The Sound of Dreams

AN: Hope you all like the chapter…things are working towards their conclusion! Now I just need to get off my lazy can and write some more!!

Thanks for all of your reviews!! You guys are awesome!


Chapter 58


Sasuke had been forced to tie a thin strip of cloth over his eyes to shield them from most of the light. It certainly didn’t help that he had been traveling eastwardly all morning. He was tired, filthy and hungry, but none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was getting to Konoha and to Kakashi.

He tugged the hood of his cloak lower over his face as he bumped into someone in the street of the small town that he had just staggered into not but a few minutes ago. He didn’t want to attract the wrong kind of attention. Wandering around in a cloak with a blindfold would exclude him from some scrutiny, but if they saw the shredded Anbu uniform underneath the robe, then there might be questions.

He moved on with a half-murmured apology, trying to act his part. He couldn’t help but wonder how in the hell he was going to get to Konoha when he couldn’t even make out the faces of passers-by.

“Oi,” a familiar voice suddenly called out. “Uchiha!”

Sasuke froze before turning to what could either be his salvation or his worst nightmare.

******************
Kiba stood, trying not to look as worried as he felt as his teammates reluctantly admitted amongst themselves that they had lost the scent of their targets. They (Shino and Sai) were currently discussing (arguing) about whether they should return home and report or not.

Kiba, in an effort to relieve his stress, alternated between petting Akamaru and his small passenger. Both individuals seemed to enjoy the attention and preened under the physical affection.

A cloaked individual suddenly bumped into Kiba. Probably some old drunk or something, but he could sense a decent level of chakra from the individual. The odors immediately assaulted his nose; sweat, earth, blood, a vague scent of disinfectant and underneath all of that, a smell that he recognized. His eyes widened incredulously. Not stopping to think that perhaps the man had bumped him deliberately to subtly get his attention, Kiba reacted without hesitation.

“Oi! Uchiha!”

The talking of his teammates immediately stopped as did the cloaked figure. It swayed slightly as it turned toward him. The face didn’t lift up to meet his directly however and he frowned as he saw the blindfold underneath the shadow of the hood.

“Kiba,” the voice said coolly, even if it was a bit on the raw side. “The others are with you.” It was said as a statement, but Kiba couldn’t help but feel as if it was a question as well.

“Yeah,” he said casually, so that it could be taken as an agreement or an affirmation as the other teen wished. “What’s with the-“

“Let’s take this someplace less populated,” Shino suddenly suggested. The head turned slightly in his direction and his frown deepened.

Hinata spoke up as she got a look at the other shinobi. “Perhaps you would like to get something to eat, Sasuke-san,” she murmured.

“Don’t have time,” Sasuke replied in a mumble as he shifted on his feet, seeming to be about to turn and start walking again. “Need to get to Kakashi.”

Four sets of eyebrows went up.

Sasuke suddenly staggered as a small figure threw itself at him, wrapping two thin arms about his waist. “Where’s Naruto?” a young voice demanded worriedly from below.

No one missed the way that Sasuke’s fists clenched, his knuckles turning white with the pressure.

“I think Hinata is right. Let’s get some food in our friend here and then get under way. I think we need to get back to Konoha and Sasuke can tell us everything on the way,” Sai announced causing Kiba to gape at him since he had been the one arguing to continue the search.

“I don’t need food,” Sasuke growled. “I just need to get to Kakashi. He can help.”

“I’m sure he can,” Sai said and Sasuke could almost picture the blank smile that he was undoubtedly receiving. “And when you pass out we can always tie you to Akamaru’s back. I’m sure that will really make you look like you are returning voluntarily when we enter the gates.”

Sasuke’s lips tightened in irritation. He really was beginning to dislike this guy. He was as annoying as Naruto and had the wit and vocabulary to back it up.

“Let’s get you some soup at least,” Hinata intervened. She walked forward and gently laid a hand on Sasuke’s elbow, prepared to guide him if needed.

Sasuke’s body stiffened at the touch and while he didn’t shrug her off, he remained immobile until she hesitantly let go.

“You smell, too,” Kiba added helpfully.

“Deal with it,” Sasuke growled.

If he wasn’t positive that he would be seriously maimed and the comment totally inappropriate in the current circumstances, Kiba would probably have made the observation that someone needed to get laid. That of course brought back memories of a certain loud, active night and he decided that he didn’t want to encourage a repeat performance.

That naturally led him to wondering where Naruto was and what was going on, but it seemed like the others wanted to wait until they were in private.

