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Colors of Life and Death- by Songbird21
Chapter 2

Speech in bold represents Kyuubi.

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Kyuubi laid on the floor of his cell in misery, watching the boy in front of him grow more and more weak. He gritted his teeth in anger. His 'container' was dying and there was nothing he could do this time because Naruto had been laid open. He could heal holes easily, but this? He sighed for the hundredth time and waited for the inevitable cold to claim him.

"Hey, stupid fox?" Naruto said weakly.

Kyuubi cracked open one eye and stared at the boy in irritation. "What?"

"I'm glad I have company at the end. Even if it's you," Naruto replied with a weak, yet wry smile.

"Hmpf. Same to you, brat," Kyuubi said as he closed his eye again.

"I just wish it wasn't like this," Naruto said sullenly as he managed to pull himself to a sitting position, resting his arms and head on his knees.

Kyuubi groaned at his silence being interrupted again. "What?"

"If I had to die, I would've liked to have at least died in battle. Not lying on some...." he began as the room around him started to brighten.

Kyuubi growled. He knew what was coming. "Don't you dare...Not again..."

In a flash the room was gone and replaced with the room with the table. Naruto struggled weakly against the two ninjas holding him. "If I wasn't drugged you losers would be toast!" he said as his legs went out from under him.

"Remove his jacket and shirt," said a familiar voice. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw Orochimaru come out of the shadows.

Kabuto wheeled in a tray of medical instruments. A snap of adrenaline ran through Naruto. "No! No!" he screamed as he temporarily broke free from the grasps of his captors. They recaptured him and pulled off the clothing as their leader had instructed, then forced him down on the table.

"A pity my unsealing jutsus didn't work. This method produces results so rarely," Orochimaru said with a sick smile on his face.

Naruto struggled as much as he could in his condition. Orochimaru gave Kabuto a look. Kabuto nodded and prepared a syringe. "NOOOO!" Naruto screamed again as the needle was put into his right arm, just above the Uchiha symbol. Kabuto pushed the plunger and the liquid inside the syringe eased it's way into Naruto's arm. A small trickle of blood crossed the Uchiha symbol.

Naruto quickly began to feel his body going limp and numb. Tears leaked out from his eyes as Orochimaru picked up a scalpel. "C'omon," he pleaded, "at least knock me out," he said, fear evident in his voice.

Kyuubi was growing more and more irriated as he watched the scene as it played out in front of him. He despised being sucked into Naruto's waking nightmares. "Wake up you dumb brat!"

"Ku ku ku. If I knock you out it won't be any fun," Orochimaru said coldly as he moved toward the young Leaf ninja. Naruto's eyes seemed to go wider than humanly possible. Orochimaru brought down the scalpel and Naruto screamed.

::Flash::

The room disappeared and was replaced by the cell and the alcove in front of it. Naruto was on the floor, breathing hard. "Dammit," he growled. "It's not bad enough I'm dying, but do I have to keep going through that again?" he said angrily.

"It's because you keep dwelling on it!" Kyuubi answered in frustration. Another scream echoed throughout the dungeon-like room. This was the last straw for the giant fox. "I said to stop...!" he began.

"That wasn't me!" Naruto snapped. He looked up at the ceiling. "It sounded like...Sakura." His eyes widened. "Oh God. That means she's seen me." He gritted his teeth. He hated to hear Sakura in pain. Especially if he was the cause of it.

Silence followed for another fifteen minutes, so when the next scream came, Kyuubi got so irritated that he dug gouges into the floor of his cell. The second scream was masculine. "NOW who is it?!"

Naruto's eyes widened again. "Sasuke?! He....he's screaming like that....over...me?" Then he remembered Sasuke making him his brother and the emotion of surprise left his thoughts. "I'm so sorry Sakura...Sasuke." He began to cry. "I want to come back for you. But I...I can't" he said as be burst into tears.

"That Sasuke brat's chakra, it's right next to us," said Kyuubi with a hope in his voice that Naruto didn't understand.

"What?" Naruto asked as his sobbing subsided.

"Tell me that friend of yours is as smart as you've said he is," Kyuubi asked with urgency.

"Ye...yeah," Naruto replied, even though he didn't understand what was going on.

"Alright then," Kyuubi said. He began to focus his energy on the gaping wound in his container's chest.

A strange feeling suddenly overcame the grief stricken Sasuke. For some reason he felt compelled to look at Naruto again. He stood, his eyes closed. When he finally got the courage to open his eyes he gasped. "Th...this is?" he stumbled over the words in wild hope.

Red chakra was leaking from the edges of the flaps of skin that made up Naruto's midsection. "Is the Nine Tails trying to...?" he said as he reached a hand towards the glow. He desperately hoped he was right as he gingerly began to push the flaps back into place, resisting the urge to throw up.

As soon as the second piece was in place all the cut lines became blindingly bright for a moment and then began to sizzle.

"It's working. I think you might make it kid," Kyuubi said as he began to breath heavily.

Naruto looked at the fox in confusion. "What?! How!"

"I let him know I was still here. He's pushed your wounds together."

Naruto's eyes lit up with hope.

Sakura didn't know how long she'd been crying. But when she looked up she saw Sasuke doing something that, for some reason, made her blood boil. "Sasuke!" she roared, sounding very much unlike herself.

She stood up and ran over to the table. "What do you think you're DOING?!"

Sasuke's eyes went wide. "Sakura?" he said, stunned. He'd never heard Sakura so furious with him before.

Sakura reached over and tried to pull Sasuke away from Naruto. "Sakura! Stop it!"

Sakura's eyes became desperately sad. "Leave him alone! You can't do anything! He's already...he's already dead!" she screamed, her voice cracking from the emotion.

"Sakura," Sasuke said. Sakura began to wail loudly. Sasuke grabbed her shoulders. "SAKURA!" This stunned her into silence for a moment. Before she could start up again he jabbed his finger in Naruto's direction. "LOOK!"

Sakura turned her head to the side and looked down. "NO!"

Sasuke forcefully turned her around to face Naruto. "LOOK!"

Sakura took a deep, sob filled breath and opened her eyes. She gasped. "Is...is he....?"

Sasuke nodded. "Kyuubi's trying anyway. Now all we can do is wait."

That was all it took for Sakura to run back towards the door. "Hinata!"

Sasuke watched as Sakura excitedly told Hinata the news. "WHAT!?" Hinata yelled. Which was very strange to hear from such a normally quiet girl.

Both girls ran back to Naruto and Sasuke. As soon as Hinata saw the healing wounds, tears of joy rolled down her face. She bravely touched his chest, ignoring the burning sensation this brought. "Do your best, Naruto-kun."

"Don't you dare die on me, Idiot," Sasuke said with tension in his voice.

"Naruto...please. Come back to us," Sakura pleaded.

Inside his mind Uzumaki Naruto was overcome with joy at hearing everyone's voices. "Please, let this work," he thought to no one in particular. "I want to live."

Suddenly, Naruto fell to his hands and knees. "AHHHHGGGGGG!!!" he screamed, clutching his midriff. Now that he was coming back from the brink of death he could feel the pain of his wound being sealed.

"Hang on brat," Kyuubi said, not out of concern for Naruto, but for his own existence.

Finally, all was quiet. Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata watched Naruto and held their breaths. Waiting...for a miracle.....
.........TO BE CONTINUED


So. You guys ready to kill me yet? Heh heh. Please tell me all your feelings on this chapter. I worked very hard to put a lot of emotion in it and I want to know if it got across to you guys.