Surface Flaws VIII
Title: Surface Flaws
Author: xinexpressiblex
Rating: 14A for swearing and violence.
Warnings: Shounen ai, spoilers for anyone not keeping up with the manga, & AUish. Alternate timeline.
Disclaimer: Yeah, I don’t own.
Thank you: goheh_remix & amain
Summary: The invisibility started with one silly wish upon a star. Good thing Sasuke's doormat personality, Sai's attempts at matchmaking, and a mission gone wrong were all quite normal in the life of Naruto Uzumaki... Wait. What? SasuNaru
Chapter I, Chapter II, Chapter III, Chapter IV, Chapter V, Chapter VI, Chapter VII, Chapter VIII, Chapter IX, Chapter X, Chapter XI, Chapter XII, Chapter XIII, Chapter XIV, Chapter XV + Epilogue
Previously:
“Naruto wearily lifted up his shirt despite the darkness and stared down at the glowing red design of the seal marring his stomach and felt sick all over again because it looked so weak and he was getting dizzy and the seal was shifting around and the world was shifting and--
--blackness like hate engulfed everything - dragging him under - through the lullabies of dreams - never - had into something so much worse.”
Surface Flaws
Chapter VIII
"Well if you told me you were drowning
I would not lend a hand
I’ve seen your face before my friend
But I don’t know if you know who I am
Well I was there and I saw what you did
I saw it with my own two eyes
So you can wipe off that grin
I know where you’ve been
It’s all been a pack of lies"
- In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins)
The world came into view for a brief second before blacking out again. Noise echoed around him and he had to strain to concentrate on any one train of discussion. Naruto groaned, his head rolling to the side as his hands reached out to bat the world away - turn off the sun.
He felt so content… minus the stinging kink in his neck, and the knot in his back, and the cramp in his thigh, and-- Well all right, he wasn’t content per se. He was just so tired that all his pains seemed inconsequential at the moment.
A foot nudged his leg gently and he yawned, kicked back absently - almost instinctively - before his mind floated into coherency.
The hum of sound ringing in his ears meant he should be invisible.
So why was someone kicking him…?
Naruto’s eyes flew open and he started, drawing all his limbs close to his body as he caught sight of the pale white legs before him like two albino tree trunks.
Sasuke towered over him, staring down, his eyes unfocused, with a scrutinizing expression on his face. It was almost endearing. In fact, Naruto probably would have smiled at how confused Sasuke looked, had he any feelings other than hate for the asshole.
Smirking because Sasuke couldn’t see him, Naruto stood, enlisting his ninja sneaky skills to keep as quiet as possible. Sasuke’s eyes followed his movements, though his eyes weren’t trained on Naruto’s face. The blonde turned a bright red and followed Sasuke’s gaze to see the boy was staring at his - his blush deepened - family jewels.
“Pervert!” Naruto yelled, his hands moving to cover his penis as his face adopted a look of scandal. “Fucking, asshole, bastard, lame, disgusting…pervert!”
As Naruto yelled his mind at Sasuke, he thought wistfully of how much more interesting the conversation would be could the other party actually hear him. “Asshole,” he muttered again dejectedly and considered kicking the boy for good measure. The dark-haired boy’s deep red eyes were still locked onto Naruto’s private parts, which unnerved him and made his stomach swell heatedly in a way that made him even more uncomfortable.
He thought of what Sasuke might do to him if he could really see Naruto, and felt his cheeks heat. A small, miniscule, pretty much nonexistent part of him thought that Sasuke would kiss him. The fact that he wouldn’t mind if that happened made him feel he was a pervert almost equal to Sasuke…who was still staring at his crotch with drawn eyebrows and a contemplative frown.
“I’m up here,” Naruto grumbled darkly. He couldn’t help remembering a lecture he’d received once on subconscious actions and people doing things instinctually. Shaking his head, Naruto started towards the tent to check on Sakura. She was his priority. Unlike a certain bastard, she’d been there for Naruto when times had been at their toughest.
Sasuke’s deep red gaze followed him as he walked and Naruto couldn’t help but listen the boy’s overly loud and confused thought. ‘When I find Naruto he’s going to have to do a lot of explaining.’ The thought seemed so apathetic, and Naruto couldn’t help but turn around and snort at the Uchiha.
Sasuke’s eyes were still trained on him as Naruto retorted, “When I return, I’m not saying a fucking word to you, let alone explaining myself.”
-----
Sakura’s tent had a distinctly flowery smell, Naruto noted as he crawled through the back flap to check on the girl. It was cool and the earth was soft and there was a pile of green blankets where Sakura was. Naruto’s breath caught as he saw her lying on her back in her sleeping bag, one hand over her stomach protectively and a serene expression on her face.
Her thoughts whirled around the enclosed space, slow enough to register but too fast to understand. The boy sat next to her and swallowed, his eyes wincing against the emotion that was welling within them. He’d never been one to cry and he doubted he would start now, but… He thought of how faithful she’d been to him.
The sensation of his cheeks heating accompanied his prevailing emotion of guilt. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to her and placed a hand on her forehead, pushing her hair from her face. “I’m your best friend. I shouldn’t be hurting you. Not like this.”
The soft thin strands of her hair ran through his fingers like sand. His hand slowly made its way to her cheek, which he cupped delicately as he told her, “I’ll never care for him more than our friendship. I don’t think I can. He’s never been loyal to me like you have. I’d be a fool to give you up so I can take him away from you.”
It felt so right telling this to her. The idea that perhaps she could almost hear him flitted through his mind and Naruto relaxed, his fingers caressing her cheek as he watched her with pain-filled eyes.
“I know you said you don’t love him anymore… but the look on your face yesterday… You were heartbroken. You don’t need to hide from me Sakura. ‘Sides, I know you too well for that to work. Just like you know me too well…” He paused; contemplated what he’d just said and stared at her sleeping form. “I guess that means you know how badly I’ve fallen for him, huh?” The normally happy countenance that was Naruto’s face crumpled and he ran his free hand through his hair wearily. “I’m so sorry.”
It felt like a dream, but somehow Naruto thought he heard a wisp of a coherent thought in his mind and he couldn’t help but cling to it.
‘I know.’
-----
An hour later found Naruto finally rejoining Sakura and Sasuke as they made their way toward their destination. He felt weak and his body trembled from the exertion of becoming visible again. When he reappeared, Sakura’s eyes narrowed with concern and Sasuke’s just plain narrowed with distaste.
“Naruto,” Sakura said, relieved, offering him a soft smile. It was pained.
