Solitude
By: Gothic Lust
InuYasha/Naruto Slight AU
Sasuke/Kagome
Action-Adventure/Drama/Friendship
Slight romance added…
Rated M
Summary: "You know, Naruto," Sasuke spoke, the kunai imbedded into the rock face above his former friend's head. "Sometimes, things are not meant to be understood…." [Sas/Kag] [Inu/Nar Xover] Darkfic…
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the InuYasha or Naruto characters.
Author's Note: I've decided to make this a Kagome/Sasuke fanfiction. There won't be too much romance, at least, not for a while. I haven't decided where I want this plot to go, so I have no clue how long it's going to be. I just know that I want the group to stubbornly continue to search for Sasuke, even as he tells them to shove off. I know that the summary isn't much, but I hope to fix it later as things come to me.
WARNINGS: Character Death (a lot of it), Lemons/limes, gore, heavy violence, and foul language (not too much). This will be dark, though it may have a happy ending. (I'm a sucker for happy endings, so not too much bribing needed for it.)
Chapter one:
"Why don't you go back, this life has to be very hard for you?"
"I don't need you to tell me what to do, Karin."
"I'm not telling you to do anything you arrogant ass, I just think you're being stubborn."
"I can't go back, not ever."
"And why not?"
"Who would take a man who's bathed in innocent blood?"
The words stung his ears, even as the crunch of rock beneath his sharpened kunai and the vibrations from the force used to imbed it near his friends head dulled any sound that further came from his friend's parted lips. Wide cornflower-blue eyes narrowed, slightly dazed as dust and debris floated near the blonde's long lashes, and forced them nearly closed.
Sasuke breathed heavily, calming his soaring heart within his bare sweating chest, and dulled the words that flowed with the roar of blood in his ears as his anger ebbed. He tightened his grip on the kunai forcefully impaled within the tan rock. He rested his arm a bit on his rival's shoulder as the boy leaned back; too startled to strike the many openings that Sasuke presented him with the kunai that was loosely gripped in his left hand.
Their fighting could easily have been put to an end at that very moment. It took but one well placed kunai between Sasuke's ribs to injure him enough to bring him back home—back to Konoha, but Naruto stood still, breathing just as heavily from their battle. Neither had sustained injuries, much to each other's dismay, but their energy was draining startlingly fast.
Something, or someone, was taking it from both fighters, leaving them too dizzy to land a final blow. Both could only glare at one another, waiting for the other to gather whatever strength that had not yet fled his bones to make the final strike. Neither lifted their kunai's any higher, but Sasuke, however, did manage to grasp Naruto's right forearm with his left tightly, pinching some of the nerves near the elbow.
"You know, Naruto," Sasuke spoke, his voice deep and threatening. The kunai imbedded into the rock face above his former friend's head shifted a bit as Sasuke struggled to pull it free. "Sometimes, things are not meant to be understood…."
Sasuke's dark onyx colored eyes narrowed as he glared, searching the wide blue orbs for any sign that his thick-headed friend understood. He never planned to return to Konoha, not after all the he did, after what he had become. There was nothing left for him now, there never was.
With his very hands, he ended the only chance for their clan's survival. His hands, once innocent of blood, drowned in it, and with his tainted flesh, he destroyed the only man that held any honor, true honor. He understood Itachi's words too late to help, too late to stop him from killing his older brother, his flesh and blood.
His vision blurred, reminding him rather painfully just what his fate would be. He spent years perfecting himself and the fabled Sharingan eye. Honing his skills, only to be blinded by it and the power he once sought.
He grinned sadly and watched as Naruto's brows furrowed in confusion. It was funny how now, when he would give everything to never have gone with Orochimaru and stayed in Konoha, that he could never go back. Colors were slowly bleaching, and soon they would be nothing but a solid black pigment, an endless void where no light could reach.
It was only fair that he not steal the light that others were so graciously given. He squandered his, belittled it and tossed it to the dirt like garbage. Now as his eyes failed him, he had but one business to take care of, and that was to save Naruto Uzumaki.
"There are some things that are too damaged to be repaired," Sasuke continued, his cold façade breaking as he stared into the face of his longtime friend and rival. He could see, with what remained of his sight, the hope that died upon his cheeks, the spark that burned out within is cornflower eyes. "Stop following me, Naruto. I will never step foot inside the walls of Konoha again, neither as ally or foe. You may have my word on that."
