Title: “No Major Harm”

Author: Shaitanah

Rating: R (overall)

Timeline: chapter 411+ (SPOILERS for the latest chapters)

Summary: Look inside you, they said. Naruto looked – and got a lot more than he bargained for. Canon meets AU! + A demon hunt discovers a new side of Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship. [Sasuke/Naruto] Please R&R!

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. Naruto Pilot Chapter also belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. Lyrics from An Experiment by Mates of State. Quotes from Naruto Chapter 278.

A/N: This chapter is choppy and weird and I’m not really pleased with it. Read: I officially hate it. That’s what you get if the chapter still sucks after 14 bloody edits! But perhaps it has a couple of moments you’ve been waiting for. ;) So enjoy – and thank you for all your lovely reviews!

Chapter 9

986 Paper Planes

I wonder if I could tie the ocean to your knees…

Asagiri Village

It was very quiet; not even the sound of waves perturbed this silence of a sinister kind.

Naruto lay in bed, eyes wide open, absolutely sleepless. How could one even fathom sleeping in this house? This sudden sensitivity irked Naruto who had always been proud of his ability to ignore any inconvenience if need be. Like every shinobi did.

Naruto sighed. Those days now seemed to have gone never to return.

Naruto shifted his weight, and the bed squeaked under him. He shivered uncontrollably at the sound and laughed nervously.

“It’s just a stupid old house,” he told himself pointedly. “It’s like this because it’s been empty for ages. It’s not like there are ghosts here or something!”

A powerful gust of wind swept over the roof. The rustling of leaves outside disturbed the stillness. A dream catcher quivered beneath the ceiling. Naruto wondered if Sasuke lay awake too, haunted by memories. To Naruto, the ghosts of the house were abstract, shapeless, locked in the corners of his a little too vivid imagination; whereas to Sasuke, they would always have faces and names.

For some reason Naruto recalled the photograph on Itachi’s shelf. He had never been particularly fond of ruminating, but this night thoughts and ideas were going in circles, like a vortex inside his head. He wanted to know if ghosts made demons, how many demons and forms of demons there were and what sorts of weapons could hurt them. He should probably ask Sasuke about it. That is, when the bastard wanted to speak to him again.

Naruto banged his head into the pillow. Stupid Sasuke! Stupid kiss – over three years later, just why did it have to repeat almost in the same fashion!? Was he cursed, or what?

He tossed the blanket aside, unable to drive away heavy thoughts, and walked out to the terrace. Most likely, Sasuke was out. Naruto couldn’t feel anyone else’s presence in the house.

He came down to the shore, barefoot, and trod upon the cool sand. Stars twinkled in the sky. Naruto walked on and on until the Uchiha residence was out of sight. He ended up at a small bay where the sand was sprinkled with shingle and shatters of multi-coloured shells. A huge platform, probably an old remnant of some wrecked ship, went deep into the shore. The other edge of it vanished in the depths.

Naruto clambered up it and watched the horizon for some time. It was barely visible, a sliver of black over the identically black sky. The waves lapped at Naruto’s feet playfully. He lowered himself on the platform and lay close to water. The smell of salt and seaweed was overwhelming and lulling at the same time. Naruto stretched his arm so that his fingertips dipped into the water. The waves rolled forth, and his hand was consumed; they retreated and then they would come at him again like a kitten demanding attention.

Naruto closed his eyes. For that moment there was peace.

Naruto woke up flat on his back under the white-hot, stinging sun. His lips were parched, but he felt better than ever. The waves kept licking his hand amicably. It felt almost like crashing in the middle of nowhere after a fine mission.

He sat up, rubbing the back of his head. The surface of the ocean glimmered with sunbeams. The sky looked like it was made of royal blue silk.

A flock of white birds specked the shore. Now and then they would flap their wings, open their disproportionate beaks and screech. Naruto cringed at the sound.

He strode back to the residence leisurely, letting grains of sand run between his toes. ‘Must be around noon,’ he thought and wondered if Sasuke’s sleep pattern was always so erratic.

Naruto brushed the sand off his trousers and entered the house. Sasuke turned up behind one of the screen doors. As soon as Naruto came in, a sharp tip of an arrow placed in the crossbow ended up resting a few millimetres away from his nose.

“Whoa! Are you this mad at me?” Naruto exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

Sasuke surveyed him darkly. “Move.”

Naruto complied. ‘Ah, so he’s not trying to kill me. Good sign… probably.’