The blonde forced his own smile and tried to quell the feeling of disgust welling within him. Of course she would be uncomfortable with him. He had kissed the boy she’d been in love with since forever. He had kissed her future and tried to take it away.
Sasuke stepped between the pair, his movements rigid and militant. “Where were you?” he demanded in a quiet voice. His eyes strayed to Sakura and the pair shared a look. The pink-haired kunoichi continued to look on edge.
“Scouting ahead, I felt something last night on the edge of the woods. Me and Sakura talked about it and thought I should check it out.” His gaze levelled with Sasuke’s and he felt his eyes narrowing defensively.
“Right,” Sasuke snorted. He moved forward, ahead of Naruto and Sakura and began to walk at a faster pace than they’d been at originally. “Let’s hurry up. We should be in the town by noon if we pick up our pace.”
“Mhm,” Sakura agreed tentatively, her eyes fixed on Naruto. They were spilling over with regretful emotions but when Naruto returned her gaze and opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, she looked away sharply and moved forward to join Sasuke.
And once again, it was Naruto on his own.
-----
When the team had arrived in the town Sasuke had spoken of earlier, they’d stopped for a quick lunch, at which point Sakura excused herself from her teammates saying she needed to restock on herbs as well as supplies for the rest of the journey. The boys had taken this in stride and decided to make their way to a park where they could be alone and away from townspeople, who had seemed quite attuned to the tension between them.
They sat side by side beside a lake, staring away from each other. Naruto was trying not to dwell on Sakura’s avoidance while ignoring Sasuke, who was staring at him intently.
The fact that Sasuke was at least watching his face came as nothing but a very small comfort.
“Would you look at me?” Sasuke suddenly said, exasperated. He was leaning forward, trying to put his face in Naruto’s view, whose eyes remained fixated on the clear blue of the lake, which was still in the stagnant summer heat.
“Why? So you can attack me again?” Naruto countered, his voice laced with acidic hate. He still refused to look at Sasuke and ignored the strands of black hair permeating the corner of his vision. If it meant making Sakura happy, Naruto would remain miserable and fighting with Sasuke.
Sasuke snorted in that irritatingly superior way he had perfected at a young age and leaned away from Naruto. A cold aura surrounded the boy and he said in a surprisingly calm voice, “No. Because I know there’s something wrong with you, and I need to know what it is exactly. We’re a team. It’s in our best interest that I know if one of my teammates is sick.”
A cold hand of dissatisfaction grabbed Naruto. Sasuke only cared because it would help the team to function better. He clenched his jaw and turned a searing glare on Sasuke, tearing his gaze away from the cattails that stood still at the lake’s edge.
“I’m fine,” he ground out, pushing himself away from Sasuke to further the distance between them. He couldn’t believe the nerve of the asshole. It was if he was trying to make Naruto think he noticed anything outside his own wants and needs. “Are you trying to act like you pay attention to what’s going on with me? Because I have no idea where you got the stupid idea that I’m not ok from.”
Their eyes held and Sasuke met Naruto’s insinuations with an irritated shake of his head. “Quit being stupid,” he said degradingly, “I saw you throw up last night, Naruto. People that are fine don’t stumble out of their tents and throw up at the base of a tree.” The stupid pervert almost looked smug, Naruto thought, as he stared at the boy - waiting.
“I had food poisoning,” Naruto snapped in response rather quickly. Quicker than he thought he would, considering he’d just made the excuse up on the spot. “Quit pretending you know anything about me,” he continued, his voice lashing out with the intent to hurt.
He needed to keep Sasuke at an arm’s length because they couldn’t get close again. It wasn’t an option. Getting close would only degenerate into wanting, and Naruto couldn’t want Sasuke no matter how badly he wished he could.
“If you can tell me why your chakra is leaking then I’ll stop caring about how your secrecy is affecting our mission.” Sasuke’s voice was detached and professional as he delivered this blow to Naruto.
The blonde’s eyes widened and he let out a shocked breath, as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. “What?” he said, his voice urgent and weak and spiteful at the same time. Sasuke had to be making that up. His chakra wasn’t leaking. It couldn’t be.
“I noticed this morning when I was looking for you,” Sasuke said using the same tone in which he delivered verbal reports to Tsunade - bland and indifferent. “You’re chakra was being drawn from a point that continued to move, a point that had the outline of a body…” His tone was incriminating.
“What colour was it?” Naruto demanded urgently, ignoring the implication of the way Sasuke spoke. His hand had moved to the seal instinctively when Sasuke had mentioned it being drawn from a certain point and he felt a bubbling sickness crawling up his throat.
“Red.”
“Not good,” Naruto murmured to himself as he thought about this. First he was becoming invisible, and now his chakra was leaking? The boy swallowed nervously and scoured his mind for some piece of information that he had previously overlooked that could help him piece this degenerating situation together.
“I know that you were the embodied chakra, Naruto,” Sasuke said simply, as if he weren’t accusing Naruto of keeping some huge piece of information from him.
Naruto tensed, his gaze snapping to Sasuke. “You don’t know anything, bastard,” Naruto growled defensively. His chakra flared angrily and he clenched his hands around a handful of grass - tried not to react to those deep obsidian eyes that were set in a look of impassivity.
“Then why are you acting so guilty?” Sasuke wanted to know. He leaned forward, his expression hungry for confrontation and starving for contact with Naruto, whether it be a punch to the face or a mind-staggering kiss.
“Tell my why you fucking care so much, Sasuke. Because the only thing I’ve gotten from this conversation is that you don’t give a shit about me - only the team. I don’t owe you anything, bastard.” Naruto was blowing this out of proportion, he knew he was, but Sasuke was too close.
The blonde shuddered inwardly. He wouldn’t let Sasuke know. He wouldn’t allow the other boy to look at him with pity and disappointment.
“What about Sakura?” Sasuke retorted, his lips curling up into a lazy smirk. “She’s part of this team too. I know she knows. Maybe she wouldn’t have gotten hurt if you’d told me what was going--”
Naruto’s fist had connected with Sasuke’s face before the boy had even finished his statement and Naruto was standing over him - panting and furious. Chakra surrounded him in a lashing wave of contempt.
“Don’t you dare fucking bring her into this,” Naruto growled, his voice barely above a whisper. It couldn’t be his fault that she’d been hurt. Not like that. It was because he hadn’t been paying enough attention. Nothing would have changed if he’d told Sasuke…
“-broke her heart yesterday, Naruto. She’s in love and you’re too stupid too notice. Too caught up in your obsession with me.”
