Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Sand in the Leaves	By : ahmenet Category: Naruto > General Views: 1274 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money from this fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
Hello again. Sorry
it's been so long since I updated. Lot going on. Hope you enjoy.

0.0.0.0.0.0

“Open the
door, bitch, or this little girl is minus an ear.”

“Izanami!
Help me!!”

She stood, sweating,
and tried to ignore Takakos plea. How long had she been here?
Seconds? Minutes? Hours? She wasn’t sure and it didn’t
matter. She would not leave the twins alone. If it meant the death
of every person in this house, she would protect the girls.

“Izanami!”

“I’m
sorry.” She whispered, tears trailed down her cheek. Her hand
was cramping from holding it in the same position and she was wasting
precious chakra holding the scalpel jutsu in place.

“What’s
next, bitch? A finger? An eye?”

She couldn’t let
her guard down now. She couldn’t get tired and give up now.
She couldn’t think about what was happening on the other side
of that door.

“No! Please,
no! Don’t hurt me! I’ll do anything!”

The last words spoken
were inaudible through the door then something slammed against it.
Her stomach cramped and twisted as Takako screamed again and again.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered again as something slid
down the door to thump on the floor. Then there was a click and the
door opened

“You should have
listened, now I’ll kill you slowly...for fun.” The enemy
ninja bounced a senbon between her fingers.

Izanami glance at the
heap on the floor then the bloody door. Ignoring the nausea
threatening to drop her, she bared her teeth at the advancing enemy
and prepared to fight.

0.0.0.0.0.0

The streets were still
crowded and the lights bright as Gaara moved toward the home of his
team leader. Gai had asked him to stay the night with him and Neji
along with Chiharu. He’d been secretly pleased with the
invitation. On nights like this it was easy to let the ghosts of the
past haunt him when he was alone. He would normally go to the roof
of his apartment to watch the stars but the clouds were heavy, hiding
the moon in think layers of gray. He didn’t think watching
dark clouds roll by would improve his mood.

“Gaaaaaaaaaara-saaaaaaaaan!”

He had to suppress a
chuckle as he turned toward to the edge of the crowd and saw, in the
thin spread of people, little Naruto running toward him. The little
boy missed a stride and tripped only to immediately roll and get back
to his feet. His little legs never stopped moving.

“Gaara-san!
Daddy said we could run around as long as Hamaru could see us. Can
Hamaru see me?”

Gaara looked across the
road at a smiling Konohamaru and wondered where the fifteen-year-old
got enough energy to keep up with these kids. “Hamaru”
gave him a thumbs-up and pointed at Naruto. Gaara nodded.

“Yes. He can see
you.” He smiled down as Naruto blew out a relieved breath.

The crowd shifted and
Gaara walked down the less crowded section of the street with Naruto
at his side. Konohamaru walked on the opposite side of the street
parallel to them, giving the child a sense of freedom while still
keeping an eye on him. As Gaara listened to Naruto talking
animatedly about starting the academy and training with his father
and brother he wondered if the child knew just how closely he was
being watched. Konohamaru would make an excellent instructor one
day.

“I don’t
know that man.” The boy had stopped and was holding firmly to
Gaara's wrist.

Gaara raised his head
and looked in the direction where Naruto's eyes were fixed. A small
group of people, dressed in festive colors, laughed over rice balls
and sake at a table outside a restaurant. His eyes wondered over the
group but saw nothing. He looked just beyond them at a woman with a
small basket of flowers in a soft brown robe with a sweet smile and a
man in plain clothing with plain hair and wide brown eyes. He had
just enough time to recognize the man’s face before he heard
Konohamaru yell. He turned to look at the younger shinobi and felt
wind by his ear as the kunai aimed for his head missed the target and
thunked into the post above Naruto. Gaara jerked the hand
still holding his arm and the little blond fell into him as two more
kunai came out of the darkened alley beside them. Throwing up a sand
shield, he curved himself around the boy while people finally
realized what was happening and began to scream and scatter.

