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Whosoever doth Awaken the Demon	By : vanessaclarke Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1343 -:- 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. Please don't sue me.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
Whosoever doth Awaken the Demon
part 1
Once upon a time, there
lived a king who, despite the constant urgings of his advisers, had yet to
choose himself a wife. He was young and handsome and could have had any lady in
the kingdom, but none seemed good enough for him.
The truth was that his
heart had already been taken by a beautiful fox spirit. The two would meet in
secrecy each night until the king learned that his lover was carrying his heir.
Upon hearing this happy news, the king finally brought the fox spirit home to
his castle and declared her his bride to be.
The king�s council and
subjects were afraid that this powerful spirit was really a demon that had
somehow bewitched their beloved monarch and they protested the match. However,
he would hear none of it and forbade anyone from speaking against his love or
plotting harm against her or the offspring she carried.
In time, the queen gave
birth to a lovely, healthy baby boy, whose golden hair and blue eyes were even
more brilliant than his father�s, though his fluffy fox tail gave away his
heritage to all who looked upon him. The obviously inhuman feature made some
people uncomfortable but the clever, cheerful child was the light of his
parents� lives.
While there were still
some prejudiced and suspicious grumblings about demons within the royal family,
the young prince grew up in the shelter of the castle and his family�s love and
the kingdom enjoyed sixteen years of relative peace and prosperity.
Then a terrible plague
began to march across the land. The wasting sickness spread quickly and was
difficult to track, though the king attempted to quarantine the affected areas.
Those who had held on to their mistrust of the so-called demon queen were quick
to blame this disaster on her. After all, she was a very powerful magical
being. Who knew what evil she was capable of?
The religious fanatics
claimed that the gods were punishing them all for allowing demons to rule them.
The fearful peasants were desperate to find a solution and a mass uprising was
begun over-night. The castle was stormed swiftly and the queen, who had been in
the gardens tending to the special medicinal herbs she�d been growing for her
people, was taken by surprise and killed.
The mob cheered their
victory, but only moments later their leaders were calling for the blood of the
demon�s son. He was inhuman as well and must be destroyed.
Having been alerted to the
danger by now, the king gathered his son and fled on horseback to the cave in
the forest where he and his beloved used to meet. He�d made this cave quite
comfortable all those years ago, with rich furnishing and provisions, while his
love had placed a spell of protection and preservation upon it so that only
those of royal blood could enter and even time itself had no effect within. The
powerful magic held true even after her death.
For three days they waited
here together for the kingdom to calm as they grieved for the loss of the
queen. Unfortunately, as the supposed �curse� had not been lifted, the peasants
had grown all the more desperate. On the third day, their sanctuary was
discovered. The ravening hoard could not enter, but neither could they leave
with an angry mob camped outside the door. The king could not condone any
violence toward them, for that would simply add fuel to their false
assumptions.
The supply of food and
drink in the cave was running low and there was no telling how long the siege
might last. Finally, in order to keep his son safe, the king cast a spell upon
him, sending him into a deep sleep from which he could only be woken by a drop
of royal blood. In this way he could stay in the cave indefinitely, for however
long it took for his father to get him safely out.
With the help of his loyal
guards, who had come rushing when they heard of his whereabouts, the king made
it home alive. The mob was not truly interested in killing him so much as the
demon prince, and they backed down from the guards
blades with minimal trouble.
Sadly, the king never did
get the chance to go back for his precious son. He did not survive the plague
that had continued to sweep through the land.
A distant cousin was set
upon the throne in his place but the man was a fool (in a long line of fools)
and the kingdom never recovered its prior glory. Poor and bitter survivors
continued to blame the very existence of the demon prince for all their
suffering.
As the years passed
though, they eventually stopped looking for ways to get to him. Within a few
generations, the demon and his resting place passed into legend, wherein the demoness had indeed bewitched the good king and he had
cursed his abominable offspring with eternal sleep to be rid of him.
--
�Sire.�
A stern voice echoed from
the walls of the great chamber, accompanied by the tromp
of heavy booted feet. Prince Sasuke looked up sharply
from the map he�d been studying, his dark eyes spearing keenly into those of
his general.
�Kakashi, what news?�
�I�m afraid your brother�s
forces are amassing even yet. While that buys us more time, their numbers are
becoming overwhelming.�
The prince made a noise of
frustration but kept it low. He had to take care to show only strength, as he
was for all intents and purposes, the ruler of these lands now.
