Thread & Needle

hey guys, here's another addition to the story thread&needle. i've got things to do so enjoy.


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chapter three: frequency...


Itachi slammed his hands down on the desk in the room he rented for himself. His eyes blazed glaring at the map of Kuroshi. Little red markings crossed the whole page as he tracked his movements to reach every sector of the markets. Unfortunately he hadn’t seemed to find the object rumored about. He had hoped that it had been more then a rumor, but now it appeared to be a waste of time.

He sighed placing a hand at his forehead.

No not a waste of time. He did manage to retrieve Naruto of all people way out here. And the boy would be able to get him the item in Konoha. It wasn’t all a loss. But every second truly counted with the virus threatening his life.

Straightening he decided one more day of search wouldn’t hurt. Then they would leave.

He shoved the map back into the desk drawer picking out another map and the ancient scroll. Leaving the room with his bellowing cloak he headed towards the room he rented for the Uzumaki boy. The incident earlier made him feel leveled and sorry for the child. Naruto had grasped to him desperately and refused to move, he had been forced to pick up and cradle the boy back to his quarters. When he deposited the blonde onto the bed Naruto held on tighter and actually growled at him when he tried to pull those small fingers from his chest. The boy had acted obnoxious, but then again that’s how he always was. Itachi endured the cuddling boy who wiggled into his lap and clung to him till finally the young Naruto fell asleep with only a towel about his waist.

Itachi tucked Naruto in only hours ago. The sudden feeling of smoothing out the blankets on the younger felt as if he was once again the older brother putting Sasuke to bed. Something he slightly enjoyed experiencing even though the blonde wasn’t his kid brother.

Slipping into the next room Itachi closed the door quietly. Turning he was surprised to see Naruto sitting up in the blankets watching him. Dilated pupils, heavy breathing, and a glistening chest. The boy had had a nightmare of some sort.

Choosing to ignore this information Itachi drew closer taking a seat beside the slave boy and opened the map. Might as well make use from his awake state and show him the roads they’ll travel back to Konoha together with.

“You need as much sleep as possible to regain your strength. But since I am here and you are awake I’m going to show you the route we are taking back to Konoha soon.”

The look on Naruto’s faced brightened suddenly, the first time in a long time. Itachi turned away from the happy beam. He expected as much, but he hadn’t been ready when that ray of light hit him. Warmth flared inside and Itachi quickly pointed at the map.

“Here is where we exit…”

-later on in the day-

Naruto smiled as big as his broken jaw allowed him. ‘I can’t believe I’m doin’ this!’

“Sir are you sure you don’t want to try the new fashion?”

“I’m looking for comfort and easy travel nothing more nothing less.”

‘This is unbelievable!’

“How about this one, your slave will be very comfortable in this yukata…”

Naruto stood on the platform wearing a short white gown beaming at the colorful variety presented to his form. Dressers raced about laying down fabrics and taking his measurements. Itachi stood stoic, dark eyes roaming the patterns about him trying to match Naruto in a certain look.

‘I’m shopping with a serial killer!’

Through the madness Naruto kept himself from being dizzy with everyone running about by focusing on Itachi who stayed rooted to one spot as if nothing like this bothered him. The blonde had a strange idea that being an Uchiha -this was an actual life style for them.

Staying balanced the younger just stared unable to add his own opinion of what he’d rather wear then some damn yukata. He watched Itachi, and the more he gazed on, the more he realized that he was trying to figure out this tall mysterious ex-nin. Though all he witnessed was the sheer elegance the Uchiha executed through movement. Fascinated Naruto could only stare in silence taking in the curves and grace of that emotionless face set in pearl white. It looked as though if he could touch it, that face would feel cold and hard just like a perfect statue. The blonde wondered if any other Uchiha’s had appeared this way besides Sasuke who resembled the elder almost to a ‘T‘.