“Stop there!”
Two ninja Gaara had only meet in passing sailed over their head and
into the alley after the unseen attacker.

Gaara, lifting from his
crouch over Naruto, scanning the street for the wide eyed sand
shinobi he’d seen moments before someone had tried to put a
hole in his head. He spotted him heading for the south end of the
village and readied himself to pursue.

Suddenly the ground
shook beneath them and Naruto's grip on his arm tightened. In the
same moment the ground cracked open in front of the retreating man
and a geyser of water sprayed him in the air. Gaara had only a
moment to wonder where the shinobi was who’d preformed the well
placed jutsu when the water abruptly ceased. The man floated for a
moment as if suspended before falling back to earth screaming
piteously. The screaming and the fall stopped the moment his face
landed on Choji's enlarged fist.

The sand flowed back
into Gaara's gourd as he scanned their surroundings and found Udon
and Konohamaru with Hiro, Tadao, Tsunade and Kurenai's son,
Hidekatsu. Choji was lifting the unconscious sand shinobi from the
ground by his neck. Gaara noted the man wasn’t wearing a
forehead protector of any kind and his clothes were bland and
unremarkable. Had he not known the face he might have thought he was
just another villager. Shikamaru came around the corner and headed
in one direction while Moegi came from a shop two stores back and
headed in the other. They tended any minor injuries from the small
riot while making sure there were no other threats in the immediate
area.

The hand around his
wrist loosened and Gaara looked down into large green eyes that
couldn’t decide if they were frightened or excited. Those
bright eyes glanced at the gourd on his hip then shifted quickly back
to him.

“Does the sand
talk to you?” Naruto whispered in quiet awe.

Gaara squatted in front
of him and rested his elbows on his knees, letting his hands dangle
loosely. He saw Sasuke coming up behind them as he leaned in and
whispered to the boy.

“It used to, but
not anymore.”

“What did it
say?” Naruto's eyes widened just a little more.

“Nothing worth
repeating.” Gaara hedged.

Naruto's awed
expression slipped seamlessly into an evil grin. “It said bad
things didn’t it?”

Gaara considered some
of the things Shukaku had told him and shown him in the past. None
of it was topic for discussion with a five-year-old. Especially one
that had just turned five and had a mind like a sponge.

“Are you
alright?” Sasuke bent to his son and ran his hands over the
boy in what might have been considered a clinical way if Gaara hadn’t
seen the captive fear in his eyes.

“I’m okay,
Daddy. But did you see what Moegi did?! That guy flew WAY up in the
air and then she just…” He made a wild slashing motion
with his hand. “… cut it off! That was so cool!”

Sasuke smiled as he
lifted Naruto into his arms but Gaara blinked wide eyes as he looked
toward the orange-haired girl now helping an injured woman to a side
bench.

“Yes. Yes it
was. And I’m sure she would be ecstatic to hear your praise.
But right now I think I need to take you to the hospital and have you
checked out.”

“But
Daaaaadyyyyyy!” The blonde wailed.

Both men winced at the
high whine and looked across the street to see Konohamaru walking
toward them. Naruto quieted and pushed against Sasuke's hold when he
saw his brothers. Hiro was crying quietly while Tadao rested his
head and Konohamaru's shoulder and snuffled. Little Tsunade and
Hidekatsu were holding onto each of his pants legs.

“Are they
alright?” Sasuke asked eyeing the children with that same
leashed fear.

“They’re
fine. Just shaken up. I’m going to take them back to the
house. Unless you want to take them to the hospital?”

Naruto finally wriggled
free and bounded over to Hiro. Gaara watched as he turned his back
to the younger boy and looked over his shoulder. Slowly, those small
pale hands draped themselves over the blonds shoulders and Hiro's
dark head came to rest on one of those arms. His tears slowed almost
immediately and Naruto lifted his arms across his own chest to link
his hands with his brothers.

