Title; Fading

Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Chapter 1- The Raiders

The Goddess Naru gifted us with water, both to sustain our physical forms and to wash from us the corruption that may destroy us.

This is what's written within the scrolls of the Northern citadel named after the Goddess herself, one of the few remaining human populations on the Northern continent the Mages linked to Naru call on her protection to keep their city safe as well as the fields to the east that yield their crops, the flatlands to the west where their livestock graze and the mines to the south.

The protection of Naru's constant rains and the efforts of the cities Soldiers keep the corruption and it's physical manifestations- the Daemons- at bay; but lately the rains have become light and the Daemons more vicious, the warring fractions withing the Naru Castle- each made up of influencial nobles, Gifted Mages and Military commanders- struggle to cope with the growing unease and discord from the light rains and wrest dominion of the city from their rivals.

Bottom of the chain is the Raiders, men tasked with leaving the pale to thin the Daemon threat and Raid the ruins of former cities for valubles.

The bald headed man led us further down the cold stone corridor the flickering torch light reflecting off his bare skull and giving it a faint luminescent quality, two more young men followed behind me; the first one I knew, he had grown up nearby me though luckily he didn't seem to recognise me, he had always been teased for his long effeminate blonde hair; the second I didn't recognise, standing almost a full head above us he had dark brown hair and the air of someone from money…which made me wonder what he was doing here.

"You boys fresh meat?" asked the man leading us only turning his head for a slight second to give us a dirty glare, I felt a shiver of fear run through me and judging from the more ridged posture the other two men adopted at the man's words and glare they were similarly effected.

"Yes sir." Answered the rich looking brunette finding his voice first out of the three of us, we quickly followed suit echoing his words mechanically.

The bald man came to a stop at a heavy iron door, an insignia I didn't recognise and 'R7' were branded onto the dark metal, turning towards us with a look akin to what you would expect only men in grave pain to be wearing.

"You boys are locals right?" he asked us and I was relieved to be able to join the other two in my agreement, the man gave a rough grin that was more of a grimace than an actual smile and rubbed his scruffy beard with the back of his fist.

"You'll be alright then, local boys always finish their terms." Grunted the man with a disturbing twinkle in his eye before he banged quickly three times on the rusted iron door, turning and marching off with a deep rumbling chuckle.

The door creaked and swung open the hinges quivering and shaking to support the weight of the heavy door, a man maybe only two or three years older than myself stepped out of the room; he had thick curly black hair and a small neatly trimmed beard, his eyes seemed to close together and his nose was at an odd unnatural angle likely from being broken once too many.

"You three my new squad recruits?" he asked with a snarl, we saluted and I saw the blonde man I knew- Ander- open his mouth likely to make an introduction, our new captain beat him to the punch though.

"Save you're introductions; you are meat, until you survive your first raid." Growled the captain signalling us to follow him into the room with a vague hand gesture; I glanced around the large room filled with bunks along each wall, on either side of the room were two large hearths each with a raging fire in there grates; I heard my new Captain mutter his disappointment in getting the 'runts of the litter'.

"As long as you're in my barracks you'll refer to me as Captain Rex, any breach of conduct will be severely punished. Show me your papers, now." Ordered the Captain a cruel sneer on his face as he eyed us up like some kind of scum; we each handed our papers to the Captain who snatched them from us, eying what I thought was the rich kids papers first.

"You, you're in the First File, bowman. Get your armaments from the old man Marx in the corner." He grunted gesturing to the brunette and then to the right side of the barracks; the man hiked his pack higher onto his back and marched off to get his equipment and try and find a bunk I assumed.

"You pieces of shit on the other hand are Second File, get some armour off Uchiha and find yourselves a bunk." He ordered crumpling up our papers and tossing them back to us, we dryly muttered 'yes sirs' before numbly making our way over to the left side of the barracks in search of this Uchiha man.

I heard a wolf whistle come from one of the bunks we past and for a moment I felt as if my blood had turned to ice as another man made a joke about letting women join the raiders now.