Naruto looked down at Sasuke, his eyes wide with terror as his foot reared back in preparation to kick the boy. His foot collided with Sasuke’s head with a sickening sound and Sasuke swore, rising to stand and face Naruto, blood trickling from his ear. “What? Am I being too truthful for you?” He dodged a punch from Naruto and struck the boy in the stomach with his knee. His arm reached over the blonde’s body, which had curled up instinctively against the pain, and brought his elbow down on Naruto’s back, knocking the boy to the ground in a whirl of black spots.
“Shut up,” Naruto hissed, his voice laced with pain as he forced himself to stand and aim another punch at Sasuke. This time when the boy dodged, he was ready and his other hand came around, catching the Uchiha’s other cheek with a sharp blow.
Sasuke stumbled to the side, his hand grabbing his face. Somehow he still managed to look so superior. Like he was so much better than Naruto without trying. And this did nothing but infuriate the blonde further.
“You’re a horrible friend, Naruto - letting her down like that. She doesn’t deserve it.”
The blond ninja was sorely tempted to tell Sasuke that he didn’t deserve the devotion he received from Naruto either, but he decided drawing his kunai across the boy’s throat would be a better alternative.
He was seeing nothing but red. Pain and red - a red so blinding and blood-like it stung. He curled around himself and felt Kyuubi’s presence growing stronger.
“Don’t cheat,” Sasuke chided, his hand whipping out to palm Naruto in the face as he flashed into the boy’s mind the same way he had on that day.
Kyuubi’s retreat was reluctant and took Naruto’s breath away as the boy struggled against the fox’s anger and sudden disappearance.
“Get the hell out of my mind!” Naruto roared and dove at Sasuke, who stopped him with a well-aimed kick.
It was just as Naruto was preparing to create a thousand kage bunshins and kick Sasuke’s ass into next Wednesday that Sakura’s horrified shriek wound its way into the fight and pulled them apart like Kakashi’s arms had so many times.
“What are you two doing?” she as she ran towards them, her eyes livid and wide with terror. “Trying to kill each other?”
It took every ounce of strength he had, for Naruto to remain standing and not crumple under the waves of disappointment she was radiating and trying to crush him with.
“Sakura-chan…” Naruto started, only to stop, at a loss for words. The girl glared at him. Only her gaze was so much worse than a glare. It was like she was more than disappointed. It was as if she had lost all faith in him.
“Do either of you have an explanation that can even begin to account for your mindless irresponsibility?” she asked in a deathly quiet cold voice.
When neither boy answered she turned away from them and began walking away, saying over her shoulder, “Then we’d better be leaving before you idiots attract any more unwanted attention.”
That was the first time in a long time Sakura had insulted Naruto and meant it.
-----
The few days walk to the next town passed with neither Sasuke nor Naruto speaking, and Sakura treating them both with nothing more than distant civility. The night after they had made it to their hotel in the town and Sasuke was fast asleep, Naruto snuck out of his room and made his way to Sakura’s silently. He knocked on her door quietly with two raps and waited, listening to the bustling within the space.
The door eventually opened to reveal a tiny room with beige walls and a single bed ordained in a light blue sheet. There was a matching blue armchair as well. Above the bed hung a large painting of a boat in the middle of the ocean where a young girl stood on its deck, staring out at the observer with a forlorn expression. The girl looked so much like Sakura that Naruto had to avert his eyes.
“Sakura,” he said in a soft, apologetic tone when he saw her hard expression. She moved aside, nodding her head in acknowledgement.
“I’m assuming Sasuke’s asleep?” She looked at him expectantly as he made his way into the room, not needing to remove his shoes because he hadn’t worn any.
Naruto nodded and made his way to the armchair and was about to sit when Sakura said in a tone that was sharper than normal, “You can sit on the bed; I was in the chair.” Her eyes moved to the pack beside the chair. “I was double-checking our supplies,” she clarified distantly. The blonde glanced up - helpless under her disappointment - and felt his head bob in a lifeless nod as he sat on the bed. Of course she hadn’t been in it yet, the blankets hadn’t been touched.
When Sakura had seated herself in the chair, she turned to look at Naruto expectantly, her face openly telling him she had no idea why he’d come and that she wasn’t exactly happy about his appearance. Her green eyes were narrowed like knives that kept piercing their way through Naruto, making him feel increasingly horrible by the second.
He shifted awkwardly and began rolling the hem of his nightshirt between his fingers nervously. “I need some advice,” he told her quietly - weakly.
“About what?” Sakura’s tone had softened minutely at the vulnerability in his voice, but her anger still vibrated through his skull, making him well aware that he’d screwed up. Perhaps irreversibly.
“You’re a horrible friend, Naruto - letting her down like that.”
Naruto swallowed and wondered how he was supposed to tell her that he was losing chakra by the second and had been for some time. His grasp on his shirt tightened until he was white-knuckled, and he clenched his jaw until he thought it was going to break. “The seal’s leaking chakra,” he eventually said unevenly.
And it felt like the walls Sakura had erected all collapsed at once because she was leaning forward - placing a hand on his shoulder - and peering into his eyes with an intense expression of sadness.
There was no shock or denial as Naruto had expected there to be, and it struck him that perhaps Sasuke had already told her.
“You know,” he observed. He felt so frail from the day’s experiences. Like he was a piece of paper constantly being crumpled then restored until he barely resembled the clean sheet he had started as.
“I’m sorry,” she said as if the apology would do nothing to take away the pain. And maybe she was right. Her apology didn’t seem to raise his spirits any or make him feel safer. Actually, he felt more torn, like the only person who could save him had just told him there was no hope.
“You shouldn’t be.” He placed his hand on hers, the one on his shoulder and smiled at her weakly. “I’m the one who keeps making everything more complicated than it should be.”
Sakura shook her head vehemently - against his words saying, “No, Naruto. It’s not your fault.” Her face was close - too close - and Naruto felt himself leaning away instinctively as she continued. “You just keep getting caught up in situations beyond your control.”
Her hand flipped under his and her fingers twined through his - pulled his hand down as her free hand latched onto his other.
“Sakura…?”
“Shh,” she whispered and gently pressed her lips to his. Her mouth moved lightly against his - tentatively - as if she was scared to break him and Naruto felt his entire being screaming against this and pulling away. It didn’t feel right. Not like when Sasuke kissed him.
He leaned back and she moved with him, taking the movement as a hint that they should lay on the bed.
