Identity Crisis

Identity Crisis

Chapter 4: Teammate or Snake?

Naruto found that the next few days (and especially the next few mornings) were rather awkward and tiresome as his body reacted to having multiple entities residing in it. He never knew how he would look when he awoke, and it frustrated him. The only thing that frustrated him even more than not knowing how his body was reacting was that Tsunade still refused to listen to him about the fact that Sasuke now resided in his body.

Naruto spent his days trying to either convince Tsunade that he was not insane, and that Sasuke really was inside his body, or visiting his relatives. Naruto had wanted to talk to some of his fellow shinobi friends, but it appeared that Tsunade had sent all of them out on missions since none of them were in Konoha.

He had heard from the guard, Raidou, at the gates of Konoha that Iruka-sensei was on a retreat with some of the students from the Academy. According to Raidou, Iruka had tried getting out of it because he had wanted to stay behind to see how he was coping with Sasuke’s death, but Tsunade hadn’t been able to find a replacement for Iruka to go on the retreat. Naruto almost felt bad. Iruka-sensei had always been there for him, and Naruto hadn’t spent much time with him since he had returned to Konoha. Of course Naruto hadn’t spent much time with anyone but his family – and Sasuke – since he had returned. Not that he hadn’t tried to spend time with other people it was just that none of the original rookie nine or team Gai were around either (at least according to more information he had gotten out of Raidou.)

Tsunade was also making sure that Sakura was being kept busy at the hospital. Naruto had even gone to the hospital in order to try and talk to Sakura at one point, but she had needed to help a patient. She had looked at him sadly before going off to tend to her patient. Even Kakashi was nowhere to be found, but Naruto wasn't so sure that Kakashi had a mission. Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that Kakashi was avoiding him on purpose, probably still feeling somewhat guilty for killing Sasuke.

Desperate for someone else to speak with, Naruto had finally decided to seek out Sai. Naruto knew that he was in Konoha, but he also knew that Sasuke didn’t like him for some strange reason. For that reason, Naruto had purposely saved searching for Sai for last. Not that it had made any difference. Even when he had convinced Sasuke that Sai wasn’t so bad, Sai hadn’t helped at all. Sai explained to Naruto how Tsunade had told him that Naruto was hearing Sasuke's voice, and Naruto hadn’t been able to explain to him what had happened. Then when Sai had decided he should try and comfort Naruto for his loss, he hadn't quite known what to say. He had looked up some "helpful" advice in a book for when people pass away. So far the advice Sai had quoted at him included "Sasuke is suffering no longer," "He would want you to move on," (though Naruto didn't quite know what that meant), and Sasuke's personal favorite:

"He's in a better place," Sai had said mechanically, trying to smile in a way Naruto assumed was supposed to be sympathetic. Naruto had left unsatisfied that Sai really had understood what Naruto had been trying to tell him. It was maddening that he couldn't explain himself.

"Is being in my body a better place?" Naruto asked Sasuke darkly as he headed back to his house.

"Depends on which ‘in’ we're talking about," Sasuke smirked slightly, keeping his more lucrative comments to himself rather than irk Naruto with them while he was clearly so distressed.

"This is so frustrating! No one believes me!"

"Again, by no one, Tsunade is the only one you've really told. Sai," Sasuke said his "replacement's" name with some contempt, "might actually listen to you - if you could write down your predicament in a book."

"That's not funny! We can't go on like this. If no one believes that you're living in my body, how are we supposed to find you another body? And what about me? What's happening to my body? I keep going through the weirdest morning transformations after you've been in control of my body," Naruto grumped as he entered his apartment and headed for his bedroom.

"Just show them how you look for the first five minutes or so after you wake up every morning," Sasuke suggested.

"I can't do that! They'll just think I'm even more unstable. I mean, come on, this morning I woke up with your head on my body. Yesterday was even weirder! I woke up with a fox-like face for the first time, and I had three tails! That one time I had nine tails! I never know what it's gonna be. What happens if I wake up looking exactly like a miniature Kyuubi with full fox face and nine tails? What happens if I wake up looking exactly like you?" Naruto said moodily as he sat on his bed.

