Kyuubi

A/N: This is a fright story. Be warned..
Betaed by my lovely annieme.


~Kyuubi~Intro~


He could taste the forest in his mouth as he walked gingerly behind his two best friends, following them down the overgrown path that dwindled it’s way between the old trees. Huge monstrosities that stretched high up into the clear blue sky that could be seen in little flecks through the heavy branches. Sasuke had never seen trees like this. Ancient things.. with thick moss covering the entire trunks. Huge roots sticking up from the ground, slithering their way over and under the path they were following.

He had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling, and it just kept increasing the further away from the main road they got. A hard knot forming in his stomach as the trees around him seemed to get bigger and bigger, the little specks of light illuminating the moss covered ground in little golden orbs getting fewer and fewer.

“Naruto?” Sasuke drawled the name out, trying to sound disinterested or bored. He forced himself to look utterly relaxed, forcing all his anxiety to the bottom of his stomach and into his closed fists that he held hidden in the pocket of his royal blue hoodie. He had no idea why he felt so apprehensive, but he did. Like some great beast was lurking in this forest, getting ready to spring.. and he was the only one that knew it. But it wasn’t like he could start screaming and running for the road. Hell no, there was no way he was giving Naruto and Kiba a valid reason to torment him for being a sissy for the rest of his life.

“You sure you know the way to this childhood dream cave of yours? Because the bus is leaving in thirty minutes, and we’re already a ten minute walk away from the main road, and I am so not missing school tomorrow just because you two morons decided to go on a quest into this fucking brothers Grimm forest...”

“Oh shut up bastard.. we’re almost there. I just wanna see if it’s how I remember it from when I was a kid..and then we’ll go catch your precious bus alright?”

Sasuke groaned, silently. Rolling his eyes before he let out a “Hn..”, almost tripping over one of the huge roots that stuck up just a little higher from the ground than the rest. “Fuck..” there was no trace of the path now, and he was following the retreating back of Kiba’s red shirt, pushing away branches as he went.

They had been spending the weekend with Naruto’s grandfather..or uncle. Sasuke wasn’t actually sure. But the old geezer was a perverted hermit that wrote porn for a living, he lived in a small house at the bottom of the monstrous mountains surrounding Konoha, a two hour drive from the city. He liked to keep to himself, being the only occupant of the house, except from the toad farm he had.He had been very insistent on the fact that they were toads... not frogs. Crazy old man. But Naruto had been coming here summers and weekends since he was a kid. And the man was nice.. in a.. slightly disturbing way.

Kiba had been here several times before, and was well accustomed to the do’s and don’t’s around Jiraiya.. like, never walk in the house with shoes. Never enter a room without knocking. And last, but not least;- If you want to shower.. make sure to lock and deadbolt the door... that was a major “do”. This was Sasuke’s first time..

“Here it is!! Hah! I knew I’d find it..whoop!” Naruto’s voice was hushed by the large forest, but it still managed to rip Sasuke out from the horrid memory of Jiriaya sitting hunched on the toilet writing down a rather explicit desciption of his anatomy, in addition to frighten a flock of blackbirds that flittered to their wings from the loud outburst.

“Oh man!! Look at this thing.. this is sooo cool.” Kiba’s voice was just as excited as Naruto’s, like two fucking kids at a candy store. Just from finding one freaking cave.

Sasuke hurried his pace to catch up to them. Swallowing his anxiety deep down into his stomach. This was so not a good idea. This place reeked of evil. And he had no way of explaining that to his friends without sounding like a nutcase..Hell, he sounded like a nutcase to himself.

The only reason he had agreed to come was because Naruto had promised him some really awesome rock climbing sites. And the blond hadn’t disappointed. Now, Sasuke liked to climb on the outside of the mountain; to crawl in an claustrophobic-one-way-out-that-may-crumble - cave.. was an entirely different thing.

He got to a small clearing just in time to see Kiba’s brown hair disappear seemingly into the ground. But when he inched forward he could see that it was a rather large hole in the forest floor. Shrubs and dead vines were dwindling their way down into the stone alcove, and Sasuke was surprised to see that it wasn’t far down.. not at all. There was even a wooden handrail around the opening and a rickety wooden stair that lead down into the darkness, in addition to a sign standing next to the little stairs, explaining that this was the ‘Konoha Kyuubi cave’ and that they had found evidence that there used to be people here thousands of years ago, although the archeologists thought it was used to worship their heathen gods, not as a living quarter. They had even found evidence that human sacrifices were made to this god. And had apparently found several figurines carved from human bones, and even a cave painting of a massive beast with nine tails they called Kyuubi, hence the cave’s name. The painting however had been chiseled out and was now on exhibit in the fire country’s national museum.

Sasuke shivered as he jumped the small distance to the cave floor, ignoring the stairs, a small thump as his feet hit the grey dust on the cave floor. He switched on the little flashlight Naruto had given him and let the little white beam roam over the cracked cave walls, spiders and other insects crawling to hide in small crevices. He had to bend his back, and lean forward to walk further in, into the darkness. His voice was thrown back at him in a mocking way when he called out; “Naruto..Kiba. You found your fucking cave. Can we go now..I really don’t see what’s so fucking exciting about this.”