“No. You’re
right. They’d be better off at home and…”

A shrill call sounded
over the commotion of the street. Moments later Gai dropped from the
roof of the building closest to them and walked toward their group.

“Uchiha-san, you
and your family need to report to the hospital immediately. Gaara,
you’re with me.”

Gaara didn’t ask
questions as he followed Gai back to the roof tops. Since Gai only
ever addressed Sasuke as Sasuke-kun, this must be a serious
situation. And from the sickly pale green parlor of Sasuke's skin
as another shinobi was explaining the situation and ushering him
toward the hospital he was pretty sure it was bad.

0.0.0.0.0.0

“The last one was
brought in by Hinata and the Hyuuga guard ten minutes ago.”
Shizune read from the stack of reports in her arms. “I’m
not sure how much he’s going to be talking. We may have to
wire his jaw shut to heal it.”

“Give him to
Ibiki. I’m sure he can find a way to get any information we
may want.” Tsunade tapped the end of her brush on the desk and
stared at a point on the far wall.

“Gaara-san has
identified six of the seven we have here. He wasn’t able to
identify the one from the Uchiha compound.” Shizune swallowed.

The reason for that
made Tsunade close her eyes and do a little swallowing of her own.
The intruder had apparently intended to kill everyone in the house to
leave no witnesses. She hadn’t counted on one of Sasuke's wives
being skilled enough to be jounin. Izanami hadn’t left much of
the ninja and had attack Aoba Yamashiro as he’d tried to help
her from the pile of gore left on the floor of the nursery. She was
currently under watch. No one was certain yet, if she’d lose
the baby.

“Have him
identify the last if he can. I want him under Gai's thumb tonight.
We’ll meet in the morning and figure out where to go from
here.” She focused her eyes on her assistant. “I think
it’s safe to say they intend to invade Konoha.”

Shizune only bowed her
head then quietly left the office.

“So, were you
sending scouts or plants?” Tsunade mused aloud and stood to
look out over the village. “What are you planning to do next?”

0.0.0.0.0.0

Sasuke opened the door
and rested his eyes on the small figure curled up on the bed next to
his wife. Hiro shifted his head away from the sudden light and
snuggled deeper into the sheets and Izanami's side. Her arm lifted
and softly touched the boys dark hair.

“I didn’t
mean to wake you.” Sasuke said as she looked up at him.

“I wasn’t
asleep. Though my head still feels a little fuzzy.” She
lifted her hand from Hiro and touched it to her own forehead.

“Sakura said it’s
from the shock. You should be alright by tomorrow afternoon.”
He motioned toward their son. “I came to get Hiro. Choji has
offered to let us raid his home for the night. Iruka is going to
watch the twins.”

Izanami raised an
eyebrow. “Are you sure he’s not…?” She
floundered for a moment. There was a betting pool somewhere on
Iruka's sexual orientation but no one knew for sure. His affinity
for children and house plants had always made her wonder though.

“No. He has a
rather steady girlfriend he thinks no one knows about.”

“Meaning everyone
does.” She shook her head. “He has such an affinity for
children.”

“A fact his
non-existent girlfriend loves about him.”

They smiled at one
another. Sasuke turned away first.

“I’m sorry.
I shouldn’t have left. I just couldn’t deal with her…”

“Is she dead?”

The question was asked
so mildly it caught Sasuke off guard. He looked back toward his
first wife, his older more dependable wife, and saw the anger and
hatred in her eyes. He studied her a moment before answering in as
conversational a tone as he could manage.

“No. One of her
ears had been split but it was repaired and won’t show a scar.
The tip of one finger was severed. It will take some time for it to
heal but the damage isn’t anything more than cosmetic. Some
hard bruising and a nasty knot on her head.”

She was silent for a
moment as she absently brushed her fingers through Hiro's hair.
Sasuke moved closer to the bed to make sure she was alright and saw
the tears starting to form in her eyelashes.

