Kare no Jijou

Chapter 3

Sasuke tightened his grip further on Naruto’s wrists. “Answer,” he growled out.

Naruto absentmindedly wondered to himself why Sasuke’s grasp was so strong and why he, of all people, couldn’t break free from it at all. It seemed wrong and unreasonable. No matter how much he tried to wriggle and twist his wrists, it was useless.

Aside from this, the blonde couldn’t help the shivers that ran through his body, and couldn’t understand why it was happening. His heart was beating quickly, but it wasn’t hurting.

Why?

He yowled softly, uncharacteristically, when the redhead in front of him grabbed onto the roots of his hair and pulled on them tightly, ripping his vision upwards for few seconds. His eyes watered from the pain, but he couldn’t help but wonder if the tattoo on the redhead’s forehead was there before…

“Answer.” It was said low and smoothly, and jarred Naruto back to attention.

“It’s none of your concern,” Naruto finally murmured. He sucked in his breath when Gaara’s long, cold fingers extended around his neck and clenched down.

“Wrong answer,” Gaara muttered, tensing his fingers around Naruto’s neck. He had no qualms about asphyxiating him, honestly.

“On the contrary,” Sasuke retorted to Naruto. “I’m the school council president.” He smiled deviously. “Everything is my concern.” His eyes fell upon Gaara’s fingers around the blonde’s neck. “Gaara, don’t kill him.”

Gaara slackened his grip from the blonde’s neck.

Naruto knew when it was futile to fight. He had been in such a situation before, and knew from experience that if he fought in any way, nothing good would result from it. Instead, he resorted to what Jiraiya had taught him years ago.

“Don’t be too proud to beg, Naruto. When it all comes down to it, it only matters if you accomplish your mission. Do anything to get your mission completed.”

“Please,” Naruto began softly, softening his gaze toward the redhead. He wasn’t an idiot; he knew that he was enticing to people of both genders. He knew that many yearned for his body. So he was going to use any means necessary to get out of this.

“I should expose you to the whole school for your deceit,” Sasuke said, tilting his head somewhat.

Naruto’s stomache buckled. “No…!”

A low, rumbling chuckle came from Gaara as he looked at the blonde. Naruto shook, his eyes were wide, and he’d gone paler than a sheet of paper. “He’s afraid,” he said excitedly to the Uchiha.

Afraid.

Afraid…?

This is what he felt…? How dare Gaara even suggest such a thing.

Gaara bared his teeth in a wild, jarring smile that made the blonde turn away.

“I’m going to give you one last chance to preach or this is getting out,” Sasuke said tightening his grip evermore on Naruto’s wrist.

As if it came from someone else, Naruto hissed out, “Don’t! I’ll do anything! Just…(What did I just say…) don’t tell…anyone…” He bit his lip and rolled his eyes upwards with a moan, hoping somehow that the words were above him and he could still capture them. Tell me I did not just say that…

The last thing he wanted was to give them a chance to blackmail him, which he had just done.

“Ho…?” Gaara grinned as he leaned closer to the blonde. “Anything, you say…?” He rocked his pelvis on top of the blonde and clamped his teeth on his bottom lip obscenely, groaning emphatically.

Naruto’s blue eyes thinned toward the redhead from the licentious motion, squirming under him defiantly. “No,” he growled out. That was the last thing…

Sasuke sighed. He didn’t have the time for this, and this was getting no where. Quite frankly, he could care less about the fact that Naruto was dressing up as a girl. All he wanted was to know why. But obviously it interested Gaara (And it’s not the clothes) somewhat. Unless… “What a fag,” he mumbled, loosening his fingers from around Naruto’s wrists.

Naruto blinked repeatedly and moved his arms slightly.

“Let him go, Gaara,” Sasuke said, sitting up and wiping his pants nonchalantly after he slid of the table.

“Tch.” Gaara leaned back slightly and sighed as he rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. Naruto wriggled from under him, unceremoniously falling to the floor.

Naruto got up quickly, and nearly made a hasty exit, but Sasuke’s strong grip returned to his shoulder. “You’re not a foreigner, are you?” he asked.

Naruto blinked at the question. Will that satisfy him? he wondered. It was a stupid question to ask. Besides, one answer would always lead to another question, he knew. It would be a never ending cycle, and they would find themselves far too deep into this.

He swiped Sasuke’s hand away angrily, wondering why these two let him go so easily. He glared at them and hurried to the door, where his sac lay. He glanced back once more with a quirked eyebrow before he closed the door behind him, hurrying back to his class.

I must be hallucinating today, Naruto thought as he walked quickly. He couldn’t get his mind off of the fact:

Because that tattoo wasn’t there after he calmed.

-Jijou-

“Hold still, damn it!”

“I…Iie! Ah – ah! Itai yo! Yamete!”

“That’s enough! Please!”

Naruto shook himself awake. His forehead, he realized, was sticky with sweat when he covered it with his arm. He breathed deeply and opened his eyes, staring at the white ceiling of his bedroom. It was dark, and the halls in the apartment were quiet, as well as the streets outside. The moon cast horrible shadows into his room, and he sat up instantly after closing his eyes again.

What was that dream?

He knew what it was. He knew exactly what it was. What did Shikamaru say that one time?

Ah, yes.

“Closed eyes are the dark screens on which memories illuminate upon.”

Naruto didn’t dream. Those types of wistful images never developed in his mind’s eye. No, instead, Naruto remembered. When he slept, he always saw…

He always saw something. Something irksome. Dreadful. Something that caused his chest to tense and stiffen.

He grabbed onto the roots of his hair when another something passed his vision. And then he remembered that time with Jiraiya.

“Jiraiya-oyaji?” asked the chibi as he sat next to the monitor. He fiddled with his fingers.

“Hnh.” Jiraiya’s attention was rapt on the screen that displayed Naruto’s stats.

“Why don’t I dream like you? Or Tsunade-baasan?”

Jiraiya ignored the question and eyed the fluctuation in the blonde’s reading.

Naruto looked down and pouted. “Ano saa…” he began, reaching his small hand to the other’s sleeve, which he tugged on.

“Damn it all, Naruto! Stop moving!” Jiraiya exploded heatedly, swiping the little hand away angrily as he turned his dark eyes toward Naruto.

There was a soft whimper, and those blue eyes glistened.

“And don’t touch me, either,” Jiraiya said as he turned away from the blonde, not willing himself to look into those eyes. “It’s not essential.”

Why was he seeing these things?

He viciously rubbed at his eyes and squirmed out of his bed. He pushed the blonde strands of hair out of his face and sat at his desk, staring at the green, potted plant at the corner of the desk for a short while. He then pulled out a worn, leather-bound book from the drawer before looking at his plant again, eyes focused on nothing in particular.

“What is it?”

“You need to log down anything you remember.”

“From when?”

“From before we found you.”

“But I don’t remember what happened…What if I think they are dreams, Oyajiisan?”

“You said it yourself, brat: You don’t dream.”

“But Jiraiya-oyajiisan, I thought you said that these things aren’t important.”

“This is. Don’t question me.”

He let out an exasperated sigh and picked up his pen. He knew from that point on that everyone withheld something from him. He shut his eyes again.

“Hold still, damn it!”

“I…Iie! Ah – ah! Itai yo! Yamete!”

“That’s enough! Please!”

“Hold still,” he murmured aloud. Whose face did those words belong to? It was a blur. He could never remember what the scenery was. Yet, he heard the same voice other times. He flipped through the pages of the book, where he had heard those voices before.

The pages were filled with large, unrefined print that was splattered in rather that written, scratched in, scrawled in with finger tips, and dotted with clumps and splashes of dark ink.

The pages were a catastrophe.

-Jijou-

Naruto readjusted the sac on his shoulders as he walked to school, avoiding any type of contact with the people he passed. His mind was on certain matters.

He had realized last night that he wasn’t carrying out his mission properly. That displeased him.

Orochimaru knew something about him (How is this?), but what did he know about Orochimaru? Nothing. He had yet to follow him somewhere, eavesdrop on a wary conversation; he had yet to even hear a little peep about something of dubious account.

How could he have been so side-tracked with school that he forgot about these things? Had everyone around him emphasized so strongly on his education that his duty was completely thrown away? That wasn’t his obligation.

Two and a half weeks into this mission and he knew nothing more than the assailant’s name

And, he thought in chagrin, he had been avoiding both Uchiha Sasuke and especially Gaara whenever he saw a glimpse of red or black spiky hair (although the majority of the students had black hair). The redhead was the one that he had to be chiefly careful of—there had been a glimpse of prowess and carnivorous want in those eyes, and it was not the flattering type. They were distracting him, those two.

And yet, he still couldn’t forget that strong grip. That abnormally strong grip. And that tattoo…

Naruto tweaked his ear and looked up when he heard a horrible squall. Yet, it seemed, no one else heard it. He blinked curiously and tilted his head in the direction he had heard the noise. He heard it again, and he, for reasons unknown to him, followed it until he came to an ally merely feet away. He had to walk quite a way in the ally and make a short turn in order to find the object of his curiosity.

Maybe people in this place were blind.

A short girl with a rather garish hairstyle was being held down by two males that were older than Naruto, her mouth covered by one of their hands as she struggled uselessly. There was another boy crouched in the corner, covering his head and blubbering like a child; his glasses were broken in front of him. The last of the young ones was being held back physically by two others, but was putting up a fight in front of another teenager wielding a pocket knife.

Naruto leaned against the building and watched the three children with his head tilted.

Five against three was rather pitiful, considering that the kids were at most 12 years of age.

“I’m only going to say it one more time, brat. Chuck it over,” said the one with the blade, tilting his head back and baring his teeth viciously.

With the way his voice rolled, Naruto pointed him out as the leader. His tone was headstrong, and his squared shoulders had headship falling from the corners.

“I swear I don’t have anything!” screeched back the ‘brat’, his eyes wide with terror. His shrill, prepubescent voice caused the blonde to shrink away a bit, blocking one ear with his finger as he looked down in shame.

“Don’t futz around, you effing cock-sucker,” the leader growled angrily.

Naruto cocked his eyebrow at the choice of words. The two holding down the girl did the same, turning to their leader with looks of question on their faces.

“‘Effing’…?” one asked, dumbfounded. “Did you seriously just say that, Takeshi-kun?”

Takeshi rolled his eyes angrily. “It’s something I picked up in America. And don’t say my name out loud! Baka!”

The other one shrank back momentarily, and Naruto barely suppressed a sigh of pity. These people were fools.

“These little pussies wouldn’t preach anyway,” murmured the one holding the boy back. “They’re out of their wits.”

Takeshi took a step toward the girl on the ground. “If you don’t hand it over in five seconds—” he bent down in front of the girl, brandishing the weapon in his hand, “she’s going to get facial reconstruction.”

“But I don’t have anything!” the boy yelled, rocking his shoulders to shake the other two off of him as he pushed his body toward the shaking girl.

Just give it to them, Naruto thought, knowing that the boy had what the others wanted. It was in his defensive demeanor. Horrible liar…

“Five.”

“Konohamaru-kun!” the boy in the corner nasally burbled, his face glistening with tears and distasteful snot.

Naruto curled his lip in disgust.

“Four.”

Were the streets of Tokyo really so loud that people couldn’t pay attention to what was happening 100 feet away from them? Where was the kōban policeman when he was needed? The old man was probably sleeping in his kōban, peacefully unaware of his surroundings.

“Three.”

The boy finally wailed.

“Bakayarou! I can’t give anything to you if you’re idiot leeches don’t let me go, now can I!”

One of them punched the boy and felled him.

Utter fools…

“I—Itee…” the boy mumbled as covered his head.

“Konohamaru-kun!” the other boy howled.

The girl beneath the two boys screeched as she tried to struggle, tears flowing freely down the sides of her face.

“Two. And then…there was one,” Takeshi said, bringing the blade near the girl’s face.

“Here’s your stupid thing, bastard slime-face!” Konohamaru shouted ruefully as he threw a tiny, clear tube (similar to a perfume phial) filled with a red liquid at the leader. It clinked when it landed on the ground.

“Too late,” Takeshi murmured with a wide, toothy grin on his lips (He seems changed). “My blood is boiling for this girl’s.” He pressed the blade merely centimeters from her face.

Konohamaru lunged at the other with wide eyes, but yelped when he was elbowed in the gut just as he was about to make contact with Takeshi.

“Moegi-chan!” both Konohamaru and the other boy yelled. Konohamaru turned angrily to the sniveling boy as he sat on the ground and roared, “Udon no baka! You’re not doing anything to help but yelling!”

Udon yelped and huddled closer to the corner. “But…My glasses…” he muttered.

Naruto’s mouth was slightly agape, his nose scrunched, and his eyebrows furrowed with repulsion at the boy.

“I want to hear her squeal,” Takeshi drawled in a higher tone. “And taste her blood.”

They chuckled (They all seem changed…).

At this point, all the older one’s backs were turned away from Naruto, but the sudden change in those children’s faces was apparent.

Even the girl, imperiled from the blade, froze and, if at all possible, widened her eyes further.

They were horrified.

Takeshi and the others chuckled. “Un…it’ll be delicious…” one of them hummed as Takeshi bent lower and licked the girl’s wet cheeks.

She then struggled frantically, and though Naruto couldn’t see why, he wasn’t about to let these pitiful people assault these children any further.

He did have some sense of justice, after all.

The blade neared the girl’s face, and she all but fainted.

“That won’t be necessary,” Naruto said aloud, sure to stick with his undercover role as a girl.

The five older ones focused their attention on Naruto with wide, shocked eyes, which then thinned in anger from the disturbance. Naruto nearly took a step back, though, and finally understood those children’s well-founded horror.

Their eyes…

And their teeth…

“You shouldn’t have come here, girly,” growled one of the others, standing up, but not completely erect in form.

Naruto exhaled through his nose loudly. “Despicable,” he mumbled distastefully. “The five of you can barely hold your own again three babies.”

“Oi!” Konohamaru growled out.

“You little cunt-gaijin!” another yelled as he dove toward Naruto. The blond easily evaded the other, shifting his body slightly and elbowed the other on the back before he toppled over and was sprawled on the ground.

“A stupid blonde foreigner with some means of breasts will never be suspicious. Use that against people.”

Takeshi cursed under his breath. “Feisty,” he said with a smirk. “Get her. I want to taste her too.”

The other three silently obeyed, standing up. Takeshi repositioned himself atop the girl on the ground.

Once again, their bodies were not fully erect in form, which slightly unnerved and alarmed Naruto. They staggered slightly before one of them lunged at Naruto wildly. Naruto again moved out the way swiftly and paused when the other growled menacingly.

It was, frankly, a very inhuman sound.