The recent deaths of his
family had come as a shock and there had been no time for a coronation, leaving
him technically still a prince, but the crown was indisputably his, unless (or
until) his brother returned and took it by force.
He and his entire kingdom
were in dire straits and for the hundredth time he wished that his father were
here to advise him, but then, the very fact that he wasn�t was partially the
source of the trouble.
Sasuke�s brother, Itachi
was the eldest of the two sons and by tradition, the
crown should have fallen to him. However, their father, Fugaku,
saw a darkness in his first born. Itachi
was too anxious for power, even delving deeply into the magical arts, and he
was much too quick to wield what power he had. He was undeniably selfish and as
much as Fugaku loved him and took pride in his
bearing and his accomplishments, he could not bring himself, in good
conscience, to place his people in Itachi�s hands.
On Sasuke�s
sixteenth birthday, Fugaku publicly declared him his
future successor. Itachi was outraged. His right had
been circumvented, his future, neatly swept out from under him. He�d been
looking forward to the day he got out from under his father�s thumb. Now there
would forever be someone above him in power and importance. And the humiliation
of being passed over for his younger brother was not to be born.
Already a little twisted, Itachi became utterly hateful. He had made a deal with the
devil. He would be given a vast, nigh undefeatable army in exchange for the
lives of his family, and he had wasted no time in fulfilling his end of the
bargain. The entire Uchiha clan had been slaughtered
in a single night. Only Sasuke had managed, through
sheer luck, to escape with his life.
Suffering from insomnia as
he sometimes did, he had been wandering about the castle, incidentally making
it difficult for his brother to find him, when he�d heard a faint scream.
Rushing toward the sound, it had been he who had discovered the remains of his
family and alerted the guards, at which point Itachi
had made his retreat into the dark night.
With the Uchiha clan all but destroyed, Itachi�s
new army, made up mostly of unspeakable creatures, was preparing to march in
and wrest the kingdom from his little brother�s grasp.
Sasuke sighed quietly,
swiping a hand through his longish black hair as he silently wondered what the
bastard was waiting for.
�Send them in,� he
commanded finally.
With a nod, Kakashi made a stiff about-face and disappeared into the
hallway. Sasuke could remember a time not too long
ago, when one would be hard pressed to find the silver haired man behaving so
seriously. Moments later the thick mahogany door swung open once more admitting
a motley group of learned men of various ages and stations.
Realizing the unnatural
danger that his men were about to face, Sasuke had
put his scribes, historians and sorcerers up to the task of researching any
possible means of evening the odds for them in the upcoming battle. It was now
time for them to report their findings and discuss what spells, historical
artifacts and the like could be of use.
At the prince�s prompting
gesture, the men began to relate various tales, some more helpful than others,
but none that were truly hopeful.
�We are talking about an
entire army of inhuman things. None of this will be nearly enough. I need
something powerful,� he growled.
Just as he was about to
dismiss them all, a young apprentice dared to step out of his master�s shadow.
�If I may, your Highness,
perhaps you need something inhuman to fight on your side. A single demon
could put a dozen human sorcerers combined to shame.�
�Konohamaru!�
the boy�s master hissed, trying to tug him back and silence him while the
prince just raised a brow.
�Stand down Ebisu." The man quailed under Sasuke's
glare. "A demon, you say? Where do you propose we look for one boy?�
�There is one to be found
in the kingdom of
Konoha
where I was born your Highness.�
�Is there?� Sasuke�s eyes narrowed as he attempted to recall what he
knew of the kingdom. It was not a rich nor otherwise
noteworthy place.
�Yes, it is a well known
legend. In a forest not far from the castle at the heart of the kingdom, there
is a cave where the Demon Prince sleeps. He was cursed by his human father, who
was the last of the great kings of Konoha and he has
been hidden there for over a century. Only one of royal blood can enter his
resting place and wake him.�
�A century, and why has
nobody woken him yet? Surely Konoha is not without a
king.�
�The people of Konoha believe that he and his mother caused the plague
that killed so many, long ago. They hate and fear him. Tales of him are told to
frighten little children away from the forest.�
�So� if I were to break
his curse and wake him, he would be beholden to me.�
�Presumably, your Highness, and his mother was incredibly powerful. If he
inherited even half her strength, he would make a formidable ally.�
Sasuke nodded absently.
