Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Innocence From Ashes
Innocence From Ashes
Chapter 7
Sasuke barreled out of the woods, filled with an inexplicable dread suddenly, and found his companion in play had stopped. The two of them went down in a tangle of youthful limbs.
“Teme!” The impossible blonde screamed, voice threaded with both laughter and indignation. “Watch where you’re going!”
“Hn, Dobe,” his equally youthful companion grunted. “Why did you stop in the middle of the road like a moron?” He had been aware instantly of the group watching them with wide and shocked eyes, and knew that once more Naruto was being impulsive. After the farmer, he should have hightailed it right back the way they had come. But, of course, being Naruto, he’d stopped dead in his tracks.
God, he loved him.
The two boys slithered and struggled, finally untangled themselves and picked themselves up.
“Look!” The blonde exclaimed and pointed to the stunned and frozen group. “People!”
The other was dusting himself off meticulously, picking bits of bracken from his off white shorts, and dark red shirt, his dark hair mussed, but unmistakable. He looked up with coal black eyes, and eyed them suspiciously. He didn’t know why, but the mere sight of them, instead of filling him with unease as had the farmer, and the few times he’d spied them, the farmers family, made him aware of full blown panic.
Something terrible was on the horizon, about to happen.
“Hi!” The blonde chirped, taking a step forward to greet them. “I’m Naruto! Very pleased to meet you!”
The raven reached out, snatched the blonde and pulled him protectively to his side. “Don’t be stupid, dobe,” he growled, never taking his eyes off the strangers. “You don’t even know who they are. They might hurt you!” He clutched the blonde close, possessively. He would kill them all, from the wide eyed pink haired girl whose face haunted him so, down to the boy only slightly older than them both, brown eyes filled with shock and incomprehension.
The blonde rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so paranoid, Sasuke-teme. They’re just people. They might be friends just waiting to be discovered! Besides… I… I…”
He stopped confused, and allowed the darker, slightly taller boy to tuck him ever closer to his side. He peered around his protective companion, eyes wide and owlish. “Do… Do I know you?”
“Naruto!” Sakura called frantically again, and then burst into tears. She stumbled forward, that terrible vacancy finally gone from her eyes. “Naruto…”
“Yatta!” The blonde crowed and shook off his teme. “See! I told you they were friendly! Come on, Sasuke, let’s say hello!”
Naruto skipped forward, smiling brightly, so brightly, so innocently, so untouched by the fury and darkness of reality. His hands were stretched out in greeting. “Hi!”
Hinata hiccuped, and clutched her husband, who was equally clingy, eyes impossibly wide as the golden apparition drew closer. Kiba’s nostrils quivered in disbelief as he held a struggling Akamaru to heel. Konohamaru blinked, rubbed his eyes, blinked again. Neji and Shikamaru stared, eyes wide.
Sakura sobbed and fell to her knees, eyes streaming.
Naruto walked right up to her and frowned. “Don’t cry. There’s nothing so terrible that you have to cry.”
Sakura reached up with trembling hands, and Naruto laughed and went into her arms with all the innocence of youth. There was something about her. When the farmer had touched him, he’d felt only fear and rage. But this girl… He patted her back as she sobbed into his bright hair.
“You’re so pretty and pink,” the blonde crooned, stroking that matted and once shiny hair. “Like a flower petal. Like a cherry blossom… Sakura-chan…”
There was a terrible moment of tense expectation.
“Kai!” Kakashi shouted, bringing his hands together.
Sasuke leapt forward, tore Naruto free, and shoved him behind his own body. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, old man?” He snapped.
Everyone blinked. The boys were still there. Still impossibly familiar.
Impossible.
Sakura staggered to her feet, drug a hand across her tear stained face, and then smiled. “Naruto, how did you get here?” Only with the purity of a lost heart, had she utterly accepted what she saw before her. It was so much what she wanted to see, needed to see.
Naruto tried to get past Sasuke, but the older boy refused to let his most precious person be in harm’s way. Not until the smaller boy bit him in the arm, causing the raven to shriek in outrage and fall back, was he able to skip forward and take Sakura’s trembling hands.
“What do you mean? We’ve always been here. Always.” He smiled up at the woman, eyes wide with curiosity.
“You look like you’ve come a long ways. Are you tired? Did you go to fabulous places? What did you see? Did you see ninja? Did you see pirates? Did you see kings and mountains and glaciers?”
He gave Sakura’s hand a playful tug, and then let go, skipping around her to confront Kakashi, leaving the girl to rotate helplessly to keep him in her line of sight, filled to the brim with bursting hope and joy.
“Wow mister, did something happen to your face? Are you hurt?” The boy was a seemingly endless fount of curiosity and questions. “That was a cool trick your did with your hands. Will you teach me?”
Sticking his tongue out in concentration, he made the same hand gesture as the older man and threw back his head. “Kai!” Then giggled when nothing happened. He reached up and tugged on the man’s mask. “Hey mister, you sure are old!”
Kakashi remained half bent over like that, eyes watering helplessly at what he saw, and felt and smelt. Naruto!