Sasuke pulled his kunai free and stood back, taking tentative steps away from the boy who grew up too fast, much like himself, and began to fade as his teleportation jutsu took into effect.
"Wait…" Blue eyes opened wide, the kunai gripped tightly by white knuckles as he wobbled forward on shaky knees. "Think about Sakura!"
Sasuke allowed himself a small slip in his mask to show his remorse for putting the one girl to love him deeply and truthfully as she did, in harm's way—emotionally and physically. He locked eyes with is friend, the man he knew could return her love should she give it to him.
"I am." Sasuke said. "Tell her I'm sorry," and with that, he was gone, much like the dust that dispersed upon the winds.
Naruto grumbled, kicking a tiny rock in his way on the dirt road into a nearby bush. Beside him, Sakura swung her arms lightly as she walked, her hips matching the tempo of the song they had previously been listening to as the end credits of the latest ninja movie rolled. Naruto stole another glance at the pink-haired beauty, wondering when she would realize his love for her was eternal and unconditional.
She had just stopped crying over Sasuke and his irrevocable decision to reside beyond the borders of Konoha. Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that Sakura only agreed to go to the movies with him to get her mind off her first love.
This kind of outing sadly reminded him of the weekends spent with the arrogant Uchiha when he had been part of their team, fighting valiantly for the sake of their village. Back then they would spend their free time sneaking into movies by standing upside down on the ceiling, silently (not so much in Naruto's case) making jokes as the scenes played out and grinning when the hero won in the end, everyone wishing that they were him.
Those fairytales always wrapped up beautifully. The hero always grew up in the end, gained the beautiful girl of his dreams, saved his best friend and the world from total destruction while humbly refusing the honors of it.
Naruto's own fairytale wasn't so pretty or well wrapped. He had grown up too fast to understand the world he stood in. His dream girl was head over heels in love with his best friend who was MIA and self-destructive, and the ninja villages were on a teetering edge of negotiations that was nearly a hairs width away from all out war. He knew that no honor would be coming his way that he could humbly refuse, and that made him even more irritable.
What was worse, Kakashi had interrupted his small chance at normalcy with his dream girl by calling them for a mission. So as they walked behind their former teacher towards the Hokage Tower, Naruto grumbled and kicked any poor defenseless rock that happened to be within kicking range of his shuffling feet.
As the trio continued their trek to the tower for a briefing of their mission, Sakura humming the end song to the movie dejectedly, Naruto grumbling and shuffling his feet, and Kakashi sighing every few steps with his hands shoved deeply in his pockets, Sai and Ino could be seen standing off to the side at the end of the street with Ino attempting to coax Sai into a conversation.
Kakashi sped his steps a bit and pulled a hidden hand from the depths of his pockets to wave at the two. Ino seemed not to notice the gesture and continued to speak animatedly to an unresponsive Sai whose full attention was now given to the Jounin walking towards them. Naruto cursed below his breath, now realizing that any mission that he and Sakura were going to be sent on, Sai would be sure to be added to the team too. The string of profanities was not unnoticed and was rewarded with a strong punch from Sakura to his upper right arm, though the hit was half-hearted at best.
"Good evening, and what would two young shinobi such as yourselves be doing on such a lovely day as this? Could the cold Sai be on a date with the lovely Ino?" Kakashi laughed as he poked fun at the temporary addition to his team.
Sai didn't comment to Kakashi, but raised an eyebrow in question to Naruto and Sakura who stood behind their former teacher. Naruto glanced at Sakura for a moment before nodding. Though he didn't like the arrogant, silent ass, he was a great addition to the team.
"Tsunade-sama has called us in for a mission," Sakura informed them, her attention now resting on Ino giving her a questioning glance.
"Yea, so you better cut your date short Sai, we've got work to do." Naruto growled. Great addition to the team or not, he still didn't like the guy. There was only one arrogant, silent ass that he could put up with, and that was Sasuke Uchiha, his best friend.
"Okay, let's get things straight," Ino shouted angrily, her glares rounding on Naruto and Kakashi. "Sai and I are not on a date, we—"
"Ino!" Choji and Shikamaru ran in between the group, Shikamaru grabbing his team mate's arm. "We've got a mission and we leave now."
"What, why didn't you come and get me!" Ino's anger dissipating into shock.
"We had no time," Choji answered for his best friend. "Our mission is top priority, we've got to pack and leave in an hour."