�You will research this
legend more thoroughly.�
The boy and his master
bowed and made to exit when the prince suddenly spoke again.
�If you come from Konoha boy, why do you not fear waking the demon?�
�I study legends and such
all day long, your Highness,� Konohamaru answered
hesitantly. �I know that parts of them are factual while other parts that sound
like conjecture or public opinion, usually are just
that. There was never any evidence that the prince had anything to do with the
kingdom�s misfortune.�
Sasuke stared for a moment, his
expression unreadable, before waving him off.
--
After further research and
some debate, all of which was carried out as swiftly as possible, it was
decided that a search for the Demon Prince of Konoha
would indeed be worth the trouble. As the only one left in the kingdom with
royal blood, Sasuke would have to undertake the
journey himself.
In all honesty, this
decision suited him well enough. While he�d had extensive combat training in
his short life, he had very little experience with commanding troops. There had
been no major wars since his birth so his knowledge of warfare was purely
theoretical. His general and tacticians were better suited to making battle
preparations and so this quest gave him something to do personally to help his
kingdom.
Two soldiers were assigned
to escort the prince. Sasuke looked them over
critically before grimacing. The one called Kiba
looked like a moron while the other, Shikamaru could
barely be bothered to sit upright on his horse. Sasuke
supposed that the kingdom just couldn�t spare any of the good soldiers right
now. Thankfully, he was capable of protecting himself just fine.
To avoid the possibility
of being spotted by some spy of Itachi�s, they traveled under the guise of minor merchants. This
allowed them to take the main roads, making excellent time without being
noticed and the border of Konoha was reached without
incident.
It was no trouble to get
directions to the forest in question. In their haste to warn the travelers away
from the cursed place, the peasants were actually very forthcoming on it�s location.
Sasuke snorted derisively at the tall
tales that built in horror and detail over the course of an evening in the
common room of the inn he had chosen. First the forest was a place of perpetual
darkness. Then its trees were ever changing, leading men astray. Then the
animals were slaves of the Demon Prince who would attack any who ventured near
and the prince himself was a hideous beast who would wake and devour you if you
so much as breathed harshly� and so on and so forth�
None of these tales
corresponded with written records of the legend and Sasuke
could see now why Konohamaru was reluctant to take
people at their word on the subject. Sasuke would
disregard this fanciful nonsense and simply rely on what had been written; the
prince was nothing more than the half-demon son of a king, who�d been rejected
and hidden away to sleep for eternity.
The morning after their
stay at the inn, the three set out early without so much as a farewell to
anyone and made their way toward the heart of the kingdom. A few days' ride
found them watering the horses from a stream at the outskirts of a perfectly
normal looking forest.
�Are you certain this is
the place, your Highness? It looks so ordinary,� Kiba
commented.
�Hn,
this forest does not get many visitors. There are a few trails, but they�re too
overgrown and narrow for the horses.�
�How
troublesome.�
Sasuke sent the other soldier a scowl. Shikamaru had proven himself to be just as lazy as he had
initially appeared. Tersely, the prince gave the order to tie up the animals
and he and his reluctant men continued into the forest where they wandered
aimlessly for hours until Kiba finally climbed a tall
tree to get the lay of the land.
�We�re on a hill, Sire,�
he called down. �The land slopes that way and then cuts down rather sharply.
There�s a valley ahead. Perhaps we should try there.�
Satisfied, Sasuke led them on into the valley. The trees hung their
branches over the top and the foliage blocked out the waning daylight, giving
the place a more forbidding look than the rest of the forest. All their senses
went onto high alert as they trod carefully through the gloom.
They soon reached a dead
end, three sides rising dauntingly to close them in, but just ahead there was a
dark slash in the earthen wall. As per standard procedure, the two soldiers
warily approached the gaping entrance, to test its safety for their prince. The
cave would not allow them entry however, repelling them from its mouth harmlessly
but inexorably.
The strange magic, was proof enough to Sasuke
that they had indeed come to the right place. According to the legend, one
needed royal blood to enter. So calling off his men and drawing his sword, just
in case, he strode confidently to the opening and ducked into the heavy
darkness.