"Is there something wrong with waking up looking exactly like me?" Sasuke asked slightly miffed. Naruto blushed and said nothing.

"I'm just confused. I'm not allowed to do any missions. My family is being great - except I can still tell they want me to become daimyo. Depending on what Tsunade's told everyone about me, I haven't gotten a chance to see any of my friends to explain that I'm not really insane. I haven't even seen Sakura-chan for crying out loud. And Kakashi-sensei's avoiding me!" Naruto said frustrated as he flopped down heavily onto his bed. "If you weren't really in my head, I think I really would go insane due to frustration," Naruto muttered quietly. Naruto closed his eyes, as he felt a gentle touch to his forehead, indicating Sasuke was massaging his own head to think. It was one of the few actions that didn't catch Naruto off guard. In fact, he actually rather enjoyed the touch. "And I still can't touch you," Naruto murmured as he opened his eyes lazily to stare at the ceiling.

"Go to Tsunade's office and show her what happens to you after you've slept. It can't be good for your body to keep going through those transformations," Sasuke said thoughtfully, purposefully not commenting on Naruto's mention of his inability to touch Sasuke.

"Transforming doesn't really hurt though. It's not like when I get the Kyuubi's power and take on his shape. It feels more like a henge where my body is just pretending to look like someone else's," Naruto said thoughtfully. Sasuke still doubted that it was good for Naruto’s body, but Naruto continued before he could voice his thoughts. "And I still think it will cause more problems by telling Tsunade about it,” Naruto said firmly. He raised his right hand in the air and examined it, wondering what was really going on with his body. He knew whatever it was it wasn’t something people would be too thrilled to hear about. “Tomorrow I'll go and track down Sakura instead. She’s a medic-nin; maybe she’ll know," Naruto said hopefully.

Sasuke remained silent. So far, out of respect for Naruto's wishes, he had refrained from leaving Naruto's apartment while Naruto's mind and soul rested and Sasuke was in control of Naruto's body. It was a strange feeling when he was in control, and not just because he was in someone else’s body. The strange feeling stemmed from the fact that he had no real desires or motivations though he felt he probably should. He had no real desire to wander anywhere other than Naruto's apartment. He had burned down his old home, which had felt good to get rid of those memories, and he felt the only home he needed was whatever place Naruto decided to call home.

Truth be told, besides when his family was alive, Sasuke couldn't remember ever feeling more at peace than sharing Naruto's body with him. He was beginning to think it wouldn't be so bad if he stayed with Naruto permanently. The only problem was, Naruto clearly didn't like the idea that Sasuke was sharing his body. Sasuke refrained from heaving a mental sigh, lest Naruto ask why he was doing so. Naruto was stressed, and Sasuke wasn't quite sure how he would take Sasuke's idea of being together like this permanently. There was still so much that Naruto had wanted to do with his life, and Sasuke knew that. After fulfilling his revenge, Sasuke's ambitions ended there.

Being with Naruto was the only other thing that Sasuke had any real “desire” for, and he was doing that fairly easily. Learning to become powerful had served his purpose. If he had his own body, he was sure that he would have liked to continue being a ninja, but he wasn't sure if he would have even been allowed to do so if he had come back with Naruto alive and well. His death had apparently been payment enough to clear his name of his traitorous ways, or at least, Kakashi had thought so. He was the one who had persuaded the council to have his name etched in the memorial stone of fallen ninjas of Konoha. It a twisted way, Sasuke was grateful to Kakashi for killing him. He just wished that he would stop sulking and talk to Naruto. It was beginning to really piss him off that Kakashi was just avoiding Naruto especially now that Kakashi knew Naruto was his nephew. With a twinge of nostalgic pain, he remembered his own aunt and uncle and how they had been around for him when he was younger. Sasuke wanted Naruto to experience having a family like that – even if he felt almost jealous in sharing Naruto’s attentions.

"Have you thought about trying to find Kakashi first tomorrow?" Sasuke asked Naruto. Naruto groaned.