My fears were dissipated as one of the men tossed their arms around Ander's shoulders and I realised that he was the target of the insults and not me, the poor boy was blushing furiously now and had shoved his assailant off of him roughly; the blonde's luck seemed to be black however as the shove had earned the man's ire.

The man's large meaty hand caught Ander on his cheek whipping his head to the side and leaving him dazed and unable to defend himself from the man's follow up tackle taking both of them to the floor where they descended into a messy tangle of flailing limbs as each tried to hit the other, a crowd had gathered to shout their encouragement before one of the men stepped forward to put an end to the fighting.

"The new recruits have business with me, now." I had expected it to be Captain Rex stepping in to clear things up, but instead a different man stood at the centre of attention, I could in fact see the Captain at the other end of the barracks blatantly ignoring the on-going scuffle.

Amazingly two men seemed to come to this man's aid dragging Anders and his new friend apart; I took the chance to size up the man with the unknown authority, he was tall- taller than Rex but not the tallest man of the squad- and seemed leanly muscular underneath his loose cotton shirt, what caught my attention though was his eyes- a scarlet red tone that I had thought only the temples jewels could possess.

Ander picked himself off the stone floor dusting himself off and retrieving his pack from where it had slid during his confrontation, I heard the man he'd fought with make a snarky comment about the new recruits being a 'bitch' and a blind eyed midget; before I could consider what action to take against the man I felt a hand clasp down on my shoulder a little roughly.

"What's your name?" the man with the red eyes asked his voice a dull monotone, I saw Ander talk to some men just to my right before walking over beside us.

"Gin." I answered after a slight delay, coughing after I said the name the first time and repeating it in a lower tone in what I hoped wasn't a completely pathetic display.

"And you?" he continued with a miniscule nod to Ander, he gave his own name with a sneer and a 'tell us your name so', likely he was feeling vulnerable and acting tougher than he really was; some of the nearby men gave barks of laughter.

"Sasuke Uchiha, follow me." He returned leading us over to a corner of the barracks by the raging fire; now that I was closer and my view wasn't blocked by any of the bunks I noticed there were two large cabinets and half a dozen chests; after we reached the area the Uchiha began routing around inside one of the cabinets, stopping every now and again to glance our way, after a moment he pulled out a couple of breast plates.

It was the first time I had actually seen the real Raiders armour, before now I had only seen the elaborate glittering armour the nobles wore at parades or the temple guards shining silver armour, this armour was distinctly different; the cold iron of the armour was almost pitch black and unlike the parade armour there was no decorations on the rough armour, the most eye catching detail of the breast plate though was the high neck on the armour, the iron was about two inches thick around the neck I estimated with only a small 'V' cut out of the front that I figured was to allow us to look down.

"What's with the neck?" Asked Ander with a frown as he tried on the nearest armour to him, it seemed a perfect fit; I grabbed a piece myself loosening the straps on the sides to try it on.

I had just slipped the armour over my head when the Uchiha stopped his search through one of the chests to fix Ander with a significant look, I felt a chill run through my body as he turned the same look on me as I tried to tighten the straps on the sides of my armour, he stepped closer to me pulling the straps from my hands and slowly buckling them for me; my lungs burned for air as I seemed to forget how to breath with his demonic red eyes burning into mine at such a close distance.

"It's probably a little small for you but that's the best fit we'll find." He told me giving the breast a solid pat, I felt my face light up in a scarlet blush and broke the eye contact.

"As for the particular neck, we usually do our tours to the northern wastelands and swamps, the Daemons on the wasteland are vicious creatures who always go for your throat; when their jaws clamp down on this armour you'll have about seven seconds…then the armour will crack and shatter. Your neck will soon follow." The Uchiha calmly explained, the blush had gone from my face now and all other colour with it, Ander didn't look much better as he stuttered out '7' a couple of times as the Uchiha went back to rummaging through on of the chest.

"Can you lift this?" he asked pulling a wicked looking double headed axe from the large chest and handing it off to Ander, I was impressed when he actually managed to hoist it above his head and swing it albeit somewhat clumsily; despite having a stocky build he was shorter than myself at maybe only five foot two at the most.

"I'm supposed to be a bowman though." Spat Ander with a sneer as he eyed the weapon in his hands, the Uchiha fixed him with a look of complete boredom.