‘No,’ he wanted to say - but he couldn’t because hadn’t he let Sasuke kiss him? If he turned her away then how much more would he hurt her?
She placed his hands on her hips which were soft and feminine, not strong and firm and muscular like he felt when he held Sasuke. She was straddling him and he felt the pressing need to get away strengthen.
And suddenly bile formed in his throat and there were footsteps in the hall - angry and loud. Naruto shook his head, and began to burn, his skin on fire as everything began to glow red.
He was being pulled in so many directions. Pressed into a flat disc and then stretched as far as was humanly possible. And all the while he was standing in the middle, puking his guts out and trying to tell everything to stop so he could get his life into perspective.
But the world didn’t work like that. It didn’t stop simply because someone asked it too. And Sakura was calling his name and Sasuke was yelling at them through the door, his voice urgent and angry and worried. And then his shirt was being lifted and he heard a terrified yelp as something icy cold touched his stomach.
“You’re burning.” The voice was slow and groggy. It echoed and sounded deep and vast, like a canyon would sound. Debilitating and almost surreal.
“The seal…movi…re…guring…Naru…on’t…”
He wanted to say something but there was no way he could speak without breaking her heart because there was only one person he wanted helping him.
And that was impossible.
-----
Words so familiar they had become the foundation of his subconscious rambled on repeat. Sometimes loud. Sometimes quiet. Always desperate. Naruto tried to ask what they meant but he was always met with the same response, “You never understand.”
He watched as Sasuke came running towards him, his eyes gleaming possessively. “I told you as many times as I can and you never understand!” he growled in frustration. “It was always worth it.”
Naruto, feeling the frustration flowing through Sasuke to him, yelled back, “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” He moved towards Sasuke but the other boy stepped back saying, “You’ll have to choose,” in a dark tone. “Don’t screw it up.”
Sakura stepped out of the shadows and smiled at him innocently. “Don’t screw it up.”
And suddenly Sai appeared, his fake grin crinkling his familiar eyes into thin slits of mock joy. “Don’t screw it up. I showed you the way. Now it’s up to you.”
“It was always worth it.”
“Don’t hurt me anymore.”
“Make the right choice.”
And everything melded together until he was hearing nothing but a cacophony of voices as he stood in the center of a giant screaming match between everyone he knew and had ever known. Itachi’s red eyes gleamed impassively. The Fourth smiled at him with a fond twinkle in his eye. Konohamaru ran towards him and poked him playful before dashing back into the crowd, his cackling laugh soaring above all the other shouts and whispers and calls.
“Naruto…”
“No!”
“Naruto.”
“Stop! Shut up!” He stumbled away and into the waiting arms of Orochimaru who hissed at him so loudly he might as well have roared.
“Naruto!”
“I don’t get it!”
And everything went silent except for Sasuke’s quiet voice, which was brimming with urgency.
“Remember… it was always worth it.”
-----
When Naruto woke up he could hear his name being called gently as a hand shook his shoulder. He snorted and pushed the hand away, sitting up and yawning in exhaustion. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at Sakura who was looking passed him.
‘Naruto?’ she thought, her voice soft amid the thoughts of all the other tenants of the hotel that were within hearing range. Naruto realized that when dreaming, people’s thoughts were much more rapid and incoherent.
“I can hear you,” he responded though it didn’t quite matter because she couldn’t hear him. He poked her arm, making the touch as impersonal as impossible, though he refused to acknowledge why he was doing so.
‘Can you hear me?’ There was a pause and then Sakura laughed, ‘I guess that’s a stupid question seeing as you can’t respond. I can feel you poking me though.’
‘-could be dead and she won’t let fucking let me in.’ Naruto recognized Sasuke’s thoughts and stiffened, hearing the uncharacteristic anger towards Sakura in the boy’s thoughts.
‘Sasuke’s knocking on the door, I’m going to let him in. Poke me if that’s all right.’ Sakura continued staring blankly at where she seemed to think Naruto was and twitched slightly when the boy poked her again.
She stood and made her way to the door and all Naruto could think was that he could never love her like that - no matter how hard he tried.
Sasuke’s thoughts suddenly shifted and quieted a bit and Naruto knew Sakura had opened the door. For some strange reason he suddenly felt the urge to calm the boy down because he was still livid. Naruto could hear Sakura thinking of excuses as to why Sasuke couldn’t come in and he could hear Sasuke’s mounting rage. His eyes wandered to the doorway and he saw Sasuke glaring at his female teammate with disgust.
A soft tug began pulling at his stomach and Naruto felt himself stiffen with dread.
‘He’s not okay…he’s not okay. Why can’t they both stop lying to me. I’m not stupid. Fuck, he’s not okay. His chakra is draining faster… I need to get in.’
‘Naruto, Sasuke isn’t letting up.’ And her thoughts suddenly became nothing more than thoughts and Naruto felt like he really shouldn’t be listening. ‘Please just leave. I hate lying to you but it’s for your own good. Leave. Please… You’re not good for hi…Naruto can hear my thoughts. Leave Sasuke. Leave.’ She sounded so angry. Like he was trying to get in her way.
She sounded the same way she had when they had been children and she felt Naruto was threatening her claim on Sasuke…
Naruto listened and watched as everything in the doorway deteriorated. He could see Sasuke staring past Sakura at the bed, his eyes glued to Naruto’s stomach - not his private area. Slowly, Naruto crawled to the side, rolling off the bed so he was hidden behind it and out of Sasuke’s sight.
The Uchiha’s thoughts grew more livid and he began sounding almost violent. Naruto coughed and tried to fight off the coming visibility because he suspected that would throw Sasuke over the edge. The boy was sounding too worried.
Naruto began to feel himself being pulled through a tiny hole in the world and as he did he was able to hear both Sasuke and Sakura’s thoughts and words. Everything blended into a one. An overwhelming knowledge of what the world was.
And when he came through to the other side, Naruto was all too aware of a pained yelp and the sound of body hitting the floor with a dull thud.
-----
A/N - All right so for everyone that’s all OMFGWTFBBQSAKURA! She is in no way competition. This is just another aspect of the plot. No need to worry. I’m rather fond of her despite the fact that I keep getting her beat up ^^; Anyway, I’m ridiculously sorry for the long wait. However, I’d like to reiterate that I’m going to be back to updating once a month now that my life has pretty much been restored to normal. Also: OMFG 7 CHAPTERS LEFT MORE THAN HALF WAY DONE!!!! *throws a party*
<3 you all!