Without warning a cold wave washed through his body and he blinked wildly looking about. He couldn’t place this strange sensation but he was sure he had felt it before. Everything suddenly slowed in a hazy cast of bluish-grey, almost smoky. All sound and color vanished, and he knew he was still in the room. He knew what he was experiencing. A spark of excitement hit him. Voices could be heard through this weird occurrence.

-“Naruto! Naruto can you here me?”-

-“Of course he can here you. Adrian fixed the system problems.”-

-“Shut up I wanted to make sure he’s ok!”-

-(sigh) “And now you’re probably ruining his hearing with your screeching.”-

-“Oh shut it!”-

‘Ino! Shikamaru!’ Uzumaki Naruto straightened feeling for once happier then he ever felt. His friends were still looking for him! After all these months! Something about the unusual scene around him made his guts lurch and Naruto became motion sickness even though nothing really moved. It was a faulty with the way they were communicating with him. They had no idea where he was, and no this wasn’t any jutsu. It was some highly advanced machinery. He had only met Doctor Adrian once or twice before his kidnapping. The man was a scientific genius.

Doctor Adrian found a way to send frequency waves out and once they locked onto the individual from miles away the focal point would be able to cast messages to that single person. It was like a bubble that not exactly stopped time, but sped up that targeted individual instead. Why speed up the person? Adrian used frequencies that hadn’t been harnessed before on a different enhanced wave length. Like alpha and beta, the Doctor played with echo. Hence the ability of waves rushing over the planet, targeting on and ‘echoing’ messages to that person. And of course the name for the mechanism doing this, Echo Effect.

With no leads as to who or why he had been kidnapped they have probably been working on the Echo Effect to complete it some this whole time to try and communicate with Naruto! Doctor Adrian even assembled a four man team to assist him in his inventions. Shikamaru for his brilliance who picked up science easily. Ino for her mental and family jutsu abilities on the matter of sending projections and messages. Sasuke for talent of observing super fast movements of the frequency to hop in and fix things with sharingan. Then him, Naruto for sheer power and the demon who keeps him alive for the tests they needed to accomplish.

-“Naruto are you there? Is something wrong? Shika he’s not talking to us!”-

-“Chill out he’s probably in a difficult position. Let’s just say what we need to say and quit this so we won’t endanger him in any way.”-

-“Uhh! Naruto we =ZZZzzzpffffffffftttttttt= you!”-

-“Shit, something’s wrong with the =PPFfttttttttshhhhhhhhhhh= ADRIAN!”-

The vision around Naruto swarmed his heart beat racing. There were drawbacks to the Echo Effect; Doctor Adrian was still trying to finish it. The blondes’ stomach dropped feeling like he was falling; he clutched his belly issuing a moan.

-“Send =Ffttt= message Shika!”-

-“Naruto, Doctor =shhhhhhH= able to fix =pvvvvttt= work to =Vvshhhh= you back instantly from your location! =ShhhraaaA= try again in future when =Zzzzttttssss= fixed properly!”-

-“=JJJTTtttshhh= worried about you! Sasuke is looking for a =vvvvvitttttshhhhh=”-

The wave bubble around him collapsed. It felt like heavy water crashing down on him, then bright lights burst colors back to life and everyone was moving in insane speeds around him. These were the aftereffects, and only he -Naruto, could withstand these set backs from the echo wave. Anyone else’s spirit would have been ripped right out of them, but because the demon in his form was connected to his spirit and to the seal enclosing them in the body he was able to survive these conditions. But these ‘conditions’ did damage on him the longer he used them without fixing the Echo Effect properly.

Everything whirled in the room, his stomach kept falling. Little black dots stole his sight and down he went.

“The boy!”

Someone had caught his fall, others huddled around him chattering madly about what happened to the young slave boy. Naruto was only disoriented to a point that he couldn’t stand, it wasn’t so bad. His vision was already back and the worst was a swimming stomach and stress at the front of his head like a headache that never fully begins. He was being coddled with worried banter when a person was shoved aside and spinning red eyes gazed down upon him.