“The moment I saw
her I did the only thing I could. I ran. Takako was on one end of
the hall and the girls were on the other. She was going to kill all
of us. I didn’t want to make a mistake and assume she wouldn’t
kill the children. I ran to the nursery and locked myself in with
the girls, praying Takako would stay quiet… if she had just
stayed quiet.” She pulled her hand away from Hiro and bunched
her fists in her lap. Unsure what to do, Sasuke simply sat and
waited. After several deep breaths, she continued.

“She started
yelling for me to hurry up. I don’t even remember what she
wanted. But a few minutes later she started screaming.” She
sucked in a shaking breath and looked up at him. “If I opened
the door and couldn’t kill her, we were all dead. I knew she’d
use Takako to get to me. I knew she’d torture her to get me to
open the door. I’ve never been so sick in my life trying to
ignore her screaming.”

Hiro shifted restlessly
on the bed, making Izanami flinch a little. Sasuke hurried over to
the other side of the bed and gripped her shoulder.

“Is it cramping
again? Do you need the medic?”

She shook her head as
the pained expression began to slowly fade from her face. He wiped
the sweat from her forehead and considered calling the medic anyway
when she abruptly threw her arms around his neck and pulled him to
her. Stunned by the sudden display, Sasuke floundered over where to
put his hands and how tight to hold her.

“I’d gladly
listen to every scream again and enjoy them!”

“What?”
Sasuke tried to pull her back gently but she had too strong a hold on
him.

“She opened the
door for that bitch. She opened the door and let that woman in the
room with her children just so she wouldn’t get hurt.”
Her nails bit into his shoulders.

“She knew that
woman was going to kill me. Even if she didn’t know she would
kill the girls she knew she was going to kill me!” She
sobbed audibly. “And she let her in that room!”

Sasuke took a minute to
absorb what she’d just told him. He knew this woman wasn’t
prone to exaggerations but she was under considerable stress. She
might have misinterpreted the situation. But he couldn’t shake
the report he’d seen. The fact that the door hadn’t been
forced, the lock hadn’t been damaged and the key had still been
in it.

“I’ll talk
to her in the morning. We’ll take care of this.” He
pulled back from her and rubbed her arms awkwardly.

“If this baby
dies, I want her head.” There was venom lacing each word.

Hiro stirred and lifted
his head before Sasuke could reply.

“Mommy?”
He called sleepily.

She jumped as if she’d
forgotten he was there and her whole demeanor changed. She turned
toward him and leaned just a little to kiss the top of his head.
When she winced Hiro frowned and got to his knees on the bed.

“Are you hurt,
mommy?”

She touched his cheek
with a shaky hand and Sasuke stood to walk to the opposite side of
the bed.

“Only a little,
baby. I’ll be fine. But you should be in bed.”

He snorted and Sasuke
cleared his throat. “No rude noises, young man. At least not
to your mother.”

Izanami rolled her eyes
and ruffled her sons’ hair. “Go with your father.”

Hiro kissed her cheek
and slipped off the bed. With a last look at his wife, Sasuke walked
Hiro out of the room and closed the door. Choji was waiting just
down the hall and Hiro hurried to catch up with his two brothers
while Sasuke slowed then stopped and grabbed the arm of the nearest
medic assistant.

“How long before
Takako Uchiha regains consciousness?” He asked mildly.

The young man blinked a
few times then made an “ah” sound as he flipped through a
small clipboard.

“She should be
able to take visitors by tomorrow afternoon, Uchiha-san. If you’d
like…”

Sasuke looked down the
hall at his boys then back at the medic. “I asked when she
would be conscious. Not when she could have visitors.”

The medic started to
protest until he noticed Sasuke's eyes were no longer their soft
black but a violent red that seemed to spiral around the pupil.

“Tomorrow
morning, with the Hokages permission.”

Sasuke let the man go
and with a muttered “Thank You” went to join his
children.