-TJ
Next Chapter
Author: xinexpressiblex
Rating: 14A for swearing and violence.
Warnings: Shounen ai, spoilers for anyone not keeping up with the manga, & AUish. Alternate timeline.
Disclaimer: Yeah, I don’t own.
Thank you: goheh_remix & amain
Summary: The invisibility started with one silly wish upon a star. Good thing Sasuke's doormat personality, Sai's attempts at matchmaking, and a mission gone wrong were all quite normal in the life of Naruto Uzumaki... Wait. What? SasuNaru
Chapter I, Chapter II, Chapter III, Chapter IV, Chapter V, Chapter VI, Chapter VII, Chapter VIII, Chapter IX, Chapter X, Chapter XI, Chapter XII, Chapter XIII, Chapter XIV, Chapter XV + Epilogue
Previously:
“Naruto wearily lifted up his shirt despite the darkness and stared down at the glowing red design of the seal marring his stomach and felt sick all over again because it looked so weak and he was getting dizzy and the seal was shifting around and the world was shifting and--
--blackness like hate engulfed everything - dragging him under - through the lullabies of dreams - never - had into something so much worse.”
Surface Flaws
Chapter VIII
"Well if you told me you were drowning
I would not lend a hand
I’ve seen your face before my friend
But I don’t know if you know who I am
Well I was there and I saw what you did
I saw it with my own two eyes
So you can wipe off that grin
I know where you’ve been
It’s all been a pack of lies"
- In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins)
The world came into view for a brief second before blacking out again. Noise echoed around him and he had to strain to concentrate on any one train of discussion. Naruto groaned, his head rolling to the side as his hands reached out to bat the world away - turn off the sun.
He felt so content… minus the stinging kink in his neck, and the knot in his back, and the cramp in his thigh, and-- Well all right, he wasn’t content per se. He was just so tired that all his pains seemed inconsequential at the moment.
A foot nudged his leg gently and he yawned, kicked back absently - almost instinctively - before his mind floated into coherency.
The hum of sound ringing in his ears meant he should be invisible.
So why was someone kicking him…?
Naruto’s eyes flew open and he started, drawing all his limbs close to his body as he caught sight of the pale white legs before him like two albino tree trunks.
Sasuke towered over him, staring down, his eyes unfocused, with a scrutinizing expression on his face. It was almost endearing. In fact, Naruto probably would have smiled at how confused Sasuke looked, had he any feelings other than hate for the asshole.
Smirking because Sasuke couldn’t see him, Naruto stood, enlisting his ninja sneaky skills to keep as quiet as possible. Sasuke’s eyes followed his movements, though his eyes weren’t trained on Naruto’s face. The blonde turned a bright red and followed Sasuke’s gaze to see the boy was staring at his - his blush deepened - family jewels.
“Pervert!” Naruto yelled, his hands moving to cover his penis as his face adopted a look of scandal. “Fucking, asshole, bastard, lame, disgusting…pervert!”
As Naruto yelled his mind at Sasuke, he thought wistfully of how much more interesting the conversation would be could the other party actually hear him. “Asshole,” he muttered again dejectedly and considered kicking the boy for good measure. The dark-haired boy’s deep red eyes were still locked onto Naruto’s private parts, which unnerved him and made his stomach swell heatedly in a way that made him even more uncomfortable.
He thought of what Sasuke might do to him if he could really see Naruto, and felt his cheeks heat. A small, miniscule, pretty much nonexistent part of him thought that Sasuke would kiss him. The fact that he wouldn’t mind if that happened made him feel he was a pervert almost equal to Sasuke…who was still staring at his crotch with drawn eyebrows and a contemplative frown.
“I’m up here,” Naruto grumbled darkly. He couldn’t help remembering a lecture he’d received once on subconscious actions and people doing things instinctually. Shaking his head, Naruto started towards the tent to check on Sakura. She was his priority. Unlike a certain bastard, she’d been there for Naruto when times had been at their toughest.
Sasuke’s deep red gaze followed him as he walked and Naruto couldn’t help but listen the boy’s overly loud and confused thought. ‘When I find Naruto he’s going to have to do a lot of explaining.’ The thought seemed so apathetic, and Naruto couldn’t help but turn around and snort at the Uchiha.
Sasuke’s eyes were still trained on him as Naruto retorted, “When I return, I’m not saying a fucking word to you, let alone explaining myself.”
-----
Sakura’s tent had a distinctly flowery smell, Naruto noted as he crawled through the back flap to check on the girl. It was cool and the earth was soft and there was a pile of green blankets where Sakura was. Naruto’s breath caught as he saw her lying on her back in her sleeping bag, one hand over her stomach protectively and a serene expression on her face.
Her thoughts whirled around the enclosed space, slow enough to register but too fast to understand. The boy sat next to her and swallowed, his eyes wincing against the emotion that was welling within them. He’d never been one to cry and he doubted he would start now, but… He thought of how faithful she’d been to him.
The sensation of his cheeks heating accompanied his prevailing emotion of guilt. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to her and placed a hand on her forehead, pushing her hair from her face. “I’m your best friend. I shouldn’t be hurting you. Not like this.”
The soft thin strands of her hair ran through his fingers like sand. His hand slowly made its way to her cheek, which he cupped delicately as he told her, “I’ll never care for him more than our friendship. I don’t think I can. He’s never been loyal to me like you have. I’d be a fool to give you up so I can take him away from you.”
It felt so right telling this to her. The idea that perhaps she could almost hear him flitted through his mind and Naruto relaxed, his fingers caressing her cheek as he watched her with pain-filled eyes.
“I know you said you don’t love him anymore… but the look on your face yesterday… You were heartbroken. You don’t need to hide from me Sakura. ‘Sides, I know you too well for that to work. Just like you know me too well…” He paused; contemplated what he’d just said and stared at her sleeping form. “I guess that means you know how badly I’ve fallen for him, huh?” The normally happy countenance that was Naruto’s face crumpled and he ran his free hand through his hair wearily. “I’m so sorry.”
It felt like a dream, but somehow Naruto thought he heard a wisp of a coherent thought in his mind and he couldn’t help but cling to it.
‘I know.’
-----
An hour later found Naruto finally rejoining Sakura and Sasuke as they made their way toward their destination. He felt weak and his body trembled from the exertion of becoming visible again. When he reappeared, Sakura’s eyes narrowed with concern and Sasuke’s just plain narrowed with distaste.
“Naruto,” Sakura said, relieved, offering him a soft smile. It was pained.