Not allowing that minor thing to hinder him, Naruto backed up and bounced on his feet before he kicked the other taller one on the chin, fisting his hands. Unfortunately, he wasn’t hitting to kill, but rather to stun them. He wasn’t allowed to kill. Yet, that is.

The other one’s back slammed into a dumpster and howled painfully. He quickly pressed toward the blonde again with bared teeth and an outstretched hand as if ready to claw the blonde to death.

Naruto deftly bent down and kicked the other’s leg from under him. He saw the other begin to go down, and turned around at that point to face the other two.

As the other went down, he twisted his body at the last minute and landed on his hands and feet.

Naruto hadn’t at all noticed, instead enjoying the rush within him to get the other three. The two standing went after him.

“Oh come on! You guys are worthless!” Takeshi yelled in frustration.

“Ah! Neechan! Abunai!” Konohamaru yelled out as he pointed behind Naruto.

Naruto turned around through instinct and widened his eyes as he saw not one, but both of the ones he’d felled lunging at him. With so little time to react between the four coming at him, he flipped to the side and landed on his knees when he slipped on some slime oozing from the dumpster.

All that could be heard for a while were the sounds of feet against the ground, rubbing against grit and grime, with the occasional sound of flesh against flesh.

Not at all pausing, the blonde then launched himself at one farthest from the four and chopped his hand at his neck before the other could make contact. He fell to his knees when a leg made contact with the back of his knee.

Honestly, he hadn’t expected these guys to be as good as they were. They’d just looked like hoodlums on the initial encounter.

Another hand grabbed him by the back of his neck, and before he knew it, he found himself propped against the wall, his face grinding into the dirty bricks.

What would people say when he got to school? He was a mess now. And his concealer was rubbing off on the bricks.

One of them had their hand braced against the small of Naruto’s back and pressed his body against him, pushing the blonde further into the wall by clamping his hand on the back of his head. Naruto tried to push himself off of the wall, but failed miserably when two of them grabbed either of his arms, rendering him useless.

“Neechan!” Konohamaru yelled out, pushing himself from the ground and running toward the blonde. The last of the four grabbed Konohamaru by the scruff of his shirt and threw the boy against the dumpster.

The one holding Naruto growled into the blonde’s ear, and to Naruto’s disgust, licked the lining. He glared uselessly at them and resignedly thought to himself how badly the tables had turned on him once again.

Except, unlike the situation with Gaara and Sasuke, these guys were far stranger and seemed animalistic and out of control. Besides, it was five against one.

One of them again growled angrily at Naruto and snapped—snapped! ­—at him like a hungry wolf, and Naruto’s suspicions rose.

The one holding him unscrupulously grabbed him by his hair and thrust his head against the wall not once, but twice, painfully enough to stun Naruto. The blonde saw white before his knees buckled underneath him, and the only thing keeping him up was the other’s weight on his back, his groin positioned on the blonde’s buttocks as he rolled his hips and keened wantonly.

He shuddered out a groan of protest, eyes rolling upward from the pain budding in his head.

Was this the way men were supposed to treat women? Tsunade had once taught him something about etiquette.

The hand on his back curled slightly, and he felt sharp nails clawing into his back, breaking the skin and letting the blood soak into the white shirt.

Just what was in that bottle? Their strength was abnormal. Naruto was trained to break out of such a hold, but they were unrelenting in their power. Then again, there was an incessant pounding in his head, and he could think of nothing other than why he had come here in the first place, or, at least, why he hadn’t just walked away like any other intelligent person would have.

Before he had much more time to think about it, the boys were off of him and he fell to the ground. They scrambled away, muttering and yelping in invisible pain.

Naruto pushed his weight off the wall and watched dumbfounded as they all exited the allyway without a second glance, leaving him and the three children alone.

“Moegi-chan!” Konohamaru burbled out as he ran toward the girl on the ground.

“Wah! Konohamaru-kun!” Moegi yelled as she tightly held onto the boy, her fingers desperately grabbing on to his clothes for a strong hold as she sobbed childishly. “Bakayarou! Don’t get us into a situation like that again! I was scared!”

Udon crawled from the corner, grabbing his glasses on the way as he neared the two. “Moegi-chan…daijoubu…?” he asked.

“Un! Un!” she said fervently. “Thanks to Neechan.”

Naruto saw the interaction and tipped his head slightly; he then caught sight of the tube that Konohamaru had thrown at Takeshi earlier. Through all the confusion, they must have forgotten about what they were intent on getting, the idiots.

Naruto painfully pushed himself off of the ground and stumbled toward the item. He bent down and picked it up, ignoring the children’s curious gazes as he turned it this way and that.

“Itai yo! Yamete!”

Naruto bent his head down and grunted, pressing the heal of his palm against his eyebrow. He hissed in pain from the nearness of his hand to his head injury. There’s no time to be thinking about that, he thought.

“…Nee…” Moegi began as she shook Naruto’s shoulder. “Neechan, daijoubu ka…?”

Naruto quickly swiped her hand away as he stood up, still looking at the red liquid.

“She needs help,” Moegi whispered to the two boys unsurely as she gripped her shirt.

Konohamaru harrumphed before he walked up to Naruto. “Oi, neechan,” he began haughtily.

“Where’s your pacifier, boy?” Naruto asked with thin eyes, glaring at the boy. The boy blubbered at the statement, hands falling uselessly to his side. “Go home.” He paused. “Or to school, or whatever.”

Konohamaru looked scathed, but furrowed his brows before putting a hand on his hip. “Well no one asked you for your help!” he yelled.

Naruto glared at the child and turned around, making a leave from the ally. He looked at his watch. 8:15. He was half an hour away from his school, and homeroom would begin in another 15 minutes. He cursed loudly and headed out the allyway.

“Ah…? Ah! Matte, neechan!” Konohamaru yelped as he ran toward Naruto, the other two following en suite.

“Bug off,” Naruto murmured angrily at the children without glancing back.

“Wa…” Moegi whispered to Udon in childish astonishment. “I want to be just like her…!”

Konohamaru ran after Naruto. “I said wait!” he roared.

Naruto turned around quickly when the boy caught up to him, sucked his teeth, and grabbed the boy by his neck before he slammed his back against the wall. The boy yelped.

“Konohamaru-kun!”

Something about these children bothered him. Greatly.

“Don’t follow me,” he said darkly, stressing on each word.

“Ha…Hai!” Konohamaru quipped, eyes wide.

Naruto dropped him, glared at the other two, and ran out the ally without a second glance.

“Konohamaru-kun…” Moegi began as she touched the boy’s shoulder.

Konohamaru sucked his teeth angrily and ran after the blonde. Again.

“Matte, Konohamaru-kun!”

By the time he reached the sidewalk, he couldn’t see past the crowd of people and distinguish that mop of blonde hair. It was as if she had completely disappeared. He heard the footsteps of his friends behind him and he turned to them. “She’s gone!” he wailed.

“Demo, Konohamaru-kun…” Udon said, squinting his eyes from the light, “we’re gonna be late for school!”

“Ah!” Konohamaru yelled in frustration. “Do you think school is important right now? We were almost killed. Killed!”

-Jijou-

Naruto groaned. The school gates were closed. He ran all the way from the alley to school, and the gates were closed. He looked at his watch. 8:38. Those brats. If it hadn’t been for them…

He sucked on his teeth angrily. Forget them. He had to get over the gate. He paused shortly to catch his breath, hand on his chest as it throbbed.

“You can’t overexert yourself Naruto; not any more. You’ll kill yourself.”

He shook slightly, hoping that he wouldn’t have another attack.

He looked up at the gate’s height; it really presented no problem. The only thing hindering him was the gatekeeper that was walking about the gate.

He took a step to balance himself, but hissed as he grabbed his head. And the wound on his back had torn further.

He wavered, but saw a sizeable rock on the ground and threw it over the gate, meters away from the gatekeeper.

The man stood straight and tilted his head slightly. He ignored the sound seconds later, returning to clean the entrance yard with the broom. He heard the sound again, sighed, and walked away from the entrance gate.

Naruto waited a few seconds before he climbed up the gate, placing the phial that he still had between his teeth. He jumped from the top onto the ground, grabbing the clear bottle and grinding his teeth from the pain in his lower back. He nearly swooned as he stood up quickly.

“Oi!” the gatekeeper yelled.

Naruto cursed before he fled toward the school, losing the man in little time. But the front doors were locked, he found out as he pulled against them. He growled angrily and headed for the closest window. There were students filled in the class receiving a lesson, so he moved toward the classes at the corner of the long building. The bushes hindered him from getting in easily, but the room was dark.

Naruto had to lean from the side of the bush to test the window. His hold was awkward, but the window was indeed unlocked. He pushed up on the glass, cursing the style of the window, and opened it enough to fit himself through and climbed onto the shrub clumsily, feeling lightheaded. Managing to fit himself inside the classroom somehow, he tumbled into the room soundlessly and hissed as he closed the window behind him. He hadn’t even noticed the deep scratches on his arms where the two had been holding him before.

He cursed and grabbed his throbbing head again, barely able to stand aright. He leaned against a desk, but groaned loudly when the light in the room turned on, increasing the pain in his cranium.

The blonde looked up at the door and gasped quietly. The Uchiha was standing right there with his finger still on the light switch, expression grim and annoyed.

This was the last person he wanted to run into at the moment.

Sasuke thinned his eyes toward the blonde, disgusted at his untidy condition. He had just been relaxing on a few gathered desks. He didn’t want to be disturbed like this.

Naruto could think of nothing else but to fight his way past Sasuke.

Sasuke was on the same page of thought, and this time was prepared for the blonde’s speed.

Naruto cursed angrily. He wouldn’t back down from a fight, but it was common sense to stay away from potential danger if one was unfit for battle. Right about now, he was too tired and in pain.

Against his body’s wishes, Naruto staggered toward Sasuke, vision blurring as he bumped into desks to reach his target.

Sasuke quirked his eyebrow and struck the blonde with the heel of his palm lightly in the nose before Naruto could even reach him. He’d moved very slowly. Naruto staggered back, clutching his nose, and then crouched low. Unexpectedly, the blonde collapsed in front of the other, and, by instinct, Sasuke reached forward and caught the blonde before he could hit the floor.

His eyes roamed over Naruto, and he saw the blood on the back of the white shirt. Naruto weakly squirmed in his arms, trying to pull down his shirt as it rode up his torso. Sasuke pushed the other’s hand away and lifted the shirt and saw the five ghastly gashes—like fingernails—across the small of Naruto’s back, surrounded by finger wounds. Momentarily, lost in thought, he lifted his shirt further, and saw older, but healed marks on the pale backside. Ignoring them, he saw bruises and signs of struggle on the blonde’s arms and neck.

“Let me go,” Naruto mumbled as he tried to pull away. But he had to face the truth: he was feeling faint and his limbs felt flimsy; he knew he was going to lose consciousness at any minute. He would eventually be at the mercy of Sasuke. And he couldn’t roll off the other because he would land on his back—or worse, on his head.

“Not a chance,” Sasuke retorted.

Naruto managed to push himself off of Sasuke, weakly elbowing the other in the stomache, and he shuffled toward the door. Before he even reached it, he fell, and Sasuke, once again by instinct, caught the blonde. He turned Naruto over, knowing from the even, steady breathing that the blonde was unconscious this time. It was then that he noticed the large bump on the side of Naruto’s head.

He does look like a girl, Sasuke thought offhandedly, staring at the blonde’s features. His lips were small and full and rosy pink, trembling under the strain and pain of his wounds. Those chubby cheeks had a natural scarlet hue to them, he could tell, pale though the blonde was. It was so strange to him how thin yet strong the blonde was, and catching sight on Naruto’s face again, he wondered how his cheeks (He wears concealer. He has scars) could be so chubby, as if forever retaining baby fat.

“Tch.” Sasuke cleared his mind of such useless thoughts, quirking his lip in disgust at the blonde. He rolled his eyes as he stood up with the light, dangling blonde in his arms. He managed to open the door and headed out the room.

Comments: Thank you guys for your review. I almost forgot about this website O:!! But, if you want to read further chapters, you can go to here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2904420/1/ I have up to chapter 6 there, so... :3

Kare no Jijou

Chapter 4

Naruto sighed in anger, grabbing tighter onto the arm extended in front of him. According to the nurse, Sasuke had denied her the right to check over Naruto for signs of sexual abuse until the other teen was conscious (Why?). When he had awoken minutes ago, the school president tipped his head and called in the nurse with a grin.

Currently, Shizune-sensei was cleaning blood from the wound on Naruto’s back while the blonde held on to Sasuke for support, staring right at him and desperately wanting to look away. Stop looking so smug, he thought angrily, wanting to say the words aloud to the Uchiha. In fact, he wanted him to go away. He didn’t like him.

“I should thank you, Uchiha-san…” Shizune began as she sterilized the blonde’s wounds with large cotton swabs. “I have no helper, and even though you’re a boy, I need as much help with Yamazaki-san as I can get right now.”

“Don’t mention it,” Sasuke mumbled.

Naruto winced, grabbing onto Sasuke’s sleeve tighter as his forehead dropped onto the other’s arm. It hurt more than it should have, the sterilizer. It wasn’t too farfetched to say that his attacker’s nails could have been filthy, or even venomous; things were easy to acquire these days. He frowned under Sasuke’s belittling gaze, turning his eyes away and opting to let his vision fall on the greenery outside, unaware of the shivers the movements sent through the Uchiha because of his hair.

“Yamazaki-san,” Shizune said firmly, her eyebrows furrowing, “Uchiha-san told me that he found you outside of the school building after he went to the office to turn in the attendance list.”

The look that Naruto sent to Sasuke went unseen by Shizune as she applied gauze over the back wound.

“If you feel uncomfortable with the next few questions, we can excuse Uchiha-san.” She pulled Naruto up by his shoulder and let him relax on his side while Sasuke sat on the chair near the bed, straightening the sleeve of his chemise.

It was true; Sasuke was coming back from the office but had felt the need to sit somewhere dark for a moment to think some certain…matters through. The teacher wouldn’t have scolded him, but would have instead excused his lateness. Being the school council president had its rewards.

Immediately, Shizune set herself to work on the wounds on his arms. “Do you remember at all what happened to you?” she asked, giving the blonde an icepack to hold on his massive lump on his head with his free hand.

Naruto wanted to get the whole cleaning process over with. There really was nothing to worry about. He was fine. And honestly, he didn’t want her touching him. “Everything,” he answered naturally. The cool tube of red liquid rolled in his mouth and clinked against his teeth before he maneuvered it under his tongue. He’d had it in his mouth since he had fallen into the empty classroom earlier.

“Were you at all…molested?” Shizune asked furrowing her brows in worry at the small blonde.