Sasuke squeezed the trigger. The arrow swooshed and plunged into the wall, its shaft splintered by the power of the shot. Sasuke cursed and sat down to adjust the weapon.

“I’ve been to the haunted house,” he said nonchalantly. Naruto perked up. “Damned if I know what that thing there is. It’s stronger than poltergeist, but it’s hardly a corporeal demon. I’m going back now.”

“Count me in!”

With a non-committal “Hn,” Sasuke rose to try the crossbow out once more. This time the shot was perfect.

The haunted house was located on the same end of the village as Sasuke’s home near the road that wound up into the mountains. The sun barely reached it here, passing over the pine-tree grove and shedding its light straight on the street.

The house was smaller than Naruto had imagined, but elegant and neat. Miniature hokora shrines were settled on the roadside; if one looked close enough, the disturbing similarity between them and the house became obvious. A moss-covered statue of a smiling deity stood right near the porch.

Naruto and Sasuke came in without further ado. The house was well illuminated inside, but try as he might, Naruto couldn’t figure out where the light was coming from.

“So where is it?” he whispered to Sasuke. “Is it what’s glowing?”

“It’s invisible,” Sasuke replied like it was the most stupid thing to ask. “Now shut up and let me think.”

Naruto made a face at him when he wasn’t looking and ventured into one of the hallways to begin his exploration. Sasuke told him not to go too far. Naruto waved at that dismissively; he was a ninja after all and damn sure could take care of himself.

Oddly enough, the house was in a far better state than the Uchiha residence, as if the owners had only just left it – perhaps they simply went out to have a snack at Torinoko-san’s café.

Naruto squirmed and gave himself a mental slap: what kind of an idiot would go hunting demons without having had breakfast first?

He walked through a set of painted fusuma doors and ended up in a room full of origami figures. Those were identical pieces of white paper folded in a form of something that looked like a headless bird.

“Paper planes,” Sasuke said behind him. Naruto turned abruptly; he didn’t hear him come up.

“What the–?”

“There’s a popular belief that if one makes a thousand origami cranes, his wish will come true.”

Naruto nodded. He knew this tale. But these things were not cranes…

“How many are there?” he asked.

“Nine hundred eighty-six,” Sasuke answered straight away. “The house belonged to the village doctor. He left some time after we did. I remember him. He was there, that morning, when cops asked Itachi questions.” Sasuke’s voice dropped to a tired whisper. “But then, he always seemed so… down to earth.”

Naruto stared at him blankly.

“Why would he stop when he was so close to one thousand?”

Naruto realized with a start what the reason for this investigation was. Perhaps deep inside Sasuke was hoping to find some connections to his own tragedy.

“That’s really far-fetched, you know,” he said cautiously.

“I don’t need you to tell me that,” Sasuke retorted. “But think of that: it’s a small village where something terrible happened years ago. Demons frequent such places. You’d think it was my house that was supposed to start rotting. But since it’s intact…” Sasuke’s features froze into a mask of desperate need to piece all the events together. “The house of the one at fault suffers. Maybe these planes… these planes…”

“According to that logic, anyone in the village could have been the culprit,” Naruto heard himself objecting. He knew well enough how much it meant to hold on to hope; but this was a false hope.

Strange melancholy possessed Naruto with this revelation. For a moment he felt like crying. There was nothing he could do to set this right – and it was so unfair!

His throat tight and his eyes veiled with tears, he took a step forth and nearly bumped into the table. He staggered backwards and walked into Sasuke. Uchiha drew in a harsh breath. His eyes were also watery.

Naruto craned out his neck and glanced at him. The memory of last night’s clumsy ‘accident’ flashed in his mind. Little did he realize that he was blushing like Hinata whenever she had the misfortune to find herself in his presence.

“Watch it,” Sasuke growled. His throat dry, it came out weaker than expected.

“Don’t you feel kind of weird?” Naruto asked.

“Yeah. I’ve been up for nearly thirty hours,” Sasuke grumbled. “How do you suppose I should feel?”

“No, I mean… kind of tingly.”

Naruto’s hands were trembling slightly. A strange feeling built up inside him, as irrepressible as depression before it had been.

“Yeah…” Sasuke nodded, looking alarmed. “A little. It must be getting close.”

Naruto couldn’t shake off the obtrusive feeling. It flooded him, overtook and consumed him.

He thought he should apologize.

“Sasuke,” he croaked, his voice cheating on him. “I wanted you to know that… that kiss thing–.”

“Don’t care,” interrupted Uchiha.

“Good. ‘Cause I think it’s about to happen again.”