"Then what are we standing around for," Ino took off in a sprint, tearing her arm from Shikamaru's grip. "And don't think that I'm going to forget, you two are dead." Ino shouted at Kakashi and Naruto as she sprinted down the dirt road to her new apartment.
Naruto laughed lightly, crossing his arms behind his head as he walked away from the flower stand to the Hokage tower with his eyes closed. "Everyone's busy today." He commented, cornflower eyes opening slowly. "I wonder what he's doing."
"No use in thinking about it," Kakashi placed a strong hand on his student's shoulder, gripping tight. "We've got a mission to accomplish, remember."
"Yea, right." Naruto said low and thick. "No point." Naruto looked back at Sakura, noticing how Kakashi as well stole glances at her.
Her eyes were glazed a bit with unshed tears, her hands shoved into her hair, lazily combing through it so she would not think about it—about him.
Her hair was growing again; it was now past her shoulders, just below the nape of her neck. There was always gossip that Sasuke liked girls with long hair, but she never cared, at least, not now. The fact that she was growing back her hair meant either one of two things: One, she was getting over it or; Two, she still couldn't find the key to the handcuffs that tied her heart to Sasuke's, and wasn't really trying to search for it.
Sai pulled her right hand out of her hair by the wrist; she looked up—shocked—when he tugged her forward, no emotions showed on his face.
Sai looked up at Naruto, onyx clashed with cornflower blue, but for that brief moment, Sai reminded him of Sasuke. He nodded absentmindedly and followed his two teammates as they walked arm-and-hand towards the Hokage tower.
Behind him Kakashi sighed, pulling from his side bag his famous pastime, flipping to the dog-eared page with a flick of his wrist. "This is going to be a long trip. It always is."
The Water Country was beautiful, no doubt about that. The archipelago of islands created a beautiful figure from the air. The crystal blue waters broke upon clear white beaches, the colors of the ocean even blending into green in some areas.
The team forgot their mission as they sailed above with the clouds in the basket of a hot air balloon. Naruto leaned dangerously over the edge, Kakashi lazily holding one of his ankles so the teen didn't fall as he gazed in wonder. Sakura leaned next to him, though not so far over as her reckless friend often did, switching sides at times as he screamed, pointing to whatever caught his attention.
Sai stood on the other side of wherever Naruto was, next to Kakashi and their guide. They steadied the craft as Naruto's weight dangerously tipped them in whatever direction he was looking. Sakura laughed, several times pointing out things that Naruto might have missed.
Kakashi glanced up every now and again from his book, happy to see that the two were slowly healing from the wounds Sasuke had deeply inflicted on them.
However, the two would soon need to reign in their childish emotions and act as adults, professional shinobi worthy of their high station. He turned to observe their guide; he was a thin man with a long face and wiry hair that curled unevenly by his ears. Kakashi didn't particularly trust the man, but he was their guide to the palace and without him, they'd never get there.
"How long until we reach the palace?" Kakashi asked over the top of his book, tugging a bit on Naruto's ankle as the boy leaned over a bit too far.
"Not long, I'm going to start my decent now." He spoke odd, with what seemed like a French accent, but Kakashi didn't question it. He was not so good with non-shinobi accents from the foreign countries.
"I see it, I see it." Naruto shouted, leaning yet again dangerously over the side.
"I see it too." Sakura's green eyes widened. "The palace is beautiful!"
"Wait until you get inside." The man laughed as he lowered them to the open field of lush green grass a ways off from the palace.
Once they touched down, a group of people were waiting for them. Nearest to the basket was a slim young girl with long sleek wavy raven hair dressed in a plain blue kimono. Her sapphire eyes examined each one of them as they disembarked from the basket, her strong examination hidden behind a brilliant smile. The girl stepped forward and took Kakashi's bag and bowed to the ninja group.
"Are you the princess?" Naruto shouted in awe. "You're very beauti—ouch." Sakura, who was standing next to the young blonde shinobi, elbowed him in the ribs and cleared her throat noisily.
The girl, however, was unfazed by Naruto's loud and brash behavior, and brushed it off with a nervous giggle hidden behind her small hand.
"No, I'm not Kikyo-hime." She smiled again, which made Naruto feel very much like he could trust the girl. "I am, however, her personal attendant. I have been asked to escort you to where you will meet with her." She shouldered the bag she had taken from Kakashi and bowed her head before pivoting on her left foot and gesturing to the palace where the maids and servants had lined themselves and bowed. "Please follow me."