Preposterous.
“Naruto!” Sasuke squawked. “Come back here dobe!” He sidled suspiciously around Sakura, who stared at him in disbelief. Then he caught the blonde’s arm, and tugged him away. “Come one, dobe. I’m hungry. I know I saw a village in the distance. Let’s go get something to eat.”
In truth, the darker boy wasn’t at all interested in food. But these strange people were staring at his dobe like they wanted to gobble him up. Nothing would happen to his precious person. Nothing! He would see to that.
And… Somehow, he knew, they represented the greatest danger to the life they lived now than anything else ever could. They bothered him. They all stared at him like he was some dreaded apparition spawned in the fires of hell to suck the very souls from their bodies, while they stared at his Naruto as if he were some archangel here to proclaim a glorious golden age.
He paused, his own line of thought sending a frisson down his spine.
“You? Hungry? But Chichiue just fed us less than an hour ago. And you call me a greedy pig!” Blue eyes rolled wildly in affectionate disdain. “’Sides, you know we’re not supposed to go wandering around villages. There might be strange people there.”
To the travelers’ surprise, Sasuke tenderly nuzzled the blonde. “I dunno,” he muttered, “these people here seem pretty strange and that didn’t stop you. Have you forgotten the farmer already?”
“No,” Naruto blushed furiously at the reminder of the morning’s debacle. “But these people are different. Can’t you feel? I can.”
Miraculous.
Eyes as blue and bright and free as a summer sky suddenly looked at what was obviously a couple. The girl clung to the man, white eyes filled with tears, as he hugged her so tightly, the blonde was surprised she didn’t break clean in two. Both of them were staring at him almost… hungrily.
Weird.
But nice. He just knew they were both very nice people.
Suddenly, Hinata stepped away from Gaara, her hands moving.
“Byakuugan!”
”Whoa!” Naruto chirped, as a multitude of fleshy veins suddenly swarmed around her eyes, pulsing softly. It was really rather gross looking, but naturally the blonde was powerfully intrigued.
He skipped up to her, his ever present faithful shadow right at his heels.
Hinata was staring at the circuitry within the blonde’s body. The chakra channels were as individual as a fingerprint; no two were exactly alike.
“Naruto…” She breathed, stunned. It was undeniably his channels she was looking at. She had, after all, looked at them like this more than a million times in their shared youth before.
Though the color coursing through them was different, the circuits themselves just screamed ‘Naruto Uzumaki’ at her.
It was impossible.
It was preposterous.
It was a miracle.
It was Naruto.
Chapter 7
Sasuke barreled out of the woods, filled with an inexplicable dread suddenly, and found his companion in play had stopped. The two of them went down in a tangle of youthful limbs.
“Teme!” The impossible blonde screamed, voice threaded with both laughter and indignation. “Watch where you’re going!”
“Hn, Dobe,” his equally youthful companion grunted. “Why did you stop in the middle of the road like a moron?” He had been aware instantly of the group watching them with wide and shocked eyes, and knew that once more Naruto was being impulsive. After the farmer, he should have hightailed it right back the way they had come. But, of course, being Naruto, he’d stopped dead in his tracks.
God, he loved him.
The two boys slithered and struggled, finally untangled themselves and picked themselves up.
“Look!” The blonde exclaimed and pointed to the stunned and frozen group. “People!”
The other was dusting himself off meticulously, picking bits of bracken from his off white shorts, and dark red shirt, his dark hair mussed, but unmistakable. He looked up with coal black eyes, and eyed them suspiciously. He didn’t know why, but the mere sight of them, instead of filling him with unease as had the farmer, and the few times he’d spied them, the farmers family, made him aware of full blown panic.
Something terrible was on the horizon, about to happen.
“Hi!” The blonde chirped, taking a step forward to greet them. “I’m Naruto! Very pleased to meet you!”
The raven reached out, snatched the blonde and pulled him protectively to his side. “Don’t be stupid, dobe,” he growled, never taking his eyes off the strangers. “You don’t even know who they are. They might hurt you!” He clutched the blonde close, possessively. He would kill them all, from the wide eyed pink haired girl whose face haunted him so, down to the boy only slightly older than them both, brown eyes filled with shock and incomprehension.
The blonde rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so paranoid, Sasuke-teme. They’re just people. They might be friends just waiting to be discovered! Besides… I… I…”
He stopped confused, and allowed the darker, slightly taller boy to tuck him ever closer to his side. He peered around his protective companion, eyes wide and owlish. “Do… Do I know you?”
“Naruto!” Sakura called frantically again, and then burst into tears. She stumbled forward, that terrible vacancy finally gone from her eyes. “Naruto…”
“Yatta!” The blonde crowed and shook off his teme. “See! I told you they were friendly! Come on, Sasuke, let’s say hello!”
Naruto skipped forward, smiling brightly, so brightly, so innocently, so untouched by the fury and darkness of reality. His hands were stretched out in greeting. “Hi!”