"Are you the son of a nobleman or high class Merchant?" asked the Uchiha his scarlet eyes almost looking amused if not for the condescending tone they held.

"No." responded Ander a glare firmly directed at the Uchiha.

"Then you are Meat, you are in the Second File and you are stuck using whatever weapon I give you." Growled the Uchiha turning from the now fuming recruit back to his chest.

"You should be able to use this well enough." Grunted the scarlet eyed man withdrawing a long straight sword from the chest after a few moments searching, the leather on the handle of the weapon showed signs of wear and when I drew the blade- heavier than I expected it to be but I didn't voice my complaints- I noticed several nicks running along the blades edge.

The Uchiha continued searching through and taking items from each of the chests until eventually we were fully equipped, slightly rusted gauntlets and shoulder pauldrons, grieves and boots that didn't quite fit- the former being too large and the latter to small- and a helmet with a busted face mask that pressed uncomfortably against my nose when worn.

"Find yourselves a bunk, we leave on your first raid in three days." Grunted the Uchiha before abandoning us to drift over towards the fire, back to whatever action I assumed he had been at before our arrival.

It took me longer than I would have liked to find a free bunk, Ander shoving me out of the way and claiming the first free bunk I'd seen; I wound up quite close to the right side of the barracks near the First File, it was quite cold here and I quickly realised why the bunk was free, it was creaky and the sheets smelled suspicious, even more so than the rest of the room that faintly smelled like piss and blood.

I filled the trunk at the foot of my new bunk with the armour and my own meagre belongings with the exception of an old blanket I had and thought would be better than the one currently on the bed.

It was while I was kneeling and sorting my belongings that one of the men strolled up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder, I almost jumped in fright, there was a tense atmosphere around these bunks that bordered the other half of the squad.

"Hi there, you're new aren't you?" he asked with an easy smile, absently he brushed a few strands of his sandy hair out of his eyes, still grinning he stuck out his hand to shake; another larger overweight man stood over his shoulder staring at me with disturbing intensity.

"I'm Richard, this big guy behind me is Mako, it's nice to meet you…?" greeted the man, Richard, gasping my hand before it was even fully extended and giving it a hearty shake.

"Gin." I muttered a little hesitantly, I had noticed another man sneering and shouting over about Richard and his gorilla fraternising with the meat again.

"Scary around here isn't it, at first anyway." Spoke Richard attempting to be friendly I supposed, the other man didn't seem too interested in talking…he just continued to stare at me in a disconcerting manner, unblinking, almost hungrily.

"Yeah, a little." I responded my words coming out curter than I had intended, it didn't seem like such a bad idea to make a couple of friends around here but that resolution wasn't going to suddenly grant me better social skills.

"It's going to be time for dinner soon, you wanna sit with us?" offered Richard with a grin, now that he pointed it out I felt the familiar old pain of hunger flare to life- yesterday, did I have anything to eat yesterday- it was one of the Raiders most alluring features, regular meals for anyone who joins up and it wasn't hard to become a recruit.

Almost in response to his words a shout erupted from only a few feet to my left, Captain Rex I thought, calling us to move to the mess hall; excited about the idea of a warm meal I bounced to my feet simply dumping the rest of my belongings into the chest, I happily excepted Richards offer…I had been afraid that life as a Raider was going to be a lonesome life on top of the danger that came part in parcel.

Richard gave a laugh as my excitement and led me from the barracks through several of the winding stone corridors of the castle base until we reached the mess hall his friend Mako trailing behind us- I did my best to commit the route to memory but it would probably take me a few days until I was properly familiar with the bases layout.

We were lucky and there wasn't much of a line when we entered the hall, I spied the Uchiha sitting on his own with a plate of food; his gaze flickered up to meet mine and even as I looked away out of embarrassment I felt his gaze linger on me for another moment.

"The Uchiha's giving us the evil eye." Grunted Mako from behind me causing Richard to laugh dismissively.