Naruto spun around fully and pressed his lips against Sasuke’s before he knew what he was doing. Sasuke’s eyes widened. To Naruto’s surprise, Uchiha didn’t push him away. Instead, he threw his arms around Naruto, cupped his neck and deepened the kiss. A low groan rumbled in Naruto’s throat. Sasuke pushed him into the wall, hands roaming all over his body. Naruto’s fingers sifted through his hair. He never actually imagined how it would feel.

They slid on the floor together. Naruto arched his back, never breaking the liplock. Sasuke’s eyes gleamed ferally. While their tongues engaged in a ferocious battle, their bodies seconded it, the friction being almost unbearable. They rolled over the floor; Naruto collapsed on top of him and covered his face in kisses. They were clumsy and rushed, and Sasuke responded in the same awkward, hungry manner, tearing hot, ragged gasps out of Naruto’s mouth and smiling crookedly at that.

“This is magic,” he muttered hoarsely.

Somehow this was the last thing Naruto expected to hear. He laughed, burying his face at the curve of Sasuke’s shoulder.

“That’s a really cheesy way of putting it!”

Sasuke captured his lips in a brief biting kiss. “No, I mean this is magic. It’s the demon. I think I know what it is.”

A moan interrupted his speech. Naruto’s breath hitched. He tried to make himself stop, but his body wouldn’t obey him anymore. Sasuke’s hand glided dangerously southward.

“Hey! That’s a no-go zone,” Naruto blurted out, placing it elsewhere. Every touch was turning into pure agony.

“It’s called a consumer,” Sasuke explained while Naruto’s tongue was drawing a moist line across his jaw. “It feeds off of human emotions, the ones that are predominant at the moment. These bitches are tough. Even Orochimaru didn’t know much about them. Oi! That’s off limits too!”

He knocked Naruto’s hand away from his groin, flashing him a very eloquent look that promised hours of torture if they ever got themselves out of this mess.

Naruto tried to concentrate on something else. A few moments later he gave up on it. There was nothing else in the world. Nothing but Sasuke and his hot breath against Naruto’s cheek, his ravenous kisses and his rough caress, the scent and the feel of his skin, the welcoming warmth of his mouth… Naruto uttered a long-drawn-out groan of half-excitement, half-disappointment. Why did this have to be happening? It was Sasuke, for fuck’s sake!

He thought that if he repeated the name long enough, if he allowed it to spill through his lips and ring in the air, he would see the more habitual image of Sasuke. His Sasuke. That was supposed to sober him up.

Sasuke’s hand found a way beneath his t-shirt. His blunt nails scraped Naruto’s back lightly. Uchiha was trying hard to focus and think past the flood of sensations.

“We have two options,” he said firmly. “Number one: we do what we’re doing to the end – and then we burn.”

“Please tell me it’s just a flowery expression!”

Sasuke propped up and caught Naruto’s earlobe between his lips. “No, it’s literal.” Swept his tongue over the rim of Naruto’s ear. “That’s what they do when emotions are too intense for a human to control. We combust, and they swallow the energy.”

Naruto ripped Sasuke’s shirt open. He ducked and twirled his tongue around the youth’s nipple. Damn, this was getting way too far!

“The second option is to get out of here,” Sasuke went on. “Its influence shouldn’t go beyond the house… yet.”

He gathered his strength and pushed Naruto away. The youth hit the table, knocking it upside down. Paper planes poured over him like oversized misshapen snowflakes. Unable to stay away too long, Sasuke sprang up to him and pinned him to the floor. ‘Boy, am I lucky!’ Naruto thought sarcastically. ‘First some rotting creep, then a pervy ghost! Can’t I get a normal demon? If Ero-sennin had seen me now…’ The name brought sadness and for a moment he held on to it, trying to switch like he had already switched once before. But the sadness wasn’t strong enough, and desire swept over him with a new force.

They moved frantically, haphazardly, aching and burning all over. They would pull apart, drawing closer to the door inch by inch, and they would meet again and give each other smothering kisses and claw at each other’s skin and cry out in rapture and look at each other with hateful eyes.

Naruto thought his body would go up in flames. Every fibre of it was poisoned with the feeling of Sasuke being so close, so demanding and aggressive. When they finally rolled out on the porch and jumped into the dusty grass of the orchard, it took them a few minutes to realize the effects of the consumer had worn thin. Chill settled against their heated skin like a second layer. Their pulse began to slow down. Sasuke breathed in noisily through the nose and lifted his head to look at Naruto.

