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The Canalized River	By : susanna Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 944 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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A/N
at the end of the chapter

Chapter
Thirty: Trust

Sasuke
could see the Cursed Seal Chakra building up in Juugo even before the
pattern of the Seal began to show on his skin. He knelt down next to
him, hoping that Juugo might gain consciousness soon, so that he
could look into his eyes and get into his mind, but as it was, he
could only check the state of his chakra. Its overall level was
indeed dangerously low, and the exchange between the head and the
rest of the body had dropped to almost zero, which was even more
alarming. The level of the Cursed Seal Chakra was rising however, and
and Sasuke saw that it made sense that the exchange had stopped: The
strange chakra as well was prevented from getting into Juugo's head,
so that Juugo would not get controlled by it.

Acting
in panic of panicking, Sasuke thought, and it was not even completely
irrational. If he could just get into Juugo's mind and subdue the
dark chakra, so that his own chakra might flow again – if Juugo
would wake up even for one moment.

Naruto
had followed him and was kneeling next to him. Sasuke could sense his
chakra – and the kyuubi's chakra getting stronger and stronger.
That was just what he needed at the moment! At least Naruto was awake
so that Sasuke could use the Sharingan on him and get into his mind:
The kyuubi was lying behind the bars of its cage, and Naruto was
standing outside, curious what Sasuke might do. Yet Sasuke did
nothing as the kyuubi was quiet, slowly retreating from the bars.

It
took Sasuke all concentration he could muster to be simultaneously
aware of Juugo's chakra, of Naruto's mind with the kyuubi inside and
of their real bodies and the real room they were staying in.

“I
don't want to hurt you”, he said to Naruto, taking his hand to
reassure him. “I just want to make sure that everyone is all
right.”

“I
guessed so”, Naruto answered. “What's happening to him
anyway?”

“The Cursed Seal Chakra is awakening,
and he's trying to fight it. He's stopping it from getting into his
head, only that his own chakra cannot get into his head either. I'd
need to get into his mind, but for this I have to look into his
eyes.”

“Have
you tried to wake him up?”

“Not
yet.”

Sasuke
took Juugo's hand, spoke to him: “Wake up!” but as he had
expected nothing happened.

Naruto
tried as well, gently touching Juugo's hand, then his temple. Sasuke
wondered about this audacity, but then Naruto had always been more
couragious when it had come to touching people. Sasuke still had his
sharingan activated, so that he could see the kyuubi in its cage,
lying on the floor, quiet, but attentive, his ears turnt to Sasuke.

Naruto
was conferring some of his chakra into Juugo's body: Sasuke could
only hope that this would not cause any harm, as Juugo was obviously
not able to deal with a lot of chakra at the moment. He gasped when
not only some of Naruto's chakra, but also some of the kyuubi's was
flowing into Juugo's chakra system. Juugo moved in his sleep, but for
a split second he opened his eyes and then fell asleep again –
yet this had been enough for Sasuke to finally enter his mind, see
what was happening and make an attempt to get things under control.

He
found the landscape he had always found when he had been in Juugo's
mind: An orchard, confined and protected by hedges of dogroses, and
beyond the orchard woods and meadows and fields. It was May now, the
trees were in full bloom, and the orchard might have been stunningly
beautiful had it not been for the black powder that was lying around
everywhere, mixing with the white petals so that the color of the
lawn under the trees was some ugly greyish green.

Outside
the orchard it was even worse. There the chakra was drifting around
in the form of dark clouds, obscuring the sky, attempting to get
inside. Still the hedges protected the orchard.

Due
to his Sharingan Sasuke had the ability to manipulate what was
happening in these mental dimensions. Formerly when Juugo was
freaking out, he had had no difficulties making the dark chakra get
to the ground and to calming down Juugo, just as he had easily
scattered the kyuubi's chakra when he had met Naruto in Orochimaru's
lair. Now however that he had to focus on both the kyuubi and the
Cursed Seal Chakra he found it beyond his control. It took him all
his power to make everything stay as it was.

Well,
trust Naruto to make things worse. Suddenly both mental dimensions
merged and Naruto stepped over into the orchard that was part of
Juugo's mind. He looked around.

“Wow,
this is beautiful! Did you create this!”

“I
cannot create something like this”, Sasuke explained. “It
is an image of Juugo's mind. Whether it is my mind or the Sharingan
that produces the pictures of the other person's mind, or whether the
other person's mind creates them itself I don't know, but I certainly
don't make up the pictures.”

Naruto
did not answer but kept looking for some minutes.

“Is
there nothing one can do about that black stuff?” he then
asked.

“I
might try to make it calm down. But you have to keep the kyuubi in
check so that I can concentrate on Juugo.”

Naruto
shook his head. “I am sorry – I can't. It's the seal that
controls the kyuubi, not me. I can only weaken the seal by getting
upset.”

“Then
see that you don't get upset.”

“I
can only try. I can't help getting upset when the people I love are
in danger. It's my feelings, and my feelings are what makes me
myself.”

Sasuke
did not see any logic behind this. What if the people he loved got
into an even worse danger because Naruto lost control over the
kyuubi?

He
looked at the demon fox: It had stood up now and was pressing its
nose against the bars of the cage.

