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Monsters	By : LoneReader3173 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 4323 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters there in. I do not profit from this story. Any similarities to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Chapter 9: Ready Steady Go

As the beast vanished before them and the last embers turned to ash as they floated through the air, Sasuke’s attention turned once again the glowing alter at the back of the cavern. The ash and earth crunched beneath his boots as moved towards it, echoing through the otherwise silent chamber. His brother joined his movement and fell into line beside him, the rest of the party following behind. Sasuke felt oddly drawn to the alter as though it were calling to him closer. It was simple enough in design, a large stone circle etched with the image of a dragon devouring its own tail.

“Wrath.” Itachi said absently. His voice was barely above a whisper, but it too echoed through the vast emptiness.

“Huh?” Naruto had stepped up on Itachi’s other side. He had not bothered to lower his voice and the resulting sound grated on Sasuke’s nerves.

Itachi pointed to the alter and specifically the dragon symbol, turning to address Naruto, though the rest of the party listened intently as well.
“That symbol is traditionally one of those used to depict the seven deadly sins. This on represents wrath.”
The had reached the alter now, standing before it, not one of them daring to go and closer. Two cauldrons of the strange green flames sat to either side of the stone slab, nd the resulting shadows swayed back and forth across the etching giving the dragon the appearance of movement. As Sasuke examined closer he noticed something odd.

The alter seemed to flicker and was blurry at times. At first he thought it was the flames, casting a haze of heat before his vision, but as he stood near one of cauldrons he realized he felt cold still. His proximity to the flames meant he should definitely feel them, should have felt them as they approached. He walked closer to one and reached out his hand, noticing Naruto watch him closely. His hand was inches from the flames now and still he could not feel them. There was no heat, so what was causing the haze? He turned to his brother who was now in a deep whispered conversation with Kakashi. Naruto was still facing him, but his eyes looked right though him as he tried to listen in on the conversation. Sasuke was curious as to how good the demons hearing was.

“It’ll be fine. We’re running out of time. I’m the best choice.” Itachi said at last in a regular volume. He looked first at Naruto, who had turned at the sound of his voice and was now giving Itachi a look of concern, and then to Sasuke.

“I believe I’ve figured it out.” He told them all. “Follow me through the veil and stay to the edges of the circle.”

Veil? What veil was he talking about? The haze? But before he could ask further, he turned and stepped onto the alter, vanishing from sight. Alarmed, Sasuke sprinted after him. As he passed through the haze, a mild tingling sensation radiated through his body. He came to a stop on the other side and Itachi stood there watching him with a smile.
“Welcome to the Veil, little brother.” He chuckled lightly.

“The what?” He panted lightly. Looking around he everything still looked the same. He could see the others still on the other side, moving forwards, but they were blurry as if he was looking at them through a fog. Naruto was the next to enter, followed closely by Sakura.

Itachi wait for everyone to enter before continuing. They followed his orders and stood to the edge of the circle while Itachi stood in the center as though they were his class and he their teacher. However, before he could explain further what the veil was or what they were doing in it, something began to glow white and shined brightly behind him.
Itachi whirled around quickly as three ghostly figures materialized in the space at the head of the alter. They stood side by side, translucent and shimmering, as the surveyed the party. They were human, or had once been human. Brothers by the looks of it.

“We have been defeated.” All three spoke at once in eerily perfect unison. “But there is still a price to be paid.”

“See that’s the part I haven’t figured out yet. What price.” Itachi asked with apprehension hanging in his voice. Sasuke was beginning to feel very uneasy. Their faces were blank and devoid of any emotion. Their eyes white and unseeing.

“We were young when our village was destroyed .” The tallest ghostly figure began. “We thought power from the Veil could help us seek vengeance for our loved ones.”

“We were right, to an extent.” The next figure continued the story. “We opened the Veil from this portal, and were granted the knowledge of magic, but at a cost.”

“We promised to use the Veil’s gift patiently and take only the lives we needed, but it consumed us. Through our wrath we sought our vengeance, claiming the live of thousands in our conquest. The Veil was corrupted. And then Death came.” The last of the three finished.

