven’t killed the copy-nin yet.

Actually, I know perfectly well why I haven’t. I pause on a tree branch to look back over my shoulder. Damn it, I lost him again… Wait, no, there he is. I dodge the shurikan, catching a pair and throwing them back at him.

The reason I haven’t killed him is the same reason I haven’t killed anyone who’s come after me so far. At the moment my only real offence is abandoning my village, a harsh crime, but not unforgivable. Murder, though, would be a completely different thing.

Not that I haven’t killed. I’ve taken out more then a few other missing nin, mostly those that took offence at some of my questions. But all of the hunter nin have just ended up unconscious, albeit with a fair number of aches and pains when they woke up. Most of them learned after only a few attempts.

I don’t like fighting Kakashi, though. The others are usually easy enough to take out, but his sharingan eye makes it a bit harder. I’m worried that during one of these fights, one of us will end up going too far.

Great. Just what I didn’t need, more ninja.

The boy I happen upon, obviously a new gennin, stares at me in shock. I toss a smirk in his direction, and he finally reacts, leaping to attack.

It’s not hard to dodge. I could have beaten this boy back when I was just out of the academy.

It becomes a little harder when the rest of his team shows up. Luckily, Kakashi tracks me down again about then, and I manage to leave him and the gennin team fighting each other while I sneak off. Maybe at least now I can get a breather.

“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!” Then again, maybe not.

It’s easy to sense the major chakra the blond nearly always gives off, even without my sharingan. It’s not too hard to figure out what’s happened, either, once I see him.

I wonder, though. Doesn’t he have a partner? Any mission here would definitely be an ‘S’ class. I’m sure of that much.

It would be just like the idiot to try to tackle it on his own. Not that he’s doing very badly.

I’m still upset about it, though. He could get killed and then everything would go wrong. There would be no one to take care of the girls, since their mother’s dead, no one to help me take out Itachi, one way or another, and just no him to come home to when my brother’s dead. It’s a bit annoying to realize that it’s the last one that bothers me the most.

******

Down to two. No one’s noticed me at all, which I’m just a bit surprised about. I suppose they’re just too set on capturing him.

I’m almost sure his natural luckiness is actually going to get him out of this when he suddenly stops, and starts searching for something. I wonder what the hell he’s after.

“Move it, Idiot.” I growl to myself, the tiny part of my mind that’s not focusing on his predicament noting that Kakashi hasn’t shown up yet, which is just surprising enough to warrant it drawing my full attention for a moment.

A shock wave makes the tree I’m in shake violently, and I grab for a handhold to keep me from falling.

What was that? Did the scarecrow finally catch up?

“…just kill him and be done with it. I know that one. They won’t ransom him.”

“Hmm. All right then.”

My eyes turn red. Not too damned likely.

“Chidori!” The attack misses, of course, my yell a warning. They still jump away, and I’m quick to stand over him, making sure they can’t close on him again. He tries to push himself up, but I push him back down. Knowing him, he’d try to prove he doesn’t need my help or something and just get us into more trouble.

“Uchiha Sasuke. A little odd to see a missing-nin rescuing one of the ninja sworn to hunt him down.” I wonder if I should say the hell with it and kill them anyway.

“Yeah, well, I’m a little odd that way.”

“Try a lot odd in every way.” I press a little harder, a bit concerned by the sound it draws.

“Dammit, Teme, that hurt.”

“Urusai, Dobe.” No, I don’t want to put him back in a compromising position, though I’m not too worried now. It’s when Naruto goes quiet that you know he’s in real trouble.

“Tch. This isn’t worth the bother.” They vanish and I shift slightly so that I can look down at him. He looks awful, but I suppose I’d look worse if I had to take on eight attackers.

“Why is it every time I see you, you’re dirty?” I’m only half joking.

“You have lousy timing?” I put a bit of weight on him, silently pointing out that if my timing was any lousier, he’d be dead. But then, he’s probably too oblivious to pick up the point.

“You’re still an idiot. How stupid can you get to go running straight into a team of shinobi?” I could have lost you.

“You mean you’ve been watching the entire time and you didn’t bother to help? You are a bastard.” I struggle to keep my anger under check. I shouldn’t have expected any thanks. It is Naruto, after all

“You seemed to be all right until you stopped to gawk around. I don’t know what you lost, but it couldn’t have been worth it.”

“Yeah.” I stare as he opens his hand, revealing the jewellery. That was what he stopped to look for? “I should have just left it.”

“That’s what you stopped to find?” I just had to confirm it, bending to get a closer look. It’s not the same one I gave him. I can tell that easily enough. The ribbon doesn’t have the lacy edges, and I think it’s a bit wider. The charm’s different too. There’s a few imperfections in it, obviously visible. Still, it must have cost him a bit of money. Did he actually wear it all the time? “Baka. I could buy you enough of those to wear a different one every day for the rest of your life.”