Slowly inching his way
forward, mindful of hidden obstacles, he was starting to consider waiting until
the sun was brighter, or at least fashioning a makeshift torch when a light
suddenly flared to life at his side. Sasuke instantly
jumped to a defensive stance, sword at the ready.
There was nothing there
but a torch, hung from a brass fixture in the rough wall. Deciding that it must
be an enchanted object that had reacted to his presence, (and really it was
quite convenient) he carefully lifted it from its place and held it aloft to
light his way down the rest of the passage.
The narrow tunnel widened
abruptly into a large chamber and several more torches flared up around the
perimeter. Sasuke gasped at the rich tapestries and
furnishings. Taking another few steps, he found them muffled by thick, soft
rugs and amazingly, not a whiff of must or decay could be detected. Polished
wood shone and a pair of golden candelabras on a table sparkled mightily in the
torchlight. It seemed not even dust had settled here.
After a moment of stunned
stillness, Sasuke noted the empty sconce on the
nearby wall and rehung the torch before he belatedly
swept his gaze around in a thorough search for possible hazards. A curtained four-poster
bed tucked into a niche on the far side of the chamber finally claimed his
attention.
He pondered, as he made
his way through the room in careful, almost reverent silence, why such splendor
should have been provided for a cursed being. He'd been expecting something
decidedly more tomb-like. Indeed, he'd been half worried that he might actually
find a crypt with nothing but a pile of bones.
Such fears were rather
easily brushed aside though. The old King had most definitely been the one to
place the Demon Prince in this cave and the sanctity of royal blood is a King's
entire claim to the throne. By all accounts he had been a fair and
conscientious king. He would not likely have killed his own offspring no matter
how beastly the boy was.
Sasuke snorted. Only an evil lunatic like
his brother would do such a thing.
Still, this place did not
give off an air of neglect or abandonment. In fact, it seemed as though it had
been furnished just yesterday. Someone had placed an amazingly powerful spell
on the area to have kept it in such immaculate condition all these many long
years. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder why the king
would have provided such luxury to his rejected offspring.
Grasping the heavy velvet
curtains that surrounded the ornate bed, the prince readied his sword. Again,
just in case. One must always be on the alert. There may well be some sort of
trap in place to keep anyone from disturbing the demon's slumber.
In a flurry of motion, he
whipped the curtain aside and thrust blindly into the space beyond. Nothing
happened and he let out a sigh as he found nothing but fabric before him.
Opening the curtain the rest of the way to shed some light on the dim interior,
he dropped his gaze and gasped a second time in just ten minutes (possibly a
new record for him).
The sword almost fell from
slackened fingers as black eyes widened, taking in not the repulsive, inhuman
figure that he'd been unconsciously picturing, but something that looked more
like an honest-to-gods angel!
Golden hair shone even
more brilliantly than the candelabras Sasuke had
admired earlier. The firelight flickered over smooth, soft features that made
the young man look hardly more than a child. Long lashes and odd markings, like
whiskers on each cheek only added to the cute, harmless impression. He lay
curled in a ball, silent breath escaping cherubic lips
as his flank gently rose and fell.
This was the peasants'
fierce demon?! Sasuke couldn't imagine anything more
vulnerable. With a flick of his wrist he could end this boy's existence right
here and now. Of course, that would be counter productive.
For a moment he just
stared in fascination, unsure whether he should be relieved or upset. Was this
really a demon at all? Had he come all this way and wasted all his hope on a
normal human?
Then again, 'normal'
really didn't seem like the word to describe this picture, and there were
official records of the birth and early life of this Demon Prince. It all added
up.
It was time to break the
curse. Then, by all rights, the boy's life would belong to him.
A strange, squirmy feeling
rippled through Sasuke as he suddenly imagined this
boy calling him Master. He quickly shook it off and brought his attention to
the blade of his sword.
Every bit of written lore
that could be unearthed agreed that a drop of royal blood was needed to wake
the sleeping prince. So Sasuke carefully drew his
finger along the finely honed edge of his blade and then laid the sword on the
bed with the hilt in easy reach. While the blood welled up on his finger, his
other hand stretched toward the figure curled on the bed, then stopped. He
actually hesitated. Somehow, it almost felt like a sin to disturb such peaceful
and apparently innocent slumber.
But Sasuke
gave himself a mental slap and determinedly carried on with his task. Slipping
a hand beneath the boy's cheek, he gently tilted his face up and let out a
quiet rush of air when there was no reaction. Almost unconsciously, he allowed
his thumb to slide lightly over the smooth flesh and marveled briefly at the
warmth that emanated from it.