According to Tsunade, Naruto’s personal physician, Naruko was very fragile. Naruko suffered from a heart condition in which overexertion was out of the question. Naruko was…

Naruto thought about the question. He remembered the disgust he’d felt when that guy had licked his ear; barely Naruto recalled the way he also molested his backside with his pelvis.

“No,” Naruto answered.

Sasuke thinned his eyes at the blonde.

“What happened?” Shizune finally asked.

“I was rushing to school,” Naruto murmured with practiced ease. “I brushed into some thugs that thought I was easy prey and managed to escape before anything serious happened…”

He left it at that. It would explain the scars.

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief and glared at the blonde’s back. Liar.

Shizune smiled as she turned Naruto over, and he faced Sasuke as she worked on his other arm quietly. “Well,” she finally muttered as she sat the blonde up and placed her hand gently on his head, “I’m glad that you got out of the situation safely.” She stood back and put her hand on her hip as she her eyebrows creased again. “But honestly, Yamazaki-san, you’ll have to come up with a half-truth better than that. I’m not an idiot.” She frowned.

Naruto toyed with the tube in his mouth again, turning his gaze away from her brown eyes as he shrugged.

“Well, if you don’t feel like talking about it, that’s fine,” Shizune murmured. She put a hand on her hip as she eyed the Uchiha. “I’ll be right back. I need to get some papers. And I’ll get you a new shirt. What size?”

“Small.”

Sasuke scoffed and Naruto glared.

As soon as the door closed, Naruto sat up and took the small tube out of his mouth, facing the Uchiha as he wiped the container clean of all spittle with his shirt.

Sasuke couldn’t see the phial, but looked at Naruto’s hand intently before he smirked. “How easy it would be to tell that woman,” he murmured.

“What do you want?” Naruto asked sharply. He didn’t even use his female voice, and, Sasuke realized belatedly (Why is he staring at me like that?), there wasn’t much difference between his normal voice and the feminine one.

“The truth,” Sasuke answered easily, letting his head fall against the cool-surfaced window. He closed his eyes momentarily before he looked darkly at the other male.

“You lie all the time.”

“It’s none of your concern,” Naruto growled heatedly, eyebrows furrowing in anger. “Don’t involve yourself in adult matters.”

It was said in a belittling tone, and Sasuke was instantly in front of the other blonde with a vice-like grip around his neck. “Don’t mess with me, Blondie.”

Naruto smirked, grabbing onto Sasuke’s wrist. “Besides, I’m not the only one with secrets,” he whispered, reaching out for the Uchiha yet unable to touch the intended location before his wrist was grabbed tightly by Sasuke’s other hand.

Sasuke tightened his hold around the wrist as he clenched his jaws, staring at Naruto intently as the blonde suppressed a wince from the renewed pain, and finally he swiped Naruto’s hand away and frowned at him. “That’s none of your business,” he mumbled and scratched his elbow nonchalantly as he looked out the window for short while, just as Naruto had done.

“Now there’s no question about it.”

He smirked.

Sasuke cringed in return.

“We know where your loyalty rests.”

Gratification was apparent in those eyes.

“It’s in your stance,” Naruto started as he looked at the phial.

He didn’t intend to finish the statement, or to clarify, for that matter.

Sasuke threw the blonde a sideways glance. He’s good at gauging people… He chuckled noiselessly, placing his hands in his pockets. “What is?” he asked, not really caring about Naruto’s response, but wanting it in the open nonetheless (for one reason or another. He adamantly refused to admit to that he cared).

Possibly, he just wanted to know what Naruto thought it was.

Naruto stole a glimpse at Sasuke before he returned his attention to the greenery outside. He watched some sakura petals blow uselessly in the wind and set his mouth in a straight line (Was it already time for the petals to fall off? He didn’t even hear word of the Sakura Matsuri this year, he realized. Or he just didn’t pay attention…). His head fell to his shoulder and he closed his eyes momentarily.

He then waved his hand in the air noiselessly, eyes still closed, as if to touch some thing that he just couldn’t. Maybe that thing was an accurate word or phrase, a right way to say it, yet it completely eluded him.

Sasuke raised his brows at the gesture.

“Pain,” Naruto finally answered with an inquiring tone, looking at the Uchiha, but still resting his head on his shoulder, as if unsure if the word was the right choice of words.

It wasn’t apparent to Naruto, this ‘pain’. One couldn’t see it easily.

Naruto didn’t know what it was, though, or how he even saw it. Maybe it wasn’t even pain, and he just made that up because it sounded right.

Sasuke propped his head against the cold glass, but peeked at Naruto, eyes rapt on those working fingers and naturally curious of their content. He bent forward suddenly, hands still in his pockets as he kicked his foot back lightly and tapped the tip of his shoe against the floor twice in a way that demanded Naruto’s attention. That it did.

Shizune walked into the room right then, releasing any tension within the air as the two stared at her.

“Shizune-sensei,” Sasuke began, staring back at the blonde.

“Un?” the nurse asked as she opened a folder and began filling in statements on the page before her, handing Naruto the shirt with her free hand.

“I withheld something about Yamazaki-san from you.”

Naruto’s jaw dropped, Shizune pulled off her glasses and sat forward, and Sasuke grinned as the blonde gave him a look. “About Yamazaki-san…?” Shizune asked in sudden interest (or chagrin), her eyebrows furrowed.

Naruto looked at Shizune, fiddling distractedly with the phial (it had somehow become his succor in the tense room) enough so that the other teen finally saw it.

The Uchiha’s eyes widened briefly, shortly, so little that Naruto didn’t notice it at all when he looked back at him. Perfume…?

Sasuke feigned innocence at the blonde’s silent plight, and suddenly Naruto pleaded with him quietly, unnoticeably, in a way that said, This is more serious than you think.

“Uchiha-kun?”

He turned his head toward Shizune, but his eyes were still rapt on the blonde (No, it’s what’s in his hand), who grew more tense by the second. He raised a brow, barely heeding the nurse any attention as his eye contracted slightly in concentration.

“Uchiha-san…!”

He stood straight, then, and ran his fingers through his dark locks as he puffed out some air through his nose. He smiled docilely to the woman with his head tipped lightly in the way that made the girls (and boys) sigh, made the teachers feel reassured (How deceptive), and won many people over. “It wasn’t important, Shizune-sensei,” he said as he walked to the door. “Not at all.”

With that, he took one more glance at the blonde, who’d locked eyes with him, who was confused yet utterly frozen, who was committing the ultimate taboo, who was a moth fluttering far too close to a spider’s web, a fox dancing too close to the snake, and who dabbled his fingers into steaming oil.

Or, Sasuke was brought to wonder, was it…the other way around? Was it he who dabbled, fluttered, danced too far…?

He grunted something under his breath to the nurse and headed out.

After all, he knew where his loyalty rested. It whispered to him unceasingly when he slept, ate, spoke, dreamed.

Unfortunately, he knew where his loyalty rested.

“With me.”

How badly he wanted to break all such ties.

-Jijou-

“Jiraiya-sama,” Naruto began as he stood at the doorway behind the older man, who was wrapped about his work on his desk. He fiddled with the thing between his fingers for the umpteenth time today as the white-haired man slowly turned around to face him.

As soon as Jiraiya’s eyes met Naruto’s figure, he turned back around and covered his mouth guffaw discreetly. Ah, he would never let Naruto forget about this mission, as much as Naruto saw it fit to completely erase his memory of those whom he’d killed.

Wait…what? And then he stopped laughing and looked at Naruto again. Bandages? Scraped knees? A bump the size of China? “What happened to you, brat?” he asked deeply, crossing his arms as he stood from his desk and instead leaned against it.

“It’s not important.” Naruto pouted slightly—this Jiraiya could see—before he looked down at an item in his hand. The blonde then looked back up at Jiraiya and flicked the phial at him lightly, which Jiraiya caught with ease.

“What is it?” Jiraiya asked, not at all looking at the thing, but still looking at Naruto.

“I don’t know,” Naruto answered honestly as he shrugged. “That’s why I’m giving it to you.”

Jiraiya turned to his side and fixed the papers on his desk before he dropped the small container onto the neatly piled papers. He froze shortly and turned to Naruto, picking up the item again and holding it between his fingers. “Where’d you get this, Naruto?” he asked aggressively.

The blonde shrugged under the other’s intense gaze before he turned about and looked at the many intricate machines and scientific devices in the lab. “I was in a fight. Some guys dropped it,” he said honestly, knowing full well that lying to Jiraiya was just as possible as…

Well, nothing.

“It has nothing at all to do with my mission, but I want to know what’s in that,” Naruto said as he pointed to the phial. “Tsunade can look at it later.”

Jiraiya pocketed the item and crossed his arms as he closed his eyes, leaning again against the desk. “What have you found out?” he grunted. “Any leads on anything?”

Naruto suddenly found a nearby flask and its contents enrapturing; he completely ignored the question in mock innocence. He bent over and touched the glass, entranced by the yellow chemical that swirled inside of the flask.

“Stop acting deaf, boy.” His eyes thinned toward the unresponsive teenager. “Or is it that you haven’t gathered any sufficient information as of now, and you’re dawdling about your job?” Of course, it wasn’t a question. Jiraiya knew that Naruto wasn’t doing what he was supposed to, or he would have responded by now.

He especially noted the way Naruto barely halted in his movements at the statement, the way he moved about, looking at the things on the table with jittery hands and an interest that wasn’t really genuine. Noticing the slight bulge from Naruto’s back, he sauntered toward him quietly, but violently patted the area.

Naruto hissed instantly, standing straight as he whipped his body around to face Jiraiya with a glare. “That hurt,” he whispered angrily, teeth clenched.

“Nothing that won’t bother you in a few days,” Jiraiya retorted, twisting his fingers about in a strange old habit. Naruto blinked after a short while, and Jiraiya growled softly before turning away. “This isn’t why we have you here, Naruto,” he murmured. “You’re undercover for a reason: to get your job done as inconspicuously as possible. You’re no longer an assassin, if you remember. You are now un-der-co-ver.”

Naruto didn’t respond, but instead stared at Jiraiya like a child being reprimanded for doing nothing wrong.

Jiraiya softened his gaze ever-so slightly. “Naruto, it’s not me that’s being so forceful with you. This is my job.”

“You said before that Orochimaru was once part of the Secret Service,” Naruto began, gaze falling from Jiraiya’s as he absolutely ignored the statement. He didn’t want to hear Jiraiya when he sounded as if he cared. It was far worse than when he yelled and chastised Naruto, and he preferred those instead.

He didn’t want to form any type of bond with Jiraiya and therefore didn’t give the older man the means or chance to form a relationship.

“What of it?” Jiraiya asked irritably, sticking his hand in his pocket as he shifted the phial between his fingers after Naruto’s dismissive attitude.

“How long ago did he fall out and begin a new life as principal?”

Jiraiya eyed Naruto, wondering where he was getting at. “He fell out fifteen years ago. He began his term as principal two years later.”

Naruto turned away from Jiraiya and closed his eyes, bracing a hand against the table top. “Hnh.”

“Why?”

Naruto tipped his head slightly. “Curious.”

Jiraiya growled, eyebrows furrowed. “Obviously not enough, if you don’t have any information on him!”

That’s better.

-Jijou-

“Nagamushi-san,” began the first one.

“What is it?” Nagamushi rasped as he glowered at the younger one before him. He sighed when the other one looked away nervously, but listened patiently.

“We ran into a bit of a problem a couple of days ago…” he responded.

Nagamushi turned his bright eyes to the younger one, who cowered instantly under the demanding gaze. He held his eyes above the other and smirked at those working, nervous fingers. He sat down under the shadow that fell before him due to the excessive, unneeded drapes surrounding his pseudo-throne.

Idly, Nagamushi twisted a random item he’d managed to get hold of in between his fingers, the fleshy skin-tone of his hands exposed from the bandages he had swathed about his arms.

“What happened, Takeshi?” Nagamushi finally asked, eyes rapt on the juvenile as he stopped twisting the item. “Tell me. Amuse me, Take-no-Ko.”

The other went silent and he glared darkly at Nagamushi-san.

“Tell him, Takeshi!” Another of the juveniles nudged Takeshi in his side with his elbow and then pulling on his sleeve fervently. The action was quite similar to a child hiding behind his brother after having done some horrible deed, in desperate fear of his parents’ wrath.

It made Nagamushi smile widely, toothily, in some type of satisfaction.

“Shut up, Jiiro!” Takeshi growled, pushing the other away.

Within the large, fairly empty utility room, there was a soft laughter, and Takeshi and Jiiro turned to Nagamushi, who chuckled lightly at the two. He put his hand on his chin in amusement. “Maa, maa…” he began softly and gently after finding another thing to put his fingers through (soft and velvety, thin and long). “One of you five is going to speak,” he declared, looking at the five of them individually as his fingers moved about. His gaze then hardened at all of them. “Or all of you are going to die.”

“Some chick saw us!” another yelled immediately, shrinking back afterwards when Takeshi glared at him. “A foreigner, I’m positive,” he mumbled.

“Ho…?” Nagamushi inquired in interest. “Did she now?” He looked over the five’s shoulders from where he sat upon hearing an unsettling sound.

There was a horrible screech, a long, shrill shriek that distracted him momentarily, and his gaze fell on a small group of people torturing an animal, scratching its limbs apart whilst it struggled against them with every ounce of its fleeting being. There was a guttural, scratchy, feline-like bellow that then caught everyone’s attention. The animal squealed horribly when sharp teeth dug into its thin hide.

A couple of the boys looked back as well at the scene, and they licked their lips in sudden need as their forms hunched and their stomaches buckled.

“I…I want some,” one of them declared childishly, reaching his (now) clawed hand toward the scene as another held him back.

Nagamushi smirked at the teen, letting his head fall on his fisted hand amorously. How well he had reared these creatures.

“We think she picked up our juice,” Takeshi mumbled, breaking eye contact from the tanned, aloof man to watch as the other group of people devoured the animal, blood staining the ground and vicious sounds of tearing flesh eliciting from the scene.

Nagamushi glowered darkly at the five upon hearing the words. “You’re all worthless,” he mumbled irritably, waving his free hand at them. He turned about slightly and stared down at the dark space next to him. “What should we do with them, Kotori?” he asked.

The one being addressed fiddled with his sash, ignoring Nagamushi altogether (especially those working hands in his hair). He stared at the scene before him in complete disgust, lips twisted but teeth bared. He then sighed and removed Nagamushi’s hand from his head (Don’t put your hand back!), his hazel-red eyes downcast and weary. Rapidly losing interest, he fiddled once again with his sash.

“Kotori…!” A hiss.

“What?” Kotori responded heatedly.