“Do
your best!” Sasuke said to Naruto. “If things go wrong
I'll help out.”

He
concentrated on the black stuff. The trick was to visualize it
calming down and drifting slowly to the ground which in this mental
dimension would make it really calm down. It sounded easy but even if
you were good at visualizing and forming mental images things might
go wrong because the other person's mind fought back and tried to
remain as it was, or because suddenly you were confronted with your
own hidden fear and pain. It was unpredictable because of the very
fact that you had hidden your pain from yourself and thus could never
tell which pictures in your opponent's mind or even which of his
actions would make the hidden pain come to the surface.

During
his years with Orochimaru Sasuke had been confronted with quite a lot
of his hidden fears and pains so that he had become pretty strong
when it came to fights in mental dimensions, and most of all Juugo's
Cursed Seal Chakra had never presented a challenge to him as it did
not have a mind of its own and did not try to fight back, not being
able to attempt to manipulate his mind or find his fears. Sometimes
it had even seemed to him that it was happy when he made it calm
down, as a dog might be who feels comforted by his master's presence
(instead of just being shouted at and ordered to calm down.)

If
he could just concentrate... But he kept thinking of the kyuubi,
which was growling nervously behind the bars of its cage, while
Naruto was talking to it, trying to quieten it.

Also
the chakra had changed its behaviour: It seemed as if suddenly it had
become cunning in itself, using every moment Sasuke was distracted to
fly up again, or coming up at some point of the landscape while he
was focusing on somewhere else, and it was swirling wilder and
wilder, threatening more and more to get into the orchard.

Still
the dogrose hedges were intact and kept it outside.

At
least the kyuubi was still safely confined in its cage, so he did not
have to worry about this – but then Naruto himself ripped off
the seal that kept the cage closed. Naruto was again at Sasuke's
side.

“What
have you done?” Sasuke asked.

“It
said it would help us get rid of the black stuff for good and free
your companion from his homicidal impulses forever.”

“And
you trust it?” Sasuke could not believe what he had heard. “It
did not come to your mind that it might have been lying to you in
order to get free?”

“I
don't think so”, Naruto answered, and Sasuke could only shake
his head about his naivety.

“If
not, you'll get it under control again.”

“I
can't”, Sasuke answered. “I mean, I can control it, but I
cannot seal it. I'd have to be with you every moment, just in case it
gets out of control.”

Only
when Naruto grinned it came to Sasuke's mind that he might think that
a good idea. He was being foolish again, not considering the real
consequences of his actions.

The
kyuubi had now come over into Juugo's mind. It was eating the black
stuff, or rather absorbing it into its own body as being a demon it
did not have any metabolism. It appeared to draw it in, while the
black stuff had ceased to swirl around, or to attempt to get into the
orchard, but was flowing towards the kyuubi of its own free will, and
the demon welcomed it gladly.

That
was it, Sasuke thought. The kyuubi was happy to absorb the black
stuff, and the black stuff was happy to be absorbed. He was scared:
He could not imagine that a free and happy kyuubi might mean anything
good.

But
at least in one point the kyuubi had not been lying: It was helping
them to get rid of the black stuff.

“Kyuubi”,
Sasuke called it in spite of his still being scared.

Reluctantly
the demon interrupted his feast of chakra and turned to face Sasuke.

“What's
the matter?”

“You
won't hurt Juugo, will you?”

“I
thought that Naruto had already explained it to you: I am freeing
Juugo from his homicidal impulses.”

“Without
killing him?

“Without
killing him.”

“Get
Karin!” Sasuke told Naruto, releasing him from the grip of his
Sharingan. “Wake her up, be it from sleep or from whatever –
Juugo's more important than anything else.”

He
kept watching the kyuubi: Most of the chakra that had polluted the
landscape had been absorbed by the kyuubi, and fields and woods and
meadows were green and yellow again.

“Open the gates!”
the kyuubi said. “So that I can get the other stuff as well.”

Sasuke
was still not sure whether he could trust it. But now Karin was
kneeling on Juugo's other side.

“Is
it safe?” he asked her.

“It
should be”, she answered.

Naruto
was at his side again, Sasuke did not know how. There were two gates
in the fence that surrounded the orchard, overgrown by the dogroses;
there they bound down and cut the twigs that were covering the fence.
As soon as the first gate was cleared the kyuubi began to suck in the
chakra that was lying down inside so that the orchard got free and
beautiful again.

There
had always been birds in the orchard, but now they began to sing.

“It's
okay”, the boys heard Karin's voice from another world. “The
chakra flow has returned, and soon the chakra will rise back to its
normal level. He just needs to recover now.”

XZanayu:
Why should they fight? I mean, against each other? Talking is
difficult enough. ;-)

LadyRonin:
Thanks again for your comments. I hope that you will like the
remaining chapters. :-)

Halskr:
Thanks for commenting again. I am glad that things are clearer now.
It seems that the fight scenes have been difficult for me. (I will
have to practise.) I am glad that you liked the KarinxSuigetsu part,
and I hope just as you that the three „other“ Hebi-
members will get some more screen time (or paper space) in the manga.
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The Canalized River