“Well, shit…”

Naruto chuckled weakly. They rose, shaking, and darted away from the house, panting heavily. Once they were safely away, Sasuke pushed at Naruto’s shoulder exasperatedly.

“You just had to bring up the kiss! Next time if you come with me, make sure you don’t think about things like that. Or anything that makes you mad, sad, happy or whatever! Though it’s probably an impossible task for you.”

Naruto opened his mouth in indignation. “Oh, I can manage it all right! Be like you, is that what you mean? I can do that; I’ll just have to shove a huge stick up my ass!”

“You won’t deny that it’s your bloody fault things turned out this way, will you? You just can’t keep your mouth shut!”

Naruto balled his fists. If the bastard was intentionally trying to piss him off, he was damn good at it. Probably the only thing he was good at, anyway.

“I wouldn’t have felt the need to apologize if you hadn’t been acting like I’d done it on purpose!” Naruto spat.

“And to prove your point you decided to kiss me again.”

“Didn’t hear you complaining.”

“I wouldn’t have kissed back if you hadn’t latched onto me like a fucking leech!”

“I couldn’t see properly! I wouldn’t have been all misty-eyed if you hadn’t told me that tear-jerker about your past!”

“Tear-jerker?” Sasuke bellowed. “It’s the story of my life! Believe me, I never wanted it to turn out this way!”

“You’re not the only person who had a crappy childhood!”

Sasuke swiped him in the face, trembling with rage. Naruto threw his hand up to strike back and suddenly froze. Something was very wrong about it. The terror of his words crashed down on him like bucketfuls of icy water. His eyes widened with shock.

Sasuke looked no less flabbergasted. He eyed his own hand like he couldn’t remember where he had seen it before. Little by little, his breathing calmed.

“Was it… that thing from the house?” Naruto asked.

“It’s spreading. Before long, it will consume the entire village. Let’s go. I need to check my books.”

He hurried back to the Uchiha residence. Naruto had never seen him so worried before.

“Sasuke, I…” he murmured.

“Don’t,” Uchiha said without looking back at him. “Bad things happen when you try to apologize.”

“I’m bored!” Naruto declared after three hours of doing what Sasuke called ‘research’.

The books were in truth old, frayed notepads that used to belong to Orochimaru. The pages were yellow and sullied and covered in small, messy handwriting. The text spread continuously over the pages, sometimes placed diagonally and intersected with crude drawings and mysterious symbols. At any other time Naruto might have been interested in perusing the pictures, but right now it seemed like a grandiose waste of time. Not to mention, he was initially mistrustful of anything that belonged to Orochimaru.

“I say we go kick its invisible ass now!” he flared up.

“Chill out, okay? I told you to clear your mind. Otherwise, it will kick our asses.” Sasuke rubbed his eyes wearily and reached out for another notepad. “Damn, there’s too little information on these things. Orochimaru died before he could complete his research. But I think Chidori could at least hurt it.”

Naruto choked on the inhale.

“What!? Chidori?”

Sasuke looked up at him for an instant and pointed towards the crossbow.

“That’s Chidori. At some point with its special arrows it gets really noisy, hence the name.”

Naruto gaped at the crossbow that lay innocently on the tatami beside Sasuke and burst out laughing. Now that was a surprise! He wondered if there was also a Katon gun or a Sharingan… er… something. Now that he thought about it again, it was really strange to see Sasuke and Itachi without the Sharingan.

“Why don’t you go get us both something to eat?” Sasuke suggested. “We still have a couple of hours. I’ll finish the research.”

Naruto jumped up readily. Anything not to bury himself in these strange books. Sasuke didn’t look up as he left.

Torinoko-san’s diner was a given. Naruto came home half an hour later, dry grains of rice stuck to his chin and his stomach pleasantly full. Torinoko-san had given him a few onigiri; unfortunately for Sasuke, they were too delicious, so he ate them on the way back, leaving only one for him.

That didn’t matter since Sasuke wasn’t there.

Naruto cursed under his breath. That bastard! Kicked him out and left to fight that thing alone. He didn’t trust him at all. Did he fear that Naruto would get too emotional?

“I’ll show you emotional!” Naruto fumed.

Before long, he was on the doorstep on the haunted house. He wanted to storm in right away, but something stopped him. In a way Sasuke was right. He couldn’t let his emotions get hold of him again (especially since he was really mad at Sasuke now and could end up killing him instead of the enemy).

Naruto took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to imagine himself back at Myoubokuzan. It was the only place where he could achieve absolute stillness.

He needed to get rid of the baggage. Otherwise, Sasuke and him would both be endangered.