"I'm sure I could find him tomorrow sometime at the memorial stone. Ero-sennin once told me that the reason Kakashi is always late is because he stares at it all the time. He's apparently there early in the morning," Naruto grumbled. "I don't want to get up early in the morning if I'm going to have five tails and your head attached to my body."

"How about your head, three tails, and my body? Would you go then?" Sasuke asked amused. Naruto frowned as he lied down on his bed.

"That's not what I meant smart ass," Naruto said and then sighed. "You're different," Naruto muttered.

"Having no body of my own does make me a little different," Sasuke said sarcastically, but he thought he knew where Naruto was going with this train of thought.

"You know what I mean," Naruto said a little testily. Sasuke didn't respond. "You've become more at ease, and more sarcastic. And I wonder if this is how you would have been if your family had never been killed."

"But they were killed, and this is how I am now, so that can't be it."

"Well then what?" Naruto huffed. "You have changed. Sarcasm, lewd remarks, strange trains of thought! It's like you're turning into me or something!" And with that statement, both Sasuke and Naruto had the same epiphany.

"I am taking on part of your personality, aren't I?" Sasuke murmured. “Perhaps its more than just our bodies trying to merge.”

"Hn," Naruto responded. As Sasuke raised his eyebrows at Naruto's tone, Naruto rubbed at his own eyebrows and glared, hoping Sasuke's soul-self could see his displeasure at Sasuke's actions.

"And I think you're taking on some of mine," Sasuke added. There was a moment of silence as they both digested this new piece of information.

"But you're more like me than I'm like you," Naruto said firmly.

"You wish dobe," Sasuke said, smirking.

"I like being Uzumaki Naruto,” Naruto said firmly before continuing. “Tomorrow we'll find Sakura and ask her if she has any ideas about how to get you your own body that doesn't involve Edo Tensai," Naruto said, and Sasuke nodded slightly off-guard that Naruto had mentioned Edo Tensai. Sasuke personally didn’t like to think about it because it reminded him too much of Orochimaru and Orochimaru’s desire to take over his body. So far neither he nor Naruto had spoken before about Edo Tensai during their brief discussions on how to get Sasuke his own body. It didn’t sit well with Sasuke that Naruto had thought about using Edo Tensai, the jutsu that Orochimaru used to summon back the dead by using human sacrifices, and he was surprised that Naruto had thought about the idea, let alone said it.

"I still think we should ask Kakashi," Sasuke said.

"We'll look, but after we find Sakura."

"You should get some sleep," Sasuke suggested. Naruto frowned.

"I’m not really that tired though," Naruto said.

"Yeah, but I like molesting your body when you’re sleeping," Sasuke said lewdly.

"Sometimes, you scare me."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Naruto knew that he was dreaming. For starters, he was looking at a man that Naruto could only describe as being the Yondaime Hokage, his father, standing right in front of him.

Naruto debated on whether or not he would try to wake himself from the dream - since he knew he was definitely dreaming - or let it play out. He'd never had a dream about his father like this before. Usually if he dreamed about his father, his father was a man whose face remained shadowed throughout the dream or whose face he couldn't recall upon waking. This wasn't like that at all. His father looked very much like the pictures of Yondaime he had seen growing up.

His father smiled at Naruto. Naruto smiled back, trying to take in as much detail as he could, but Naruto was only able to vaguely identify his surroundings. He couldn't place if they were at one of the Konoha training grounds of if they were at the Konoha Ninja Academy. The dream setting around him seemed unable to focus in his dream, and he just decided to satisfy himself with staring up at the face of his father during his dream.

"It's not a good idea Naruto," his father said, his wide smile turning a little sad as he spoke. The voice was familiar to Naruto somehow, yet he knew he must have been literally minutes to hours old if and when his father had ever spoken to him before his death. "You know my voice because I used to press my lips against your mother's pregnant belly and speak to you to calm you down. You used to get the hiccups every evening at 9:00. It would go on for thirty minutes unless you heard the sound of my voice."

This was definitely a dream because Naruto hadn't spoken, but his father had somehow known what he had been thinking about the familiar sound of his voice.

