Here's the next installment. There's a small explanation here and hopefully it won't be confusing.
Chapter 4
Sasuke lay blinking, a scant minute away from wakefulness. For the first time since arriving within familiar territory, the magnificence of the morning did nothing to impress.
Last night seemed so surreal.
He shifted and groaned, realizing he had overexerted himself. He had turned into some kind of salacious Cassanova, and now his body was paying for it.
The Uchiha flushed. Or was it because Demon-mating rituals were as intense as they were complicated? ... and definitely kinky. How could he forget kinky...
Shaking his head. he sat up groggily noticing that his ... companion was nowhere to be found. He felt a rush of panic until he remembered she could very well defend herself. And then came another bout of anxiety as he discovered the niggling attachment he seemed to have developed over her.
It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Most of his energies were devoted to training and protecting the remnants of the Leaf community.
The words "sexual" and "frustration" were always separate enities. (and the first one didn't at all exist in his vocabulary until recently)
Oh, he had tried dating a few times, but he didn't feel comfortable. As corny as it sounded, he hadn't managed to fall in love.
Well perhaps, that was until now.
Perhaps.
He wasn't entirely too sure of what he felt for her.
Sasuke had only known her for a short time... He wasn't being a prude. It had been wonderful. He had enjoyed giving pleasure as well as receiving it, but he just had to pause and ask.
What did this all mean?
Everything was happening so fast.
"Stop overthinking so early in the morning." a rustle of leaves as her familiar aura invaded his senses. "Or you'll bust a brain cell or two."
The last Uchiha hid a chuckled under his snort. He whirled around to face a complete and utter stranger with HER blue eyes. "Who the hell are you and where is she??!!" he snarled, leaping to his feet, choosing caution over modesty.
"You know who I am." a mutter of disbelief. "Seriously, take a chill pill."
This unbearably ORANGE boy had her voice, her inflections and her tone if only a little deeper. But he spoke like a "normal person" which confused the Uchiha further.
When the other stepped into a beam of sunlight in order to get closer to him, Sasuke nearly suffered an apoplexy. This boy could have been Kyuubi's male twin!
He swatted the boy's comforting hand away from him, wondering if this was some sort of horrible genjutsu.
"OW! You bastard, that hurt!!" the blond whined, flapping his injured limb. "It's me..." There was a sudden exclamation. "Dammit, I forgot you were asleep when I did the Sealing!! How do I get you to believe me?" He pursed his lips. "Aha!" Jerking off the collar to his black-striped tangerine apparel, he revealed the impression of the Uchiha's teeth on the junction of his neck and shoulder.
It had been the mating mark that Kyuubi had asked Sasuke to place on her, to ward off other interested parties. It was the exact size, shape and location that it had been last night. Besides, there had been no one to witness their activities.
A triumphant smile made its way to the blond's face. "So now do you believe me, bastard??"
"Look, Kyuubi, if this is some kind of prank, knock it off alright?" Sasuke growled, yanking on his pants; generally fumbling about clearing camp. He swore. This was such a mood killer, honestly.
"But I'm not Kyuubi." the shorter boy protested. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki. It's nice to finally meetcha' like this Sasuke."
A throbbing vein popped into existence atop Sasuke's left brow. "Fine. I'll play along. You just admitted to being Kyuubi a while ago, "Naruto". You also showed me the mating mark. So if you're not Kyuubi, I'm assuming you're someone else. An enemy perhaps. An enemy I can maim or kill."
"Ahahaha... now, now... don't be such a bastard, Sasuke." The blond sweatdropped. "Well, I am the Kyuubi, sort of... ummm this is really hard to explain... This is who I was when I was human."
Sasuke blinked. "You're a boy." he returned flatly.
"Uh-huh."
"You're a BOY and Kyuubi's GIRL!!!" was the further elaboration, coupled with a glare.
"Uhn... I've been living eons as Kyuubi, I kinda forgot...I was?" Naruto scratched the back of his head.