Determined, Naruto stepped inside the house. It was quiet, the same as last time. Naruto moved deeper uncertainly, barely allowing himself to breathe.

“Sasuke?”

Something crunched beneath his foot. Naruto looked down and saw a frosty coating on the floor. It was suddenly oddly cold.

Naruto pushed aside the rising apprehension and dove into one of the rooms. Puffs of foggy smoke were squeezed under the ceiling. Naruto looked around and spotted someone sitting in the armchair, his back on the door.

“Sasuke!”

He rushed up to the youth. Hoarfrost covered Sasuke’s immobile form. He looked like he had spent hours in the refrigerator. His lips moved. His voice came out hissing, and Naruto failed to discern the words. He leaned in closer and asked Sasuke to repeat.

“Don’t… t-touch… m-me.”

“I’m here to help.”

Sasuke’s eyes became alarmed.

“T-take it… B-behind… you…”

Naruto opened his mouth to ask for a clarification. A sharp gasp escaped Sasuke’s throat. Naruto spun around, apprehensive. The consumer hovered beneath the ceiling; that much was certain. Perhaps that ethereal smoke was its physical representation.

“Elements…” Sasuke breathed.

Naruto’s gaze stumbled upon Chidori that lay discarded on the floor. He made a go for it, narrowly escaping a column of fire that spurted from the corner of the ceiling. His heart beating somewhere in his throat, he aimed at the smoky cloud – and halted, bewildered.

“I–. I don’t know where to–.”

“Just pull the trigger!”

Naruto did. The bolt, burdened with a small sinker of feathers tied together in a bunch, dove straight inside the smoke. The cloud trembled and another jet of fire rolled across the room.

“Sasuke!”

There was a movement next to him. He brandished the crossbow warily. Sasuke’s hand shot forth through the settling smoke and grabbed hold of the weapon.

“Give me that.”

“What the hell are those elements?” Naruto blurted out.

His chest felt tight. He couldn’t understand the sudden ache coiling deep inside his stomach. But he wasted no time to place it.

“It’s getting stronger,” said Sasuke. “They’re the physical manifestations of emotions it takes from us. It’s fighting back. You were angry when you came here, weren’t you?” Naruto nodded. Fire. “I was sad because I was thinking about my family. That was water.”

“And that’s fear,” Naruto breathed, feeling the gusts of icy wins against his face.

He knew that feeling. He remembered it. Gaara, during the Chuunin Exam. Before he saw deeper into Gaara’s heart. Before they were friends. Naruto had been afraid of him.

He cursed fiercely through gritted teeth. The consumer had somehow found that memory and was squeezing fear out of it.

“Stop,” Sasuke said commandingly. His hand came to rest on Naruto’s shoulder. The wind swirled all around them like a hurricane. “We need to tear it apart. It induces the same emotions in everyone so it can feed. We need to…”

He was scared too. Naruto forced a smile at the thought. And then he tried to make himself feel something else.

“To make it choose,” Sasuke concluded. “Water versus fire.”

So that bitch wanted Gaara? Gaara it would get, thought Naruto darkly and focused on the memory of Gaara’s death. It was hard to filter pure sadness through streaks of anger, but he left fury to Sasuke now.

And from Gaara, like a transparent thread, there stretched his tie to Sasuke.

“I couldn’t save Sasuke… And I couldn’t save Gaara… Nothing’s changed since three years ago, has it?”

He had to be careful not to let it spill over into happiness about Gaara’s revival. He switched quickly to the ones they had lost. The Sandaime, Chiyo-baa-sama, Asuma-sensei, Ero-sennin. Tears and more tears.

He glanced up at the cloud briefly. Streaks of fire were brewing inside it.

“What are you thinking?” Naruto asked.

“About you,” Sasuke said in a harsh voice. “How much you piss me off. Try harder, idiot. You’re not sad enough.”

Naruto had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. He had always had poor control over his emotions.

He thought about Sasuke. Traitorous, renegade Sasuke. The broken bond. The friendship that led to heartache. Sasuke from his world.

And he thought about home. He felt it very sharply all of a sudden that he was an alien in this world, that he didn’t belong, never could.

Tears splattered down his cheeks.

Sasuke was trembling. He balled his fists so hard his knuckles turned white; his lips moved noiselessly, and Naruto thought he caught him saying, “It’s all your fault,” before he turned around and slammed his fist into the floor. Fire flared beneath the ceiling.