Hiroki, however, didn’t share their need for secrecy. “Is he…is he…” he trailed off, not wanting to say the words. It had happened often enough in his world before now; people that he had grown accustomed to disappearing, never to be seen again. The sight of what had been left of the blue man in the clearing came back to his mind. He tightened his arms around Sasuke’s waist. “Nii-san, please… tell me…” He didn’t want to hear that Naruto was gone, that he had been killed, but it was better than to be left wondering.

“He’s alive,” the cold, almost dead voice assured him.

Hiroki felt a shiver go through him at the tone. While he didn’t know what exactly lay behind the words, he still knew there were depths to what they didn’t say. He knew that they hid things that he didn’t want to know, but had to nonetheless.

Hinata reached over to him to try to draw him away from the dark shinobi, but the boy moved his shoulder out from under her hand. He slid around to the other side of Sasuke and confidently took the teen’s hand into his own. The larger hand gripped his almost painfully tight for a moment before relaxing into a firm hold.

The boy moved his gaze up to glare at the kunoichi, but found that she was smiling at him softly. He blushed both in embarrassment and slight guilt for just having had a mean thought about her and looked away. Hiroki quickly began to guide Sasuke as Sai began to lead them to a small restaurant stand.

“We’ll be able to find him, won’t we?” he asked in a soft voice, meant for Sasuke’s ears only.

“We will,” that chill voice replied.

“And when we get him back, we can be a family, right?” he asked hopefully, looking up at the one that he had decided to nominate as his nii-san.

Silence was his only answer for the longest moment and he began to be afraid for what had happened both to Naruto and to Sasuke as well.

“I hope so,” Sasuke finally whispered in reply as his hand gave a hard squeeze to the smaller one within it.

That was enough to reassure the small boy and his confidence returned, strengthened by the fact that he had one of his family back to walk at his side. They would find Naruto because he had made a promise to do so and nothing would stop him. Believe it.

********************
Sasuke finished sipping the bowl of soup, unwilling to admit that Hinata had been right. He felt better now that he had eaten and was ready to resume his journey. He heard Sai drop a few coins on the counter as well as the noisy chewing of Hiroki quickly devouring the rest of his fried squid so as not to be left behind.

“Let’s move out,” Sai told everyone. He figured that Sasuke would need another rest after a few hours to get some more food into him. He had the appearance of a man that hadn’t eaten for several days. They needed to make time while they could and get back to Konoha. It concerned him that Sasuke was suddenly so riveted on finding Kakashi since he hadn’t seemed interested in returning to the village previously. Something had obviously happened and he would find out what it was.

The boy quickly jumped up from his seat and took Sasuke’s hand again, seemingly both to reassure himself that his friend wasn’t going to disappear as well as to help the impaired shinobi. Knowing as much as he did about Orochimaru, Sai had a feeling of what laid beneath that strip of cloth about Sasuke’s eyes. He could only wonder that Sasuke hadn’t completely lost it yet. The Uchiha wasn’t the most stable individual around to begin with and he could only guess as to why the avenger hadn’t gone off the deep end. Then, in a sudden flash of insight, he knew.

Naruto.

Sasuke still had a goal, still had something he was focused upon. As long as he had that, he would hold himself together and do what needed to be done.

*********************
“Five point two meters,” Sai stated calmly between jumps. “Eight point three. Seven point six.”

They were currently moving through the tree tops at an almost lazy pace for ninjas. Sasuke was adjusting quickly to the distances called to him, leaping with a sometimes stuttering grace as the forest presented itself in one large green blur to his still-healing eyes.

His chakra was not the tightly contained and controlled aura that Sai had sensed in his presence before, but rather it seeped outward as if acting as a sort of short ranged radar. He could faintly feel the others around him, especially Hiroki as the boy had less control than his elders, and the occasional animal. It didn’t help him find his footing in the trees however, but it did augment his blurry vision to give him some semblance of depth.

“Four point four. Eight point three,” came the almost monotonous drone from next to him.

He wanted to tell Sai to shut the hell up and mind his own business, but he clenched his teeth against the words. He wasn’t fucking useless; he could travel through the damn forest without a nursemaid.

“Twelve point eight.”

‘Shit!’ He pushed off hard with his chakra, letting his momentum carry him forward. Sai hadn’t jumped off a second before him so he didn’t have the other shinobi’s position to gauge where he should be landing. The branch that he believed he was targeting came into blur range and he adjusted himself to land. The green that he had thought were leaves was in fact moss on the branch. He discovered this as his foot slipped from under him when he landed upon the slick growth.

He was almost horizontal when an arm grabbed him around the waist, forcing his scabbard to dig into his back painfully. He was pulled upright, his hands clasping onto the arms to keep his balance. He regained his footing, but the arm didn’t remove itself.

“Are you alright, Sasuke?” Sai asked from directly in front of him.