The blonde forced his own smile and tried to quell the feeling of disgust welling within him. Of course she would be uncomfortable with him. He had kissed the boy she’d been in love with since forever. He had kissed her future and tried to take it away.
Sasuke stepped between the pair, his movements rigid and militant. “Where were you?” he demanded in a quiet voice. His eyes strayed to Sakura and the pair shared a look. The pink-haired kunoichi continued to look on edge.
“Scouting ahead, I felt something last night on the edge of the woods. Me and Sakura talked about it and thought I should check it out.” His gaze levelled with Sasuke’s and he felt his eyes narrowing defensively.
“Right,” Sasuke snorted. He moved forward, ahead of Naruto and Sakura and began to walk at a faster pace than they’d been at originally. “Let’s hurry up. We should be in the town by noon if we pick up our pace.”
“Mhm,” Sakura agreed tentatively, her eyes fixed on Naruto. They were spilling over with regretful emotions but when Naruto returned her gaze and opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, she looked away sharply and moved forward to join Sasuke.
And once again, it was Naruto on his own.
-----
When the team had arrived in the town Sasuke had spoken of earlier, they’d stopped for a quick lunch, at which point Sakura excused herself from her teammates saying she needed to restock on herbs as well as supplies for the rest of the journey. The boys had taken this in stride and decided to make their way to a park where they could be alone and away from townspeople, who had seemed quite attuned to the tension between them.
They sat side by side beside a lake, staring away from each other. Naruto was trying not to dwell on Sakura’s avoidance while ignoring Sasuke, who was staring at him intently.
The fact that Sasuke was at least watching his face came as nothing but a very small comfort.
“Would you look at me?” Sasuke suddenly said, exasperated. He was leaning forward, trying to put his face in Naruto’s view, whose eyes remained fixated on the clear blue of the lake, which was still in the stagnant summer heat.
“Why? So you can attack me again?” Naruto countered, his voice laced with acidic hate. He still refused to look at Sasuke and ignored the strands of black hair permeating the corner of his vision. If it meant making Sakura happy, Naruto would remain miserable and fighting with Sasuke.
Sasuke snorted in that irritatingly superior way he had perfected at a young age and leaned away from Naruto. A cold aura surrounded the boy and he said in a surprisingly calm voice, “No. Because I know there’s something wrong with you, and I need to know what it is exactly. We’re a team. It’s in our best interest that I know if one of my teammates is sick.”
A cold hand of dissatisfaction grabbed Naruto. Sasuke only cared because it would help the team to function better. He clenched his jaw and turned a searing glare on Sasuke, tearing his gaze away from the cattails that stood still at the lake’s edge.
“I’m fine,” he ground out, pushing himself away from Sasuke to further the distance between them. He couldn’t believe the nerve of the asshole. It was if he was trying to make Naruto think he noticed anything outside his own wants and needs. “Are you trying to act like you pay attention to what’s going on with me? Because I have no idea where you got the stupid idea that I’m not ok from.”
Their eyes held and Sasuke met Naruto’s insinuations with an irritated shake of his head. “Quit being stupid,” he said degradingly, “I saw you throw up last night, Naruto. People that are fine don’t stumble out of their tents and throw up at the base of a tree.” The stupid pervert almost looked smug, Naruto thought, as he stared at the boy - waiting.
“I had food poisoning,” Naruto snapped in response rather quickly. Quicker than he thought he would, considering he’d just made the excuse up on the spot. “Quit pretending you know anything about me,” he continued, his voice lashing out with the intent to hurt.
He needed to keep Sasuke at an arm’s length because they couldn’t get close again. It wasn’t an option. Getting close would only degenerate into wanting, and Naruto couldn’t want Sasuke no matter how badly he wished he could.
“If you can tell me why your chakra is leaking then I’ll stop caring about how your secrecy is affecting our mission.” Sasuke’s voice was detached and professional as he delivered this blow to Naruto.
The blonde’s eyes widened and he let out a shocked breath, as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. “What?” he said, his voice urgent and weak and spiteful at the same time. Sasuke had to be making that up. His chakra wasn’t leaking. It couldn’t be.
“I noticed this morning when I was looking for you,” Sasuke said using the same tone in which he delivered verbal reports to Tsunade - bland and indifferent. “You’re chakra was being drawn from a point that continued to move, a point that had the outline of a body…” His tone was incriminating.
“What colour was it?” Naruto demanded urgently, ignoring the implication of the way Sasuke spoke. His hand had moved to the seal instinctively when Sasuke had mentioned it being drawn from a certain point and he felt a bubbling sickness crawling up his throat.
“Red.”
“Not good,” Naruto murmured to himself as he thought about this. First he was becoming invisible, and now his chakra was leaking? The boy swallowed nervously and scoured his mind for some piece of information that he had previously overlooked that could help him piece this degenerating situation together.
“I know that you were the embodied chakra, Naruto,” Sasuke said simply, as if he weren’t accusing Naruto of keeping some huge piece of information from him.
Naruto tensed, his gaze snapping to Sasuke. “You don’t know anything, bastard,” Naruto growled defensively. His chakra flared angrily and he clenched his hands around a handful of grass - tried not to react to those deep obsidian eyes that were set in a look of impassivity.
“Then why are you acting so guilty?” Sasuke wanted to know. He leaned forward, his expression hungry for confrontation and starving for contact with Naruto, whether it be a punch to the face or a mind-staggering kiss.
“Tell my why you fucking care so much, Sasuke. Because the only thing I’ve gotten from this conversation is that you don’t give a shit about me - only the team. I don’t owe you anything, bastard.” Naruto was blowing this out of proportion, he knew he was, but Sasuke was too close.
The blonde shuddered inwardly. He wouldn’t let Sasuke know. He wouldn’t allow the other boy to look at him with pity and disappointment.
“What about Sakura?” Sasuke retorted, his lips curling up into a lazy smirk. “She’s part of this team too. I know she knows. Maybe she wouldn’t have gotten hurt if you’d told me what was going--”
Naruto’s fist had connected with Sasuke’s face before the boy had even finished his statement and Naruto was standing over him - panting and furious. Chakra surrounded him in a lashing wave of contempt.
“Don’t you dare fucking bring her into this,” Naruto growled, his voice barely above a whisper. It couldn’t be his fault that she’d been hurt. Not like that. It was because he hadn’t been paying enough attention. Nothing would have changed if he’d told Sasuke…
“-broke her heart yesterday, Naruto. She’s in love and you’re too stupid too notice. Too caught up in your obsession with me.”