Steeling his resolve, he
brought his wounded finger to the boy's lips, breath catching involuntarily as
the plush flesh yielded to the slightest pressure. A single drop of blood
trickled slowly past those lips and the previously unresponsive boy immediately
licked his lips, his tongue flicking over the pad of Sasuke's
finger, and sighed.
Every muscle in Sasuke's torso tightened at once and he snatched his finger
back as though it had been burned, staring blankly at it for a second until it
occurred to him that the cut had disappeared. Had the boy somehow healed it?!
He frowned in confusion,
his gaze snapping back to the bed to find the golden haired angel unfurling
slowly into a luxurious stretch, his back arching up off of the mattress. Sasuke swallowed, cheeks heating a bit and watched 'his'
demon prince give the most adorable yawn in the history of mankind.
The boy sat up, rubbing
his eyes and the covers fell away, giving Sasuke his
first visible evidence that this was no ordinary human. The sight of the fluffy
fox tail that stretched out along with the rest of the boy, who was now up on
his knees, threw things abruptly into perspective.
Sasuke grabbed up his sword in a swift,
practiced motion and jumped back from the bed, weapon trained on the creature
and wary eyes watching the unnatural appendage swish through the air as though
it were an enemy all on its own. The tail, however, made no move to attack and
merely curled around its owner, where it was caught and hugged to the boy's chest
like a child's security blanket.
Finally lucid and taking
notice of his company for the first time, the fox-tailed prince froze,
clutching his thick fur all the tighter. How had a stranger managed to enter
this sanctuary?!
Quickly, he took in the
details of the young man's appearance and began to weigh what little
information it provided. The stranger was dressed very oddly for a peasant, but
he had a sword pointed at him. Could they have hired outside help to
exterminate him? His gaze flashed about in search of his father, who should
have returned to wake him.
Sasuke had momentarily been snared by
unexpectedly brilliant blue eyes that had widened in fear and confusion. As
soon as that mildly guilt-inducing gaze shifted away for a moment, he realized
that his guard had relaxed and corrected himself with a snarl. He would NOT be
bewitched by some demon like that foolish king of legend.
"On your feet
Demon," he commanded. The blue eyes returned to him at once, narrowing in
anger.
"Where is my
father?!"
"He is long gone. You
are safe in my custody, for now."
"Custody! Who in the seven hells are
you?!"
"I am Prince Sasuke Uchiha of the Kingdom of
the Sound and I have freed you of your curse. You now owe me a life debt,"
Sasuke announced imperiously.
"What curse? I don't
owe you anything!" The blond spat, his mind whirling all the more now. Kingdom of Sound? What would a prince of Sound be doing here? On closer
inspection though, the stranger's clothing was actually of very fine quality
despite it's muted severity.
"You were as good as
dead Demon. I restored your life so it now belongs to me." Sasuke was not amused.
"I was obviously not
dead, and what have you done with my father?"
"He died of the
plague over a century ago," said Sasuke,
surprised into answering frankly. But perhaps this would lay the demon's fears
to rest and he could accept his place.
Instead, that wickedly
lovely face looked stricken.
"...Dead...
century..."
"That's right,"
the Uchiha went on heartlessly, "and throughout
all these many, many years, nobody has even considered trying to lift the curse
he placed on you, until I came along. Now, in repayment, you will serve me as I
see fit."
"Shut Up!" the
blond suddenly screamed. "I am Naruto Namikaze, son of King Minato and Prince of the Kingdom of the
Flame! I serve no one and nothing but my country. Don't you dare speak such
lies about my father!"
Tears streamed down the
boy's face but he took no notice, his voice having dropped to a growl.
"He was the Greatest
in a line of Great Kings and he would never curse me. He was protecting
me, you unmitigated bastard and he was worth a thousand of you! If anyone, my
life is owed to him!"
Sasuke blinked, completely nonplussed.
The demon was defending the father that had cursed him, and was in fact
outraged rather than humbled at the mention of Sasuke's
favour to him. This... put something of a kink in the
plan.
tbc

AN; Alright this is gonna be a pretty short one. Three shot maybe. I won't be
long with an update.
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Whosoever doth Awaken the Demon