“To cleanse the Veil and seal the gate, our debt must be repaid. Magic it gave, and so magic it must take.” They once again said in perfect unison.

“I understand.” Itachi replied. Sasuke however did not understand, and was suddenly very afraid for his brother. He stepped forward on to the circle, and so, to his surprise did Naruto. Itachi held up a hand to both of them, halting them in their place. He then pulled a knife from his belt and drew it across his palm, letting the blood flow on to smooth stone surface beneath his feat.

There was a blinding flash of light and all went dark. He heard Sakura gasp to his right, and the sound of a sword being draw somewhere to his left. Sasuke summoned a light rune as fast as he could to moving through the dark to the place he had last seen his brother. The rune flickered to life just as he reached Itachi. His brother was kneeling in the center of the alter, gasping and clutching at Naruto who had beaten Sasuke to his side. Sasuke stared at him in disbelief. Through the ability of his Sharingan, it was clear looking at Itachi’s aura, that his magic was gone.

=========

Sasuke sat on the edge of his bed with his arms resting on his knees. It was a little after five in the morning, but he’d been awake for maybe an hour. The dream of the shack had been plaguing him more and more and had woken him once again tonight. He sighed and flopped backwards onto his bed, staring up at the blank, white ceiling. His body ached all over. In the two week since their first encounter with a gate, Kakashi had insisted that Sasuke’s, Naruto’s, Gaara’s, and Sakura’s training intensify immensely. This usually involved putting them against one another in the main cavern. While dueling the other three was indeed giving him a much wider variety of training than he’d ever experienced, he’d still rather have trained with his brother. But that’s possible now, and might never be again.

The sacrifice of his magic and severely weakened Itachi. He’d had to lean on both himself and Naruto in order to walk out of the chamber, and had since been resting in the clan’s Medical bay. It had been two weeks, and there was no improvement in his condition. He’d spent the first few nights at Itachi’s side, until his brother had forced him to go home, and back to school, and Kakashi’s training.

School was distracting for Sasuke and felt more like busy Work than anything of actual value. Sakura was still attending as well, looking as tired as Sasuke felt, and often ate lunch with him. Though their conversation was conversational at best, Sasuke found her presence and relaxed aura almost comforting, despite the power he knew she possessed. He had not seen Gaara or Naruto at the school, and usually found them training or browsing the library for answers they too lacked.

Sasuke still made the effort to visit everyday, despite his current exhaustion. And to his annoyance, so did Naruto. The blond demon spent just as much time with Itachi that Sasuke did, and he had a suspicion that there was something between them that Sasuke had yet to understand. It bothered him deeply, but he was more concerned with his brother’s health to be as angry about it as he normally would. Sasuke had wondered if it would bother him the same way if Naruto weren’t a half breed.

Naruto’s vagueness still annoyed him, but the demon boy was by far his favorite person to fight in their trainings. They were all pretty evenly matched. Sakura was skilled with a blade, but her rune magic was not nearly as strong as Sasuke’s. What she lacked in destruction knowledge, she made up for in healing abilities. Gaara lacked power in his attacks, but made up for in vast knowledge of defensive, that impressed even the tactical minded Shikamaru. Sasuke excelled in destructive magic, but was unable to heal, and Sakura could nearly always beat him with a blade. And then there was Naruto. What he lacked in defenses, he made up for in raw power, speed, and unpredictability. He had had the least training of any of them, and Sasuke was sure that that was the only reason they were able to beat him when they did. The potential he possessed rattled Sasuke. No one who held power like that, let alone a demon with a grudge against people, should be taken lightly, and Sasuke was determined to stay ahead of Naruto’s progress. It was clear the boy wasn’t going anywhere, so it was up to Sasuke to keep him in check.

Sasuke was becoming frustrated with the lack of information that the senior members of the clan were willing to divulge. Itachi had not been anymore forthcoming with any further information about the Veil itself or what had transpired in the cavern. They were being trained as warriors but being treated like children. If the other three members of his team, for team was certainly what Kakashi was trying to make, were concerned, they had not spoken of it to Sasuke.