“Hn.” Something in his tone sounds hurt. I let him up, watching as he makes a futile attempt to clean himself up. It’s impossible to miss his wince, or the way he favours his side, leaning against a tree in obvious exhaustion. I try to check out the injury but he pulls away.

“I’m fine.” What’s he so upset about? Sometimes I wish I had had more relationships when I was a teenager. It might help me figure him out. But then again, he’s harder to figure out then any girl.

I try to change the topic, asking about the girls, but it only seems to make him angrier. I wonder if they’re why he’s upset. And why is he curious about their mother? She’s not important. I finally figure it out, wondering why it took so long, when he denies my charge of jealousy. His answer’s too defensive, too quick.

I push him against the tree more. He’s such an idiot, worrying about a stupid girl. I tell him so, then kiss him, feeling him relax instantly, pressing against me with the slightest whimper. He missed me that much? At least he’s happy to please, if a simple kiss can draw such a reaction.

He doesn’t pull away when I reach under his shirt again, feeling around for the spot that was bothering him earlier.

There. His moan turns to a pained noise as I press against the spot. I pull away, and he doesn’t try to stop me this time as I push his shirt up out of the way.

“Looks like you cracked a rib.” I press against it carefully, checking for any other injuries, but that seems to be the worst. “She’s dead, by the way. Died in childbirth.” I suppose I should be upset, but she was just a nuisance in any case.

“I’ll be fine. I just need to rest a bit.” Stupid, stubborn Dobe. He’s not fine. He’s nearly dead on his feet, and I’m sure it’s willpower alone that’s keeping him standing.

“Why did you take on a mission like this by yourself anyway?”

“I needed the money.” There’s no reprimand in his tone, but I’m instantly feeling guilty. I should have thought of that. Of course he’d need money. He’d had a hard enough time providing for himself.

“Kitsune.” I let the sharingan bleed into my eyes, putting him to sleep, then hold him carefully, staring over his shoulder a moment.

“I don’t know who’s the bigger idiot.” I look up at Kakashi, who’s standing a bit away, arms crossed. “You for how often you test him or him for putting up with it.”

“Don’t you ever go away?”

“Maybe it’s me, for not knocking some sense into the both of you when I had the chance.” I don’t feel like putting up with him, so another quick teleportation sees me and my burden back at the hotel I started out at this morning.

“He misses you.” I should kill him, really. “You can ask anyone who’s seen him sitting out on his roof half the night because he can’t sleep.”

“I know who the idiot is. It’s me for not having put you out of my misery a long time ago.” I’m surprised no one comments on me carrying him in, but there’s nothing. I carefully lay him on the bed. He’ll sleep until morning, at least, and I can get him cleaned and bandaged up.

I pry the choker from his grasp, surprised he still managed to hang on to it.

“Some things can’t be fixed once they’re broken.” Kakashi says, a final jab. Before I can ask him what he means, he’s gone. Annoying know-it-all.

******

I leave him in the room while I go out the next day, for a few things. First, a trip to the bank, to make a new account for him, with enough money in it to last him five lifetimes. There will be no more dangerous missions taken just because he needs the money.

A jeweller’s, next. I’m lucky enough to find one that tailors to ninja, who uses a jutsu that protects their products against damage. I have to get the fan in silver and gold, since there’s a huge waiting list for the less expensive materials. But it doesn’t matter, I have the money.

The teddy bear’s a spur of the moment thought. I see it in a toy store window, and remember Kakashi’s comment that my fox hasn’t been able to sleep. I figure it must be because of nightmares, and while I know he’s a bit old to need a stuffed animal, maybe it will still offer some comfort. It’s little difficulty to have the Uchiha symbol put on a small shirt by the tailor that I go to to get Naruto’s clothes mended.

He’s still not awake by the time I get back, though he is starting to move around, which is better then the deathly stillness of the night before.

He’s rolled over onto his stomach, and I can clearly see the snake that’s coiled over his back, its head on his left side, just below the point where his neck meets his shoulder, as if it’s about to strike and impart the curse seal.

I’m furious just looking at it, and I leave again, this time searching for someone to remove the hideous thing.

It takes me nearly three hours, but finally I find someone who can, though she informs me that the procedure is quite painful.

He’s too out of it to be bothered by any pain, though, and only gives a few whimpers, sounding more annoyed then pained, when I have my own mark put on him, though it must be hurting the sensitive skin. He’ll probably be upset about that at first, but I don’t think he’ll really mind.

I’d prefer staying until he awakes, but when we get back to the hotel I discover that there have been hunter-nin there, asking questions. So I just lay the stuff out where he’ll find it, pay the room up for another day, just in case, and go. Some day again, I’ll be there when he wakes up, but not tomorrow.

******