Sasuke's mind started meltdown. There was just no way! How could you forget something like that?
Had he just willingly (enthusiastically, too) lost his virtue to a gender-confused fox demon??!!
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"Let me get this straight." Sasuke murmured from his perch beneath a large oak. "You were born a human boy, sometime about two hundred years ago. When you were 16, you made contact with an entity that possessed you, which happened to be the Kyuubi?"
The blond head bobbed unsurely. "Well in the general sense of things yes. Are we going to your home now? 'Cause it's just like beyond those trees."
A pale hand rubbed an equally wan face.
Sasuke, after the astounding declaration of one Uzumaki Naruto, dragged the poor boy to the side of the road and demanded an explanation in a cold, hard voice. He really didn't know what to make of the situation.
"You know, just because I'm a boy now doesn't mean you can treat me like a sack of potatos." Naruto complained, trying unsucessfully to flex his muscles from the ropes that bound him to another tree.
Sharingan eyes glared. "So which are you really? Girl or boy?"
A smirk from the blond. "Is that the thing that bothers you, you bastard? Yes, when I was human a couple of ages ago, I was born a boy. When I became Kyuubi, I chose to be female."
""CHOSE" to be female?"
"Both Kyuubi and I have out lasted several immortals, the fox demon even more so, what makes you think I do not have the power to acquire what I will? There is no male or female for me. I just am."
There it was, the Kyuubi that Sasuke knew, peeking out from under the sheer idiocy that was Naruto. Somehow, it comforted the raven-haired man to no end. "Are you and Kyuubi the same?"
Naruto frowned. "That's kinda hard to answer. In a way yes. We're like a two-in-one-package, with each part still unique. Two sides of the same coin and all that jazz. So now can you untie me? Rope burns suck."
"Not yet. Just one more question."
"So hurry up and ask already." his victim whined.
"Shut up." Sasuke balked as he remembered last night. "Just who between the two of you is my mate?"
"Duh, both of us!! It's not like we're different people... ok so maybe we are..." The blond sweatdropped. "Put it this way, I have another identity called Kyuubi, who is technically still me only not human. Human me, is well, me. Because of certain limitations in THIS body, Kyuubi and I have different ways of seeing and understanding. I'm not all-knowing nor as powerful as Kyuubi."
Sasuke clicked his teeth together, flicking a kunai to slice the thick ropes. "Not all smart either."
"HEY!!" Before Naruto could take any action, his vision was blocked by smoldering red eyes.
"You better not be fucking with me." the other man hissed.
The blond didn't even flinch. "Sasuke" he said as gently as possible." I'm not yanking your chain. You asked to Mate and I agreed. If there is anything you should know, Mating is serious. When you bit me and vice versa, it was binding. Not the forever kind, but a promise like exclusivity until we're sure we wanna be all married like and stuff... I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I do have my reasons." he cocked his head. "Which will have to wait since we have guests."
Sharingan eyes drilled into his own. "You will tell me everything." he commanded before facing what he sensed to be Konoha patrol nins. A promise of painful death hung in the air unsaid.
Naruto couldn't retort as much as he wanted to. A chorus of surprised yells and exclamations of welcome for Sasuke cut him off. It took several minutes until they registered the blond stranger hanging in the background.
"Ahahaha..." he chuckled faintly, wiggling his fingers at the gaggle of ninja. "Uh, hi?"
He could tell he was in trouble. Just how was he going to explain all this and still achieve his goal? Really, Kyuubi shouldn't have gone and gotten claimed by Sasuke. Things would be triply hard.
The only perk he had was that in this human body he could lie. Not that he like to do that anyway... Kyuubi's limitations were rubbing of on him. He, as a human didn't really outright lie, just twisted the truth a little to make others believe what they will.
This would be challenging.
Oh well, they both loved a good one every now and then.
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"And who are you again?" the pink haired medic nin slurred as she wobbled her way around the camp fire. She'd had a little too much to drink at Sasuke's "Hey You're Alive and We're All Really Happy That You Came Back In One Piece" party.