Nagamushi glared at the younger one, finding that Kotori’s attention had been on other matters lately, for months now. He wasn’t fully there. “What do you want to do…?”

The other shrugged listlessly. “Erase their memories. Clean their blood,” he said easily. “Something. Whatever. I don’t care.”

That’s far too easy, thought Nagamushi in disappointment. Where was Kotori lately? Where had that luster from all those years ago gone?

Nagamushi waved off the five boys in front of him (They got lucky this time…), and they quickly scurried away like mice underneath a cat’s dark gaze. They headed toward the carrion as it was ripped apart, and as the five neared, they snarled like mad dogs, effectively stunning the other group of eaters so that they could steal away what was left of the red meat.

Animals.

“Kotori,” Nagamushi began as he indiscreetly trailed his hand from the boy’s dark hair to the base of his neck, letting his fingers rest there for moments upon more moments. Kotori hissed angrily, pulling away from him as he turned his hot red eyes at the other man, not caring that Nagamushi could easily see his defiance despite being in the shadows.

Nagamushi glared darkly at Kotori, grabbing his neck tighter at the younger one’s incompetence. “It seems you don’t understand, Kotori,” he whispered darkly.

“Don’t touch me.” It was a simple order with a plethora of meaning.

“Don’t?” Nagamushi scoffed. “You’re mine. I can do anything—” he paused, got out of his seat, and pulled the other closer to him for emphasis. “Anything.” His, pink tongue darted past his pink lips, descending upon the unwilling teen’s neck.

“Anything I please.” He huffed out hot air against the wet trail left on Kotori’s neck, causing the other to shiver from the cold draft it caused. “Remember, you were nothing before me.”

“Stop following me…Stop hiding behind those shadows and face me.” Stop. Turn. Glare.

Stare. Lure. Hook.

A shiver after staring into those eyes. Coldness.

Smirk. Beautiful, fiery eyes. “Come with me, boy. You’ll freeze out here.” A pat upon the head.

Shrug. “I don’t care.”

Grin. “Ah, such unconcern in your voice. You can stay with me. How does that sound, hnh?”

Stare. Reluctance.

Smile. “Well…?”

Shrug. “Fine.”

The younger one tensed, pushing the older man away. “I’m going home.”

Nagarmushi stared at the retreating figure with an irksome smirk about his lips. “But you are home, Kotori,” he called behind him in a mock-loving tone. “Go call your brother, Kumako.”

-Jijou-

Tsunade sighed as she rubbed her temples to calm herself. She fiddled with her light switch for a moment before illuminating the dark apartment. “Tadaima,” she mumbled weakly, knowing that no one would be there to great her personally. She did live alone, after all.

She hung her bag on the nearest hook, shuffled out of her day shoes, and just as quickly warmed her feet with her evening-home shoes. She walked toward her kitchen, in much need to loosen herself. Things couldn’t have gone much worse today. The hardest part of her job in her league was reluctantly telling a couple that their child was no longer living.

The looks on their faces always tore at her.

She groaned again, trying to get the image out of her mind as she opened her cupboard. She needed a shot, and she needed it badly. Foreign alcohol, especially German and Greek, always hit the spot just right.

You need to get yourself together, woman.

She slammed a glass cup onto her counter before blindly reaching up for one of the alcoholic bottles with one had and rubbing her forehead with the heal of her palm with the other hand. Her hand reached further when it touched nothing, and finally, she growled and reached for the bottle with both hands, eyebrows curved in anger and concentration. What on earth happened to all my alcohol…? she thought for a second before realizing that she had none. “What?‼” she yelled.

Tsunade grumbled as she made a mental note to go to the closest liquor store first thing after work the next day. Resignedly, she filled her cup with juice and walked toward her living room. She flicked the light on. “Tsunade,” she mumbled to herself, “you’ve got to stop drinking so—AI!”

Juice spilled everywhere, Tsunade glared darkly at the figure sleeping on her couch surrounded—completely surrounded!—by multiple cups and alcoholic beverages. “Jiraiya, you idiot!” she growled angrily, stomping hastily toward the drunken, snoring man and promptly smacking him square on the cheek to wake him.

Jiraiya simply snorted awake, wiping away quickly at the drool at the corner of his lip before turning bleary red eyes to Tsunade. “Ah…” he mumbled sleepily, rubbing at his eyes and arching his back in a crackling stretch. He yawned long and hard, shivered, and slumped forward. “I was wondering when you’d get here,” he said finally, never minding the way Tsunade rattled on about his breaking and entering her apartment to drink her booze (“You drank the rest of my alcohol, you bastard! Do you know how much that costs me? You didn’t even save me a sip, you retard!”) or the way she tapped her foot in anger as she leaned toward him.

Jiraiya stretched again then plopped his head between her breasts, gripping onto her hips tightly. “Haa…” he cooed, “So soft…”

Tsunade growled angrily, fisted her hand, and laid a heavy punch to his cranium. “Get out of my apartment!”

Jiraiya cradled his newly acquired wound before turning to Tsunade childishly, pouting out an, “Aw, have a heart, woman!”

Tsunade stared at him angrily for a few seconds before she finally sighed and sat next to him on the cream-coloured couch. She reached for the nearest container of alcohol and downed the very little bit left in the bottle. “What are you doing here, anyway…?” she finally asked, turning to him tiredly before she just dropped her head.

Jiraiya chuckled lightly before leaning back on the couch, stretching his arm behind her, and crossing his ankle over his knee casually. “Well, it’s nice to see you too, Tsunade. How long has it been—two years?” he asked closing his eyes and leaning his head back as the alcohol started catching up him. He groaned, covering his eyes with his free hand.

“We were just on the phone a month or so ago,” Tsunade replied. She looked at the juice stain on her floor and sighed. Must clean…

“Oh, that’s never the same,” Jiraiya responded, waving his hand in dismissal.

“Nn…”

“Nn…” Jiraiya responded dryly. He stuck his hand in his pocket before retrieving the small phial that Naruto had given him earlier that week. “Here.” He held the container out to Tsunade, who had long since dropped her head in her hands.

Tsunade looked up locked her eyes on the thing. “What is it?” she asked warily, staring at it before reaching her hand out to take it.

Jiraiya frowned in dismay, letting her take the phial. “You really don’t remember?” he asked her, tilting his head slightly.

“Do you want coffee, Jiraiya?” Tsunade asked offhandedly, staring at the man as he wavered slightly.

Jiraiya moaned childishly before nodding. “Please. I’m getting a headache already. Your stuff is strong, you know.”

“I know. That’s why it’s mine,” Tsunade said as she stood up, stepping over the splashes of juice. Remember a rag, she thought. She entered the kitchen once more, taking out a mug from her cupboard, filling it with ice cold water, and putting it in the microwave. “So what is this?” she yelled softly from the kitchen, remembering that neighbours were asleep at this time of night. Morning. Whatever.

She stared at the phial filled with what looked like blood, sighed, and shook it for no reason whatsoever. Don’t think about that child. Stop thinking about him, she ordered herself, trying not to remember the child that had died in the hospital today. She stared at the phial again before letting her eyes wander. She caught sight of a rag, jumped up quickly to grab it, and stared at the microwave. It beeped and she quickly pulled out the mug, pouring the crushed coffee beans into it. “Am I really supposed to remember what this is?” she asked Jiraiya, toying with the phial in her free hand as she swirled the spoon around in the mug.

“Not really,” Jiraiya answered. “I was just toying with you.”

“It just looks like a perfume container if you ask me.” She paused. “Sugar?”

“Four spoonfuls, please!”

Four? Tsunade only put in two (she was a doctor, after all, and four spoonfuls of sugar was an ingredient in the recipe for ‘Diabetes’). She reached into her cupboard again and grabbed her bottle of aspirin, shaking it to get two tablets. She grabbed the rag just before she left the kitchen and walked into the living room again. “Here,” she mumbled, handing Jiraiya the coffee and plopping next to him after he grabbed the mug thankfully. “And take these to relieve the headache,” she added, handing him the two tablets of aspirin.

“Great,” Jiraiya said to himself eyes wide and appreciative. “Do you remember the first time you met me at the hospital, Tsunade?” he asked after taking a sip and popping a pill into his mouth.

“When you brought in Naruto?” Tsunade responded, staring upwards to scan her memory and scratching her sideburn.

Jiraiya wordlessly pointed to her hand containing the phial as he guzzled some more of the coffee, wanting to savor the taste despite its heat. He sat back and closed his eyes. “Anyway, Naruto wants you to find out what’s in that,” he mumbled with a grimace, staring at the flower arrangement on her coffee table. He tilted his head slightly. “Did you make that arrangement?”

Old age did something to a person’s concentration.

“Yeah,” Tsunade responded blandly. “Thinking about that still makes me tremble,” she murmured with her hands covering her mouth and resting at the bridge of her nose. She lost her concentration in the deep colours of the flower arrangement as well. “He was in a horrible condition.”

“Un,” Jiraiya agreed, tilting his head somewhat. “Well anyway,” he started quickly as he shook his head, as if having a revelation (or just snapping back to attention), “Naruto found that a couple of days ago and wondered if you could take a look at it.” And that was the…third?—no second time he mentioned that He looked at her wearily. She really doesn’t remember.

Tsunade looked at it before she sighed and pocketed it. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jiraiya leaning closer toward her. She grabbed tighter on the rag before throwing it at him when he came within centimeters from her face. “Clean the mess on the floor,” she ordered.

“Ah!” Jiraiya whined, pulling the rag down and facing Tsunade with a pout. “Tsu-na-de,” he whined as he leaned closer toward her, puckering his lips jokingly. Tsunade pushed him away with a growl, twisting her eyebrows in anger.

“Come off it, Jiraiya. I’m not giving you any.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Tsunade,” Jiraiya moaned.

“N—No, you idiot,” Tsunade yelled angrily, turning away from him with reddened cheeks.

“If I clean the floor?”

“Not a chance.”

“Tsunade.” It was said forcefully.

“…Maybe.”

Jiraiya danced off the couch excitedly (“Ho, ho, ho…!” he sang), got on his knees, and cleaned the mess on the floor in seconds. “I know you just want to ogle my rump is all, Tsunade,” he said jokingly as he waggled his behind at her whilst cleaning the juice (“Hu, hu,” he laughed).

“Hnh.”

“Alright,” Jiraiya said hastily as he threw the rag over his shoulder. He jumped back onto the couch in front of Tsunade like a dog, advancing on her faster than she could counter against, and placed his chapped lips on her smooth neck ferociously. Tsunade responded by clutching onto his grey chemise at the arm, tilting her head slightly to give Jiraiya more leeway.

Jiraiya chuckled throatily before letting his lips trail toward her chin. “You always give in,” he whispered breathily against the corner of her lips. He felt her fingers trailing up his sides, on his thighs, searching and wanting. He shut his eyes, ready to take her lips, but suddenly found himself on the floor in a jumbled heap.

Tsunade stood up and smiled at him. “Thanks for my spare,” she said, waggling a key in front of him.

Jiraiya stared at her, stunned and wide eyed. “…What…?” he asked softly. “When did you—”

Tsunade stretched shortly before making her way to the hall. “I’m going to bed now. See yourself out my apartment.” She motioned her finger toward her window, which was slightly ajar and blowing in a cool draft.

Turning around, she headed toward her bedroom, ignoring the chuckle she heard from behind her (“You’re slick like a slug, Tsunade.”), and locked her bedroom door behind her before pulling the phial out her pocket as she leaned against the door, staring uneasily at the container.

“I hate it when the past rears its ugly face,” she mumbled.

Sometimes playing stupid made life easier. Sometimes intentional forgetfulness made things more painless and less complicated.

Maybe Tsunade didn’t want to remember. Maybe she didn’t want to because she knew: what she recalled, she would try to forget.

Comments:

Take-no-Ko (tah-keh noh koh): Nagamushi is punning Takeshi’s name. Well, I am (because I can). Take-no-Ko means bamboo shoot, ‘take’ meaning bamboo and ‘ko’ meaning child and ‘no’ being the particle. So, Nagamushi used the first two syllables of Takeshi’s name and connected them to the kanji for bamboo, which is ‘take’. So he could have been implying one of two things: that he was belittling Takeshi by calling him a ‘child’ of sorts, or that he was belittling Takeshi by saying that his, you know, package is small, like a child’s. Yes.

Anyway, that first scene with Naruto and Sasuke from when Shizune left to when she returned had to be rewritten about 4 times before I thought it’d reached some type of perfection :snorts:. And those names from the third scene? Completely ignore them (¬_¬) I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you soon!

Kare no Jijou

Chapter 5

Naruto sighed as he tapped the tip of his finger against the polished floorboard of the gymnasium. He looked up again at the students, the four girls enjoying a game of volleyball against four boys who had (resignedly) volunteered to compete.

Who would have known that the girls could hold their own against them? The gym was filled with squeals of delight, and basketballs slamming against the ground repeatedly, an occasional bout of quietness just before a basketball would swish cleanly through a net, or before the volleyball was slammed onto the other side of the court.

Naruto tipped his head to the side, and Gai-sensei looked over at him occasionally to check up on him. The teacher genuinely felt bad for having Naruto pass out on his first day of class from that two mile run, followed ruthlessly by fitness training (But youths should run straight into the setting sun with bubbling vigor, no? He didn’t think that his gym was as rigorous as people said). Other students came close to passing out as well, though.

After that day, Naruto was limited to walking a few laps around the gymnasium and participating in warm-ups and non-laborious exercises (ping-pong, and few choice others) instead of doing what the other students did.

Naruto irritably pulled at his shorts, wishing quietly that they didn’t expose so much thigh.

“They’re too short. And they look too tight. I won’t wear them.”

He wriggled his hips slightly from irritation, having sat too long on the hard floor and finding his rear in pain. He stared at his watch, ignored the sound of Ino and Tenten calling him over to play a game of volleyball, and hoped that this period would pass much faster than the rate it was going at today. He cursed at the discomfort his mid-region felt because of the pants.

“You want me to take what…And tuck it where? You’re daft. I’m not doing that.”

He swore on his life that after this mission, Jiraiya had better not even think about him wearing an outfit of the opposite sex.

“You look uncomfortable, brat.”

Glare.

“You know, Jiraiya,” began Ebisu, “when he turns around and all you see is that arse, he really looks like a girl.”

Deep glare.

“It’s sexy.”

Leap.

No, wait. He swore that he would kill Jiraiya. And then drink his blood (as wine. One mustn’t forget the wine part). And he would enjoy it.

I’ll have to remember that, Naruto thought grimly as he stood up and walked over to Gai-sensei, who was enthusiastically dribbling up a game of basketball against Lee, a student who had an affinity for his teacher’s (older twin brother’s?) hair and way of speech (and way of life), and some other male that Naruto had overlooked and made point to keep ignoring until, well, forever.