Hinata hiccuped, and clutched her husband, who was equally clingy, eyes impossibly wide as the golden apparition drew closer. Kiba’s nostrils quivered in disbelief as he held a struggling Akamaru to heel. Konohamaru blinked, rubbed his eyes, blinked again. Neji and Shikamaru stared, eyes wide.
Sakura sobbed and fell to her knees, eyes streaming.
Naruto walked right up to her and frowned. “Don’t cry. There’s nothing so terrible that you have to cry.”
Sakura reached up with trembling hands, and Naruto laughed and went into her arms with all the innocence of youth. There was something about her. When the farmer had touched him, he’d felt only fear and rage. But this girl… He patted her back as she sobbed into his bright hair.
“You’re so pretty and pink,” the blonde crooned, stroking that matted and once shiny hair. “Like a flower petal. Like a cherry blossom… Sakura-chan…”
There was a terrible moment of tense expectation.
“Kai!” Kakashi shouted, bringing his hands together.
Sasuke leapt forward, tore Naruto free, and shoved him behind his own body. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, old man?” He snapped.
Everyone blinked. The boys were still there. Still impossibly familiar.
Impossible.
Sakura staggered to her feet, drug a hand across her tear stained face, and then smiled. “Naruto, how did you get here?” Only with the purity of a lost heart, had she utterly accepted what she saw before her. It was so much what she wanted to see, needed to see.
Naruto tried to get past Sasuke, but the older boy refused to let his most precious person be in harm’s way. Not until the smaller boy bit him in the arm, causing the raven to shriek in outrage and fall back, was he able to skip forward and take Sakura’s trembling hands.
“What do you mean? We’ve always been here. Always.” He smiled up at the woman, eyes wide with curiosity.
“You look like you’ve come a long ways. Are you tired? Did you go to fabulous places? What did you see? Did you see ninja? Did you see pirates? Did you see kings and mountains and glaciers?”
He gave Sakura’s hand a playful tug, and then let go, skipping around her to confront Kakashi, leaving the girl to rotate helplessly to keep him in her line of sight, filled to the brim with bursting hope and joy.
“Wow mister, did something happen to your face? Are you hurt?” The boy was a seemingly endless fount of curiosity and questions. “That was a cool trick your did with your hands. Will you teach me?”
Sticking his tongue out in concentration, he made the same hand gesture as the older man and threw back his head. “Kai!” Then giggled when nothing happened. He reached up and tugged on the man’s mask. “Hey mister, you sure are old!”
Kakashi remained half bent over like that, eyes watering helplessly at what he saw, and felt and smelt. Naruto!
Preposterous.
“Naruto!” Sasuke squawked. “Come back here dobe!” He sidled suspiciously around Sakura, who stared at him in disbelief. Then he caught the blonde’s arm, and tugged him away. “Come one, dobe. I’m hungry. I know I saw a village in the distance. Let’s go get something to eat.”
In truth, the darker boy wasn’t at all interested in food. But these strange people were staring at his dobe like they wanted to gobble him up. Nothing would happen to his precious person. Nothing! He would see to that.
And… Somehow, he knew, they represented the greatest danger to the life they lived now than anything else ever could. They bothered him. They all stared at him like he was some dreaded apparition spawned in the fires of hell to suck the very souls from their bodies, while they stared at his Naruto as if he were some archangel here to proclaim a glorious golden age.
He paused, his own line of thought sending a frisson down his spine.
“You? Hungry? But Chichiue just fed us less than an hour ago. And you call me a greedy pig!” Blue eyes rolled wildly in affectionate disdain. “’Sides, you know we’re not supposed to go wandering around villages. There might be strange people there.”
To the travelers’ surprise, Sasuke tenderly nuzzled the blonde. “I dunno,” he muttered, “these people here seem pretty strange and that didn’t stop you. Have you forgotten the farmer already?”
“No,” Naruto blushed furiously at the reminder of the morning’s debacle. “But these people are different. Can’t you feel? I can.”
Miraculous.
Eyes as blue and bright and free as a summer sky suddenly looked at what was obviously a couple. The girl clung to the man, white eyes filled with tears, as he hugged her so tightly, the blonde was surprised she didn’t break clean in two. Both of them were staring at him almost… hungrily.
Weird.
But nice. He just knew they were both very nice people.
Suddenly, Hinata stepped away from Gaara, her hands moving.
“Byakuugan!”
”Whoa!” Naruto chirped, as a multitude of fleshy veins suddenly swarmed around her eyes, pulsing softly. It was really rather gross looking, but naturally the blonde was powerfully intrigued.
He skipped up to her, his ever present faithful shadow right at his heels.
Hinata was staring at the circuitry within the blonde’s body. The chakra channels were as individual as a fingerprint; no two were exactly alike.
“Naruto…” She breathed, stunned. It was undeniably his channels she was looking at. She had, after all, looked at them like this more than a million times in their shared youth before.
Though the color coursing through them was different, the circuits themselves just screamed ‘Naruto Uzumaki’ at her.
It was impossible.
It was preposterous.
It was a miracle.
It was Naruto.
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