Naruto laughed awkwardly, slightly embarrassed for her. Sakura had been coming on to everyone who remotely resembled a biped. She was just THAT drunk. "Uhm... I'm the guy Sasuke saved from Wave Country a couple of days ago?"
The blond was just glad that Kyuubi had been forward thinking enough to use such a timely alibi. The demon had managed to both predict and become aware of the land's falling in upon itself and had passed the information unto him, before he had sealed her. He fed that story to the Leaf nins, who were sympathetic to his plight and didn't pry into his business anymore, for which Naruto was grateful. He really sucked at lying...
The medic nin's face turned solemn. "Oh, I'm sorry about your losses... It was kind of a shock to learn that your country sank into the sea. It's good that you survived."
"Yeah." the blond agreed as he kept his eyes on the celebrant, who was trying to remain stoic, but failing miserably. Sasuke was obviously happy to be back home and Naruto would let him be for now. Although he wanted to get even with the bastard for not helping him out during the "friendly interrogation" with his tribe. He muttered under his breath. "It wasn't such a surprise though to have Wave collapse..."
"Did you say something?" she asked, peering at him suspiciously.
He shook his head furiously. "Oh no nothing at all. I'm just going to get myself a few drinks now. Bye."
Not waiting for a reply, Naruto rushed to the food table, berating himself for being loose with his tongue. He grabbed a free glass from the rack at the corner and filled it with water. He moved in a shadowned corner and sipped the cool liquid.
He snorted at the irony of it all. In his human days, he would have been the center of attention and maybe the life of the party. He would have been bright and loud and all over the place; not a care in the world... now he was watching a slab of unresponsive rock (Sasuke) in the middle of people who had been much like himself.
Truly, how things have changed. There was a point in his life when he wished he could have his past-life back, instead of this senseless something he had to achieve; which he could not abandon or forget. His inhuman sense of loyalty and duty wouldn't let him.
"You don't feel much like celebrating?" a cultured voice asked him.
Naruto didn't bother to look at the new comer, he was too busy observing the Leaf people in their moment of joy. "No."
"I'm sorry if it seems like we are being callous celebrating like this, seeing as how you are probably the sole survivor of the Wave tragedy."
The blond boy smiled, turning to face his companion. "It's not such a big deal. I understand." He would have said more, but the words died in his throat.
His companion was tall, pale and willowy, with eyes of pure silver glinting in the fire light. Power, grace, beauty. All rolled into one. That and the undeniable stench of being one of her own.
"Y-you..." Naruto stuttered, suddenly glad that he sealed his Kyuubi self. "You've been here all this time?"
"Yes. I'm sorry if I am intruding your privacy. I am Neji." obviously misunderstanding what the blond had been trying to say.
Naruto frowned. Something was wrong here. "T-that's ok... I don't mind." Neji was a demon in his prime and should have been able to recognize the Kyuubi, even shuttered away. "Aah... Do you know anyone named Yugito?"
The taller male's mouth straightened into a tight line. "I can't say that I have."
"o-oh... sorry, my bad. It's just that you and her look so much alike. I thought you were related." the blond lied.
"It was an honest mistake."
There was a pause before Neji stepped closer to the blond. "Would you like me to show you the guest tents? Maybe you would like to turn in for the night."
"That will not be necessary Neji. Naruto will be staying with me."
The blue eyed he-she unwittingly stepped back, as Sasuke interrupted them. Underneath the black haired man's feigned serenity was a dark and irritated aura.
And it was directed at him.
Naruto gulped.
Confused about the Naruto-Kyuubi/ he-she thing? It gets a little clearer later on (I hope). I'm not giving away the plot yet. And remember that Yugito, a FEMALE, was the original host for the Nibi.
More demons coming up next. . hahahaha
Oh yeah, since they are a tribe, they will be living in tents and stuff. Please read and review.