The consumer screamed. It was a dreadful, ultra-high sound that resonated through Naruto’s body, making his ears bleed. He covered them in agony. He could barely see Sasuke past the red haze in his eyes. Uchiha clenched the crossbow and fired at the demon. Fire and water rained heavily down on the floor.

Naruto looked up, panting heavily. The cocktail of emotions rising within him was overwhelming. Gradually, the terrible sound began to die down.

“There goes water,” Sasuke whispered.

Naruto frowned. The demon was crying. It swelled, impregnated with heavy amounts of icy water. A couple more jets – and they would become ice statues.

“Chidori!” Naruto exclaimed all of a sudden. Oh, that seemed like a brilliant idea! It had to work. “Does it shoot electricity?”

“Yes.” Sasuke frowned. “Why?”

“Get ready. I might have a plan.”

It was tricky. It was dangerous and it would probably fail. But Naruto wasn’t exactly known for giving up. Tear it apart, Sasuke had said. Piece of cake. He performed Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and his duplicates, brimming with anger and sorrow and determination, rushed in to assault the demon. It was dumb and could hardly tell the real one and the copies apart.

Sasuke watched in awe as three similar figures moulded the Rasengan. Naruto reminded himself mentally to add taking out crazy non-corporeal demons to this ninjutsu’s characteristics if they succeeded.

The Rasengan changed its shape in Naruto’s hand as he rushed to attack. Jets of water sprung forth, washing the clones away. Naruto jumped, the giant vanes of the Rasenshuriken cutting fiercely through the enchanted water. It fell on the floor in deformed blobs.

“Now!”

The familiar sound of birds chirping filled the room. Blue sparks flared blindingly. Sasuke pulled the trigger.

Low rumbling noise filled the room, growing louder as it rolled through it like a cannon ball. It rose to a deafening pitch and shattered the windows. Shards of glass poured all over the flooded floor.

Sasuke lifted his head. The power of the shot left his hand shaking.

“Na… Naruto,” he called huskily.

He must have got caught in the jolt. Sasuke’s heart made a violent leap. Half of the room was frozen, another – blown away. Sasuke jerked his weapons’ pouch open and produced a small black candle-end. That should be enough.

He pressed it against the floor before the consumer recovered and lit the wick. Black fire spread over to the floor; its uneven bands ran merrily in different directions. The black fire would devour the demon and cleanse the cursed house.

“Naruto!” Sasuke cried out once he was sure the dying remains of the demon wouldn’t knock the candle over.

A quiet groan forwarded him to the armchair. He skidded over the ice coating towards it.

Naruto. Frozen. But alive. Good.

“Idiot,” Sasuke said sharply. “Why the hell did you come at all? Wasn’t me leaving without you a big enough hint?”

“You’re the id… idiot!” Naruto said, his teeth clattering uncontrollably. “Think you c-can just… have all the f-fun with-thout m-me?”

His face brightened into a wicked grin. Sasuke snorted. Idiot. By any other name, he would be an idiot. That idiot actually turned out to be helpful. Best not to think about it, though. As soon as the idiot thawed out, Sasuke would kick his ass and then probably thank him for saving his life.

Speaking of thawing out, that looked like it would take some time. Sasuke placed his hand on Naruto’s shoulder hesitantly. The crust of ice was slowly melting.

Black flames danced upon the floor. Naruto took a shaky breath. Colour was returning to his cheeks. Sasuke leaned into him, brushed the specks of ice out of his hair.

“Wh-what are you–?” Naruto started to ask.

Telling him to shut up in a rather irritable voice, Sasuke traced his fingers up and down Naruto’s forearm, not really sure what he was doing. The ice on Naruto’s face turned to rivulets of melted water. Sasuke’s fingers danced up to Naruto’s neck indecisively, rubbing circles over his exposed skin.

It was hot in the room. Water trickled down the half-frozen walls. Fire vaporized it. It was a feast of elements blending together, fusing into each other and painting the smashed up room in new colours.

Naruto inclined his head languidly. His cheeks flushed, the whisker-marks unusually dark against the skin, and his eyes were sparkling.

“Why do you always have to butt in?” Sasuke murmured in his ear.

“Maybe it’s because your sorry ass needs saving all the time,” Naruto shot back. His voice sounded deeper than it usually did.

As soon as he was able to move, he rose and faced Sasuke. Their clothes were wet and hung baggily around their bodies. Black fire swirled around them in smooth spirals, but even when it touched them they couldn’t feel it, save for some abstract, ethereal warmth.

Water was going up like the laws of gravity had ceased to exist.