"It really isn't a good idea Naruto," his father repeated.

"What isn't a good idea?" Naruto asked.

"What you're thinking of doing," Yondaime said.

"What?" Naruto asked frustrated. There was no response. "What isn't a good idea?"

"It just isn't."

"WHAT isn't a good idea?!" Naruto yelled.

Suddenly the hazy surroundings of his dream evaporated, and the next thing Naruto knew he was sitting up in bed drenched in sweat. He felt chilled and he wasn't sure why the strange warning in his dream had made him feel so uneasy. It had just been a dream after all. Still, Naruto ran a hand through his hair wondering at the dream.

"Nightmare?" Sasuke's voice asked. Naruto almost jumped at the sound of Sasuke’s question, forgetting that Sasuke also lived in his body.

"Yeah, kinda," Naruto muttered. He looked out his window, noting that it was still dark out. He then examined his body, expecting to see some bizarre new twist to it as he usually did in the morning.

"Nothing changed," Sasuke supplied, noting Naruto’s soul-form examining his body. "It was strange though. You were muttering in your sleep, and that seemed to prevent your body from changing while you slept. What were you dreaming about?" Sasuke questioned.

"Something weird," Naruto said, and Sasuke didn't press him for more details. Naruto pulled the t-shirt he had been wearing over his head, and used it to dry the sweat off of his chest and back before throwing it to the ground and pulling the covers up onto his bare torso.

Naruto lied there unsleeping for a long while, thinking about the strange dream. He felt chilled, and he couldn’t figure out if it was because of the sweat that still lingered on his body that had long since cooled or because of the bad feeling he had about the dream. What the hell had his father been telling him wasn't a good idea? And how had his brain supplied that weird information about him having hiccups when his Mom was pregnant with him? And why was he so paranoid about the stupid dream anyway? He rolled over onto his side and then onto his other side, and then back onto his back. He let out a frustrated sigh, wondering if he would get any more sleep tonight.

Naruto wondered if Sasuke would have any ideas, but he wasn’t sure how Sasuke could help. Naruto knew that Sasuke must be seeing his "soul-self" or whatever Sasuke saw being so restless, so it wouldn't do any good to pretend that he wasn’t anyway.

"Sasuke?" Naruto murmured.

"Hn?"

"It's just-" Naruto bit on his lip. "Never mind."

"What is it?"

"Nothing, it's stupid."

"Knowing you, that wouldn't surprise me, but I'm curious and have nothing better to do. I'd rather you stop worrying about it so that you go back to sleep so I can be in control of your body again and continue jerking off again in peace," Sasuke said, smirking.

"Asshole," Naruto hissed knowing full well Sasuke hadn't been doing any such thing, but the taunt somehow put him at ease. "It's...well - it's a question about babies."

"If you don't know where babies come from by now-"

"Shut up and let me finish," Naruto hissed again, but Sasuke’s comment had had the effect Sasuke had wanted it to have on Naruto in that Naruto blurted out his question instead of hemming and hawing about it. "Do babies get the hiccups when their mother's still pregnant with them?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment, and Naruto thought that Sasuke was going to call him stupid and say he hadn't ever heard of such a thing before he finally spoke.

"My Mom loved to tell me the story about how I used to get hiccups every morning around 4:15am when she was pregnant with me. My hiccups would wake her up in the morning, and even though she knew it was just the hiccups, it was like I was trying to get her attention even so early in the morning. She told me that was how she knew I was going to be a handful," Sasuke murmured that last part.

"I guess it's true then."

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah?"

"Did you dream you were pregnant?" Sasuke asked, the smirk evident on his face.

"Bastard."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto (who had fallen asleep rather quickly after his talk with Sasuke) awoke the next morning with three tails, his own face, and Sasuke's body.

"Does this mean we're going to find Kakashi?" Sasuke snickered.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you control how I look when I wake up," Naruto grumbled as he paced around his apartment, his tails swishing behind him as he waited for his body to transform back to his normal body. "We're going to see Sakura this morning. If we're lucky, we can get her before she has to report to the hospital to help out."