“If I didn’t know better.. I’d say you were scared Sasuke..” Kiba’s voice was taunting as he turned around, grinning at Sasuke, flashing his flashlight in the raven’s face. “Come on. I know you’re Uchiha and all. But dare to have an adventure for once. Naruto’s only gonna check something out alright, and then we can go catch that precious bus of your’s back to civilization and your beloved school.”

Naruto had remembered this cave earlier that day, and they had left an hour earlier from Jiraiya’s, just so he would have time to go back to it and confirm that it was still there.. apparently, this had been his secret hideout when he was a kid. His very own bat cave..

The place gave Sasuke the creeps. He felt like hyperventilating. He absolutely hated the place. It was dark, but surprisingly dry, the air tasted old, the ground was covered by a thick carpet of greyish dust, and with every step they took they trampled it further down, their feet making soft thumping sounds as they descended further down, away from the reassuring daylight, while a light sheen of dust floated in the air. Sasuke’s imagination was telling him that this is how grinded human bones tasted. He shivered..

Just then, they seemed to have reached a larger part of the cave. And he could stand up.. Naruto was hurrying even further in, the white beam from his flashlight hitting the walls in a shaky pattern as the blonde leapt from stone to stone, going somewhere unknown while he laughed. “Woo! Look at this place.. it’s just how I remembered it.. just down here is where I used to pretend I had my own bed..it’s just a little up the wall, I used to sit there and read comics. I even had my own crevice where I hid them, I just gotta see if they’re still there.. Come on!”

Sasuke felt frustration and real impatience creep over him, the kind that ties your chest in painful strings, making maggots creep through your blood. He so not wanted to be here. All this.. for some shitty comics, shitty comics that were bound to be covered in this hideous dust and spiders.. ‘That’s just fucking great..’

“I’m leaving..I’m not missing the bus just so you can go get some rotten comics..”

“Wait a minute..this.. this isn’t..” Naruto’s voice was filled with wonder.. Sasuke stopped in his retreat and turned around just in time to see Naruto standing still, flashlight pointed down. The blond was completely quiet, but holding a hand up,as to keep them back.

“What is it?” Kiba had stopped just behind Naruto.

“It’s just.. I don’t remember this being here..I mean. There is this really big hole in the floor.. and.. well, it’s new. Wow.. it looks deep too.” Naruto leaned a bit forward, shining his light further down.. “Yeah.. how the hell did this get here? It must be new, since no one put a fence around it or anything...”

Sasuke yelled Naruto’s name when he all of a sudden spotted a pair of dark hands reaching out from the dark pit. But it was already too late, and Naruto was ripped down into the darkness.

And then... quiet.

Not a sound. Only the swooshing of his blood turning to ice in his veins as he held his breath. Had he just imagined hands coming up from that pit? Ripping Naruto down.. oh god.. "Naruto!" Sasuke forced himself to move forward, his mouth was dry, and it was painful to breathe. He wanted to run away, run away and never look back so bad. But... he couldn’t just leave Naruto..

A small whimper could be heard..

“N-Naruto?..” Kiba seemed just as shocked as Sasuke.. “NARUTO!!” Kiba threw himself to the floor, shining his flashlight down into the hole. “Naruto! Can you hear me? Sasuke! don’t just stand there.. get over here and hold the light..I gotta get down to him!”

One breath and Sasuke was moving. He couldn’t just abandon Naruto and Kiba here.. “Can you see him?”

“Yes.. he’s lying on his side..and I think he’s bleeding.. but, but he’s moving.. hurry! Help me with the rope..” Kiba was already rummaging through his backpack, getting out his equipment.

Sasuke swallowed.. “Is..is he alone?”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Of course he’s alone! Who the fuck is supposed to be down there with him? Batman??”

“I-I...” Sasuke didn’t say anything more. He just bit his tongue, helping Kiba secure a bolt to the rock floor.. Better not to say anything. Probably just something he had imagined anyway.

“Nononono..” It started out as a whisper.. and Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto’s bloodstained face scrunched up in pain, the mantra getting louder from the blondes mouth. Kiba was climbing down the walls, so close.. so close. But Naruto was still alone in the pit. Looking broken on the floor, the grey dust covering every inch of his body. “NoNoNoNO!!” Naruto screamed, those blue eyes wide open in horror. Staring at Sasuke..

And Sasuke knew.. without a doubt. That that look, that pain stricken look of utter fright on his best friend’s face, would haunt him forever. No matter how this turned out.. that look. Sasuke swallowed his tears. He could hear himself whisper encouragements to his friend. Muttering that it was going to be okay, but he was lost in his own fear. Because he knew.. just knew. Had know since he had set foot in this damned cave, that it wasn’t okay. And it didn’t really matter if he really had seen those hands or not.. something was definitely not right about this place.

“Sasuke! Run outside and call 911.. he lost consciousness.”

“No...”

“What?”

“I said.. no. I am not leaving the two of you alone here.. Something is not right about this place..we have to carry him out. But I am not, under any circumstances, leaving the two of you alone here.”

Sasuke was glad Kiba seemed to understand that there was no point of arguing. He just nodded his head. Maybe he felt it too?

Finally.

Too late.