Sasuke leaned closer to Naruto and caught his lips in a fleeting kiss. A bare brushing of mouth against mouth, senseless, a bit tired. Naruto drew in a sharp breath, inadvertently inhaling the puffs of Sasuke’s breath. Icy. Tasteless.

Naruto moved forth and clamped his mouth over Sasuke’s none too gently. Every kiss they had shared throughout these messed-up days was to Naruto the limit of peculiarity mixed with idiocy, but he couldn’t bring himself to wonder why he was doing it again. The soft moan that erupted from Sasuke’s mouth a second before they broke apart made Naruto’s skin crawl.

“That’s the demon too,” Naruto said, clinging to the deceptive certainty of his intonation. It was he who screwed it up the following instant. “Right?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke breathed, his hands roaming Naruto’s body as if leading the life of their own. “Though it’s dead. But that’s definitely not an excuse.”

The soft sarcasm of his words made Naruto chuckle. Sasuke’s lips traveled lower, down to his neck. Naruto turned his head a little; the heavy spikes of Sasuke’s hair brushed his nose, and he sniffed uncontrollably.

Sasuke lifted his head, and their lips met again, hungrier, more demanding. Must have been some demonic leftover, definitely, because Naruto didn’t think he could control himself anymore. Sasuke’s hands were everywhere, stroking him beneath the clothes, peeling its rumpled layers off. Naruto grabbed a fistful of Sasuke’s shirt and pulled him as close as it possible, eliminating all unnecessary space between them. He felt intoxicated, high on the adrenaline of the unfamiliar battle, and the demon’s attack, and the closeness of Sasuke…

He helped Sasuke out of his shirt and lapped at his skin eagerly with his tongue. The no-go zones weren’t that much off limit anymore; Naruto released a quiet hiss as he felt Sasuke’s fingers crawl underneath the fabric of his trousers. Sensations rolled upon him like a tidal wave, jumping erratically between blurry and sharp. Naruto lowered his hand, let it open Sasuke’s fly and mimicked the other’s movements clumsily. He buried his face on Sasuke’s shoulder, quivering under the pressure of the strange heat that flooded him.

He paid attention to Sasuke’s skin for the first time now. His shoulders and his neck – they were clean, no sign of the cursed seal. Naruto nipped gently at the spot where it was supposed to be.

His knees buckled. He slumped against the armchair, missed the seat and ended up in the puddle of melted ice on the floor, and tilted his head back, melting away with his release. Sasuke crashed against him, breathing heavily.

‘At least we kept ourselves warm,’ Naruto thought, dazed, once again searching for a way to justify their actions.

Sasuke withdrew his hand and was now eyeing him sullenly. He would probably start protesting now. Perhaps Naruto should forestall him. But as he opened his mouth, Sasuke silenced him with another kiss, erasing every word that was prepared to spring forth from Naruto’s tongue.

Sasuke spread Naruto’s legs further apart and nested himself between them. A short gasp of indignation escaped Naruto’s throat. If they were going to do what he thought they were going to do, what was it that made Sasuke think he would let him–? Last time Naruto checked, he was a guy, and guys (if you believed Ero-sennin’s books at least) were supposed to–.

Shit! Last time he checked Sasuke was a guy too.

‘Demon,’ Naruto reminded himself. ‘Dead demon. Fuck!’ That certainly didn’t help.

Sasuke’s fingers ghosted below Naruto’s waist. Naruto nearly bit into Sasuke’s shoulder as he felt those fingers being eased inside him. His body clenched up at the intrusion involuntarily, and Naruto moaned – in protest, mixed with excitement. The cadence of Sasuke’s breathing sounded like strokes of a metronome to his ears.

Sasuke removed his hand and pushed up slightly.

“Stop it,” Naruto said, his tongue heavy with warning. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to stop.

The strange emptiness inside was defeated by the overwhelming sensation of Sasuke sliding inside him. Naruto wrapped his legs tighter around him, trying to ignore the feeling of strange discomfort that was slowly growing into the need for more standing on the borderline between pleasure and pain.

“You can move a little, you know,” Naruto whispered teasingly into Sasuke’s ear.

“Oh, shut up,” Sasuke exhaled, exasperated.

He had probably never done this before either.

He moved; curiously, exploring at first, his breath tickling Naruto’s skin. His pace gradually became more rhythmic. He parted his lips against Naruto’s collarbone, and his tongue performed a fleeting dance across the skin.

Unwittingly, he brushed some spot inside Naruto, and a wave of heat rose within him. Naruto bucked his hips, allowing Sasuke to get deeper. Their movements became ragged, zealous like a minor battle. Naruto’s mouth was unnaturally dry. Sasuke looked up at him. His fringe was plastered to his damp forehead; he looked angry, yearning and a tad curious at the same time.