"So you'll go see Sakura looking odd but not Kakashi?" Sasuke asked darkly. The tone was not at all bantering, and sounded much more like the Sasuke Naruto was used to hearing than he had just a moment before. Naruto grinned.

“I’m waiting to look normal,” Naruto grunted out, but then he smirked as he thought about what Sasuke’s comment had really meant. “Jealous?” Naruto asked. Sasuke didn't respond, but Naruto thought he could feel a blush on his cheeks, and he knew it wasn't his own that he was feeling. Naruto had half a mind to taunt Sasuke about him being jealous of Sakura, but he decided he would rather Sasuke look forward to going to see Sakura than not.

It took about ten minutes for Naruto to look normal again before he headed to Sakura's house. Her mother answered the door and told him to head on up to her room. Naruto was a bit surprised by the immediate way that Sakura's mother had accepted him inside her home. The last time he could recall seeing her she had been one of the mothers that had preferred her kid didn't play with him when they were younger. Naruto smiled at her, and she just smiled back in that consoling way that everyone seemed to be smiling at him recently.

"She probably thinks you're mourning me as bad as Sakura is," Sasuke said. Naruto would have liked to said something to Sasuke about that statement, but as Mrs. Haruno was still there looking at him, he decided just to head up the stairs towards where Mrs. Haruno had pointed out Sakura’s room. Naruto didn't need to be told where to go though since he could feel Sakura's chakra fairly prominently. He knocked on the door that he thought would be her room, and she opened it immediately, her face showing little surprise to see him there, obviously having sensed his chakra as well.

"Naruto," Sakura greeted as she swiped a tear away. "I'm glad you came. I wasn't sure if I should come to see you or not. Tsundade-shishou told me you weren't coping well and that she thought you would need some time with your family," Sakura said.

"I think you're coping pretty good," Sasuke said, but of course, Sakura couldn't hear him.

"Tsunade's been keeping me busy at the hospital; I suppose she’s doing so to take my mind off of Sasuke but," Sakura put a hand to her mouth as her face constricted as she held back the stronger emotions. "It's my fault. I promised myself that I would be the one to take care of both of my boys, and I did nothing at all. If I had only been able to see you were really in a hypothermal state sooner, I could have told everyone there was a chance you were still alive. It's my fault! I was just so distraught because I thought you were dead. But you were right there in my arms! I should have noticed it sooner. It's my fault. I should have been able to tell that to Kakashi-sensei. And now we'll never know what Sasuke had planned," Sakura said, biting her lip at the end of what she was saying, looking at Naruto as though she wanted to ask him if he knew what Sasuke had been planning. "I'm sorry I let you down Naruto," Sakura said.

Naruto wasn't sure what to say to her. "It's not your fault."

"It feels like it is," Sakura said as she stepped forward and hugged Naruto.

Sakura hugged Naruto tightly, and all Naruto could do was pat her on the back lightly. He wasn't sure how to comfort her. He knew that he should tell her about Sasuke but he wasn't sure how to go about it. So far all the people he thought would believe him hadn't. He didn't want Sakura to think he was crazy too. It didn’t help that she seemed so unstable right now. Naruto didn’t want to upset her further if she didn’t believe him. He was sure that she would be worried sick about him.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said quietly, trying to voice his thoughts. He looked around her room, realizing it was the first time that he had ever been there. It was an orderly room with the normal things every shinobi has, and he noted it almost felt like his room with all the similar things; kunai, scrolls, shinobi clothing, their genin Team 7 picture, a bed, a small closet with the standard shinobi sandals, a pair of slippers, Dokueki curled up in a corner of the closet -

Dokueki?

Naruto did a double take, and his hand froze mid-pat as he stared open-mouthed at what looked like none other than Sasuke's mischievous snake summons Dokueki. Her body was curled around a pair of fuzzy pink slippers, and her head was poking from around the corner with her tongue in the air as though using it to sniff around. Naruto realized she probably was. Dokueki suddenly landed her eyes on Naruto and appeared just as surprised to see him as he was to see her.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, realizing something was wrong with Naruto when he had gone rigid. "What's wrong?"