“Gai-sensei,” the blonde began as he tugged his shirt lower over his mid-section out of self-consciousness.

“Ah, Yamazaki-san!” Lee interrupted, standing straight as he stared at Naruto. He genuinely tipped his head at the blonde in a bowing gesture. “As always, you seem to be brimming with the sun’s dynamic energy this morning!”

Naruto curled his lip at Lee and ignored the statement as he turned his back to the wide-eyed teen (“You’re so cold, Yamazaki-san!”). Pale, grey eyes followed his movements as he turned to the teacher to address him. “Gai-sensei, may I use the bathroom…?” he asked.

“Certainly,” the teacher responded, smiling at the blonde. “Don’t use the one in the locker room, of course,” he said as he pointed to the doors of the gymnasium.

Naruto nodded and headed toward the bathroom. He walked through the quieter halls, where fewer classes were held, and leaned against the cool wall for a short while.

Orochimaru. He still had yet to gather any useful information. Tomorrow the students would have a day off and the teachers would have a conference, but after that would be Golden Week, and there would be no school. If he waited for too long, then nothing good would come from this operation.

He sighed as he rested his head against the wall, folding his hands together over his lower abdomen as he tipped his foot slightly. This was bad. Jiraiya was rapidly growing irritated with him, and the president of the Secret Service, an old man who used to be very fond of Naruto, was also finding him useless these days.

If he kept such a slow pace in his line of work, then Naruto would find himself in the streets. With people he didn’t know. And things like…like mice… (he shivered to even think of those things). Besides, he didn’t know how much time there was left for him.

He was running out of time.

He suddenly widened his eyes when Orochimaru passed the end of the hall furtively, a look about his face that told Naruto that he had just caught on to something.

Go for it, he felt his body whisper to him as he pushed himself off the wall.

Orochimaru was headed toward the isolated section of the school, and privacy meant secrecy.

Secrecy bears revelation.

Orochimaru cursed under his breath as he searched for the room number, making sure that no one was behind him. He opened the door to the dark room, quietly stepped in, and looked around for a couple of seconds before gazing at the figure in the far corner.

“What is it, Kabuto?” Orochimaru asked.

Kabuto, a younger man with grey hair (a rare genetic condition), loosened his tie slightly before he spoke. “Orochimaru-sama, I got a message from Kimimaro a short while ago.”

Orochimaru darkened his gaze toward Kabuto, who stood by the closed blinds of a nearby window. “I thought I told you not to even mention anything like this in this school,” he murmured angrily. He looked to his side again, as if expecting someone to be in the room and jump out at the opportune time.

“It was too important to wait, Orochimaru-sama,” Kabuto retorted as he looked out the window. He looked at his watch. “I have to get back very soon, or the other counselors will get angry,” he mumbled to himself, tapping his foot against the floor anxiously. “Kidoumaru is dead,” he stated quickly, unable to maintain eye contact with Orochimaru.

Orochimaru nodded quietly, pensively, pulling on a strand of his long hair. “He’s dead…” he repeated. “Did Kimimaro tell you how long ago he died?”

“Well, I just called him back a short while ago,” Kabuto said as he looked at his watch again, pushing up his glasses as they drooped over his nose slightly. His lunch break was almost over. “After all of these years, his blood somehow became incompatible within months, just like Michiko’s before her…accident,” he said slowly. Orochimaru nodded in understanding. “But as you already know, Orochimaru-sama, Michiko’s condition was much worse.”

“What did Kimimaro do with the body?” Orochimaru then asked quickly, staring at Kabuto with hardened eyes.

“He didn’t do anything with it,” Kabuto responded uneasily, softly, as he broke eye contact with Orochimaru.

This was where the wrath would set in.

“What did he do…?” Orochimaru asked hotly, his teeth clenched with a horrible hunch as to what would next be stated. It was going to be something stupid. He knew, he knew by Kabuto’s stance that it was going to be something awfully imprudent.

“Sakon and Ukon weighted him and then dumped him in Tōkyō Bay before sunrise at Tōkyō port.”

Orochimaru clenched his teeth in anger, hissing at the words as he slammed his fist against the thick wall. “Call Kimimaro; tell those two imbeciles to get the body back, get three ounces of blood from the body for tests, and burn it afterwards.”

“But Orochimaru-sama,” Kabuto started as he leaned forward slightly. “It’s the Tōkyō Bay! It’ll take days before we can find Kidoumaru!” Kabuto reasoned harshly.

“You said they weighted him. Unless he swam away with his limbs, the body should be exactly where they dumped it. Find it.”

“Yes, Orochimaru-sama,” Kabuto muttered thickly. He looked at his watch one last time. “I’ll call later. I have to get back to the guidance office.”

“Now, Kabuto,” Orochimaru said as he turned around and put his hand on the handle.

Naruto blinked as he pulled away from the door as if it had reached out and burned him. He heard the door handle jiggling a bit, indicating that one of the two were about to exit the room fairly soon. Michiko… he thought as he sped away so that there would be no telltale signs of him having been there. Michiko. Michiko…

He reached the habited halls of the school and put his hand over his eyes, which had begun to throb painfully. It was because of that name.

That name, Michiko.

Who was Michiko…? Moreover, what was this thing with this ‘Kidoumaru’? What was so important about his body? ‘After all of these years’? None of this made sense…

He would have to tell Jiraiya as soon as possible. He knew that those two mentioned would wait until night to get the body (it’s Tōkyō Bay; security was tight these days), which would give him ample time to either tell Jiraiya or go see that body himself.

He bumped into someone and mumbled a short, distracted ‘Sumimasen’ and passed the person, but his wrist was snagged instantly. He turned around quickly to mouth him off as he growled angrily.

And then he tried to pull away in earnest when his sight fell upon a hungry, sage gaze and a wide, unsettling grin.

“Let go of me,” Naruto said instantly, pulling his arm away, but unable to release himself from Gaara’s tight (a vein-bulging tight), firm clutch.

Gaara stared at Naruto with eager appreciativeness in his eyes, starting from the blonde’s exposed collarbone from the unbuttoned polo tee and trailing his gaze lower. He tipped his head questioningly at the sight of Naruto’s non-bulging crotch and smirked as he observed the (quietness of the) muscle and tan in those short legs.

Gaara had indulged his mind’s eye with the picture of Naruto’s posterior, which he had gotten a good look of when the blonde had passed him. Those shorts really didn’t do much to conceal that posterior (did girl’s gym shorts ever cover much in Japan…?), and he wanted it.

Gaara mumbled a “Maa, maa…” after ogling and devouring the blonde’s body, which, under the scrutiny of those sage eyes, had dropped into a defensive (What a horrible attempt to conceal himself…) stance.

Naruto growled angrily. These halls here weren’t yet filled with students, and wouldn’t be so for another hour, so no one would see the unfurling of his attack towards Gaara. He lifted his leg with the little space between the two of them to kick Gaara away, but Gaara, knowing that Naruto would either try to punch or kick him, foresaw the move and easily deflected it.

Of course, with such little spacing between them and with Gaara gripping onto Naruto’s wrist ever tighter, both of them were at a disadvantage.

“What do you want with me?” Naruto asked heatedly as he propelled the heal of his palm toward Gaara’s chin. It would stun the red head into seeing a flash of white, and hopefully he would be dumb enough to let go, like most people did in times past. Gaara yanked Naruto closer to him like a useless doll (he stumbled forward), swiping his free hand at Naruto’s oncoming wrist.

Unfortunately, unlike in the old science lab from their first fight, Naruto wasn’t graced with accessories that would amplify his wild style of fighting. So when Gaara tripped him with ease (Has his fighting improved…?) and he was led to wonder why his self-defense was so poor and easily evaded lately, he remembered quickly that Gaara knew his secret and, unlike the Uchiha (or at least it seemed), would use any means to get what he wanted.

Frankly, Naruto was just a game piece at the moment, and Gaara would direct him to any designated area of the board.

He hissed angrily when Gaara’s knee dug into his back in an area far too close for comfort (it was still healing from his last fight), and his fingers held his head down on the floor as he tried to use his arms for some type of leverage. He watched from the side as Gaara bent toward his face (The tattoo…), resting his cheek against Naruto’s.

Gaara moved his knee from Naruto’s back and mounted onto him like he was an animal so that his access to the soft tanned skin was improved (and he was heavier anyway). “I want to nail you so bad,” he murmured hoarsely as lips fell upon Naruto’s jugular, swelling and beating just as quickly as he could tell his heart was. His lips widened on Naruto’s neck when he felt the blonde tense at the statement and he momentarily relished in the feel of Naruto’s curved backside against his midsection.

Naruto tried to lift his chest from the floor if only a little bit. If he could do at least that, then he would easily be able to turn around and kill Gaara. That’s all he wanted to do right now—kill Gaara. He lifted his arms slightly to try to give himself that leverage again, but found it useless when Gaara grabbed onto his elbows and kept him where he was.

“Get off of me,” Naruto said harshly as he gave Gaara a glare. Naruto struggled a bit under the redhead, ignored that sighing groan of pleasure that excreted past Gaara’s lips, and vigorously tried to free himself from Gaara’s hold.

Had Gaara’s eyes always been so darkly rimmed with black…?

No, no…this was no time to be making observations. Had Jiraiya been watching this right now, he would hastily disown Naruto as his student for being in such a compromising position. He couldn’t have that.

He couldn’t have that.

“Get off of me,” he murmured again, his voice deep and bubbling with warning.

Gaara smirked lightly as he butted Naruto’s chin to expose more of that smooth neck. “Or you’ll what…?” he asked.

Naruto’s fingers slid against the waxed surface of the floor, but he quickly fisted his hands tightly as his arms shook in earnest effort. He ignored the pain that budded into his hands as he clenched his fists tighter (they itched…). His face grew red, a deep crimson, as he shook under Gaara.

“Let go of him! He has nothing to do with this! Please!”

He really wanted to get away. He honestly, truly hated this. He could feel his blood boiling in discontent. Loathing.

Dread.

“Gaara.” It was the first time he ever used the other’s name.

Gaara quickly decided that he was fond of the way it sounded from Naruto. And yet…

Gaara released one of Naruto’s arms and reached the tips of his fingers to the blonde’s eyes.

Naruto, for reasons unknown to himself, shut his eyes tightly, as if preparing for a physical blow. What he thought would be pain never came. Instead, he shivered overwhelmingly as Gaara touched his face. Softly.

Far too gently.

Gaara muttered an intricate word or two in an exhalation, in such a way that caused Naruto to reopen his eyes. That mossy gaze, entranced and in wonder, fell upon Naruto’s with such strength that Naruto’s stomache buckled against him in a sinking, earth shattering feeling.

Why… The blonde blinked, and then blinked again after a short observation. His tattoo.

Gaara, like a child peering into the window of a toy store, kept his gaze rapt on those (ever widening) sapphire eyes.

The red mark began to bleed into the skin of Gaara’s creased forehead until finally, there was nothing there. Naruto could have sworn on his life at that very moment that he was hallucinating again. Things like these were not possible.

“What is your real name?” Gaara suddenly asked, closing his eyes slowly as his fingertips continued their voyage across the contours of Naruto’s face, covering the expanse of his eye, his cheek, the curve of his brow, and then touching those peachy, pouting lips.

He breathed in deeply engulfing his senses with Naruto’s person.

Naruto blinked owlishly at Gaara and felt heat accumulating at his ears as Gaara propped his forehead against the blonde’s temple. Just moments ago, Gaara was molesting him…

And now he was—

What was he doing…?

This touch was far more personal than those vulgar touches moments before. He wasn’t just…touching Naruto.

Naruto winced when he felt Gaara’s lips smirk against his chin and heard a guttural chuckle. “I can tell,” Gaara began in a humoured tone.

What was he talking about…?

Gaara grinned as he picked his head up, lifted his hips ever so slightly before he shifted Naruto so the blonde was finally fully facing him, and grabbed onto Naruto’s wrists with both hands as he pressed his face near Naruto’s.

Naruto glared up at Gaara, and clenched his jaws tightly. He had the sudden, feral want to bite Gaara’s ear (or do something) when the redhead lowered his lips to Naruto’s ears. “I can tell that you want this.”

“Want what?” Naruto hissed.

“This touch.”

No, Gaara wasn’t just touching Naruto.

Naruto widened his eyes momentarily before he blinked and said through clenched teeth, “You lie.”

Gaara sat up and stared down at Naruto. “Am I lying?” he questioned, tilting his head to the side. “You’ve stopped struggling against me.” He smirked at Naruto’s lack of response, manipulating the blonde’s small wrists into one hand as he wiped the sweat on his hand on his pant leg.

”Stop struggling! You’re just like that your mother, that whore.”

“No, no, you’re right. I did lie,” Gaara admitted lightly, making a soft humming noise as he looked up for a second or so. “You don’t want this.” He paused and pursed his lip in thought. And then the tips of his fingers slowly went down the side of Naruto’s face. “You need it.”

It was such an assured statement.

Naruto struggled in renewed earnest as his fingers itched. What did he know? What does Gaara know?

His stomache began to buckle in pain.

What does anyone know?

Why is he doing this…?

“You’re like a child that is constantly pushed aside.”

No, no. Gaara wasn’t just touching Naruto.

He was influencing him—manipulating something. And for Naruto to be able to understand this—right now, in this situation!—but have no control of the effects…

“And don’t touch me, either. It’s not essential.” (Such an effect as this recollection)

Naruto’s glare toward the redhead mutated into a look of pain and he had to look away momentarily, somewhere else that wasn’t those sage eyes. He couldn’t suppress the noise that he made, like a lamb bleating to its shepherd.

Since when was the hunter turned into the prey?

“The two of us—we’re more alike than anything,” Gaara murmured as he tilted his head. His tone wasn’t triumphant. This wasn’t something he was proud of.

To have no control whatsoever of this influence…

Naruto wanted to cradle the pain blooming in his mind. He wanted to—to hold something. Just to get rid of this pain.

“Get off of me!” Naruto yelled with renewed vigor.

With an unknown burst of…something, Naruto managed to somehow, somehow scratch at Gaara’s arm, causing the other one to hiss as he sat up to cradle the newborn wound.

“I found her, Neji-kun! What are you doing to Naruko-chan, Gaara?‼”

In quick succession, Naruto cracked the heal of his palm against Gaara’s nose, pushed the other one off him, and kicked at him frantically as Gaara reached out to grab his ankle.

“Yamazaki-san…!”

Naruto bumped right into the chest of a student, but was far too confused to understand that this wasn’t Gaara. This person wasn’t attacking him. This person was trying to help him.