He curtly nodded, uncomfortable with the other teen’s close proximity. He let go of his hold on the other, signaling he could stand on his own.

“Need to take a break?” Sai inquired almost politely with his arms still around the other. He noticed the scowl that the Uchiha was starting to sport. Hadn’t he just saved the other from what could have possibly been serious harm? Wasn’t someone supposed to show their gratitude afterwards?

Apparently subtly was lost on the oblivious former Root member.

Shino landed lightly beside them. “Sai, let Sasuke go before he rips your arm off.”

Sai frowned and reluctantly stepped away. “What did I do wrong?” he asked in confusion.

“He’s Naruto’s,” Shino said, ignoring how the scowl switched targets to him. “Leave him be.”

Sai gave a pout, but didn’t argue further.

Shino turned to Sasuke. “Let’s take a quick break here, the tree is certainly large enough, and then you can tell us what is going on.”

The others came over and arrayed themselves in the branches around Sasuke, watching him with their full attention. He slowly lowered himself down to sit and Hiroki immediately moved to settle next to him, taking Sasuke’s pale hand into both of his own.

That blank cloth looked in the boy’s direction and a shiver went through the child. He knew what bandages meant. They meant that someone had been hurt by the doctors and the doctors had patched it up to wait and see what happened next.

Had the doctors gotten a hold of Naruto, too?

Hinata brought over a few wrapped rice balls. “Some onigiri, Sasuke-san,” she said quietly. She waited until he lifted his unoccupied hand before placing the cloth package into his palm.

He nodded his thanks, but didn’t move to uncover the food.

“So, tell us what happened,” Shino said quietly from his perch a few meters off to the avenger’s right.

“Kisame’s sword absorbs chakra and Naruto couldn’t make any headway with him. So, he dumped its power into the weapon and it… exploded. It knocked me out and I didn’t wake up for a long time. When I finally became conscious, I was in the middle of a forest and some crazy doctor is telling me that Orochimaru had taken control back from Naruto and was planning an imminent invasion of Konoha,” the pale-skinned boy answered quietly, staring down at the food in his hand.

The silence stretched out and the others came to realize that he considered the explanations over.

Kiba let out a frustrated noise. “Bullshit! There’s got to be more than that! Where’s Naruto and what the fuck happened to your eyes?”

The clothed face lowered even more and the hand convulsively closed upon the cloth package in his hand, crushing its contents. The other hand still firmly gripped Hiroki’s without hurting the child.

“I would assume Naruto is trapped within his own mind like last time. Naruto’s body is being used to attack your home,” he murmured tonelessly.

“It’s your home, too,” Shino informed him quietly.

“No,” he said, his voice suddenly hoarse. “My home currently has an unwanted occupant.” He looked up towards the familiar blurs. “I need to get to Kakashi. I can tell him how to enter Naruto’s mind if he doesn’t know how already so that he can free the dobe.” His voice almost seemed to catch on the last word.

“And why can’t you use your eyes?” Sai asked, his tone betraying his assumptions.

Sasuke carefully set the mangled package on the tree branch and reached up behind his head. He used one hand to work the knot loose that was half buried in his lank hair and carefully pulled the blindfold from his face. He slowly opened his eyes, but the sun was mostly blocked out by the canopy of leaves overhead and he didn’t find the light too unbearable.

He blinked up at them, the fuzzy forms a bit clearer now than they had been before he had donned blindfold. He heard the gasps and fought not to lower his eyes (Naruto’s eyes) in shame.

“Well they certainly make you look prettier,” Sai said with a grin plastered on his face. After all, levity was often used to relieve tension in awkward situations.

Kiba looked at him with wide, shocked eyes. He took a swipe at the dark-headed boy who easily dodged by leaning a few centimeters to the side. “Dumbass!” Kiba growled at him.

Hiroki was suddenly blocking Sasuke’s vision as the boy stood in front of him. He reached out a hand and slowly touched the side of Sasuke’s face up near his eyes. He flinched slightly, both from the area being a little tender yet and from the reflexive urge to protect a vulnerable area.

“Is Naruto in there with you now?” the boy asked in a whisper.

Sasuke wondered what in the hell could have happened to a child to make them ask a question like that. “No, he’s not in here with me. He’s still in his own body.”

“Oh,” he said, almost as if relieved and disappointed at the same time. He blinked as another thought occurred to him. “Does he have your eyes now?”

Sasuke swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. “Yes, he has my eyes now.”

A smile appeared on the boy’s face and made his green eyes light up. “You traded eyes with him,” he stated happily.

“Something like that,” Sasuke croaked out.

“When I get older I hope that someone loves me that much,” he said wistfully.