Dokueki put the end of her tail up to her mouth as though to make a "shushing" gesture not to mention she was there.

"I think I might be going insane," Naruto said.

"Dobe, we've been through this. I'm really here in your body. You're not insane-" Sasuke began, unaware that Naruto was seeing Dokueki, and thinking that Naruto was referring to him.

"I know what you mean," Sakura said, nodding. Naruto felt his head buzzing with what felt like three different conversations all directed at him. Dokueki wasn't even saying anything, but the fact that Dokueki was there in Sakura's room was just such a big shock. Sakura began to say something about how she felt that she was going insane from Sasuke's death too. Naruto wasn't processing all that she said. He closed his eyes firmly for a moment and re-opened them looking back at the spot where he had seen Dokueki, only to note that she wasn't there any more. He shook his head, wondering if he really was going insane.

"-and I just can't believe that after all that we went through to try and bring him back that he's gone already," Sakura finished. Naruto nodded his head numbly.

"I'm sure that Sasuke would appreciate to know how much you miss him. And I know he wouldn't have blamed you," Naruto said.

"Hn," Sasuke confirmed in Naruto's mind even though Sakura couldn't hear him.

"You're dealing with Sasuke's death a lot better than I thought you would. Much than I am too," Sakura said. She glanced over at her clock and then back towards Naruto. "I need to get going or I'll be late for my shift at the hospital," Sakura explained. Naruto nodded in understanding, and he followed her out of her room, down the steps, and out the front door. He glanced up at Sakura's window from the outside, wondering if he should go back up to her room to see if he had really seen Dokueki or not.

Sakura gave Naruto a quick hug, distracting him from his thoughts. She smiled sadly at him before heading off to the hospital. Naruto looked at her as she got lost in the crowd down the street. He remembered when there had been a time that he would have done anything to get a hug from Sakura. Now he would do anything to get Sasuke's body back so that he was able to get a hug from him.

Naruto looked back up at Sakura's window again, thinking he must just still be frazzled after his strange dream last night and had simply imagined seeing Dokueki.

"You didn't tell her," Sasuke said, making Naruto decide not to go to Sakura's room just yet. He’d have to come back anyway to tell her.

"I will. I just haven't figured out when or how to tell her. I don't think it's a good idea to put more distractions on her right now when she's supposed to be going to the hospital and focus on patients," Naruto said wisely as he managed to find a lower looking roof and jump onto it as he headed in the direction he thought he would find Kakashi.

"Hiya Naruto!" Naruto practically jumped out of his skin at Dokueki's sudden appearance at his shoulder. He nearly missed his step to the next rooftop.

"Dokueki?" Sasuke asked in surprise, hearing her voice even though he couldn't see her.

"Where the hell did you just come from?" Naruto demanded, startled.

"Sakura'ssss room silly. You just saw me there," Dokueki hissed, wrapping herself tightly around Naruto's upper arm. "Sweet Naruto warmth! Her floor was so cold. And I didn't want to wrap myself around you too tightly because it might make you jump. One of my abilitiessss issss that I can actually wrap around people without them feeling it, but the only down side of that issss that I don't get their warmth. You're alwayssss so warm. You know, I missed you."

"Dokueki was in Sakura's room?" Sasuke asked incredulous.

"How did you get in Sakura’s room?" Naruto asked.

"Well, you see, after Sasuke left to go fight Itachi, I decided I ought to stay out of trouble. I hid at the campsite where you two had been naughty the night before the fight with Itachi. I waited there for a while listening to the battle. A little while after the battle seemed to have ended, while I wassss hiding in a tree nearby, I heard a group of people come to the site. I thought I smelt Sasuke, but hissss smell seemed off somehow –”

“Probably because I smelt dead,” Sasuke murmured

“-and I couldn’t tell if it wassss a trap or not since hissss smell wassss off. But I knew you were there because I could smell you. Assss the group passed by the tree I was in, I waited for what I thought to be your backpack to sneak into again. At least, I had thought it wassss your backpack because it smelt like you. It turnssss out it wasn't your pack, but that girl Sakura'ssss. She had ramen in her backpack. Did you know that you smell a lot like miso ramen?" Dokueki asked curiously.