Naruto looked down at Sasuke, his eyes wide with terror as his foot reared back in preparation to kick the boy. His foot collided with Sasuke’s head with a sickening sound and Sasuke swore, rising to stand and face Naruto, blood trickling from his ear. “What? Am I being too truthful for you?” He dodged a punch from Naruto and struck the boy in the stomach with his knee. His arm reached over the blonde’s body, which had curled up instinctively against the pain, and brought his elbow down on Naruto’s back, knocking the boy to the ground in a whirl of black spots.
“Shut up,” Naruto hissed, his voice laced with pain as he forced himself to stand and aim another punch at Sasuke. This time when the boy dodged, he was ready and his other hand came around, catching the Uchiha’s other cheek with a sharp blow.
Sasuke stumbled to the side, his hand grabbing his face. Somehow he still managed to look so superior. Like he was so much better than Naruto without trying. And this did nothing but infuriate the blonde further.
“You’re a horrible friend, Naruto - letting her down like that. She doesn’t deserve it.”
The blond ninja was sorely tempted to tell Sasuke that he didn’t deserve the devotion he received from Naruto either, but he decided drawing his kunai across the boy’s throat would be a better alternative.
He was seeing nothing but red. Pain and red - a red so blinding and blood-like it stung. He curled around himself and felt Kyuubi’s presence growing stronger.
“Don’t cheat,” Sasuke chided, his hand whipping out to palm Naruto in the face as he flashed into the boy’s mind the same way he had on that day.
Kyuubi’s retreat was reluctant and took Naruto’s breath away as the boy struggled against the fox’s anger and sudden disappearance.
“Get the hell out of my mind!” Naruto roared and dove at Sasuke, who stopped him with a well-aimed kick.
It was just as Naruto was preparing to create a thousand kage bunshins and kick Sasuke’s ass into next Wednesday that Sakura’s horrified shriek wound its way into the fight and pulled them apart like Kakashi’s arms had so many times.
“What are you two doing?” she as she ran towards them, her eyes livid and wide with terror. “Trying to kill each other?”
It took every ounce of strength he had, for Naruto to remain standing and not crumple under the waves of disappointment she was radiating and trying to crush him with.
“Sakura-chan…” Naruto started, only to stop, at a loss for words. The girl glared at him. Only her gaze was so much worse than a glare. It was like she was more than disappointed. It was as if she had lost all faith in him.
“Do either of you have an explanation that can even begin to account for your mindless irresponsibility?” she asked in a deathly quiet cold voice.
When neither boy answered she turned away from them and began walking away, saying over her shoulder, “Then we’d better be leaving before you idiots attract any more unwanted attention.”
That was the first time in a long time Sakura had insulted Naruto and meant it.
-----
The few days walk to the next town passed with neither Sasuke nor Naruto speaking, and Sakura treating them both with nothing more than distant civility. The night after they had made it to their hotel in the town and Sasuke was fast asleep, Naruto snuck out of his room and made his way to Sakura’s silently. He knocked on her door quietly with two raps and waited, listening to the bustling within the space.
The door eventually opened to reveal a tiny room with beige walls and a single bed ordained in a light blue sheet. There was a matching blue armchair as well. Above the bed hung a large painting of a boat in the middle of the ocean where a young girl stood on its deck, staring out at the observer with a forlorn expression. The girl looked so much like Sakura that Naruto had to avert his eyes.
“Sakura,” he said in a soft, apologetic tone when he saw her hard expression. She moved aside, nodding her head in acknowledgement.
“I’m assuming Sasuke’s asleep?” She looked at him expectantly as he made his way into the room, not needing to remove his shoes because he hadn’t worn any.
Naruto nodded and made his way to the armchair and was about to sit when Sakura said in a tone that was sharper than normal, “You can sit on the bed; I was in the chair.” Her eyes moved to the pack beside the chair. “I was double-checking our supplies,” she clarified distantly. The blonde glanced up - helpless under her disappointment - and felt his head bob in a lifeless nod as he sat on the bed. Of course she hadn’t been in it yet, the blankets hadn’t been touched.
When Sakura had seated herself in the chair, she turned to look at Naruto expectantly, her face openly telling him she had no idea why he’d come and that she wasn’t exactly happy about his appearance. Her green eyes were narrowed like knives that kept piercing their way through Naruto, making him feel increasingly horrible by the second.
He shifted awkwardly and began rolling the hem of his nightshirt between his fingers nervously. “I need some advice,” he told her quietly - weakly.
“About what?” Sakura’s tone had softened minutely at the vulnerability in his voice, but her anger still vibrated through his skull, making him well aware that he’d screwed up. Perhaps irreversibly.
“You’re a horrible friend, Naruto - letting her down like that.”
Naruto swallowed and wondered how he was supposed to tell her that he was losing chakra by the second and had been for some time. His grasp on his shirt tightened until he was white-knuckled, and he clenched his jaw until he thought it was going to break. “The seal’s leaking chakra,” he eventually said unevenly.
And it felt like the walls Sakura had erected all collapsed at once because she was leaning forward - placing a hand on his shoulder - and peering into his eyes with an intense expression of sadness.
There was no shock or denial as Naruto had expected there to be, and it struck him that perhaps Sasuke had already told her.
“You know,” he observed. He felt so frail from the day’s experiences. Like he was a piece of paper constantly being crumpled then restored until he barely resembled the clean sheet he had started as.
“I’m sorry,” she said as if the apology would do nothing to take away the pain. And maybe she was right. Her apology didn’t seem to raise his spirits any or make him feel safer. Actually, he felt more torn, like the only person who could save him had just told him there was no hope.
“You shouldn’t be.” He placed his hand on hers, the one on his shoulder and smiled at her weakly. “I’m the one who keeps making everything more complicated than it should be.”
Sakura shook her head vehemently - against his words saying, “No, Naruto. It’s not your fault.” Her face was close - too close - and Naruto felt himself leaning away instinctively as she continued. “You just keep getting caught up in situations beyond your control.”
Her hand flipped under his and her fingers twined through his - pulled his hand down as her free hand latched onto his other.
“Sakura…?”
“Shh,” she whispered and gently pressed her lips to his. Her mouth moved lightly against his - tentatively - as if she was scared to break him and Naruto felt his entire being screaming against this and pulling away. It didn’t feel right. Not like when Sasuke kissed him.
He leaned back and she moved with him, taking the movement as a hint that they should lay on the bed.