But it was so painful, what he felt in his head, and his fingers were itching and throbbing and felt like they were expanding far beyond their limits, and he was hearing things, hearing people, hearing voices, and they were too loud, and this sound of rushing water was too loud, and he couldn’t see clearly (stark blacks, stark whites) and—

“Naruko-chan…! What’s wrong with her? Is she alright, Neji-kun?”

And the rushing water was too loud.

“Her hands are bleeding.”

And this horrible, steady beating in his ears was too much.

“Naruko-chan!”

And he couldn’t see clearly. Stark whites and stark blacks.

“Yamazaki-san, get a hold of yourself. He’s gone! He’s gone.” What a soft, assertive tone…

Hands grabbed onto Naruto’s shoulders to keep him standing. “Tenten, go find a teacher.”

And the heat running through him was like lava. And the talking—

“What was okaasan like, otoussan?”

And the laughing—

“Wai! Higher toussan; push me higher!”

And the pain—

“You’re nothing more than a tool. A weapon. Live with it. Or don’t.”

And the pain, and his chest was tightening (and the pain), and that child’s unbearable tears—

“Don’t kill me! I don’t want to die!”

And that pain, that horrible, awful pain. That pain.

It hurts…

And what did he just see? Who was that man? That rushing water was louder than a water fall. And the tears, and the laughing, and the talking, and his chest hurt, and his stomache itched, and that steady beating was too loud. Too loud…

It’s too loud. Too loud.

And the…

The what?

Nothing.

Naruto slowly uncovered his ears, looking up at Neji (he’d overlooked him and had made point to ignore him forever…), before he looked at his hands. “…What…?” He turned and looked to where Gaara was—should have been—and saw nothing. No one.

His fingers were still throbbing, and they were bleeding.

But he scratched Gaara with only one hand…

“Yamazaki-san…, are you hurt…?” Neji asked as he looked at the blonde shaking in his hands. His grey eyes roamed quickly over Naruto for any signs of wounds or bruises. Naruto could barely stand on his own—his legs were shaking madly—so his hold on Naruto tightened.

Naruto couldn’t stop staring at his fingers. It baffled him. Why? Why were his fingers bleeding? And where did these punctures in his palms come from? Surely he hadn’t been clenching his hands that tight. And…

Naruto looked up at Neji again, those grey eyes boring through him, full of genuine concern (a concern that he could do without), gauging him. He pushed the taller one away instantly as if set ablaze by his touch (a touch he could do without. But you need it, professed Gaara. Lies). He blinked at Neji widely and stepped back before turning around and running (“Yamazaki-san?”) to the nearest bathroom.

Shutting the door behind him quickly, he leaned heavily against it, his knees weakened and ready to buckle under pressure. His legs shook—no, no, his whole body shook. He pushed himself off of the door and shuffled toward the sink, where he turned on the water and washed his hands clean and free of the blood.

No, it wasn’t gone. He could still see the blood under his fingernails. Not clean. His fingertips kept bleeding, and it was horribly painful.

When the blood finally disappeared, he began to wash his ears and the tips of his hair, where the blood had dried from his hands, and stared at his reflection for mere nanoseconds before he jerked his head back in shock. He wiped his cheek with the back of his hand, the sight of his tears unappealing. He bent forward curiously and blinked widely at the marks on his cheeks, made manifest when he had wiped the tears away.

He wasn’t one to stare at his face in front of the mirror for hours and observe himself. He hated mirrors, in fact, because he hated his face. But he could never forget those whisker-like marks on his cheeks, those ever present scars that denoted to him a past life that he couldn’t remember.

But he knew his face. He knew his face more than anything in the world. After all, one always remembers the things he hates the most. That hate always somehow turns into an obsession.

And he knew that these hated scars were never this deep before.

He trailed his finger across one of the scars and could only think, What is this…? He couldn’t help the feeling the welled in his chest as he touched the scar. The flesh there tingled, and it was as if it rippled under his fingers.

And then something else caught his attention. Something different. Something different.

Something different…

What was it?

Oh. My. God.

What was with his pupils?

-Jijou-

Naruto paced across his kitchen again. His arm was wrapped around his chest and his fingers clenched on to his t-shirt (at the side), while his other arm cradled his fingers (of his other arm). He went about nervously biting at his fingernails.

He checked the clock again, and then he looked out his window. Sunset.

They’ll be smart enough to go to Tōkyō Bay at night, right? he thought to himself as he leaned his temple on a pointed finger. Please don’t tell me that they’ll be stupid enough to find the body in broad daylight. I need to see this with my own eyes. He turned around and paced back across the room. He grabbed his bottle of water and gulped down most of it before he stopped and took a deep breath.

His fingers touched the side of his face.

“I did lie,” Gaara admitted lightly, making a soft humming noise as he looked up for a second or so. “You don’t want this.” He paused and pursed his lip in thought. And then the tips of his fingers slowly went down the side of Naruto’s face. “You need it.”

He rubbed at his forehead furiously before walking over to the aloe plant in the middle of his table and pouring the rest of the water in. He couldn’t think about something like that at this time.

Jiraiya. He had to keep his mind on Jiraiya. And the phone call. He was waiting for a phone call. He beat his feet against the floor in frustration as he moaned an, “Ah, come on!” in desperation.

“You should know by now, Naruto,” Kurenai began as she patted the blonde on the head, “Jiraiya will never be there when you need him.”

“Is he committing adultery with some married woman?” he asked himself as he dropped his head back. He looked out the window again, made an exasperated noise, and tousled his hair into a mess.

There was no way he could to do this on his own. He would definitely need Jiraiya’s help—Tōkyō Bay was a big place, albeit the body was in Tōkyō port. Jiraiya could gather a few other men and women to patrol the Tōkyō bay with Naruto, like Anko, Kurenai, Genma, and all those other people whose names were too long to recite. But it seemed this wouldn’t happen, being that Jiraiya was not calling him back.

Naruto jumped off the table and leapt to the phone when it rang, picking it up hastily and mumbling a “Moushi moushi?”

“Naruto-kun.” A female voice. Naruto’s shoulder slumped instantly.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Jiraiya wanted me to tell you that he’s swamped with work tonight and that he won’t—”

Naruto hung the phone at that point and sped toward his bedroom, where he opened the closet and pulled out his bodysuit.

It was a remnant of his life from two years past, when he was an assassin. It was a life that he could never return to. How unfortunate.

As an assassin, there is no need to form a bond.

He shook the suit a couple of times and stared at it. The blood stains there were indistinguishable from the darkness of the suit.

He ripped his current clothes off and eased himself into the tight suit. It was like second skin to him. He cracked his neck as he pulled on his gloves. Deciding against wearing the shoes, he hastily opened the window as he fastened a small utility belt about his waist before he jumped out (it was only the third floor). He’d have to do this on his own, then.

Nothing new.

By the time Naruto reached Tōkyō Bay it was half past eight. There were few people walking about on the port, enjoying the cool weather (or making out), but they didn’t notice his suspicious figure, as he was tree hopping.

Unfortunately, there were no suspicious figures roaming about and, God, this was going to be more difficult than he thought. Fortunately, he hadn’t forgotten the night vision binoculars on his utility belt, because it was rather dark around this side of the port. He grabbed the binoculars and scanned the port repeatedly.

Nothing.

9:53. He had scouted the port for the umpteenth time. The street lights had already turned on. There weren’t any people here anymore. Not even patrols. So where were these two people…? Were they coming at all?

He had even looked over the water a few times to check for a boat or raft or something. He sighed and closed his eyes for a short while before he picked up a shuffling noise many meters below him.

“Nee, Sakon, do you remember the exact spot we dumped him this morning?” Ukon asked as he scratched at his cheek irritably, looking over the water and opening the duffel bag. His eyes scouted the area shortly before he returned his amber gaze to his brother.

Sakon shrugged his shoulders before he sniffed at the ground. “It was around here, from what I can tell,” he murmured, pointing to the dark water before him.

“So…?” Ukon asked as he looked at his brother and then at the water. “Go get Kidoumaru.”

“Me?” Sakon yipped suddenly. “No! I refuse,” he said casually. “You do it. I had to throw him in, so you can pull him out.”

“I’m older! You should listen to your elders.”

“By, like, nine minutes! And you never let me forget it!” Sakon whispered harshly. He growled angrily before he stuck his fist out at Ukon. “We’ll JanKen for it, then.”

Ukon grinned toothily (Ugly teeth). “You always lose.”

“But it’ll be a fair loss, at least!” Sakon reasoned as he tugged at his hair.

Ukon shrugged and stuck his fist out as well. “Two out of three, then” he muttered. The other grunted out a “Fine”, and the two commenced.

“Jan! Ken! Pon!”

Naruto blinked repeatedly as he grabbed tightly onto the bough of the tree to keep himself from falling. These two weren’t serious, were they…? Playing rock, paper, scissors…? They were idiots (but he knew not to underestimate the idiots…). But when one of the two cursed angrily, he refocused his attention.

He needed to see this body. That was all he wanted to see.

Ukon sighed, pulling his hair back. “I can’t believe I lost,” he groaned as he glared at Sakon.

Sakon flipped his brother off with a sneer and opened the duffel bag fully. “Get going,” he murmured urgently, staring at his watch. “Kimimaro will be pissed if we come too late.” He pulled a cigarette from the package in his pocket, put it to his mouth, and lit it.

Ukon stretched his limbs before he stared at Sakon, pulling his shabby hair into a ponytail. “It’s not Kimimaro that I’m worried about.” At that, he leapt into the water.

He resurfaced moments later and scratched his cheek as he waded through the water. “Damn, Tayuya’s gonna be pissed that I smell like dead fish,” he mumbled angrily.

He looks scaly… Naruto thought as he squinted at the two below. Like his skin is different…

Sakon waved his hand irritably at the other one, ushering him back into the waters. “Hurry up,” he hissed. “We don’t know how tight the security is around here.”

Ukon sighed as he looked up. “I can’t find the body,” he finally admitted. “I’m just stalling.”

“We look harder, idiot!” Sakon said as he leaned forward, his voice laced in sudden panic. “Kidoumaru couldn’t have gone anywhere. Orochimaru’ll be pissed for sure if we don’t find him.”

“Are you sure it was here?” Ukon asked.

Sakon beat his foot against the ground. “Yes, I’m sure! Now look again!”

“Taku…” Ukon murmured as he pouted and rolled his eyes. He dipped his head under the water again and took several more moments before he came up in a spot a few feet away. “Do you have the key to the chain?” he asked.

Naruto leaned forward in anticipation. He found the body, that guy.

“Yeah.” Sakon threw the key and Ukon caught it, putting it between his teeth (Fangs…?) before he immersed himself under the water.

When Ukon emerged from the water a couple of minutes later (Is it possible to hold your breath that long…?), he grunted as he swam to the port’s edge with Kidoumaru’s body in tow. “He’s heavy,” he murmured before he grabbed onto Sakon’s awaiting hand, allowing his brother to pull him up. They dragged up the body from the water and sat down for a moment to catch breath.

“The water made him bloat.”

There was a short gasp when Sakon touched the body with his foot.

“What was that!” Sakon yelled as he looked up.

“What was what…?” Ukon asked as he drained his hair.

“…I just heard something.”

“You’re just too suspicious,” Ukon said dismissively before he bent over. “Come on, let’s get Kidoumaru back to Kimimaro’s.”

Naruto kept his hand over his mouth as he stared at the scene before him. He was highly trained in fortitude. He could stomache most everything. But this…

Already, some undersea creatures had gotten to the body, he could tell, and the sight was enough to make him sick. He turned away for a second and tightened his lips as the two nonchalantly picked up the weighty cadaver. His stomache was caught within his throat from the thought of even touching that body.

But that really wasn’t what sickened him.

“Sick,” one of them murmured in disgust. “Something got to his fingers. I hope he hasn’t bled too much.”

Naruto turned back and bit on his lip. This isn’t possible, is it? he thought. It goes against all laws of nature. He could not be hallucinating. This was here, right in front of him. This was real. But…

The last time he checked, humans have two arms. Last time he checked, humans’ sclera are white, not black. In fact, humans only have two eyes.

So why did Kidoumaru have three arms jutting out of each of his shoulders? Was it normal to have black eyes…?

Human mutation. That’s what this had to be. Mutation, or cross-breeding, or…

…something not human.

Because Kidoumaru was far from human.

“What is Jiraiya getting me involved with…?” Naruto whispered to himself.

“I heard something this time!” Sakon urged as he looked up into the trees.

Ukon sighed and rolled his eyes as he stuffed the last of Kidoumaru into the bag. He zipped it up, scratched his chin with a finger, and jumped up with inhuman agility toward Naruto.

He landed on a branch and the tree shook, but saw nothing. His citrine eyes thinned as he tilted his head animally. He smelled…something. Faintly. His sense of smell was never as strong as Sakon’s, though. He blinked as he touched the body of the tree, shifting his head toward it. “Nothing here, bro.”

Kare no Jijou

Chapter 6

Naruto clenched his teeth together as he pedaled past the pedestrians on the sidewalk. The wind swept around him as he avoided the people, and the plastic bags behind him rustled from the agitation. He squinted as the red-orange sun glared off the many building signs, blinding him. He pushed some of his hair out of his face irritably and sighed.

Honestly, he couldn’t get the picture of Kidoumaru’s body out of his mind. It disturbed him to the point where he couldn’t sleep well for the last few nights.

Sometimes, childish fears can make themselves manifest.

What disturbed Naruto more than this, though, was the fact that his strength was being thwarted so easily. It seemed as if the people here in Tōkyō were of another level of strength. Things weren’t like this in Hokkaidō.

There, in Hokkaidō, he was easily able to assassinate his targets, or effortlessly evade those that he had to fight against. But here, already, some street thugs and schoolboys simply pushed him out of the way. Wasn’t that far too strange to be coincidental?

There has to be more than that, he thought.

Jiraiya was at the top of his game. Jiraiya taught him all there was to know about self-defense, and though Naruto hated to admit it, that man was indeed a good master and teacher. He taught him everything there was to know about his skills.

Distractedly, he turned his head when he heard a childish squeal and his sight fell upon a boy and his father. He stopped pedaling for a short moment to watch as the man propped the little boy on his shoulders. That child’s expression was gushing with an engulfing smile and happiness, while his father’s was one of contentment.

He tightened his lips and continued to pedal, tipping his head at the foreign expressions before he blinked slowly as he quirked his lip slightly. He scratched his eye in frustration.

“Nee, otou! I definitely ran faster than you! I got home first! Yoshi!”

“Incredible. Even when your legs are shorter than mine, you still ran faster than the Yellow Flash!”

“Un! I’ll definitely defeat you forever, oyaji!”

“Who are you calling oyaji, little brat?‼”

“You!”