Sasuke pulled the child into his arms and buried his face in the brown hair, concentrating on breathing in his scent and suppressing all other thoughts and feelings.

“Did this doctor say when Orochimaru planned on attacking Konoha?” Shino asked quietly, not wanting to interrupt but needing to know.

“He did,” Sasuke murmured into Hiroki’s hair. “But that is something that I will only tell the Hokage.”

“Then we need to move,” Shino stated, looking over at Sai.

Sai nodded in agreement. “Let’s move out.”

“Can you carry me?” Hiroki asked in Sasuke’s ear.

Sasuke reluctantly shook his head. “I can’t see very well. I don’t want to drop you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Hiroki frowned; feeling a little upset, but then realized that his nii-san was just looking out for him. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s neck and gave him a big hug before running over toward Akamaru.

*********************
Konoha had and hadn’t changed Sasuke decided as they moved over the rooftops towards the Hokage tower.

Sai had produced an Anbu mask from a pack that had been stored on a summoning scroll and had offered it to Sasuke with a small flourish and a smile. Cloaked, in an Anbu mask and in the company of readily recognizable Leaf-nin, he had passed the gate unmolested.

Everything that had been destroyed in Orochimaru’s attack three years ago had either been rebuilt or totally renovated, giving the village a mish-mash of new and old. There were some people that he recognized and seemed to be the same while others (younger ones) seemed to have changed dramatically in his absence.

Of course the most noticeable change was the new face chiseled out on the cliff face wall bringing the total to five. His eyes sought out the Sandaime’s with the crack marring the bridge of the nose and felt a fleeting sense of shame and guilt. He had abandoned his village to seek power from the very man who had killed the only Hokage that Sasuke had really known. He could almost feel the disapproving stare from those stony eyes.

They were attracting a little attention from the other shinobi that they passed. Sasuke had a little better control over his chakra now that his eyes were starting to function better, but it was still fluctuating slightly which led the others to surmise that perhaps the Anbu accompanying the mission team had been injured.

The team entered the tower and ascended the stairs hastily, coming to a halt once they reached Shizune’s desk. Her dark eyes scanned the mixed company quickly and a delicate eyebrow rose in askance.

“Is the Hokage available to see us, Shizune-san?” Sai asked brusquely. “We have news to report.”

“Follow me,” she instructed, used to the strange comings and goings in a ninja community.

She led them down the hall to a closed set of double doors. She indicated that they wait a moment while she stuck her head into the room. She found Tsunade in her chair, facing the window with a worried, contemplative look on her face. It looked like she was trying to discern the future and didn’t like what she was seeing. Signs of fatigue shown in the dark circles under her eyes, telling Shizune that the Godaime hadn’t been getting nearly enough sleep.

“Tsunade-sama,” she said quietly.

“No more paperwork, Shizune, I’m not in the mood for it right now,” the leader of the village said dismissively.

“Team Eight is here to see you as well as an Anbu,” she said the last part a little questioningly. “They seem to be together.”

Tsunade quickly turned in her chair. “Is he with them?” she asked hopefully.

“I don’t believe so, Tsunade-sama,” Shizune said regretfully.

Tsunade sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. She seemed to shake herself and sit up straighter. “Send them in,” she ordered, her voice more professional.

Shizune nodded and opened the door wider, letting Tsunade see the gathering outside of her office. Her assistant departed, allowing the others to make their way inside. Hinata closed the door behind them and settled against it, watching as the others to step forward to make the report.

Sai waved Shino forward. “Go ahead since you like to talk so much,” he urged, sounding entirely serious. He ignored the strange looks he received and faced the Godaime, waiting for Shino to start.

Shino stood for a moment, trying to find the simplest and most concise way to sum up everything that they had been through. He shrugged lightly and said, “While we didn’t find Naruto, we were able to find Uchiha.” With that he gestured toward the Anbu-masked ninja.

Tsunade’s head whipped over to stare at the unknown shinobi as a pale hand reached up and removed the mask and hood simultaneously. Her eyes narrowed at the limp but recognizable chicken ass hairstyle; they widened at the equally recognizable eyes.

Rage flooded her as she stood abruptly, knocking her chair over. She shoved her desk aside hard enough that it went skidding across the room to slam into a wall, cracking the plaster. She was across the two meters separating her and the Uchiha in the blink of an eye and then it was he that was slammed into a wall.

His head bounced hard enough that he saw spots superimposed over her growling visage as she demanded in a yell, “Where is he?”

There was the wet sound of tearing flesh and cloth as a small cry rang out in the room. “Nii-san!”


TBC

AN: You’ll have to forgive me my really bad joke with Hiroki saying “Believe it.” I just couldn’t help myself! :D