"If you don't mind my asking," Kakashi said after the doors closed behind them. He took back the bag the girl had on her shoulder as she turned to focus on him, her sandals tidily placed into a cubicle above her name plate. "What is your name?"
The girl's eyes widened momentarily before she stopped and turned to them completely. Naruto and the others stopped abruptly to watch her kneel and fold herself into a deep bow, her hands elegantly and traditionally placed before her forehead.
"My apologies, I completely forgot to introduce myself properly." She stood gracefully and bowed once more with a normal bend of her waist. "My name is Higurashi, Kagome, but you may call me Kagome."
"It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Kagome," Kakashi nodded his head and adjusted the weight of his bag. "I'm Hatake, Kakashi."
"I'm Uzumaki, Naruto, and I'm going to be hoka—" Sakura grabbed Naruto into a sleeper hold, her arm firmly under the blonde's neck, lifting his chin.
"Naruto," she hissed and squeezed tighter. "She doesn't need to hear about that."
"Sa-ku-ra-chan, ca-can't—" Sai unwound Sakura's arm from around Naruto's neck and bowed to Kagome while introducing himself. Sakura blushed, realizing they were not alone and bowed low and rigid, blending her fast apology with her shy introduction.
Kagome raised an eyebrow at their rather rough treatment with one another, noticing how violent the girl was, but decided not to comment. "It is nice to meet you as well Sakura-san. You all may place your shoes into the cubicles assigned to you."
Sakura stopped in step when she began to follow as the group moved on after taking off their sandals. "San?" Sakura blinked and sped up to fall into step beside their guide. "Kagome-san, aren't you older than me?"
Kagome just turned to look at the taller pink haired shinobi with a light smile on her lips. "No, I just celebrated my seventeenth birthday last week."
"Really?" Sakura exclaimed rather loudly, drowning out Naruto's snickering in the background. "You just seemed so mature, I thought you were in your twenties."
Kagome continued to face ahead while she answered, "I don't know whether or not to take that as a compliment or an insult."
Sakura appeared horrified and began to backpedal rather quickly. Her words ran together making them rather incoherent to the young woman that they were intended for, so instead, noting that they were having no effect, she decided rather to take out her embarrassment on the still chortling Naruto and delivered a rather strong right hook to his jaw. Naruto stopped laughing soon after his recovery from the non-too-gentle hit.
Kagome smiled, noting how the girl was rather easy to rile up, but didn't appreciate that her anger was taken out on the innocent, though thick-headed, Naruto. They stopped before an elaborately painted silk screen door. Kagome opened it by sliding the screen to her right and allowed the group to pass.
The room was lavishly decorated with purple and pink silks and towering red wood bookcases stacked with scrolls and hard bound pages. On the opposite wall near the right hand corner by another set of elaborately painted screen doors sat a rather strange young man with long white hair and deep red fighting gear. They watched as their guide bowed to him and asked them to sit at the low polished red wood table in the center of the room.
"Lady Kikyo will meet with you shortly. I will announce that you are here, please make yourself comfortable." Kagome then excused herself through the adjacent doors the young man in red silk was guarding.
Team seven sat on the soft purple cushions before the low table, Kakashi and Naruto on the side they entered, Sakura and Sai on the opposite side with their backs to the warrior guarding the door. Naruto glanced over at the warrior, or more specifically at his sword that rested on the man's left shoulder. The tattered weapon didn't seem in any sort of working condition and Naruto could not spot any other weapons the man may have been hiding. He scanned the room quickly for any sort of hidden traps that may have been set for the princess and her attendant. He was sweeping the room again after finding nothing that struck him as odd when a gruff sigh caused his attention to shift to the silent guard.
"Ya don't have to keep searchin' for anythin' suspicious, the room hasn't been booby trapped." The man's voice was hard and guttural, it was a way of speaking that came off offensive than anything else and Naruto's short temper didn't take to any sort of treatment like that kindly.
"Well, they could have easily placed paper bombs in the room, or trip wire, or any other sort of trap. Anyone other than a specially trained shinobi wouldn't be able to spot them." Naruto growled out, glaring at the guard.
Sharp gold eyes, seemed to laugh at him from behind a wide grin. "Yea, well they'll have a hell of a time trying to get anything past my sense of smell! I may look stupid, but I ain't dumb!"
"Smell?" Sakura asked, turning around to face the guard. She didn't like having her back to him, and Sai, who was seated next to her, most certainly didn't like it either. Sai continued to fidget with his kunai beneath the table. If the guard noticed the weapon, he didn't say anything.