Before he knew it, he was staring at the sky and his legs were twisted into his bicycle and his food was smashed under the wheels of cars. And someone was screaming in his ear.

“Watch where you’re going, baka! You can kill someone riding like that!”

What?

Naruto sat up and rubbed his head furiously, ignoring the stares that people gave him and looked at the person yelling at him. His eye twitched instantly as his lip twisted into a sneer.

“Konohamaru-kun, are you alright?” A pause. “Ah! It’s neechan!”

Naruto glared at the girl and almost cringed when he heard that annoying heavy, nasal breathing. “Ho, so it is…”

Konohamaru blinked at Naruto as he tipped his head. “Is it?” he asked aloud. “It looks like a boy to me,” he murmured as he put a hand to his chin.

“I’m telling you—it’s neechan!” Moegi said as she walked up to the blonde and tugged at his hair on either side of his head. “See?”

Naruto ripped his head away from her hands. “Who are you?” he asked. He then looked at Konohamaru, whom he’d crashed his bicycle into. “Go get my food in the street,” he ordered.

Konohamaru stood up instantly, his hands fixed to his side. “Are you kidding me?‼ You’re the one that crashed into me!” he screeched.

Naruto tilted his head at the boy’s frustration. It stirred something within him. “You’re right,” he murmured. “Thank you for breaking my fall.” And he oddly patted the boy on the head.

Konohamaru’s mouth hung agape before he curled his eyebrows in anger. He roared angrily at the blonde before he reached his hand forward and patted the blonde’s chest. “Aha! I knew it! You’re a man!”

Moegi gasped dramatically as she covered her mouth, and Naruto stood there, frozen. “Is it true, neechan?‼” she asked as her eyes filled with tears. She squealed as she dropped her head on Udon’s shoulder. “I’m so foolish! I thought I had a big sister to look up to! Howa…” she cried.

Naruto stared at the girl shortly before he slapped Konohamaru’s hand away. “You deceived us!” the boy yelled. “And you made Moegi cry! Saitei! Unforgivable!”

“…Ano,” Udon began unsurely, “why were you wearing a school girl outfit…?” he asked softly, pointing his finger at the blonde.

Naruto blinked at them as he rubbed his eyes. Who are these brats to talk to me like this?‼

Moegi gasped as she turned to Naruto. “Cross dressing?‼” she howled. “Hentai!” she squeeled as she pointed to the blonde accusingly.

Naruto’s mouth hung ajar as some people stared at him with abhorrence and shame in their eyes. He waved his hand at the girl for her to be quiet.

“You were dressing like that to peep at girls in the locker room!”

Why were they falsely accusing him this way…?

Moegi then blushed and looked away as she covered her cheeks. “But niisan is so…”

Konohamaru blinked at Moegi, and then covered her mouth. “You girls have only one thing on your mind!” he hissed.

Konohamaru jumped up at the sound of horns blaring, and when he turned around, Naruto was picking up his food from the middle of the street. “Are you crazy? That’s dangerous!” he yelled at the blonde.

When Naruto walked back to the sidewalk, crushed food in bags, he stood up his bicycle and leaned it against the building. He crossed his arms angrily. “You owe me dinner.”

“Like hell!” Konohamaru retorted.

“I live on a budget. You. Owe. Me. Dinner,” Naruto emphasized as he pointed to the shop across the street.

“I don’t have to give you anything, you idiot! You’re the one who crashed into me!”

“And I thank you for breaking my fall once again,” Naruto interjected. “But I’m hungry. All my food is gone. I live on my own. I don’t have a job. And I think I twisted my ankle. Feed me.”

It was easy to keep such a straight face.

“You live alone?” Moegi asked. “Hi…hidoi!” She turned to Konohamaru and tugged on his sleeve. “Nee, Konohamaru-kun, let’s—”

Konohamaru turned away from her and crossed his arms across his chest defiantly with a harrumph. “I don’t feed strange cross-dressers. Or cosplayers. No consolation food!”

“Konohamaru-kun…” Moegi whined.

“I said no. Look at this massive wound on my arm!” He turned to Naruto with a raised fist. “Did you even apologize for that?‼”

Naruto tilted his head slightly and closed his eyes. “No. I thanked you for breaking my fall.”

Udon chuckled as he wiped his nose with a tissue. “I think that should suffice,” he murmured as he stared at the snot on the tissue.

Konohamaru wanted to howl, but roared instead in frustration. “It doesn’t!” He beat his feet against the ground childishly. “Mou! You’re horrible friends!”

“Friend?” Naruto asked, as if offended. “I just want my dinner.”

Moegi shook Konohamaru’s arm again and whimpered softly. “Niisan saved our lives…Please, Konohamaru-kun.”

“N…No!”

“Another bowl, oyaji,” Naruto said as he pushed his empty bowl toward the man behind the counter.

“No more!” Konohamaru wailed. “My allowance money is going to be used up for the bill!”

“Oh, my wrist. Itai,” Naruto murmured dramatically as he tightened his fingers around his wrist, shaking it in mock pain. “I’ll have to get it examined.”

“You said it was your ankle, liar!” Konohamaru yelled angrily. He turned to Moegi, who happily popped another sushi into her mouth. Udon huddled above his teriyaki as if the meal would be his last. “You don’t think any of this unjust?‼”

Moegi chewed on her sushi and shook with mirth as she danced on the stool. “Not at all,” she said after she swallowed her food. “You’re the one who’s paying. If I were paying, that would be injustice. I’m the woman.”

“Agreed,” Udon mumbled.

He glared at the girl and turned to his own food. “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” he mumbled heatedly with a pout.

Naruto held his hand in front of the cook as the man asked him if he really wanted another bowl. Three bowls of ramen is fine, thank you very much. He turned toward the three preteens and propped his foot on the footrest on the stool. He dropped his chin onto his fisted hand and stared at them shortly.

“How did you run into those guys?” the blonde asked suddenly.

“What guys?” Konohamaru asked as he slurped on the ramen, waving his fingers in front of the hot noodles to cool them down.

“You must mean the guys you saved us from,” Udon observed as he stared at the blonde. He scratched the back of his head and nodded before returning to his ramen as if he hadn’t said anything.

Naruto’s brows furrowed from the strange action, but he gave an “Un” of agreement.

“In Moegi-chan’s neighbourhood, there’d been cases of people’s dogs and cats going missing in the past couple of months. Moegi-chan’s dog, too,” Konohamaru started as he pointed to the girl with his thumb. “While we were picking her up to go to school, we saw those guys stashing her neighbour’s unconscious dog in a bag. I was about to confront them—”

“But I told Konohamaru-kun not to be an idiot. We didn’t know if they were dangerous or not,” Udon stated.

Konohamaru glared at Udon and bore closed teeth at him before he continued. “Anyway, they went to that alleyway that you’d found us in, and we saw them, erm…they were eating the dog.”

“Eating it…?” Naruto asked.

Moegi pouted. “Un. Like wolves! It made me sick. Still does…”

Udon shook. “Sick,” he murmured.

The three children went silent and Naruto quirked a brow. They hadn’t ever seen an animal being eaten before? Isn’t that what they showed on those nature documentaries?

“Anyway, I think they were druggies, shooting this red liquid into their veins or something after they ate. We didn’t stick around after that,” Konohamaru muttered as he propped his elbow on the counter. “A couple of weeks later, we were picking up Moegi-chan again, and we saw those guys again. It’s sorta strange that no one else saw them, or that people left their animals outside again after things had calmed, but whatever. I decided to…”

“Konohmaru-kun, don’t!” Moegi whispered softly as the boy began to stand. “They’re too strange. Humans don’t eat pets!” Udon shook his head in agreement.

“Well someone has to catch them!” he said harshly as he turned to the girl. When he looked up again, the five were walking away nonchalantly with a large bag slung over one’s shoulder. “Crap!” he screeched as he shot up. “They’re getting away!” He pushed Moegi away when she pulled him down urgently and ran after the guys.

”Konohamaru-kun!” Moegi yelled in alarm. She and Udon watched from the bushes.

“Oi! Teme!” he yelled at the five guys.

One of the five turned around and stared that the boy incredulously. “Who’re you calling a bastard, you little brat?‼” he yelled angrily.

“You’re the ones that have been stealing the pets, aren’t you?‼” Konohamaru roared.

“Who’s asking?” another of the five asked as he turned around as well.

“Well, when people’s pets start going missing, I think everyonestarts to get suspicious, you know,” Konohamaru answered smartly. “And you don’t belong to this neighbourhood, so it’s easy to conclude—”

“Go home and suck on your mom’s tit before you get in trouble.”

Konohamaru shook angrily before he leapt at the guy, but yelped when he was thrown to the ground with ease. He growled heatedly before he rushed toward him again. This time, he grabbed the older teenager by the shirt and shook him viciously.

And then he was punched to the ground. Once more. He cursed loudly and struggled to get up (his arms had been shaking from the exhilaration) as he heard their retreating footsteps.

“Ko—Konohamaru-kun!” Moegi and Udon yelled as they ran toward the boy.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he muttered as he stood up and dusted his knees. “Those jerks,” he mumbled. They insulted me! Right in front of Moegi-chan! And Udon!

“Nee…” Udon muttered as he bent down and picked up the item that must have fallen. “Isn’t this that…drug thing?” he asked as he held it up for Moegi and Konohamaru to see.

“Sou yo!” Moegi yelled as she pointed at it. “What is it?” she muttered.

Konohamaru grabbed the item from Udon and held it up to the sun. “It’s collateral,” he said as he smirked.

“What?” Moegi asked as she tipped her head.

“I didn’t think he was capable of knowing that word,” Udon mumbled to himself as he fixed his glasses. “Do you even know what that means?”

Konohamaru mumbled something or another at the two before he broke out into a run.

“Where are you going, Konohamaru-kun?‼” Moegi asked.

“After those pricks!” he yelled.

“Don’t give me useless details,” Naruto mumbled, his head having fallen into his open palm. “I can gather what else happened.”

“Niisan is so smart,” Moegi said dreamily as she clasped her fingers together. Konohamaru suddenly glared at Naruto, and the blonde threw him a quizzical stare.

Naruto blinked and sighed. “Alright,” he said as he reached his hand into his pocket. He pulled out ¥2500 and slapped it onto the countertop. “That’s all I needed.”

Konohamaru stared dubiously at the money on the counter. “I thought you said you had no more money!” he yelped.

Naruto shrugged as he stood up. “I lied,” he said easily. “This should cover all of us, oyaji; and keep the change if it’s too much.” He turned away from them and walked out the door, pacing toward his bicycle and unlocking it. The brat had loosened the chain on the gears, so he couldn’t ride the bike.

He sighed. He really thought that it was going to be something more dynamic than stealing pets, though, in all honesty. “That was useless…” he muttered to himself as he rolled the bike away from the restaurant, plastic bags rustling on the handles.

But at least he had found out about the liquid in the phial. They were shooting it their arms, the children told him. It was a drug…? Anyway, this had nothing to do with his case. He’d just been curious was all. There was no reason to even think of those children anymore.

“Hnh. You’re really a guy.”

Naruto cursed angrily upon hearing the voice. “I have nothing to say to you, Uchiha,” he muttered angrily without even looking up. Does he live around here…? he thought anxiously as he kept walking, avoiding Sasuke’s gaze altogether. Why here?

Sasuke stopped the bicycle in front of the blonde, and Naruto looked at him angrily. “You’re wearing contacts,” he stated impassively as he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, blowing the smoke into Naruto’s face. Even with the sun barely overhead, Sasuke could see the difference in the blonde’s eyes, and in his opinion, the brown contacts didn’t quite suit him.

Naruto coughed and rubbed his eye in irritation, as if to confirm the statement. “And?” he asked as he wrenched the bicycle away from the Uchiha. “Your hair looks like a flipping cockatoo, but you don’t see me pointing that out,” he uttered hotly as he tilted his chin toward Sasuke’s hair.

Sasuke quirked his brow as he put the cigarette in his mouth, tilting his head slightly. “I don’t think anyone has ever said that to me,” he muttered in amazement from between his lips. “Unbelievable.”

“Well it won’t be the last, I assure you,” Naruto hissed as he pulled his bike from Sasuke and shuffled away onto the sidewalk, waving his hand in his face to dissipate that smell.

Sasuke smirked as he watched the blonde walking away. He stared first at the plain white shirt, and then looked down at those burnt-orange capris as he let out another puff of smoky air. He tilted his head slightly before he yelled, “I am the School Council President. Do you know what kind of power I have?” after the blonde.

Naruto shook his head dubiously as he stopped and turned around to look at the Uchiha. “That’s a weak threat, Uchiha. If you really wanted to tell everyone that I’m a guy, you would have done so by now.”

Sasuke let out a breath from his nose in a soft chuckle toward the blonde. So true, the retort. He put his hand in his pocket and followed Naruto.

“Don’t stalk me,” Naruto growled angrily. He walked quickly, avoiding the smell of the cigarette. If anything, he would have run away, but the food on the bicycle handles hindered him somewhat.

Sasuke caught up to Naruto and looked at his pensive face for a second, and then at his hand. Just in case he was holding…

Holding what? (Nothing)

Something…

“It wouldn’t pique your curiosity that a guy comes to a prestigious school dressed as a girl?” Sasuke asked the blonde, holding the cigarette between his fingers.

Naruto rolled his eyes and stopped walking. “Sometimes you have to mind your own business,” he whispered heatedly, his brows furrowed. He started walking away. “Why are you following me?” he asked.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders again. “I don’t know,” he answered truthfully, staring at the blonde as he tipped his head slightly. Strange scars… Naruto huffed at him in irritation (when he noticed Sasuke’s eyes falling on his scars) before he quickened his pace. Sasuke followed in suit, keeping up with those steps.

For someone with such short legs, Naruto was fast.

The blonde was an abnormal person, Sasuke had gathered from observation. If dressing up as a girl didn’t say much, then one could point out his social cripple (he refused to talk to people), his lack of ever eating at school, and his quiet, pensive mood. And from what the Uchiha could tell, the blonde didn’t enjoy cross-dressing either. So he wasn’t a homo.

So…, why the getup?

“You’re not a social person.”

“I could say the same as you, School Council President. Guys don’t often attack girls in an empty classroom.”

“You’re not a girl.”

Naruto shook with irritation. Seriously, why was the Uchiha following him? What was he trying to get at? “Get lost, prick.”

Sasuke’s eyes thinned toward the blonde as he took a step forward. “Dobe.”

Dobe?‼ At a momentary loss of words, Naruto’s mouth flopped opened as he gripped onto the handles of his bicycle tightly. He floundered for a word, found one, and grabbed onto the Uchiha’s shirt. “Teme!” Naruto roared in Sasuke’s face as the bicycle fell to the ground. “I don’t know what you want, but stop following me!”