‘No,’ he wanted to say - but he couldn’t because hadn’t he let Sasuke kiss him? If he turned her away then how much more would he hurt her?
She placed his hands on her hips which were soft and feminine, not strong and firm and muscular like he felt when he held Sasuke. She was straddling him and he felt the pressing need to get away strengthen.
And suddenly bile formed in his throat and there were footsteps in the hall - angry and loud. Naruto shook his head, and began to burn, his skin on fire as everything began to glow red.
He was being pulled in so many directions. Pressed into a flat disc and then stretched as far as was humanly possible. And all the while he was standing in the middle, puking his guts out and trying to tell everything to stop so he could get his life into perspective.
But the world didn’t work like that. It didn’t stop simply because someone asked it too. And Sakura was calling his name and Sasuke was yelling at them through the door, his voice urgent and angry and worried. And then his shirt was being lifted and he heard a terrified yelp as something icy cold touched his stomach.
“You’re burning.” The voice was slow and groggy. It echoed and sounded deep and vast, like a canyon would sound. Debilitating and almost surreal.
“The seal…movi…re…guring…Naru…on’t…”
He wanted to say something but there was no way he could speak without breaking her heart because there was only one person he wanted helping him.
And that was impossible.
-----
Words so familiar they had become the foundation of his subconscious rambled on repeat. Sometimes loud. Sometimes quiet. Always desperate. Naruto tried to ask what they meant but he was always met with the same response, “You never understand.”
He watched as Sasuke came running towards him, his eyes gleaming possessively. “I told you as many times as I can and you never understand!” he growled in frustration. “It was always worth it.”
Naruto, feeling the frustration flowing through Sasuke to him, yelled back, “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” He moved towards Sasuke but the other boy stepped back saying, “You’ll have to choose,” in a dark tone. “Don’t screw it up.”
Sakura stepped out of the shadows and smiled at him innocently. “Don’t screw it up.”
And suddenly Sai appeared, his fake grin crinkling his familiar eyes into thin slits of mock joy. “Don’t screw it up. I showed you the way. Now it’s up to you.”
“It was always worth it.”
“Don’t hurt me anymore.”
“Make the right choice.”
And everything melded together until he was hearing nothing but a cacophony of voices as he stood in the center of a giant screaming match between everyone he knew and had ever known. Itachi’s red eyes gleamed impassively. The Fourth smiled at him with a fond twinkle in his eye. Konohamaru ran towards him and poked him playful before dashing back into the crowd, his cackling laugh soaring above all the other shouts and whispers and calls.
“Naruto…”
“No!”
“Naruto.”
“Stop! Shut up!” He stumbled away and into the waiting arms of Orochimaru who hissed at him so loudly he might as well have roared.
“Naruto!”
“I don’t get it!”
And everything went silent except for Sasuke’s quiet voice, which was brimming with urgency.
“Remember… it was always worth it.”
-----
When Naruto woke up he could hear his name being called gently as a hand shook his shoulder. He snorted and pushed the hand away, sitting up and yawning in exhaustion. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at Sakura who was looking passed him.
‘Naruto?’ she thought, her voice soft amid the thoughts of all the other tenants of the hotel that were within hearing range. Naruto realized that when dreaming, people’s thoughts were much more rapid and incoherent.
“I can hear you,” he responded though it didn’t quite matter because she couldn’t hear him. He poked her arm, making the touch as impersonal as impossible, though he refused to acknowledge why he was doing so.
‘Can you hear me?’ There was a pause and then Sakura laughed, ‘I guess that’s a stupid question seeing as you can’t respond. I can feel you poking me though.’
‘-could be dead and she won’t let fucking let me in.’ Naruto recognized Sasuke’s thoughts and stiffened, hearing the uncharacteristic anger towards Sakura in the boy’s thoughts.
‘Sasuke’s knocking on the door, I’m going to let him in. Poke me if that’s all right.’ Sakura continued staring blankly at where she seemed to think Naruto was and twitched slightly when the boy poked her again.
She stood and made her way to the door and all Naruto could think was that he could never love her like that - no matter how hard he tried.
Sasuke’s thoughts suddenly shifted and quieted a bit and Naruto knew Sakura had opened the door. For some strange reason he suddenly felt the urge to calm the boy down because he was still livid. Naruto could hear Sakura thinking of excuses as to why Sasuke couldn’t come in and he could hear Sasuke’s mounting rage. His eyes wandered to the doorway and he saw Sasuke glaring at his female teammate with disgust.
A soft tug began pulling at his stomach and Naruto felt himself stiffen with dread.
‘He’s not okay…he’s not okay. Why can’t they both stop lying to me. I’m not stupid. Fuck, he’s not okay. His chakra is draining faster… I need to get in.’
‘Naruto, Sasuke isn’t letting up.’ And her thoughts suddenly became nothing more than thoughts and Naruto felt like he really shouldn’t be listening. ‘Please just leave. I hate lying to you but it’s for your own good. Leave. Please… You’re not good for hi…Naruto can hear my thoughts. Leave Sasuke. Leave.’ She sounded so angry. Like he was trying to get in her way.
She sounded the same way she had when they had been children and she felt Naruto was threatening her claim on Sasuke…
Naruto listened and watched as everything in the doorway deteriorated. He could see Sasuke staring past Sakura at the bed, his eyes glued to Naruto’s stomach - not his private area. Slowly, Naruto crawled to the side, rolling off the bed so he was hidden behind it and out of Sasuke’s sight.
The Uchiha’s thoughts grew more livid and he began sounding almost violent. Naruto coughed and tried to fight off the coming visibility because he suspected that would throw Sasuke over the edge. The boy was sounding too worried.
Naruto began to feel himself being pulled through a tiny hole in the world and as he did he was able to hear both Sasuke and Sakura’s thoughts and words. Everything blended into a one. An overwhelming knowledge of what the world was.
And when he came through to the other side, Naruto was all too aware of a pained yelp and the sound of body hitting the floor with a dull thud.
-----
A/N - All right so for everyone that’s all OMFGWTFBBQSAKURA! She is in no way competition. This is just another aspect of the plot. No need to worry. I’m rather fond of her despite the fact that I keep getting her beat up ^^; Anyway, I’m ridiculously sorry for the long wait. However, I’d like to reiterate that I’m going to be back to updating once a month now that my life has pretty much been restored to normal. Also: OMFG 7 CHAPTERS LEFT MORE THAN HALF WAY DONE!!!! *throws a party*
<3 you all!
-TJ
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