"Yea, smell." The man growled. "You got a problem with that!"
"It just doesn't seem like a valid way to detect traps." Sakura replied, and would have continued to lecture on the schematics of trap tactics if Kagome hadn't reappeared.
Kagome slipped through the door with her back to them and silently shut it before she turned to face them.
"I'm sorry for taking so long, Lady Kikyou was just finishing her bath, and she will be with you as soon as she is appropriate." She said, joining them at the table, seating herself closer to the warrior.
Sakura didn't bring up the warrior's claimed sense of smell again, so they waited in silence for a few more minutes before Kagome, fidgeting, spoke.
"Um, where exactly is it you're from again?" Kagome asked nervously.
"You don't know where we're from?" Kakashi questioned in response. His lone-man eyebrow shot up beneath his forehead protector.
"I'm afraid not. I'm not even sure why you are here." Kagome placed her hands onto the table, twisting the one ring she wore on the smallest finger of her right hand. "I was told to escort you to your meeting with my Lady."
The four ninja looked at one another. Sai's eyes shifted to his left, searching out the warrior in the room. He watched as the man shifted one long red-clad leg. The other three followed his lead, pulling their weapons from various hidden areas upon their person. Before they could strike the guard, however, the door beside him opened.
Kagome immediately lowered herself into a kowtow. The warrior only bowed his briefly towards his charge and returned to his original position, though his eyes scanned the room, specifically the guarded and armed ninja.
"Do not worry yourself, Kagome." The princess spoke, silk fluttering behind her as she walked delicately across the small room. A thick royal purple cushion was placed at the head of the table for her. She sat gracefully upon it almost as if she never lowered herself, simply floated lightly onto the soft padding. "They are here on my personal request.""
Kagome, having followed her lady's walk so as to not present her back, raised herself once again to the table.
Naruto, having been the only one not to bow to the princess when she walked in, immediately began glance from Kagome to Lady Kikyou. His head whipped from side to side impossibly fast continuously until, from beneath the table, Sakura aimed a hard kick to him.
"You! You're the princess!" Naruto yelled out, his hands slamming onto the table, the Kunai he had pulled out earlier when they were about to attack the warrior was still in his hand. "You two could be twins." He used it to point from Kagome to the princess.
As the weapon moved from Kagome to the princess, Naruto suddenly found himself pinned to the floor, a hand tightly pressed against his throat, and claws digging into the delicate flesh of his neck.
"InuYasha!" Kagome screamed. "Get off…" A gust of wind cut off Kagome's words.
Just as quickly as InuYasha had pinned Naruto to the woven floor mats, Kakashi had InuYasha's own neck bare beneath his blade and a strong hand gripping the warrior's wrist, preventing him from tearing out Naruto's voice-box.
Now," Kakashi spoke pulling his Kunai closer to InuYasha's exposed flesh so a thin red line of blood appeared. "We can stay in this standstill all day, or we can overlook the idiot's mistake and return to our peaceful discussion."
"Peaceful my ass!" InuYasha cursed.
"InuYasha." Her words were soft, but the power behind them made all the warriors in the room glance to the princess still seated calmly at the head of the table. "Release him."
"But!" He protested, struggling against Kakashi's firm grip on his wrist.
"Now." She replied firmly.
With a growl, the warrior stood, Kakashi following him with the blade still at his throat and a tight grip on his hand. They turned slowly, away from Naruto. Only when Kakashi was between Naruto and the warrior, did he release him.
"Good." Kikyou spoke again. "Now, if we could get to pressing matters."
Everybody nodded and returned to their respective seats. Naruto didn't speak as he sat up.
"Why did you call us out here, Lady Kikyou?" Kakashi addressed the princess. "You have a capable bodyguard, I don't see a reason to hire four extremely skilled ninja for such a simple task."
Kikyou smiled. "I am not searching for more bodyguards for myself, but for my people."
InuYasha snorted. "Those reports ain't true. They might be going somewhere else."
"Who's coming?" Sakura spoke up.
Kikyou frowned this time, staring deep into Naruto's headband.
"Akatsuki."
I hope you enjoyed that first chapter! I don't know when or if I'll get to the next chapter. I just wanted to finish this one, since I've had it on my pen drive for so long.
Please review and tell me what you think!
-Gothic Lust
Please remember that all my chapters are only edited by me. I try my best I always manage to miss something. If you happen to find any grammar mistakes or plot-holes and the like, please message me. Thanks.