The corner of Sasuke’s lip quirked upward before he pressed his face closer to the blonde’s as well, grabbing onto the t-shirt and pushing Naruto against the building. He slammed his fist against the bricks and lowered his head toward Naruto’s ear, inhaling deeply before puffing the smoke heavily into Naruto’s face. He chuckled as the blonde turned away to take a breath of clean air with a look of irritation on his face. “Usurantokachi, I’m here to make your school life a living Hell,” he hissed with a gratified expression. “And you can’t do anything about it.”

“What ever happened to personally addressing each person’s concerns?” Naruto murmured angrily before he clamped his mouth shut, turning away again and suddenly staring absentmindedly.

Sasuke lifted a brow curiously before turning his head slightly in the direction that Naruto was staring. He blinked. A park…?

Naruto’s lips tightened a fraction or so as he blinked at the woman pushing her small daughter on the swing set in the park on the opposite block. He became unaware of his surroundings as he tipped his head and watched the two laughing and smiling and screaming.

Sasuke lowered his head slightly and stared at the blonde, and then locked his eyes on Naruto’s object of attention. He looked from the two people to Naruto again, trying to gauge that look that had overcome the blonde’s features as he stared off. He tried to understand that look in Naruto’s distracted eyes, suddenly wide like a child’s. His mouth hung slightly open as he blinked slowly, and Sasuke repressed the urge to snap the blonde’s mouth shut.

The Uchiha, suddenly conscious of the fact that Naruto’s mind had completely wandered from the subject (as it was prone to do from previous encounters), literally jerked the blonde back into attention with the harsh flick of his wrist.

“You think I really care about that?” Sasuke let go of the blonde and pocketed his hand as he continued the previous conversation. He kept his other hand fisted near the blonde’s head as he lowered his head.

Naruto looked at him with a unknowing stare, too lost in his thoughts to even remember what he and Sasuke had been arguing about.

Sasuke spat out his cigarette onto the ground and doused it under his foot without breaking eye contact with Naruto. “Do you enjoy dressing up like a cunt?” he asked harshly.

Naruto glared at Uchiha and blinked. “Unlike you, School President,” he spat the words distastefully, remembering himself, “Not everyone has a choice in life. Don’t breathe in my face.”

Sasuke closed his eyes as he kicked his head back, chuckling as rubbed his chin. “You must think you know everything, dobe.” He looked at Naruto with a raised brow.

“Look who’s calling who ‘dobe’.” Naruto smirked condescendingly. “If I remember correctly, I—” he stretched his neck forward, “topped your entrance grade.” What now, bastard?‼

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort.

“Sasuke!”

Both teens turned toward the vehicle that pulled up toward them, and Naruto quickly turned away with a quiet gasp upon seeing the driver. What’s he doing here?

That was definitely Kabuto, the guidance councilor from school. The same Kabuto that was also personally affiliated with Orochimaru.

Sasuke sighed as he put his hands in his pockets. “What is it?” he asked impatiently.

Naruto snuck a look at the two of them. I really have nothing to worry about.

Kabuto warily looked at Naruto’s figure shortly and tilted his head to the side (I swear he just smirked…), dismissing the blonde quickly before he looked at Sasuke again. “Get in. Now. I was waiting for you in front of your cram school for half an hour.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Well maybe I felt like walking home,” he said through clenched teeth. Kabuto gave him a jarring glare before the Uchiha walked toward the car and got in. Naruto watched curiously as Sasuke sat in the back of the vehicle with a none-too-joyous look about his face. Sasuke turned to the blonde and flipped him off as Kabuto drove away without so much as a second glance.

Naruto turned back to the street and looked at the retreating car with a slow, uneven blink. He raised his eyebrows. Wait…

Why was Sasuke driving with away Kabuto?

-Jijou-

Kabuto pushed up his glasses as he parked the vehicle and stepped out. He pressed his finger against his earpiece as he watched Sasuke step out the vehicle and walk toward the apartment complex without a single word.

Sasuke carefully looked at Kabuto as the white-haired man ushered him into the complex. “Please, Uchiha-san,” he began, “do refrain from walking home alone? It causes problems for us generous people that offer you transportation.”

Sasuke tightened his lips angrily before glaring at Kabuto and walking toward his complex. “Not like you care anyway,” he pouted childishly. Cursing under his breath as the man whispered away, he rolled his eyes angrily and walked past the gates, flipping the man off immaturely while mouthing a ‘bastard’.

“It’s just as you said, Orochimaru-sama,” Kabuto murmured into the mouthpiece as he made sure that the Uchiha walked inside the complex. “Yazamaki Naruko is undoubtedly Uzumaki Naruto. I could remember that face from anywhere. I wonder what he is doing at your school, Orochimaru-sama. I’m positive that Sasuke knows that she is a he.”

On the other line, Orochimaru chuckled at the choice of words. “He’s supposed to be dead, that brat,” he responded softly. “The fact that he isn’t dead tells you something, Kabuto-kun—especially about my endeavors.”

“Na…Naruhodo,” Kabuto murmured. “What shall we do, then, Orochimaru-sama…?” he asked tentatively, unable to understand what the other man was getting at.

“I’m his target,” the other man mumbled. “So we simply have to let him feel he has the upper hand.”

“Ah. Naruhodo.” Kabuto paused. “How are we to do this…?”

“Very easily, Kabuto. Stop asking so many question and think.”

“Ah. With Sasuke-kun, nee?” he asked.

“Precisely.”

-Jijou-

Sasuke eased into the hot bath and scratched at the nape of his neck. That stupid blonde, he thought angrily as he stared at the wall. He knew Kabuto and Orochimaru too well to see when they had some scheme up their sleeves. That idiot was just too stupid to see that he’d practically dug his own grave when he got involved with this school.

Orochimaru and Kabuto knew something about Naru… What’s his real name, anyway…? Sasuke paused and thought about the question offhandedly as he braced his elbow on the ledge of the small bath and rested his head on his knuckles.

Not that he cared what his name was.

But those two, Orochimaru and Kabuto—Those bastards—were constantly talking about the new student every time he was required to enter the office. He growled angrily and slapped his hand at the water, unconcerned with where the water landed.

And then his mind turned to the idiot again. The stupid idiot with the stupid heart condition, and a stupid cross-dressing complex, and a stupid attitude. And his stupid observations…

“It’s in your stance,” Naruto started.

Sasuke threw the blonde a sideways glance, waiting for some clarification, or a completion of the statement. He’s good at gauging people… He chuckled noiselessly, placing his hands in his pockets. Upon seeing that the blonde wasn’t going to finish the statement, Sasuke spoke up. “What is?” he asked, trying to sound impersonal.

Sasuke caught the glimpse that the other stole of him before looking at the greenery outside. He noticed the way the blonde paused and looked out the window as if making a sudden observation. He was distracted. Sasuke blinked when Naruto dropped his head to his shoulder as he closed his eyes while making ludicrous hand motions in the air.

It looked liked he was trying to catch something, and it caused Sasuke to raise his brows at the gesture.

“Pain,” Naruto finally answered. His tone was inquisitive and unsure, but it caused Sasuke to kick his head back unnoticeably. Their eyes locked momentarily before Sasuke rested his head against the cool glass of the window before his eyes turned toward those working fingers.

Ah yes, those fingers. The blonde had something that definitely was not his. Where did he get that phial…?

Sasuke rested his head against the tiles as he sloshed his legs through the murky water. He closed his eyes, remembering how nervously Naruto fiddled with the phial in his hands. Suddenly, he sat up as he widened his eyes. “Is that the one that…?”

He cursed under his breath as he tightened his lips and crossed his arms. This wasn’t any of his business anyway. He had more important things to think about.

-Jijou-

“Alright, class.” The soft-spoken teacher paused as he turned away to give a discreet cough. He sniffed his nose as he turned to the class and stopped at the classroom. “This is the science lab. I know you were all anxious—” another cough, “…anxious to get to the labs so we could make some chemical combustions. Or dissect animals,” he murmured dryly. “Well, we’re not doing that this year.”

Naruto stood far off from the other students with his lip twisted in disgust. The man was coughing on all of his students rudely, and had been doing so since the first day of school.

“Nee, Gekkou-sensei,” Sakura began as she stepped away from the teacher, being closest to him.

“Please,” the teacher began as he smiled painfully at the girl, “it’s over a month after school has started. You don’t have to be so formal. Call me Hayate.”

“Hai…” Sakura mumbled. She looked over at Ino and made a face of disgust as the teacher turned around and opened the classroom door for them, coughing away.

“Please,” he murmured as he held his hand toward the classroom, urging the students to enter. He turned away to cough again before he closed the door after Naruto walked in. Turning on the lights, he allowed the students to take their stand before him as he sat on his lab-table. “Before we begin—” another cough, “…begin our class today, there will be some rules that I’ll have to reestablish, now that we have a new student. Besides, some of you still do stupid things.” He looked pointedly at Kiba, the wild haired teen standing near him.

Naruto tilted his head in annoyance as the teacher softly droned on about rules in the science lab. He looked at the students, some of whom were throwing tiny paper balls, others of whom were listening intently. And then his ear twitched.

“Lastly,” Hayate said as he pulled a cage from under the table onto the table top, “please, don’t feed the mice unless I’ve given you permission,” he urged softly. “God knows what you’ll poison them with.”

“Oh my god,” Ino screeched as she stepped forward. “Look at them! So cute!”

“Can I hold one?‼” Sakura asked. “I love small animals!”

“Er…Sure. I don’t see why not,” the teacher responded as he opened the cage, pulling out one of the squealing mice.

Naruto twitched before he pulled back, instinctively grabbing the thing closest to him.

“Ah! Yamazaki-san! Not in the classroom!” Lee yipped embarrassingly as he blushed furiously, grabbing the blonde’s hands from behind him as the grip tightened on the back of his shirt. “You’re making this handsome beast blush furious—” The blonde trembled slightly behind him, causing Lee to turn around.

Naruto was staring at the cage with wide eyes, utterly frozen at the spot.

“Yamazaki-san…?” he asked noisily.

Sakura grinned as she stared at Ino. “Looks like Naruko does have a weakness,” she whispered to the blonde as she held on to the small mouse. Ino chuckled. She took a step toward Naruto, the other students ignoring the situation altogether as they also grabbed a few rodents.

Naruto’s eyes widened further as he stared at the small rodent in Sakura’s hand. He took a step back, moving Lee as he formed a wall between him and Sakura.

No. That…thing.

“Yamazaki-san…daijoubu…?” Lee asked softly as the blonde behind him shook violently when Sakura took another step closer. He turned slightly and tilted his head at Sakura, smiling. “Nee, Sakura-san, I think you should put it away,” he suggested softly.

Sakura pouted. “But why…?” she asked as she took another step closer. “It’s a little mouse.” She waggled the mouse at the two. “No harm here.”

“Stop it,” Naruto whispered.

“Stop what?” Sakura asked innocently. She extended her hand toward the blonde, mouse in tow. “It’s just a mouse, Naruko-chan.”

Naruto jerked Lee toward him again as he stared at the little rodent, with its nose twitching in the air as if searching for something.

“Sensei,” Lee began loudly. Hayate turned to him and raised his brows in acknowledgement. “maybe we should put the mice away…?” he asked. The question caught everyone’s attention.

“No way,” Kiba said vociferously, holding a mouse and shaking it none-too-gently in the air. “She’s just scared.” He raised his brows suggestively at a boy that came from behind Naruto.

Naruto jerked wildly when a hand fell on his shoulder. Why couldn’t they understand? He just didn’t like them.

“It’s no biggie, Naruko-chan,” the chubby teenager said nasally. Naruto turned to him and the colour drained form his face. “See?” he asked, holding the mouse up to Naruto’s face.

Naruto let go of Lee quickly before he screamed, pushing himself away from the boy. A few students laughed lightly.

“Ah, mou! Stop playing stupid games already, Chouji” Lee yelled anxiously. “It’s just her preference not to like mice. Sensei!”

Hayate sighed as he stepped from behind the table. “Minna, the mice, please.” He coughed. “Time’s up.”

Neji stared at Naruto quietly as the blonde backed into the table when Chouji neared. She’s terrified, he observed as he scoffed. She doesn’t just ‘not like’ them.

The plump teen kissed the mouse and extended it toward Naruto again, and the blonde couldn't suppress that horrible feeling the fluttered from the pit of his stomache and caged itself in his throat. He gripped tightly onto the desk behind him, knuckles turning white.

“Alright, class,” Hayate said softly as he quirked an eyebrow. Teens always let things get out of hand. “That’s enough now. The mice have had enough fun.”

“Oops,” Chouji said dramatically as the mouse ‘jumped’ from his fingers and landed on Naruto’s shirt.

Unexpectedly, the blonde paled further and cried out as he dropped to his haunches after the mouse scurried off him, fisting his hand over his ears.

Everyone stopped laughing when they heard the strange murmuring coming from the blonde. It was unclear at first.

“Otou…okiru.”

What…?

“Otou, okinasai.”

Needless to say, it was odd, and the silence that filled the room became quite uncomfortable as the teacher bent toward the blonde. “Yamazaki-san…?”

Naruto mumbled the words softly before Hayate put his hand on his shoulder, causing the blonde to quiver madly before he mewled in pain as his eyes screwed shut.

“Get that stupid mouse,” Hayate hissed urgently as he turned away. Because suddenly, it wasn't funny anymore. “Put them back in the cage. Now.” He turned back to Naruto. “Is everything okay?” he asked.

Naruto convulsed harshly as he leaned into his teacher. His eyelids were no longer clenched, but were blinking profusely as his eyes rolled upward.

“Ano…” Lee mumbled. “I think she’s having another attack,” he observed softly, eyes wide and attentive.

Neji cursed loudly before he pushed the teacher away and grabbed Naruto and pulled him up. “You went too far,” he hissed angrily, staring at the other students in such a condescending way that they could only feel like the mice themselves under his gaze. He looked down momentarily when the lose mouse scurried at his feet, stopping and staring up at him innocently.

It squeaked as it sniffed the air hesitantly, placing its paw on his foot. He clucked his tongue in annoyance at the little thing before Kiba scooped it up and put it inside the cage. He carried the blonde out of the classroom, yelling behind him, “Call Shizune-sensei and tell her to call Yamazaki-san’s personal physician.”

Comment: Alright. Things are getting out of hand. Do. Not. Speculate. About. The pairings. Your opinions won’t change anything, honestly. Just…read the story to read it, okay…? Things will fall into place. Taku…

Nyu. Mouse, mouse, jingle, jingle. Mouse, mouse, jingle, jingle. Maybe we’ll find out about this in the next chapter:3? (shrugs)