"You mean you were hiding in a tree, couldn't see people very well, but thought you smelt me because I smell like Miso ramen and you ended up accidentally hiding in Sakura's backpack since she had Miso ramen in it?" Naruto asked.

"Yessss. I realized my mistake assss soon assss I came into contact with the Miso ramen package that it clearly wasn't you," Dokueki said.

"What was Sakura doing with Miso ramen in her backpack?" Sasuke asked. Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke, hoping Sasuke could see the action in the soul realm he was it. Sometimes, he didn't understand his friend. Dokueki was thankfully alive and well, and all Sasuke wondered about was why Sakura had Miso ramen in her backpack!

"Sakura probably had Miso ramen in her backpack because she knows it cheers me up," Naruto said, thinking about how Sakura had tried to coerce him to wake up the night after he and Sasuke had had sex after he had seen Sasuke in what he had thought was the first time in three years.

"You sure smell like that stuff. You must eat a lot of it. So, anyway, any leadssss assss to where Sasuke issss at the moment?" Dokueki asked jovially as though unconcerned with the lack of Sasuke's presence – er – physical presence.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"I know Sasuke can't really be dead. That can't have been his body on the funeral pyre. Something about it didn't smell quite like Sasuke," Dokueki said firmly and assuredly.

"That was Sasuke's body," Naruto said, his voice getting higher pitched at the end as Dokueki squeezed tighter around him. "Will you please loosen up?!" Naruto said as he began to cough at the fact that Dokueki was ever increasing her pressure around his neck and arm.

"But you're so warm," Dokueki whined.

"Grab her tail and pull her away from you like a whip," Sasuke advised knowingly. Naruto frowned, but decided to give it a shot. He grabbed Dokueki's tail and whipped her away from him.

"Gaaaaaaaah!" she cried as Naruto then wrapped her more comfortably around his leg. "That wassss mean!"

"You were choking me!"

"If you're coughing then air issss still getting in and out," Dokueki grumbled.

"And you wanted to find her to make sure she was okay?" Sasuke asked, amused.

"Well it's hard to tell you that Sasuke's body is gone and his soul is now stuck in my body when I can't breathe!" Naruto yelled out.

"Sasuke'ssss in your body?” Dokueki asked. Before Naruto could say anything, she continued. “Well that makessss sense," Dokueki said, sounding unconcerned with the news that she had heard.

"No it doesn’t," Naruto said, though pleasantly surprised that Dokueki seemed to believe him anyway.

"Yessss it doessss. Sasuke would do something like that - staying assss close to you assss possible. And I know he likessss being in your body. Tell Sasuke-"

"He can hear you, but he can't see you in here. I can hear him and translate what he says to you."

"Okay, I’ll tell him then. Sasuke, you're an asshole," Dokueki paused before taking a deep breath and yelling, "YOU LEFT ME ALL ALONE IN A BIG SCARY FOREST WITHOUT WARM NARUTO!!"

"For which I'm sure Naruto was grateful for," Sasuke chuckled.

"What is your obsession with me?" Naruto asked. His life felt like one big comedy at the moment.

"You're warm," Dokueki practically purred, nuzzling her head against Naruto's leg.

"I actually agree with her," Sasuke said.

"I’m going to find Kakashi-sensei. You two are driving me insane," Naruto grumbled, though he couldn’t help the smile that spread on his face.

Next Chapter: Advice or Warning?

Recommended reading: A Love That Is Blind by lL0tus on fanfiction. net. I “edit” that fic. I don’t do the final edit because stuff gets changed which makes me have to read and review it. T-T How cruel.

I have edited this chapter several times, but I’ve also had the flu during the whole process of finishing this chapter and then editing it. Please forgive any randomness or errors that slipped by my sleep-deprived and unwell brain. I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway! ~ Jelp