0.0.0.0.0.0

Gaara woke from his
nightmares to his own screams. Lifting a hand to his face, he wiped
the sweat from his eyes before they started stinging. He’d not
had dreams like this one in years and they were more disturbing now
that he had so many new nightmares to build from.

Shaking out the sheets
he looked out his window at the cloud shrouded moon and wondered if
he’d get any sleep tonight. He’d just gotten comfortable
sleeping in his own little apartment and though he appreciated Gai's
hospitality and understood the need for him to stay under watch
tonight, this large comfortable room felt wrong to him. The bed was
too large, the room too open and … it simply wasn’t his.
Perhaps it reminded him too much of a life he’d just recently
decided he needed to leave behind. The sharp reminder of the life
he’d once had was twisting the images in his mind.

His dreams had been
full of images of people dieing and his inability to stop it. Only
the people dieing would switch faces from one moment to the next
until he wasn’t sure who he was holding in his arms as they
took their last breath. And more disturbing were the images of
killing an enemy only to pull the mask away and find a friend staring
back at him with accusing eyes.

Sighing he smoothed the
sheet back onto the bed and sat on the edge. He was debating a walk
in the garden when the outer door to his room slid open and Neji
stepped inside.

“Are you
alright?”

Heat flooded his face
when he realized Neji must have heard him screaming. He hadn’t
thought about how thin the walls were or that Neji was next door to
him.

“I’m fine.
Nightmares. Nothing I can’t deal with.”

Neji looked at the now
made bed and raised both brows. Gaara returned the look with a glare
and reached for his boots only to have them kicked out of his way as
Neji advanced. In moments he found himself pushed back into the bed
and rolled to his side. Then Neji crawled in behind him. He was
ready to ask what the hell the white eyed freak thought he was doing
when he felt Neji's arm rest over his waist.

He jerked upright and
tried to scramble out of the bed.

“What the hell
are you doi…”

Neji grabbed his arm
and dragged him back into the bed. The Hyuuga pressed him down into
the sheets and wrestling him to his side to, once again, draping an
arm over his waist.

“Just stay still.
Close your eyes and go to sleep.” Neji murmured.

Gaara, his eyes bugging
as his mind raced, tried to pull away but found that Neji wasn’t
going to give. He had, in fact, poised the fingers of his
restraining hand in position to cut off one of his lower chakra
points.

“I believe I told
you before that I wasn’t interested in men.” Gaara tried
to say dryly though he was pretty sure he sounded desperate.

“And I believe I
told you I had no interest in anyone.” Neji replied. “Now
go to sleep. If you have another nightmare I’ll wake you up
before it gets bad.”

Seeing no way to get
out of this without calling his sand and causing the man serious
physical pain, and knowing he really didn’t mean any harm in
his actions, Gaara tried to relax enough to at least feign sleep.
Perhaps if Neji thought he was out he’d release him and then
he’d make his escape.

“And Lee said I
was a pain in the ass.” Neji mumbled sarcastically.

Startled at the sudden
vocalization, Gaara stiffened. “I have to agree with him but
what has that got to do with me?”

Neji was quiet for a
moment, then chuckled. The vibrations of his chest against Gaara's
back might have been appealing had the chest been softer and the
chuckle had a higher pitch.

“After TenTen
died I spent a lot of time with Lee, trying to understand how he
coped. He was always so… emotional I just couldn’t
understand why her loss didn’t hit him harder. I quickly found
out that Lee was very good at taking everything in stride.”

Neji shifted a little
and Gaara tensed up as parts of his friend that shouldn’t have
been touching him, touched him. After a moment he realized those
parts had absolutely no interest in being there and relaxed… a
little.

“We’d
stayed here one night and I was having trouble sleeping. Lee came
in, crawled in the bed and proceeded to spoon up against me.
Needless to say, I didn’t take it well.”

Gaara wasn’t so
sure about that since he didn’t seem to be having any trouble
doing it now. Though, to be honest, Neji was currently in a more
dominant position. Maybe he was fine with it as long as he wasn’t
the girl.