It wasn’t the intense glowing irises that put Naruto in awe, it was the concerned worried lines etched into the porcelain face which made the younger come to terms that the Uchiha was worried about… him? And just like that, like something snapped inside of the blonde that he realized he never wanted to see an expression so sad looking on Itachi again. A sudden obligation bubbled up expanding and Naruto sensed that maybe this Uchiha wasn’t the mass murderer everyone whispered about.

“S-sir!”

Itachi pushed another person aside and lifted Naruto onto his feet. Nothing explained what happened, the blond had been standing on the platform one second and hurling to the floor the next. Vitamin deficiency? Dehydration? “Bring us some water.”

“Hai!”

The blonde watched as Itachi shooed away the people that were making them claustrophobic, giving them each a task. Then those swirling comas turned on him. “Are you ok?”

He gave the taller of them a weak smile and nodded his head. He couldn’t really tell his ‘master’ what had occurred… not that he could anyways. The Uchiha’s demeanor changed slightly, not back to the stoic usual appearance, but a more gentle stature the cool palm of his hand holding Naruto’s arm still not wanting to let go. Those eyes swiftly slowed, the comas disappeared and nothing was left but soft charcoal eyes. It surprised him. But then the Uchiha did something even more shocking! Itachi smirked. Maybe it was the way the light was shinning through the window! Maybe it was his sight playing tricks on him from being dizzy! The tug from the side of a lip upward and Itachi Uchiha smiled! What could make anyone feel even dizzier? A chuckle! Like a dark husky roll of a laugh, short but none of the less he heard it!

“Did you think my eyes were always in Sharingan?”

Really Naruto hadn’t ever thought of it. But really it was perfect, it went so well with the rest of his complexion. Somewhat breathtaking.

“So…”

He blinked.

“-which yukata would you prefer wearing?”

He blinked again looking at the mass of garments to the next. Naruto reached out and picked one out from the pile next to them.

“This one?” Itachi seemed skeptical at first, but when the head merchant walked briskly into the room he grabbed Naruto’s pick and handed it over. “This one. We’ll be on our way now.”

Working their way out of the mess of sales consultants, putting on the confusing yukata without tearing it, and paying for it before the suckered another sum of yen from Itachi’s savings. Within minutes they walked out the door. Uchiha Itachi in a new maroon cloak with no sleeve holes and an open hood. Next to him came out Naruto in the yellow-orange short yukata of summer leaves and the thick collar on his neck.

The day sunny and cheerful people moved through the merchant streets in free rein of their lives. Secretly the two wished -for their own reasons- that they too were as free as them. A wisp and the dark beauty peered down at the silent blonde. “I want you to take this.”

A thick bag of coins were slipped into Uzumaki’s hands. “Go ahead and finish getting our supplies for our journey back. I’m going to go off and search for something important. Don’t worry… this will keep others from taking you.”

Remaining still Naruto allowed his savior to tie a maroon headband around his forehead like his missing Konoha-band. An emblem stitched into the creamy red worded along the words of ‘Bird of Black’ or ‘Dark Sparrow’ maybe even ‘Crow that brings Death’. The kanji was too irregular and vague on the way to understand or pronounce the characters.

“This is my alias name. This will keep you safe.” Giving a last look over Itachi inclined his head and spun on a heel leaving into the bustling crowd to where ever he’d be off to. Naruto stared on for a moment before squinting and searching about for the nearest Ramen Stand. A bite to eat first would pump him up to obtain and carry all the supplies they needed back to the Hotel/Tavern.

And as he trotted and pushed his way through the crowd tracking on scent with thoughts of his friends trying to save him and the new side to the Uchiha, Naruto hadn’t noticed the figure stalking him in the darkness.


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now the story is moving somewhere. -wink wink-