He raised his arms of his head, stretching out his sore back. He might as well get up. There was no sense in laying about anymore, and the likelihood of falling back asleep was now very slim. He rolled out of bed and stretched again before heading to the kitchen.

As Sasukes feet hit the kitchen floor, there came a soft knock at his front door. He approached cautiously. His heart began to beat faster as he turned the handle and hope bloomed in his chest that it would be Itachi, well again and ready to leave this place. It wasn’t Itachi at the door, but Naruto, Gaara, and Sakura who stood before him in pre morning darkness. All three of the were clad in the standard Namikaze clan uniform that Sakura normally wore. He stared at them in surprise, but they did not ask to come in.

“So we’ve been talking, and doing a lot of thinking.” Sakura started, chewing her lip in nervousness.

Gaara, picking up on her hesitation, continued for her, “We think it’s time we,” He gestured to all of them, including Sasuke, “left and started looking for the next gate on our own.”

“It’s what they’re training us for, you see?” Sakura had found her voice again. “But, we’re going crazy too... waiting. Not know what we’re waiting for.” She paused again. Naruto had remained quiet but was watching Sasuke intently.

“So you all want to run away in the middle of the night and just hope we can somehow find the next gate, when this one took a clan years to locate in their own base... and somehow not die?” Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his teammates.

“Well, we know there is a gate in each city. We planned to just start in Sunagakaru, and go from there.” Gaara was eying him impatiently.

Sasuke thought about it, leaning against the doorway, they all watched him, waiting for his answer. He knew they would go, whether he agreed to go with them or not. If he left, he ran the risk of grave injury and disappointing his brother, but if he stayed, he ran the risk of dying of boredom or exploding from frustration. Silently, he agreed with their plight. They’d learned all they could, and all that was willingly to be given.

“It’s time to go.” He agreed, nodding slowly.

“Get packed, we should leave wishing the hour.” Sakura smiled at him, entering his apartment, and plopping herself in the center of the couch. Naruto and Gaara came in and sat beside her as the awkwardly waited for Sasuke to get ready.
Packing went swiftly. Sasuke didn’t have much to begin with, and there was nothing her really needed besides clothes and a sleeping roll. He stopped before his book case, debating which books would be of most value.
“We can bring them all, never know when they’ll come in handy,” Sakura chuckled. Sasuke was skeptical, but Gaara enthusiastically helped him grab books and carry them down to where Sakura had parked. Her car was an old SUV style car that resembled an old fashioned ambulance to Sasuke. The bottom and top where an off white color, and a thick mint green stripe ran the length of both sides and across the back. There was a large sticker depicting a cute slug on the lower right quadrant of the tailgate, and when she lifted the door, Sasuke was shocked to see an entire room within the vehicle. It was just like the one Itachi had given him.

He stared opened mouth and she laughed at his expression. “It was Tsunade’s. She and Orochimaru were teammates ones. They all had one of these if some sort.”

Sasuke was about to ask how she knew about his car, but remembered that Itachi had been with the clan longer than she had, and it was perfectly plausible for her to have seen it while in it had been in his possession.
He loaded the books and his bags into the car and went back up after Gaara to grab the rest. Naruto stopped him in the top of the stairs.

“Itachi said to give you this, but to open it later.” His expression and tone were unreadable as he handed Sasuke a small parcel wrapped in twine. Without another word he descended the stairs and climbed into the backseat of the car behind Sakura.

Sasuke and Gaara finished grabbing books, before going to join them. He took a moment while locking the door to survey the little apartment he’d called home the past few months and closed it behind him for what he knew may be the last time.

They finished loading and Gaara took the front passenger seat, leaving Sasuke to sit in the back with Naruto, who had fallen asleep against the door. Sakura started the engine and it rumbled to life. Sasuke rested his head against the window and stared out at the lightening morning sky. It wasn’t long, watching traffic and street lights as the passed, before he too fell into a deep and much needed sleep.
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