They cried out throatily, discordantly, and their motions slowed down until they were still against each other.

‘Dead demons can work wonders,’ a darkly humourous thought flashed in Naruto’s mind.

The breeze sifted through Naruto’s hair gently as he ran along the street. Sparks of sun swarmed on the blue surface of the sea that glimmered through the verdure. Naruto squinted contentedly. Demon hunting sure was fun.

The village was buzzing, plucked out of its habitual somnolence. Naruto pricked up his ears curiously, hoping to catch the subject of the villagers’ heated discussion. Their excited voices rang in the air all around him like the music of an old festival that had just woken up from its forced slumber.

Someone called him by name. He turned to see the petite café owner who was looking at him with playful reproach.

“Leaving today, or so I heard, eh, Naruto-kun? Pity. You are my favourite customer!”

Naruto chuckled with a helpless shrug. Their job was done, and Sasuke insisted that they should return to the city as soon as possible. Torinoko-san had come to be Naruto’s favourite café hostess as well, but God forbid Ichiraku ever knew about this.

“The streets are so lively today,” he commented innocently. “Anything big happened?”

“You know there is a haunted house in the village, don’t you?” Torinoko-san whispered excitedly. It was obvious she had been waiting for a chance to share the rumours. “Seems like whatever evil dwelt there finally abandoned it! They saw black smoke rising from the chimney pipe.”

Naruto’s smile widened. Torinoko-san’s remark brought a surge of pride. It was pleasant and strange at the same time to hear gossip about himself.

“I do hope Sasuke-kun drops by to say goodbye,” the old lady sighed. “Who knows if I shall ever see him again. Oh, he’s grown so handsome!” Naruto snorted. It was not the first time someone lauded Sasuke in front of him. However, the words that followed dampened Naruto’s spirit. “And a police academy cadet just like his brother! Fugaku-san would be so proud.”

Police academy cadet? Naruto’s grin faded. He nodded absent-mindedly and, having promised to make Sasuke come by before the bus departed, headed back to the residence. The misplaced bit of information puzzled him. Why would Sasuke keep his true job secret?

Naruto found Sasuke in the living room. The youth was sitting on the futon at the squat tea table. The paper planes salvaged from the half-ruined haunted house lay in piles all around him. He showed no indication of having noticed Naruto coming in.

“Just met Torinoko-san,” Naruto said blandly. “She thinks you go to police academy.”

Sasuke’s fingers came to rest upon a stack of white sheets of paper.

“They all do,” he answered quietly. “I’d like to keep it that way.”

“But why?”

“The villagers are superstitious folk, Naruto. To them, there is little difference between demons and hunters. I don’t think they would have thanked us if they knew.”

Naruto sat down, cupping his knees with his hands. Somehow it was incredibly touching of Sasuke to tell a lie like this. He had previously claimed to work only for money, but he got no money or recognition from this case whatsoever.

“I think I know the story of these planes,” Sasuke said suddenly. Naruto raised his head, ready to listen. “Heard the people talk. The doctor’s daughter fell gravely ill, and her mother took her to the hospital in the town on the other side of the mountain ridge. The doctor couldn’t go with them because he had to find a replacement for himself first. It took him nearly two years. He had been making these planes all that time. He left when he finally found a new medic for the village. I don’t know if his daughter lived or not, but he left the planes. The house began to rot long after his departure.”

In other words, it happened to be nothing but a chain of coincidental events. There was no connection to the old Uchiha tragedy, and the doctor had not been weaving a curse or making amends for some old sins. He had only wanted his little girl to recover.

Naruto couldn’t take his eyes off of Sasuke’s face. He must have been disappointed.

“But why planes?” Naruto asked to disrupt the lengthening silence. “The legend says birds.”

“What if he didn’t know how to make anything but planes?”

Naruto’s gaze traveled around the room, taking in the faded white heaps of origami figures with their sharp angles and triangular wings. Nine hundred eighty-six. They looked solemn and discarded. Leaving them here felt like leaving unfinished business behind.

“What are you planning to do with them?” Naruto wanted to know.

“Well, actually… I have fourteen sheets of paper here.” Sasuke lifted his hand, and the soft wind flew in through the wide open window and stirred the stack on the table. “I was going to leave seven for you.”

Naruto grinned.

“You’ll have to show me how to fold them. My hands are all thumbs when it comes to fancywork.”