"Relax, the old man isn't going to do anything." Spoke Richard, though I noted he was very careful not to glance back or speak too loudly, we shuffled forward a couple of steps in the line and I got a good whiff of the food for the first time; I didn't recognise most of the smells, but I could make out the scent of freshly baked bread and some kind of meat cooking.

"He's Second File trash and he knows it." I thought I heard the man mutter under his breath but I decided to ignore it, for the moment anyway.

"Old man?" I asked confused, the red eyed Uchiha couldn't have been much older than him so why the nickname.

"Old Sasuke's a professional fuck up, he's never risen above the rank of grunt during his five years in the Raiders corps. Most achieve some rise in rank after at most two years, or move to the City Guards, the Templers or some other position." Explained Richard in a careful whisper as we moved further along in the queue.

"He must be strong though, to survive so long as a Raider." I offered, the Raiders had a reputation for being the most dangerous fraction, surviving long enough to make it to another fraction was a feat in itself, surviving five years on the frontlines was remarkable.

"Lucky is more like it." Snorted Richard with a dismissive wave of his head, I asked him what he meant as we neared the end of the queue only three men ahead of us now.

"Our squads archers are the best archers in the entire Raiders, the fighting rarely comes down to melee with us around." Bragged the man as we finally got our food, a large steaming bowl of stew- I recognised some of the vegetables but not the meat in the bowl- and some soft fresh bread; it was more food than I'd usually have over three or four days before now.

"Really?" I asked, though neither Richard or Mako seemed to pick up on the scepticism in my tone as the former just nodded and grinned cockily before leading us over to a free table on the other side of the hall from the Uchiha; despite their claims I wasn't quite convinced, something about this Sasuke just seemed dangerous.

The food tasted good, although it was a little rude I began to tune out Richards conversation with those around him in favour of the meal before me; by the time I was halfway through the bowl I was beginning to feel quite full and took a moment to lean back, Mako it seemed noticed my situation.

"You gonna finish that?" He asked, his voice higher than I had expected it to be; he didn't bother to wait for an answer though and snatched the bowl from in front of me, I didn't protest…I was full enough anyway.

It took some time until my two companions finished and we left the mess hall, Richard once again navigated our way through the corridors; I thought we were returning back to the barracks but when Richard finally stopped before a door and I entered I found myself in a tiled room with several wooden benches, it was warm in the room and through an arch way in the opposite wall I could see a large pool through the steam in the room.

"W-why are we here?" I asked confused, the confusion soon gave way to terror as I felt my arms suddenly wrenched behind me painfully and heard the door to the room slam shut with an audible bang.

"So Gin…what age are you?" asked Richard stepping into view still grinning easily.

"W-what's going on!" I coughed out as I felt the grip on my arms tighten.

"Oh this, it's our special little greeting tradition for fresh meat, now what age are you?" asked the man, something cruel and malicious now plainly visible in his blue eyes.

"Seventeen." I answered- it was I lie, I was sixteen but I'd had to lie to join the Raiders- I gave a grunt of pain as my arms were pulled further behind me I thought they might break if they were stressed anymore, the pressure released for a moment and for one small moment I thought that maybe this had all just been some joke to scare me; the thought left me however when I was lifted and roughly slammed down on a bench.

"Looks like my guess was right Mako, I get to go first." Spoke Richard cheerfully, I gave a cry of pain and felt Mako pin my arms tightly above my head as Richard straddled my thighs.

"You're a little skinny but it's been a while since we've seen someone so cute as you." Commented the man as I felt a hand trail across my stomach and sides; fear began to get the better of me as I struggled furiously to get free, shouting out my protest, that I was a boy before I found one of Richards hands cover my mouth and the other drive its way into my midsection.

"Quiet kid, don't make this harder on yourself. Nobody's going to care if some Second File meat goes missing." He threatened cruelly and I stilled, I could feel tears now making their way down my cheeks, I shut my eyes tightly and prayed.

It was over for me.

That's the first chapter, as always any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

For any who may be worrying I will be continuing with Cheribum but for the moment I'm suffering a mild case of writers block so I'm afraid to say the next chapter for it may be some time.

If you're wondering Seraphim and Cherubim were just too optimistic and cheerful for me ;).

R&R