“He told me to
relax, close my eyes and go to sleep. Since I’d just found out
he was see Sasuke I was having trouble relaxing.”

Gaara whipped his head
around then winced when his got a cramp in it from the sharp
movement. This only made Neji chuckle again.

“Hadn’t
heard about that, eh?”

Gaara growled. “It
was implied but I didn’t catch on to the implication.”

That made Neji laugh
and the whole bed shake. Gaara tried to brace himself to keep from
falling farther into Neji's body but gave up when the man simply
tugged with his arm and pressed him harder against his chest.

“Well, if it
makes any difference, Lee was the kind of guy who took absolutely
everything in stride and as long as it made you happy and
strengthened you in some way, he would try it.”

Gaara nodded and tried
to ignore how warm Neji was and how soothing the sound of his voice
was.

“But as I was
saying, he told me to relax and sleep. I thought it was going to be
impossible and I argued and fought over it. And before I knew it I
was asleep.”

Gaara's lids drooped
lower over his eyes and he hummed his understanding, too tired to
speak.

“In the morning
he woke me up and left the room. We never talked about it, but the
message was simple. He always had my back.”

“You miss him.”
Gaara mumbled sleepily.

“Yeah, I do.”
He felt Neji settle deeper into the pillow.

“Sometimes
Kankuro slept with me. I didn’t sleep but I could relax with
him next to me.” Gaara yawned and his jaw popped.

“What did you do
while he slept?”

“I read a lot.”

“Un.”

They fell silent for a
while and Gaara's mind drifted just on the edge of sleep. The heat
at his back and the soft scent of clean cold air combined with the
sound of water flowing over smooth rock lulling him.

“Why didn’t
you go back? I always wanted to know. You could have gone back as
soon as you were able to walk. No one would have stopped you.”
Neji whispered.

Gaara wasn’t so
sure. There were sure to be a few who would have stopped him. Maybe
not for the reasons Neji was thinking, but there were other reasons
to keep him here. So why hadn’t he left?

“I thought about
it. More than once, but…” Sighing he rolled to his
back, barely noticing the arm now draped over his stomach. “If
I had gone back I would have died before I reached the desert. Even
with the sand I’m not sure I could have made it to the gates.
I’m not afraid of dieing but had I come back all of those
people would have paid. Whether they betrayed me or not, I couldn’t
let them suffer for my pride. And if there is a chance that Kankuro
is still alive, I don’t want to be the reason he dies.”

He felt the warm air
blowing softly and rhythmically against his cheek. He turned his
head slightly. Neji's eyes were closed but the veins at his temple
were standing out.

“Can you see
through your own eyelids?”

A tight lipped grin
curved Nejis mouth. “Yes. And to answer your next question, I
can see in the dark without having to adjust.”

“That must be
convenient.” Gaara snorted sarcastically.

“It is.”

“You’re not
going to sleep with that on are you?”

The veins smoothed out
leaving his temple a perfectly creamy white. Gaara stuck his tongue
out. When Neji didn’t respond, he settled on his back and
closed his eyes.

“You realize
we’re giving the rumor mill a lot of fodder right now.”

Neji snorted. “I’m
not telling if you’re not.”

It was Gaara's turn to
snort. “Those brats have an annoying habit of finding out
exactly what I’m up to.”

Neji chuckled. “Don’t
worry. The worst they could do is say we were in bed together.”
He seemed to think about it for a moment. “Maybe that we
were… cuddling.”

Gaara groaned loudly
and with feeling.

“Don’t
worry about it.” The sleepy white-eyed man continued. “Just
go to sleep.”

They settled again,
Neji's breathing evened out and Gaara relaxed into the sheets but his
mind wouldn’t stop working.

“I wonder who
they think is the seme?”

A pillow hit him
squarely in the face and both men dissolved into laughter.

0.0.0.0.0.0

I hope you enjoyed
this chapter. I'll try to get more out sooner.
- 18
- 19
- 20
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Sand in the Leaves